HSBH 1007 - Week 1 Lecture AJC 2008

8/9/2019 HSBH 1007 - Week 1 Lecture AJC 2008

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Brief Chat about BHS Stuff!y BHS Electives

y BHS Majors

y BHS Communication and Discussion Board- Psych; Bio; BHS Core Units

y

BHS Student Representative for 1st

year 2008: MsChristina Peterson

y Discussion Board Tutorial


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Logging On to BHS Discussion Boards


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Step 2: Logging On


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Step 3:Logging On


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Step 4:Logging On


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Introduction to ResearchDr Andrew Campbell

[email protected]

Acknowledgments:

Some of the following slides were

prepared by Dr Tatjana Seizova-Cajic and

Dr Rob Heard


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Unit Outliney Co-ordinator: Ms Karen Pepper

y Room: G213 Phone: 9351 9498

y

[email protected]

y Two hour lecture and one tute per week

y

Handbook: reading materials, timetable,guidelines (see Unit documents on WebCT )

y Textbook: Research Methods for Health Sciences


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y

E-Learning site (aka WebCT) site

yAssessment:y See handbook or e-Learning or contact Unit of Study

Coordinator Ms Karen Pepper

y Need notetakers?Contact Student Welfare 9351-9638


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Overview of todays lecture

(note this material is notcovered by the textbook)

y Why do I need to study research to work in the Health Industry?

y Ways to acquire knowledge

y Logical argumentsy deduction

y Induction

y Two broad types of researchy quantitative research

y qualitative research

y Few interesting stories from history of research


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Research is important because

yAll practice comes from research

yAll teaching is research led

y Research becomes habit in Allied Health


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Examples of Health Research and Application

y Faculty of Health Science Electives I teach in 2nd Semester:

y BACH 3146: Cyberpsychology and e-Health

- Background: Research on computer games and the Internet and how ithelps people of all ages.-Application: New treatments for ADHD, Depression and Anxiety,Social Fearfulness; Dementia Care; Pain Management.

y HSBH 1005: Human Development

- Background: Research on how we change physically andpsychologically across every year of our life.-Application: How to work with people at different stages in their lives

who may need to be treated for different medical and psychiatricdisorders.


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Ways to acquire knowledgey Tenacity

y Acceptance of a statementsimply because it has been heardrepeatedly .

yAuthorityy Parental, cultural, professional

y Personal experience, anecdotal evidence

y Through educated reading or conductionof research


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Educated reading what is that?y Firstly, you need to recognize the LOGIC of arguments

that people use to support their conclusions so thatyou can detect ERRORS leading to invalid conclusionsy Logic: Deductive & Inductive

y Errors: more than I can name here!

y Secondly, you need to know SPECIFIC METHODS

used in research and which one is good for what kindof problem


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Deduction

y Begins with a major premise

y Contains a minor premise

y Draws a conclusion

y All crows are black (major premise)

y This bird is a crow (minor premise)

y Therefore, this bird is black (conclusion)


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Deduction

y If the major and minor premises are true,the conclusion MUST be true

y If the conclusion is not true, then one or

both of the premises MUST be false

A WHITE crow had been spotted ?!?A WHITE crow had been spotted ?!?

Either it is not a crow (minor pr. not true)Either it is not a crow (minor pr. not true)Or not all crows are black (major pr. not true)Or not all crows are black (major pr. not true)


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Deduction and scientific thinking

Reference:

https://www.americanscientist.org/template/ProductsList/

catid/685/catname/Sidney+Harris+Cartoons


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y [As said earlier] If a theory is correct, then the

predictions or conclusions derived from itmust be true.

y If we test predictions, and find they are nottrue, we must reject or modifythe theory.

Deductive reasoning is usedto test theories


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An Example from the 16th Century

y Theory: The Earth is flat

y Prediction: On a flat earth, bodiesin the sky should be visible at the

same time from all parts of theSurface.

y Observation: Prediction incorrect.For example, stars around the Pole Star arenever visible at low latitudes in the

southern hemisphere.

y Conclusion: The Earth is not flat BUTcheck out Flat Earth on Google!


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If a theory cannot be tested, it is nota scientific theory!

y What does it mean that it cannot be tested?

y Consider this theory: Bad things happen when there is badenergy around; the energy is not detectable with physicalinstruments; there is no other evidence that energy is present :

y The only evidence of its existence is the bad event itself

y Impossible to refute the theory there is IN PRINCIPLEnothing observable that would contradict it

y Such statements are not scientific theories but beliefs.

y Sigmund Freud Famous Un-Falsifiable Scientist.


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y In other words, a theory must be falsifiable

y

Falsifiable means that it is possible to prove it wrong(NOT that it has been proven wrong!!!)

Reference: - http://www.ntskeptics.org/cartoons/weekly.htm


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Circular reasoning (Error in reasoning)

y Major premise: Bad energy causes bad events

y Minor premise: Bad event has occurred

y

Conclusion: Bad energy caused the eventy ERROR: conclusion simply repeats the premise

Bad energy causesbad events

Bad event has beencaused by bad energy!


