Instructor Guidelines

8/12/2019 Instructor Guidelines

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Kumar: Research Methodology companion website material prepared by Stephanie Fleischer

Instructor Guidelines

By Stephanie Fleischer

Using these guidelines

These guidelines are designed to be used in conjunction with Kumar. R. (2014). ResearchMethodology, 4 thEdition, London: SAGE. They contain chapter aims along with suggested in classactivities to be used in conjunction with each chapter.

About the Author: Stephanie Fleischer is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Applied Social Science atthe University of Brighton which she joined in 2005 as a Researcher. From the start she was involvedin delivering research methods teaching for undergraduates and postgraduate students. Herresearch interests are in investigating financial circumstances of students at the University ofBrighton as well as absenteeism and first year student experiences. Having moved into a teachingposition she focuses on designing innovative ways of delivering quantitative research methods.

Table of contents:Chapter 1: A Way of ThinkingChapter 2: The Research Process: A Quick GlanceChapter 3: Reviewing the literatureChapter 4: Formulating a Research ProblemChapter 5: Identifying VariablesChapter 6: Constructing HypothesesChapter 7: The Research DesignChapter 8: Selecting a Study DesignChapter 9: Selecting a Data Collection MethodChapter 10: Collecting Data Using Attitudinal ScalesChapter 11: Establishing the Validity and Reliability of a Research InstrumentChapter 12: Selecting a SampleChapter 13: Writing a Research ProposalChapter 14 Considering Ethical Issues in Data CollectionChapter 15 Processing DataChapter 16: Displaying DataChapter 17: Writing a Research Report


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Chapter 1: A Way of Thinking

Aims:

To understand the meaning of research To understand different approaches: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods

approaches

1. For the first activity, divide students in to small groups and ask each group the followingquestion:Why do we do research?Students may also want to think about:

What is research? What is data?

How is research used?

Encourage students to feedback a summary of their small group discussions to thewhole group.

2. Not only is research a set of skills but also a way of thinking. Research is a habit of questioning.What is happening? Why is it happening? What are the effects? On what? For whom? As social

scientists we are curious and want to critically explore the social world around us. Research isused to gather evidence and also forms an integral part of good professional practice.

In small groups ask students to come up with an example of research for each of the bulletpoints below. Students can be inventive and talk about existing research or potential research.

What sort of questions/types of research, come to mind in order :

To understand the field you are studying/working in To explain and find the answer that you perceive To critically examine certain aspects To make changes To find answers to theoretical questions

3. You might like to give a brief introduction or examples of the different modes of enquiry:1) Quantitative (or structured) approach2) Qualitative (or unstructured) approach3) Mixed methods (combination of quantitative and qualitative) approach

Then divide the class in half and set the following activity


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A) To one half of the class:You want to understand how often students use social networking sites such as Facebook.

Briefly outline a study that would do this. What research approach would be used? What are the characteristics of this research approach?

B) To the other half of the class:You want to understand why students use social networking sites such as Facebook.

Briefly outline a study that would do this. What research approach would be appropriate? Why is this research approach suitable?

Depending on the class size students could work in smaller groups in each half of the class. Atleast one group from each approach should present their answers to the whole class.

4. The session could finish with a plenum discussion on how a study about social networking sitescould examine this using mixed methods approach. Here both studies on how often studentsengage with Facebook can be followed up with reasons for using social networking sitescombining quantitative and qualitative approaches in one study.

Chapter 2: The Research Process: A Quick Glance

Aims:

To understand differences between quantitative and qualitative research Familiarisation with the eight steps of the research process

This chapter offers an overview of the research process which is broken down in three phases ofdeciding what to research, planning how to do the enquiry and then undertaking the research. Theseessential main tasks to any research project are divided in eight operational steps which are easy tofollow and help novice researchers to follow a set order on their journey through the researchprocess. This is not a rigid sequence, more a guideline and these steps will be become more fluentwith experience.

This chapter provides an excellent opportunity to find out what students already know about theresearch process. Some students may have conducted research before, others are new toresearching a topic.

1. Ask students how they would go about researching a given topic. It is suggested that youprovide a research topic, for example: student life. As an instructor, you may have a certaintopic in mind that your students can relate to depending on your teaching subject, thecurrent interest of your student population or even related to an assessment.


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Students may have ideas on conducting an interview or doing a survey, etc. But, first thingsfirst: What do you want to find out about ?

The topic of student life could generate some interesting research questions such as:

How does it feel to be a student? Why did students choose to come to university/study at this university/study this

degree? Does year of study affect how many friends a student has? Are there gender differences in student spending behaviours on a night out/ drinking

habits/study pattern?

2. Using some specific research question examples that have been formulated by students inclass a discussion about the differences between quantitative and qualitative research (orstrengths and weakness), the discussion around each example can follow the headings intable 2.1:

Underpinning philosophy Approach to enquiry Main purpose of investigation Measures of variables Sample size Focus on enquiry Dominant research value Dominant research topic

Analysis of data Communication of findings


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Points discussed can be applied to the example chosen.

