Transcript PPT - pantherFILE

Introduction to research
methods
10/26/2004
Xiangming Mu
How to do research?
• Identify a topic
• Literature review
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Using key words to gather related literature
Identify useful literature
Design a literature map
Identify limitations, problems, and interesting ideas
Refer to related theories
Propose research statement and hypotheses
Propose research methods and conduct studies
Analyze data and provide discussion/results
Research Variables
• What is a variable
– Various definitions
– Characteristic or attribute of an individual or an
organization that can be measured or observed and
that varies among the people or organization being
studied (Creswell,2002)
• Different types of variables
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Independent variables
Dependent variables
Intervening variables
Control variables
Confounding variables
Variables
• Independent variables
– Are variables that (probably) cause, influence, or affect
outcomes
– Also called treatment, manipulated, antecedent, or predictor
variables
• Dependent variables
– Are variables that depend on the independent variables
– They are the outcomes or results of influence of the independent
variables
– Also called criterion, outcome, and effect variables
• Intervening or mediating variables
– “stand between” the independent and dependent variables
– Mediate the effects of independent variable on the dependent
variable
Variables (cont’)
• Control variables
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are a special type of independent variable
Are measured in a study
Potentially influence the dependent variable
Usually use statistical procedures to control for these
variables (i.e., ANOVA)
• Confounding or spurious variables
– Are not actually measured or observed in a study
– Their influences usually can not be directly detected
in a study
Research Methods
• Quantitative Methods
– Survey and experiment
• Qualitative Methods
• Mixed Methods
Quantitative Methods: Survey
• Survey
– A survey design provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends,
attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that
population
– The researcher generalizes or makes claims about the population
– Conventional (face-to-face, mail, etc.) or web-based
• Types of survey
– Self-administered questionnaires
– Interviews
– Structured record reviews to collect financial, medical or school
information
– Structured observations
Quantitative Methods: Survey (cont’)
• Survey instrument
– Validity: whether one can draw meaningful
and useful inferences from scores on the
instruments.
– Reliability: whether the results reported from
measures remain consistency.
Quantitative Methods: Experiment
• The basic intent of an experiment is to test the impact of a treatment
(or an intervention) on an outcome, controlling for all other factors
that might influence that outcome
• As one form of control, researchers randomly assign individuals to
groups
• Usually one group receives a treatment and the other group does
not, the experimenter can isolate whether it is the treatment and not
the characteristics of individuals in a groups that influence the
outcome
• May also need to identify a sample and generalize to a population
Experiment Design
• Between-subject design: compare outcomes
from two or more groups
– Factorial design: using two or more treatment
variables to examine the independent and
simultaneous effects of these treatment variables on
an outcome--- also includes the combination effect of
multiple variables
• Within-group design
– Study of the behavior of a single individual over time
under treatment or without-treatment conditions
Statistical Analysis
• Report the descriptive statistics
– Means, standard deviations, and rangs
• Report the inferential statistical tests
– t test
– Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Qualitative Methods
• Takes place in the nature setting
• Uses multiple methods that are interactive and humanistic
• Is emergent rather than tightly prefigured
• Is fundamentally interpretive
• View social phenomena holistically
• Uses complex reasoning that is multifaceted, iterative, and
simultaneous
Data collection types
• Observations
• Interviews
• Documents
• Audiovisual materials
Observation
• Definition
– The researcher takes field notes on the behavior and
activities of individuals at the research site.
• Researcher role
– Complete participant
• Has a firsthand experience
• may be seen as intrusive
– Complete observer
• Useful in exploring topics that may be uncomfortable for
participants to discuss
• “private” information may be observed that the researcher
cannot report
Interviews
• Definition
– The researcher conducts interviews with participants
• Types
– Face-to-face
– Telephone
– Focus group
• Structure
– Unstructured and open-ended questions
– Structured and well designed questions (more
control)
Documents
• Types
– public documents:
• i.e., newspapers, official reports
– Private documents:
• i.e., personal diaries, letters, e-mail
Audio and Visual materials
• Data
– Data from photographs, art objects,
videotapes, or any forms of sound
• Features
– Maybe difficulty to interpret
– May directly share the “reality”