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S ary s fary Deductive reasoning is used to test theories because

proper (falsifiable) theories yield testable predictions.

y Even if an argument appears to have deductive form, itmay be invalid, lead to an incorrect conclusion or justrepeat a premise.


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y

Deductions arent always complicated and thiscan sometimes make them hard to see!


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Identify ( from the joke)

y Major premise

y Minor premise

y Conclusion


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What is Induction?y Begins with an observation of specific cases

y Leads to a generalization

y My brother is a pain (specific case)

y All younger siblings are like that (generalization)


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Induction-deduction cycley Induction: from observations to theories

y

Deduction: theories yield predictions that guideresearch

y Research gives results that refutes or supports (not

proves) the theory

y Induction-deduction also used in everyday life, but notsystematically and rigorously


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Educated reading what is that?y Firstly, you need to recognize the LOGIC of arguments

that people use to support their conclusions so thatyou can detect ERRORS leading to invalid conclusionsy Logic: Deductive & Inductive

y Errors: more than I can name here!

y Secondly, you need to know SPECIFIC METHODS

used in research and which one is good for what kindof problem


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Research Methods

y Two very broad categories:

y QUANTITATIVE research with goal to explain

y QUALITATIVE research with goal to describe


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What Qualitative & Quantitative research

have in common

y Both increase understanding of the world

y Both seek knowledge through evidence(rather than through divine inspiration, etc.)

y Require that evidence be publicly accessible

y Require ethical behaviour and use of knowledge


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How Qualitative & Quantitative research differ

yQuantitative: Researchers use induction anddeduction to build up and verify theories in acontrolled settingwith a focus on the few variables

ofinterest.

yQualitative: an inquiry process ofunderstanding a social or human problem, basedon building a complex, holistic picture, formed

with words, reporting detailed views ofinformants, and conducted in a natural setting.(Creswell, 1994, p. 7; italics added)


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The following are three research stories. Please

identify and distinguish from each other:

a) induction and deduction

b) quantitative and qualitative research


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Story 1: Kitty Genovese

y Young woman murdered

y Number of witnesses, no help

(exaggerated in the press)

y Bystander effect (a person willreceive less help if more peoplearound!)

y Experiments


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Story 2: Childbed feverSemmelweis, mid-19th century

y First Maternity Division mortality rate 8 - 11%!

y Second Division only 2-3%

yWHY?? Childbed fever caused byy Overcrowding?

y Rough treatment by students?

y Terrifying appearance of a priest?

y Cadaveric matter

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v01n01/fever.htmlhttp://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v01n01/fever.html


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Story 3: On being sane in insane places

y Healthy research associates (pseudo-patients) brief lysimulated auditory hallucinations and were admittedto 12 different psychiatric hospitals in the US(detected by some patients, but not by staff!)

yWhile inside, they observed behaviour, and tooknotes.

y Neither anecdotal nor hard data can convey theoverwhelming sense ofpowerlessness which invades the

individual as he is continuously exposed to thedepersonalization of the psychiatric hospital.(Rosenhan,1973, p. 6)


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The Nature of Qualitative Research

y Inductive Reasoning theory generated out ofresearch data

y Interpretivist Epistemology understanding the socialworld through examination of the interpretations of thatworld by its participants (e.g. Indigenous Cultures)

y

Constructionist Ontology social properties are outcomesof the interactions between individuals and not separatefrom those involved in their construction (we do not live ina vacuum!)


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The Four Traditions of Qualitative Research

(Gubrium & Holstein, 1997)

y Naturalism social reality as it really is in its ownterms (most common tradition)

y Ethnomethodology social order is created through talk andinteraction (naturalistic orientation)

y Emotionalism subjectivity and gaining access to

inside experience, inner reality most

important

y Postmodernism method talk, sensitive to the

different ways social reality can be

constructed


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Main research methods associated with

qualitative research

y Ethnography/participant observation also called field work

y Qualitative Interviewing refers to a wide range of interviewing styles

y Focus Groups interviewing groups of people in interaction

y Language based approaches Discourse and Conversation analysis

y Content analysis of texts and documents researching recorded human communications


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Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research

y Reliability and validity are important criteria forestablishing and assessing the quality of research.

Qualitative researchers tend to employ the terms validityand reliability in similar ways to quantitative researchers.

y Measurement is generally not a major concern orpreoccupation for qualitative researchers because a singleabsolute account of social reality is not feasible.

There are no absolute truths about the social worldforqualitative researchers.


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Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Researchy Adapting reliability & validity for qualitative research:

y External reliability refers to the degree to which a study can bereplicated. It is impossible to freeze a social setting and thecircumstances of an initial study. Easier to adopt a similar, (but notexact) social role of the original researcher.

y Internal reliability or consistency between observers ratings andrecordings. Difficult to achieve with one researcher.

y Internal validity is about finding a good match between theresearchers observations and the theoretical ideas they develop.

Prolonged participation in the social life of a group or individual allowsthe researcher to ensure a high level of congruence between conceptsand observations.

y External validity refers to the degree to which findings can begeneralised across social settings. Small samples and case studies make

this difficult to achieve in qualitative research.