3. Next, in small groups students use flip chart paper to create a diagram of the researchprocess which can then be presented and discussed in class. Here the research phases canbe used as a prompt to ask: What will be researched? How will it be researched? How will the information that is required be collected?

Produce a diagram. What steps are needed and in which order?

The discussion may also include some theoretical knowledge such as formulating a hypothesis ordoing a literature review, a range of methods, models, techniques and procedures may bementioned. Students should concentrate in the first instance on ordering the steps that arerequired to carry out the research. Other elements and research tools can then be added to thesteps.

Alternatively this can be done as a class activity where the instructor collates answers and putsthem in order of the research process in figure 2.2

4. After the discussion of the differences between qualitative and quantitative research andthe research process, provide hand outs for students to refer to of table 2.1 and figure 2.2.The research process diagram can be used at the beginning of each subsequent session toremind students of the order and the steps in the research process.

Chapter 3: Reviewing the literature

Aims:

to appreciate the reasons for doing a literature review to locate the relevant literature to develop a theoretical framework

1. For this activity pyramids can be used, students start on their own, then work in pairs and thenin groups of four. First, ask students individually to come up with a list of responses on:

What is a literature review? Why do we do a literature review? What counts as literature?

In pairs student can compare their responses and then discuss, in groups of four they can discusseven further.

This may be also be a good time to reiterate the importance of referencing the work of others asan academic convention. This also acknowledges that research builds on work from manyauthors.


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2. In the next activity ask students to list examples of types of literature they can think of.The list should include books, government policy, statistics, abstracts, journal articles,newspapers, internet sources, etc.

If you have time take the students to your library, or ask them to access the librarycatalogue through computers in the classroom, and divide them in small groups. It isadvisable to set a time limit (e.g. 20 minutes) for groups to locate examples of literatureon a specific topic. You could give them the handout below where students record thecatalogue number/ library shelf of any resource they find. This will also help thempractice referencing and fa miliarise students with your librarys holdings.

Gather the students together and ask them to quickly report back on what they found ordid not find. Literature searching takes time and you need a strategy. Maybe your library

offers guidance or support to help with literature searching as part of or outside of acourse.

Handout for literature search in libraryExamples ofliterature

Full reference(Author(s), year of publication,title, etc.)

Catalogue number/shelf space/ url

Where in thelibrary didyou find it?

Book

Journalarticle

Newspaperarticle

Dissertation


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1. In small groups students can use the subject area of their degree and discuss the four Ps (People,Problems, Programmes and Phenomena, use definitions below) in order to come up withanything that could be interesting for a research study. Students should combine at least two Ps,People and one other P. Encourage students to be creative but specific at the same time.

The main questions are: What could be researched? Identifying a specific problem, programme or phenomenon. Who will be researched? Who is the study population (people)?

Aspects of a research problem:

People (as in the study population) consisting of specific individuals, groups,organisations, communities

The other three Ps are more likely to be subject areas:

Problems : issues or problems facing a group of people, description of situations,associations, needs, attitudes, population profiles, processes, etc.

Programme : contents, services provided, structure, outcomes, consumersatisfaction, effectiveness of an intervention, cost benefit, etc.

Phenomenon : cause and effect, relationships, the study of the phenomenon itself,etc.

2. A follow up activity could be to discuss considerations of the research problem identified in theabove exercise using the following questions:

What motivates you to do the research on the chosen topic/problem?

How much time do you have to complete the research? What resources are available? What concept and measurements have to be defined before the study commences? What will you do if you get stuck during the research? How relevant is the research to your study area/ discipline? Is there secondary data available? How can you access it? What ethical issues need to be considered?

3. Another activity in the classroom could be working through the 7 steps in formulating a researchproblem, from dissecting a subject of your choice, or using the textbook provided examples fromdomestic violence, teaching in university and alcoholism.a) Dissecting a topic can be done as a free association exercise where students come up with

ideas around a specific topic. All answers can be collected as a list on the board.b) Ask students to sort this list into sub-areas and allocate one area to each group of students if

you wish students to work in small groups.c) Formulating research question from the selected topic can be done by asking students what

they want to find out about the topic. Start the research question with one of the followingquestion words: What, why, how, who, where, when, how often, whether.

d) Formulating research objectives will provide a focus to the study; or more specifically whatdo we want to understand about the topic/problem ? The objectives should be formulated asstatements and use language such as: to understand, to explore, to investigate, to find out,


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etc. Students should come up with 2-4 objectives. Groups could present their proposedresearch question and objectives on a small poster which can then be displayed to the wholeclass.

e) Ask students to peer review the research question and objectives of other groups and togive some feedback on the poster. Any comments should be helpful and provide anexplanation of what is good about it and clear suggestions on how it could be improved.Tutors can also offer advice to each proposed question and objectives.

f) Groups can then apply changes to their research question and objectives using the pointersgiven on the poster.

Chapter 5: Identifying Variables

Aims:

To understand the difference between variables and concepts To understand the different types of variables and measurement scales

In quantitative research, researchers often want to investigate a concept or test a hypothesis. Thereis a need to operationalise these in measurable terms so that answers from respondents arestandardised. To explore communalities in a study population, measurements and variables play animportant role. In contrast, in qualitative research studies perceptions, beliefs, and feelings play animportant role; here uniformity is not needed.

