Lecture 2 2007

7/31/2019 Lecture 2 2007

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Lecture 2

2010Introduction to Research Design

DAVID NANA ADJEI

7/31/2019 Lecture 2 2007


Flaws in thinking as part of

everyday life

Telling anecdotes – a personal story tosupport or refute a general point

Refers to instinct or laws of nature or whateveryone knows

Uses correlational data as causal (there hasbeen a huge increase in crime sincemothers started working)

Uses emotional language instead of reason

and evidence (dumping babies in child careto be looked after by a stranger has to beharmful)

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3 Goals of Health Science

Description Careful observation of events and the

conditions under which they occur.

Step one in the development of a theory

Prediction Defines when events will and will not occur

May allow us to identify magnitude andfrequency and perhaps make judgments ofimportance

Explanation Specify cause and effect

Many causes maybe identified each with avarying degree of influence (e.g. the causes ofheart disease)

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What defines a solvable research

question?

Is there life after death?

Does sin exist? Is there a God?

Is water diviing a good way to

find water?

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The principle of falsifiability

Theories must be stated in ways

that make it possible to refute or

disconfirm Predict what will/will not happen

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All Ashanti’s are black

The next Ashanti you see is

white

is this a good test of your theory?

The next Ashanti you see is

black

Is this a better test of your theory?

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Basic and Applied Research

Basic Science – knowledge for its

own sake. The development of logical thought in

children

Memory for different kinds of word lists

Perception of transparency, depth, motion,

light etc.

Facial features and mate selection

Bodily odours and sexual attraction

Each may start out as an interest of

groups of researchers the findings of

which may or may not be developed

for practical use.

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Practical uses of basic

research

Development of logical thought – a test for diagnosing developmental

disability

Memory for word lists

– design of specialised vocabularies for communication (e.g. aviation)

Perception of depth – environmental design to warn of hazards

(e.g., warning lights)

Facial features – advertising

Bodily odours - perfume

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Applied Research Questions

In Clinical settings – What type of

therapy alleviates depression?

In Educational settings – What is the

best way to teach children how toread?

In Sports Physiotherapy – How does

training regime impact on

performance?

In Organisational settings – What

form of management style motivates

employees?

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Sources of ideas for Research

Theory-confirmation, refutation,comparison, merger

Practical Problems-problem definition,solution seeking, validating

Practitioners' assumptions Prior Research-case studies, conflicting

findings, overlooked variables, setting

and expanding boundaries, testing

alternative explanations Logical Analysis-analogy, looking at things

backwards

Everyday Experience

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Formulating a Question

Characteristics of a Good ResearchQuestion: has the potential to expand our knowledge base How well grounded the question is in the

current knowledge base (the problem must

have a basis in theory, research, or practice (weneed to know what is already known so that wecan judge how much it can add to theknowledge base; gives us an anchor)

How researchable it is (how easy it is toformulate clear operational definitions of the

variables involved and clear hypotheses aboutthe relationships between the variables)

Importance: the more information the answer toa research question provides, the moreimportant it is

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Stand on the Shoulders of

Giants

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/media/index.php

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What information will a review

provide?

relevant theories (be sure you know all relevanttheories than can explain a phenomenon);

look for information on what has been previouslydone on your research question (you want to knowwhat has been done, what has not been done, andwhat still needs to be done);

information concerning methodology (can borrowfrom methods previously used and can makechanges in your design based upon what did notwork well in the past);

information on data analysis (need to know howyou are going to analyze your data to be sure that

you can actually answer your research question-analytic techniques must match the data that youcollect)

A way of turning an interest into a sensible question

If you have a question you can generatehypotheses.

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Reviewing the Literature

To provide a scientific context for the researchand to validate it against the three criteria for a goodresearch question;

To avoid duplication of effort (if a question hasbeen addressed in numerous ways and the answer is always similar then it might not be worth pursuing

further; or, you might want to try to examine thequestion in a new way (new setting, new population,etc);

To identify potential problems in conducting theresearch (knowing in advance the potentialproblems that can arise in the research can help

you to avoid them)

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Hypotheses should take two forms-

a research hypothesis

a statistical hypothesis

Research Hypotheses: states an expectation

about the relationship between variables; this

expectation derives from and answers the research

question, and so is grounded in prior theory andresearch on the question

Statistical Hypotheses: transforms the research

hypothesis into a statement about the expected

result of a statistical test (directional); must

accurately represent the research hypothesis

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Designing the Study

How will the study be conducted? Choose a research strategy and a specific design

within the chosen strategy

What will be studied? Choice of operational definition for the hypothetical

constructs you're studying

Where will the study be conducted?

Who will be studied? When will the study be conducted?

Time factors? Cross-sectional or longitudinal?

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Research Methods

Three broad types

Descriptive Methods

Relational MethodsExperimental Methods

Appropriateness depends on

the question

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Descriptive Methods

Observational Studies Naturalistic – courting behaviour in

nightclubs

Participant/Action Research

Laboratory Observation – observation of children in a playgroup (allows somemanipulation)

Case Study Methods N=1 in depth analysis (Freud, Piaget)

Is generalisability and replicability aproblem?

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Descriptive Methods II

Survey Methods

Mail, Phone, Web

Large samples often used

Problems include: Opportunism

Response rates

Gaining access Difficult to assign causation

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Predictive Relational

(correlational) Methods

A step up from description in the

demonstration of co-variation –

the correlational method

If a correlation can be

demonstrated then predictions can

be made from the knowledge of

one variable only.

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Questions about the Correlational

Method

Height and weight are correlated - what

can you not conclude?

Pain experienced in child birth and foot

size are strongly correlated – can you

conclude anything?

After watching a violent TV program

children are more aggressive. What can

you conclude?

But …- You can infer causation from

correlation under some circumstances

using a combination of sophisticated

methodology and statistical techniques

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Next Lecture

The experimental method

Its strengths

Its weaknesses

Documents

Lecture 2 2007