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Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Researchy Alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research:

y Trustworthiness

- Credibility(internal validity) if there can be several possible accounts of

a social reality, then it must be credible to be acceptable to others.

- Transferability(external validity) the contextual uniqueness and localsignificance of a social world is more important then if that context can

be transferred.

- Dependability(reliability) complete records are kept of all phases of theresearch process and are made accessible. This ensures dependability.

- Confirmability(objectivity) the researcher can be shown to have notovertly allowed personal values or theoretical inclinations to sway theconduct of their research.

y Authenticity refers to the wider political impact of research such as it fairnessand its capacity to empower the participants.


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The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers

y Seeing through the eyes of the participants being studied.

y People, not atoms or chemicals, attribute meaning to events and theenvironment. Qualitative methods reflect this empathy byattempting to grasp the meaning people attach to their actions.

y Practical problems with researcher going native and loosing sightof what they are studying.

y Example: Taylors (1993) study of intravenous female drug usersshowed the participants she studied were not pathetic, inadequate,individuals but rational, active people making decisions based onthe contingencies of both their drug using careers and their rolesand status in society.


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The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchersy Descri ti n and e asis n c ntext:

y alitative researc ers r vide a great deal fdescri tive detail as ell asex lanati ns f y s cial enomena occ r. is detail emphasises theimportance of the context al nderstandingof social ehaviour.

y e cannot understand the ehaviour ofmembers of a social groupdivorced from the specific environment in hich theyoperate.

y ractical problems ith the researcher becoming embroiled and lost inexcessive, descriptive detail that inhibits analysis.

y

Exampl :G

eertz (1 73) argued for the provisionof thic descriptions ofsocial settings, events and individuals. ome ofhis detail may initially evenappear irrelevant, but remains useful for a complete studyof a social eventor phenomenon.


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y Emphasis on process:

y Qualitative researchers are often concerned with how events and socialpatterns unfold over time, to convey a sense of change and flux.Ethnographers are frequently immersed in a social setting for years.

y Example:Waddington (1994) observed a strike at the Ansells breweryin Birmingham in the 1980s. Using observation, informal interviewsand other data sources such as newspapers, archives, company and

trade union documents and minutes of trade union-managementmeetings showed how the contemporary beliefs, values and attitudesof the workforce, and the mutual feelings of animosity and distrustbetween employees and management, were shaped by a sequence ofhistorical events stretching back over 20 years (p. 115).


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y Flexibility and lack of structure:

y Qualitative researchers prefer not to impose any predeterminedformats on the social worlds they research or contaminate them as littleas possible.

y Structure is kept to a minimum so that those studied are given thechance to genuinely reveal those aspects of their social worlds that maynot have even been thought of by the researcher.

y

Areas of enquiry are then not limited to specific research questions butare more general. This allows the researcher to change the direction ofthe research as the project proceeds. (e.g. Participatory ActionResearch).


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y Concepts and theories grounded indata:

y nce ualitative researchers are emerged in the field, theybuild theirconcepts and theories out of hat theirparticipants say anddo insocial contexts, not hat the researcherpredicts shouldoccur.

y esearchers try tohave nopreconceptions about how their ideas aregoing toplayout in the field.

y Exampl : Van oon (1 5) investigatedwhat constitutes caring for thehuman spirit innursingpractice. bservationand interviewswithpatients revealed threemainways inwhichnurses couldbewith/forpatients usingdialogue, having a compassionatepresence andconnectingwith the patient.


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The Critique of Qualitative Researchy It is t s j cti

y Findings rely toomuchon the researchers unsystematic views aboutwhatis significant and important andupon close, personal relationshipswiththose being studied.

y Diffic lt t r plicat

y Most ualitative research is so contextually specific that it is impossible toconduct a exact replication, as no standardprocedures are followed inconducting the research.

y Pr l ms f ralizatiy The specific context researchedmeans that it is usually impossible to nowhow the findings canbe generalised toother settings. Canone or two cases

be representative of all cases?

y Lac f transpar ncy Because of the thic description, it is sometimes difficult to establishwhat

the researcher actuallydid andhow she or he arrived at the studysconclusions.


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Contrasts between Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

(Bryman, 2001)

Quantitative Qualitative

Numbers WordsResearcher Point of view Participants point of viewTheory Testing Theory emergentStatic ProcessStructured UnstructuredGeneralisation Contextual UnderstandingHard, reliable data Rich, deep data

Macro MicroBehaviour Meaning

Artificial settings Natural settings


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References

Bryman, A. (2001). Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press.

Davis, C. A. (1999). Reflexive ethnography: A guide to researching selves and others.Routledge: London.

Gertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In C. Geertz,The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books: New York.

Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (1997). The new language of qualitative method. OxfordUniversity Press: New York.

Taylor, A. (1993). Women drug users: An ethnography of an injecting community. ClarendonPress: Oxford.

Van Loon, A. (1995). What constitutes caring for the human spirit in nursing, Masters thesis,

School of Nursing, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide.Waddington, D. (1994). Participant observation. In C. Cassell & G. Symon (Eds.).,

Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. Sage: London.


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HSBH 1007 - Week 1 Lecture AJC 2008