Concepts, such as happiness or poverty, are subjective and are difficult to measure because they canhave different meanings to different people. Variables on the other hand are measurable to adegree of precision. It would be easy to come up with a list of male and female students in the class.To do the same for a concept, indicators need to be established that can be measured withvariables. A list of variables may be needed to determine a concept. Clear decisions need to be madeon working definitions for a concept. To practise this:

1. Ask students to convert the concept of happiness into indicators and variables. An example canbe given from the textbook on the concept of rich/poor which has indicators of income andvalue of assets with variables of total household income per year in $ and total value of houses,

cars and other items also in $. This then leads to a working definition: rich for this particularstudy is if a total income is higher than $200,000 per year and total assets exceed $2,000,000.

How can happiness be measured? This can be done as a whole group exercise collating theanswers on the board if the class does not work well independently. If they do, this activity canbe set to small groups which then present their results to the whole class.

What are the indicators can you think of? What variables are needed to measure each indicator? How will each variable be measured?

Which measurement is used to formulate a working definition for the concept?


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2. In a follow up activity the students in the class can identify the types of variables they came upwith in the exercise above. Here it may be useful to ask students to come up with a briefdefinition of each variable type and the units of measurement. This will test studentsunderstanding which then can be applied using the created variables and put this into context bygiving an example.

Independent variable the cause supposed to be responsible for bringing about change(s)in a phenomenon or situation.

Dependent variable the outcome or change(s) brought about by introduction of anindependent variable.

Extraneous variable several other factors operating in a real-life situation may affectchanges in the dependent variable. These factors, not measured in the study, may increaseor decrease the magnitude or strength of the relationship between independent anddependent variables.

Intervening variable sometimes called the confounding variable (Grinnell 1988: 203), itlinks the independent and dependent variables. In certain situations the relationshipbetween an independent and a dependent variable cannot be established without theintervention of another variable. The cause, or independent, variable will have the assumedeffect only in the presence of an intervening variable.

Categorical variables are measured on nominal or ordinal measurement scales, whereas forcontinuous variables the measurements are made on either an interval or a ratio scale. Thereare three types of categorical variables: constant variable has only one category or value, for example taxi, tree and water;

dichotomous variable has only two categories, as in male/female, yes/no, good/bad,head/ tail, up/down and rich/poor;

polytomous variable can be divided into more than two categories, for example religion.

Types of measurement scales: nominal or classificatory scale each subgroup has a characteristic/property which is

common to all classified within that subgroup. ordinal or ranking scale characteristic of nominal scale and subgroups have a

relationship with one another. They are arranged in relation to their respectivemagnitude either in ascending or descending order.

interval scale all characteristics of the ordinal scale and it has a unit of measurementwith an arbitrary starting point and termination point.

ratio scale all the characteristics of an interval scale but it has a starting point fixed atzero.

3. Alternatively, an existing questionnaire can be provided and each question can be identified interms of type of variable and units of measurement scale . Its best to ask students to do this inpairs and then discuss the correct answers with the whole class.


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Chapter 6: Constructing Hypotheses

Aims:

To understand the use of hypotheses

To learn how to formulate different types of hypotheses

Formulating a hypothesis in quantitative research requires some practice and knowledge of the topicarea. The reason for stating a hypothesis is that it can be tested and after the analysis it can berejected or accepted, the result is either true or false. Usually a research question is all-encompassing and to provide more focus to it, it can be broken down into smaller components orhypotheses. Each hypothesis can be tested and expresses a relationship between variables.

Give students some research objectives, such as the following or choose your own examples:

to investigate whether women are more likely to be dissatisfied with their body image thanmen

to examine the relationship between age and voting participation in general elections to investigate whether gender affects how worried someone is of being a victim of crime

1. Because hypotheses are specific and measurable it may be useful to identify the type ofvariables in each example. Ask students to name the independent and dependent variable:

Which variable is the independent variable? Which variable is the dependent variable?

How could each variable be measured?

2. Now ask students in small groups to make a prediction of the outcome of each researchobjective. They need to formulate hypotheses. These need to be simple, specific, clear andverifiable. Ask them to formulate a statement for each of the following:

Null hypotheses Hypotheses of difference Hypothesis of point-prevalence Hypothesis of association

3. As a follow up activity, ask students to justify their hypotheses. Were they able to predict an outcome for all types of hypotheses? If yes, where did the information come from and how could the hypothesis be backed

up? If no, why not? What information is needed to make a better prediction?

Feedback from each student group can be shared with the whole class in a plenary discussion.


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4. Alternatively, provide a relevant research article and choose one where hypotheses are clearlystated. Then structure the session around guided reading. Ask students to read the article. Theycan then identify the types of hypotheses stated, look for clues on how the hypotheses aresupported in the literature review and how they will be investigated in the methods section.

Chapter 7: The Research Design

Aims:

To appreciate the function of the research design To understand the function and use of different variables in a research design

The research design defines the type of study that will be conducted and is an important part of theresearch planning process. The research design itself is a plan detailing how the study is to becompleted. In order to do that a clear research problem has to be stated explaining what will bestudied. Then, the research design details how this will be studied. In this session, the focus shouldbe on understanding the function of the research design in the research process, before the actualstudy designs are discussed. If preferred this could also be combined when teaching specific studydesigns, which are discussed in Chapter 8.

1. The discussion could start with the following question: Why is it important to have a researchdesign before the research is conducted?Here an open discussion would support the understanding of the function of a research designand could lead to identifying what information should be included in the research design.

2. Using a research question example from your research or practice (e.g. Are women more fearfulof being a victim of crime than men?), students can work in small groups and the task is toidentify aspects and information that is needed in order to describe the research design. Thisexercise can be done by designing the study and then planning more specific details. Studentsshould come up with a list of detailed information on:

Sampling Data collection Analysis

Ethical considerations

3. To understand the function of different variables in a research design it may be a good idea torecap the definitions of the following variables first (this could be done in a class discussion): Dependent variable Independent variable Extraneous variable Chance or random variable

With a good understanding of the terminology students can now come up with an example fromtheir study area (or you could provide one from your practice if you prefer, or use figure 7.1which explains the factors affecting the relationship between a counselling service and the


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extent of marital problems) in which the three sets of variables affect the dependent variablewhen studying a cause-effect- relationship and apply the maxmincon principle of variance.Generally we want to find out what happens to the dependent variable if the independentvariable changes. Sometimes there is a third variable involved, the extraneous variable, whichcauses a change in the dependent variable. Also discuss any chance or random errors and theuse of control groups. Here are some points to steer the discussion:

Maximise the variance of the independent variable (How many levels will theindependent variable have?)

Minimize the error variance (What reliable measures are used? How can procedures bestandardised? How large is the sample? What sampling methods will be used? Is it arandom sample?)

Control extraneous variables (Can the extraneous variable be eliminated? Will randomassignment to control groups be used? How can the extraneous variable be built into theresearch design?)

Chapter 8: Selecting a Study Design

Aims:

To appreciate when to use different study designs To understand strengths and weaknesses of study designs

There are many different study designs and it is unlikely that all can be covered in one session.Therefore it may be useful to concentrate on the most common ones or those that are important foryour study area.

1. A suggested activity is to ask students to select a research journal article of their choice andinterest. Students need to read this before the session so that they have a good understandingof its content. Questions to consider in class: What is the research question of the article? What design was used to collect data to answer the research question?

Allow some time for individual students to feedback on their articles.

2. In this activity students can practice designing a study. Use your own study area and providestudents with a research idea to be investigated. You could give students the freedom to devisea study on a topic they are interested in, but they may take a long time to decide on a or areatopic (this could be overcome by setting a strict time limit e.g. five minutes)and therefore it maybe best to provide one from the start. Divide the class into four groups and ask each group todesign a different study:

1. Experiment2. Survey3. Focus group

4. Participant observation


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The number of groups and study designs can be altered depending how much time is availableto design the studies. Be sure to leave sufficient time to feedback from each group.

Each group of students should report back on the following:

Study population Number of contacts with the study population Reference period of the study Procedure of data collection Ethical issues Advantages of the study design Disadvantages of the study design

3. In order to start a discussion about different research designs this activity requires somepreparation. You may like to use examples from your own research. This also works well withresearch being conducted by tutors teaching on your course, or research that has been done inthe department, as this may start a dialogue between students and staff on their researchinterests.

Select some research studies using different research designs and present the research questionas well as the summarised results/findings to students. In groups, get students to suggest howthe studies were done. After reporting back, tell or show the students how the studies wereactually designed. Award points to those that identified the correct design! To make this evenmore interesting students could also guess which tutor was involved in the research. Reveal the

names of the researchers for each study at the end.

Chapter 9: Selecting a Data Collection Method

Aims:

To appreciate different data collection methods To practice data collection methods

Students can read up on different data collection methods and their strengths and weaknesses. Theresearch design will determine to some degree what data collection method is suitable. In order tochoose an appropriate method to gather data, it may be a good idea to explain the most commondata collection methods. Here are some suggestions of engaging with observations, questionnairesand interviews. Each part could be introduced with a general discussion about the particularmethods.

1. Observation


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It is easy to set up an observation; this could be of a film clip in class (the advantage is that it couldbe watched several times) or students could be sent off in small groups to conduct an observation inthe field on campus. Before the observation starts, discuss with students what they want to observe:

Acts

Activities Meanings Participation Relationships Settings

Also establish how the observation will be recorded, (e.g. counting versus descriptions). Encouragestudents to take detailed field notes during the observation. Here a sheet with general informationon setting, date, etc., as well as different columns for comprehensive notes may help to organise the

observation (e.g. time reference for film clip, speech or dialogue, events, gestures, personalcomments, category, etc). It would be advisable to keep a time limit on the actual observation.

After the observation ask students to comment on the following:

What did they want to find out? What did they observe? What did they write down? How can the field notes be improved? What information can be added?

2. Questionnaire

The aim is for students in small groups to design a short questionnaire to collect quantitative data ona topic. Guidelines should be provided on the length of the questionnaire (e.g. 6-8 questions,including two questions on demographics). Students can choose a topic that interests them.Alternatively you could write 8-10 topics on cards and distribute them randomly to groups, so thateach group designs a questionnaire on a different unknown topic. Allow students 15-20 minutes todesign a questionnaire. Ask students to set out questions exactly as they would be on a finalquestionnaire.

In the next 20 minutes ask students to peer -assess a questionnaire from a different group

commenting on both strengths and weaknesses of the following: Wording of the question Ordering of the questions Question types used Overall layout of the questionnaire

Ensure each group receives feedback on their questionnaire and positive and negative comments oneach point.

3. Interview


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Arrange students in groups of three. In each group one person is the interviewer, one theinterviewee and one student observes the interview. Ask each student to interview another studenton a topic (e.g. hobbies or friendship). The interview could last between 5-8 minutes. After theinterview each student should provide feedback and the observer can feedback on how s/he thinksthe interview went. Next the interviewer should comment on the interview and then theinterviewee. Now change roles in each group so that each student experiences the role ofinterviewer, interviewee and observer. A plenary discussion can conclude the session by drawingtogether lessons learnt from the experience. Issues that may be discussed are wording of thequestions, which questions worked well and which didnt, how to deal with pauses, body language,

etc.

Chapter 10: Collecting Data Using Attitudinal Scales

Aims:

To appreciate attitudinal scales in social research To practice constructing an attitudinal scale

Researchers are often interested in peoples opinions for or against certain issues. An attitudetowards an issue is a like or dislike and is expressed in a positive or negative way. Attitudinal scaleshelp to evaluate these aspects. Attitudinal scales allow the researcher to measure the intensity ofthe attitude and most people are familiar with Likert scales.

1. This activity involves constructing a Likert scale and students can work in small groups and testtheir scales with peer assessment in the classroom (step 2). It is advisable to prepare differentstatements for exploration ensuring that students develop different measurements (e.g. level of

agreement, success, satisfaction, importance, knowledge). Give students the following stepsfrom Fig 10.4 as a handout so that they can construct a Likert scale:

Step 1: Assemble or construct statements that are reflective of the attitudes towards the main issuein question. Statements should be worded to reflect both positive and negative attitudes towardsthe issue; that is, they should be for as well as against the issue. (If your scale is one directional, youneed only positive statements.) Make sure that all the statements have a logical link with the mainissue. You also need to decide whether you want respondents to answer in categories or on anumerical scale.

Step 2: Administer the statements to a small group of people to test them for clarity.

Step 3: Analyse the responses by assigning a weighting a numerical value to them. Numericalvalues are assigned differently to positive and negative statements. For a positive statement theresponse indicating the most favourable attitude is to be given the highest score. For example, on afive-category or five-point scale, 5 is assigned to the response that indicates the most favourableattitude and 1 to the response which indicates the least favourable attitude. By contrast, a personwho agrees strongly with a negative statement indicates that s/he does not have a favourableattitude; hence, the scoring is reversed, i.e. 1 is assigned to the response where a respondentstrongly agrees with a negative statement and 5 to the response where s/ he strongly disagree withit.


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Step 4: Calculate each respondents attitudinal score by adding numerical values assigned in Step 3to the responses s/he gave to each statement.

Step 5: Compare all respondents scores for each item to identify non -discriminative items. A non-discriminative item is where respondents with high attitudinal score have responded in a similar

manner as the respondents with low attitudinal scale, that is, both groups have responded to thestatement in the same manner. Non-discriminative statements do not help you to distinguishrespondents with respect to attitude as almost everyone responds to them in the same way.

Step 6: Eliminate non-discriminative items.

Step 7 : Construct a questionnaire/interview schedule comprising the selected statements/items.

After groups have constructed their attitudinal scales each group or a selection can present theirstatement and scale as it would appear on a questionnaire.

2. After students have constructed a Likert scale ask them to comment on the following points: Problems of constructing a Likert scale Advantages of Likert scales Disadvantage of Likert scales Differences of other types of attitudinal scales

Follow the answers up in a plenary discussion.

Chapter 11: Establishing the Validity and Reliability of a Research Instrument

Aims:

To appreciate the concepts of validity and reliability To practice procedures to limit the effect on reliability in quantitative research

When designing a data collecting instrument there are certain factors affecting the data that theresearcher wants to use and the concepts of validity and reliability need to be established so thatthe data is of high quality, accurate and valid. What do students understand by the concepts ofvalidity and reliability?

1. Ask students what problems are associated if they were to ask 100 peers to measure their bodyweight and height. Students want to use the data for a class project to find out the body massindex (BMI) of students. The formula is

How valid is the instrument? How reliable is the instrument?


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These exercises can be conducted in small groups and answers should be fed back to the wholeclass.

Here are some aspects that should be identified:

o Participants are ask to weigh themselves and different scales may show differentweights

o Weighed with clothes or without?o Weight in pounds or kg?o Time of the day may give different results in body weighto When have they last measured themselves, they may report a desired weighto Less problems with height (inches could be converted in m or vice versa)

2. This may be a good time to explain the different types of validity and reliability. Ask students tocome up with a definition before they apply each to the BMI example:

Face and content validity (measuring body mass index requires measurement of heightand weight)

Concurrent and predictive validity (Body fat is assumed higher in a higher BMI and thismay be partially correlated to age or exercise regime)

Construct validity (statistical techniques can establish the validity of BMI using heightand weight)

External consistency (test/retest to verify the reliability of the each measure, weight andheight could be repeatedly tested; parallel form of the same: one could be measure ininches and pounds the other in cm and kg)

Internal consistency (as scale data is used for both variables this should be high)

3. In a next step, ask students what strategies or procedures could be put in place to limit theimpact on reliability? Give specific example relating to the BMI example on the following points.

Wording of the question Physical setting Respondents mood Researchers mood Nature of interaction Regression effect of an instrument

4. In addition you can also discuss the concepts of validity and reliability using a qualitative datacollection instrument from your practice. And ask students to comment on:

Credibility Transferability Dependability Confirmability

If time allows also ask students to compare criteria between qualitative and quantitative research judging validity and reliability.


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Chapter 12: Selecting a Sample

Aims:

To understand different sampling designs

To appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of sampling designs To design a sampling strategy

Researchers select samples because it is unlikely that the whole population can be researched. Inquantitative research there are strategies to ensure that the sample is representative of the studypopulation in order to make inferences of the results from the sample to the population, andrandom sampling methods are best. In qualitative research we use non-random sampling designs toensure that the right data is being collected.

5. This activity requires students to read one or two research articles or research reports whichcould be given to them to read before the session. Otherwise select some interesting research

studies from your study area of interest. Here the focus could be on one or two particularsampling designs you would like to discuss in more detail (e.g. cluster sampling and purposivesampling)In small groups, ask students to answer the following question about each study:

What sampling method has been used?

What is the study population?

What is the sample size?

How was the data collected? For quantitative: Is it possible to make inferences (is it a random sample?)

Students should then feedback their answers to the whole group. This may be a good timeto check the understanding of sampling terminology:

Study population

Sample size

Sampling design Sampling frame

Random sampling

Non-random sampling

2. Ask students in small groups to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the samplingmethod used in this research study:

A researcher wishes to conduct a survey of views about the disabled access facilitiesat a Championship football ground. She is interested only in the views of disabledusers of the ground. She decides in advance that she will conduct short interviewswith 100 people, of whom half will be home supporters and half away supporters,and half will be male and half female. She plans to stand outside the groundbetween 2.30pm and 5pm on 4 consecutive match days during the middle of the


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football season, and intends to interview people as they enter and leave the grounduntil she has carried out 100 interviews with people who meet the gender andhome/away support criteria.

General guidance for students:

Use of key sampling terminology: study population, sample, representative,random/non-random, etc.

What sampling method was used?

Strengths and weaknesses identified need to be backed up from the example.

3. This is another group activity. Provide students with a research question (e.g. What arethe patterns of usage of new technology amongst different groups of adults in the UK?)Now ask them to design a sampling strategy to answer the research question.

How would they justify their choice of sampling strategy? Who goes in the sample?

What is the sample size?

What sampling methods will be applied?

Is it a representative sample?

How will sampling bias be avoided?Allow time for students to discuss their ideas with the whole group.

Chapter 13: Writing a Research Proposal

Aims:

To understand the function of a research proposal To appreciate the content within a research proposal To attempt writing a research proposal

Writing a research proposal is best taught by actually engaging in writing an actual researchproposal. But this may prove difficult to do in a time-limited classroom session. Therefore it may be

better to provide students with an existing proposal. This could be written by students in theprevious year for their dissertation, or a proposal from your own work, or a piece that has beensubmitted to your institution from a researcher. Ensure you have permission from the author to usethe research proposal for teaching.

Alternatively you could select one of the examples from chapter 13 on the impact of immigration onthe family roles, attitudes of foster carers towards foster payment, investigating the relationshipbetween academic achievement and social environment, or what it means to have a child withADHD in the family.

1. Start with asking the students to read the document if they are not familiar with it already. Thenhave a 5 minute class discussion on the function of a research proposal.


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Why is it useful to write a research proposal? Who benefits?

2. In the second activity, ask students to mark or peer assess the research proposal. Here studentsshould assess the work to certain criteria and provide reasoning for their decision. Whatfeedback would students give to the author on:

Introduction of the proposed study Theoretical framework that underpins the work Conceptual framework which constitutes the basis of the study Research objectives or research questions (hypotheses to be tested) Proposed research instruments to collect the data Proposed sampling design and sampling size Data processing procedures Relevant ethical considerations Addressing problems and limitations of the study Proposed time-frame for the project

Marks of 10 points can be awarded for each of the above sections. Students can add up theirscore and give an overall mark. Here each student could be asked what mark they would awardbefore each section is discussed in detail providing reasons for the awarded points.

3. Now that students have an understanding of the purpose and the contents of a researchproposal they could start writing their own proposal with support. The research question couldbe provided, or students can use the marking criteria from activity 2 as guidance to structuretheir own research proposal on a topic of their choice. There may be a specific process in theinstitution that needs to be followed to get approval for a research study or dissertation whichcould be followed.Another idea is to use the writing of a research proposal as formative assessment for the course.In that case, activity 2 could be carried out to practice the assessment criteria that will be usedfor the actual piece of coursework.

Chapter 14 Considering Ethical Issues in Data Collection

Aims:

To understand the concepts of ethics in research To apply ethical principles in research

Ethics are an important aspect of research. Ethical guidelines have been developed over the years toensure that research is conducted in an ethical way and without bias ensuring that all partiesinvolved are protected from harm. Ethical issues can occur at any stage in the research process.Being aware of potential ethical principles is good but researchers also need to address any concernsand find ways to avoid or address ethical issues during the research process.

1. Provide students with a copy of your departments code of ethics. Alternatively provide studentswith guidance documentation from a professional body in your discipline such as the Social


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Research Association http://the-sra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/ .The British Psychological Society, the British Society of Criminology and the Social PolicyAssociation all provide guidelines on research ethics which can be found on the internet.Ask students in small groups to identify any areas of research that may come into conflict withthese guidelines.After this activity, understanding of important terminology could be tested and important pointsbe summarised on the board including:

Informed consent Sensitive information Confidential information Avoiding harm to participants Confidentiality Avoiding bias

2. Next, invite students in small groups to choose different approaches to research or allocate oneof the following to each group:

a. Structured observationb. Survey(s)c. Structured interviewd. Semi-structured interviewe. Ethnographic observationf. Focus group

Then in groups ask the students to Explain any ethical issues that need to be considered from the ethical principles and

guidelines for the specific research approach Identify any possible problems for the research process resulting from the ethical

principles and guidelines Identify any strategies for avoiding problems arising from the application of ethical

principles and how they could be addressed.Follow this up with a plenary discussion where students can present their group answers.

3. The last activity uses the following case study from Israel and Hays (2006, p66) Research Ethics for Social Sciences :

Carolyn Hoyle (2000) conducted research on the policing of domestic violence in the UnitedKingdom. She sought to interview female victims and acknowledged that she deceived the male

perpetrators so that they would leave her alone with the victims. She did not tell the male partners that the research was about domestic violence, leaving them to believe that it wasabout policing all kinds of disputes instead. She also told the men that they would be asked thesame questions as their partners but they were not.

Discuss the ethical implications of the case study. Is deceiving the male perpetrators by theresearcher in this context justified? What are the ethical issues that need to be considered?
http://the-sra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/http://the-sra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/http://the-sra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/http://the-sra.org.uk/sra_resources/research-ethics/ethics-guidelines/


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Chapter 15 Processing Data

Aims:

To appreciate coding in quantitative research

To develop themes from text using content analysisAfter the data has been collected for a research study it then needs to be processed to get somemeaningful findings. The researcher has to make sense of the data. There are different techniquesused for quantitative and qualitative research. It may not be practical to cover both in one sessionand might be preferable to allow time for students to practice the preparation of the data such ascleaning a data set or transcribing an interview before the actual data analysis.

1. For this coding activity a questionnaire is needed. This could be a questionnaire students havedesigned in an earlier session or an existing one that can be given to the class. It would bebeneficial if the questionnaire contained closed questions with a few open responses such as

age in years, amount of money spent on a night out, a list of choices with an other categorythat is specified and an open-ended longer answer (e.g. the reason why another question wasanswered yes/no). The task for students is to develop a code book with particular emphasis on:

Each question is a variable and the measurement needs to be identified as eithernominal/ordinal/interval

How will a list of choices be coded? Each choice can get a code if only one answer isallowed or each choice is a variable with a yes/no option if the instruction was to tick alloptions that applied to the question

How to deal with open responses?

2. After a code book has been developed, students should complete the questionnaire and codethe data that has been obtained in a data or code sheet where each row represents arespondent and each column a variable. If a computer programme is used to analyse the dataand students have access to computers in the classroom then the data sheet could be enteredstraight onto the computer. The researcher should already have thought about what analysis isnecessary to answer the research question, but this may be a good point to develop a frame ofanalysis to think about what results are needed from the data.If a computer was used, a frequency distribution or cross tabulation could be easily extracted tocount the responses.

3. Moving on to data processing in qualitative research. Qualitative research does not use numbersit uses narratives or text, typically in the form of a transcript from an in depth interview, a focusgroup or field notes from an observation. To make sense of the often large amounts of text asystematic approach is needed to code or categorise the information. This means that theresearcher reads thought the text to find patterns, ideas, interactions or themes and thenorganises them into categories or main themes to present them as findings from the research.Research objectives help to focus the process on identifying themes from the data. The best wayto demonstrate this is for students to have a go applying the steps of content analysis to a text.Provide students with a transcript, a blog entry, a policy document or even a song lyric topractice content analysis.


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Ask students to read through the text and note down anything that they think isinteresting, important or significant.

Ask students to read through the data again but this time make notes in the marginsabout significant remarks or highlight keywords. A code is a definition that is assigned tothe data. There is no limit in creating codes.

Taking this a step further student should identify some main themes in the data. Reviewing the codes and themes. Are there other layers of codes that focus on the

interpretation of the meaning of the existing codes? How many times does a themeoccur in the data?

What are the overarching themes emerging from the data? Checking the data for theidentified theme.

How can it be shown to others how themes have been defined using the data?This exercise should be followed up with some students presenting what themes they have foundand relating them to verbatim quotes from the data.

Chapter 16: Displaying Data

Aims:

To appreciate strengths and weaknesses of tables and graphs To practice creating bivariate tables

Displaying data is something that is often overlooked, but it is important to report on the results thatwere found. After the data has been analysed it needs to be communicated to the reader or anaudience and there are different ways this can be done. Quantitative research follows a format forpresenting which can make use of graphs and tables to enhance the text and illustrate the results. Adiscussion of these results follows. On the other hand, in qualitative research findings and theirdiscussion are often presented together and a narrative is used. The focus in this session will be ontables and graphs displaying numerical data.

2. A first discussion could establish when to use tables and graphs instead of text or to complementthe text. In small groups ask students to think about specific examples when they would use atable and when a graph.

Here students should also think about the advantages of tables and graphs. In what wayare they better than text?

Would they use tables and graphs alternatively? What distinguishes tables and graphs?

3. The next activity requires a little preparation to locate some tables and/or graphs from anewspaper or magazine on a current subject or relevant topic. The table and/or graph could begiven out as a hand-out or directly projected from a webpage to the classroom screen.Encourage students to discuss the structure of the displayed data checking whether all elementsare present in the display. Here is a checklist of what may be useful:

a. Titleb. Stub


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c. Column headingd. Bodye. Supplementary notes or footnotesf. Univariate/bivariate/ multivariateg. Types of percentages: Row, column and total

For graphs also

h. Legendi. Labelling of axes j. Scale of axes

Students may find aspects of the table/graph that could be improved and this can be explored in aclass discussion.

4. Finally students should try to construct a bivariate table with the knowledge they have on howto present data. It may be useful to provide students with a topic or variables, but they canpresent hypothetical data. If students have access to the internet they could search for real dataon a particular issue. Otherwise students may enjoy a quick data collection exercise in theclassroom. Students can be divided into different groups by age, gender or any othercharacteristic and a few questions about whether they are member of a sports club or gym andthe time spend exercising in the last week or on any other topic of interest. This could berecorded in a data sheet on the board. Here is an example:

Studentname/no

Gender Age Club membership Minutes of exercise in last week

1 male 19 Yes 1502 male 18 No 603 female 19 Yes 200

Now ask students how they would display the data that has been collected using at least twovariables from the datasheet above. Students should present the data appropriately in a table or

graph to the class, and then receive feedback from their peers.

Chapter 17: Writing a Research Report

Aims:

To appreciate how to develop an outline for a research report To practice referencing To understand how to write a bibliography

Writing the research report is the last step in the research process. Now it is about writing up andcommunicating what the study was about, how it was done and what was found.


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1. As students have now completed the whole research process they should have an understandingof what needs to be communicated in the report. This is a good point to recap the eight stepresearch process and ask students to use this to outline a research report. This could also bedone using a particular topic or variable. These points should be discussed which can be donewith the whole class:

Introduction to the study and providing a rationale: Why is it important to study thetopic/ variable?

A literature review needs to provide a theoretical and conceptual framework. Are allvariables addressed that will be analysed? What have other studies found?

Research question and hypotheses Methodology and methods for sampling, data collecting and analysis Results of the study. How will they be reported? Interpreting and discussing the findings. What conclusions can be drawn from the results?

What explanation can be provided for the findings of the study? What limitations does the study have? Conclusion and recommendations

Writing is a creative activity and reports can be written thematically but they still need to includeall the elements that have been covered in the research process.To get students to do a short (five minutes) free writing exercise may be a good idea. Askstudents to write an introduction to a research study.

Alternatively provide students with an example of a research report from your discipline anddiscuss each section in class.

2. In academic writing it is important to acknowledge and reference other peoples ideas. There aredifferent referencing systems in use but they all have in common sufficient information to locatethe original text and they are consistent throughout the piece of academic work. To practice thereferencing system that is used in your discipline or university, use a short extract of a literaturereview and remove all in the text references.Give students a hand-out of the extract and ask them to indicate in the text where to place areference (e.g. mark with a *). Students should work on their own, but can then discuss their

choices in pairs before the original text with the correct references is revealed.

3. In a further exercise about full text references in the bibliography, provide students with a list ofreferences from different sources, such as a text book, a journal article, an online reference,chapter of a book, etc. Theses references could be taken from the literature review of the samearticle that was used in the previous activity.Ask students to indicate references from different sources and explain the differences inreporting them in the bibliography.

Documents

Instructor Guidelines