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Research DesignResearch Design
Minjuan WangThanks to Bober-Michel
ED 690, EDTEC, SDSU
Basic vs. Applied
The development of Interpersonal relationships in online chat rooms
How does playing video games affect children’s learning styles?
How can these theories be used to help people develop romantic relationships in online chat rooms (e.g., eharmony)?
Can playing video games help these children develop media literacy skills?
Examples of Applied Research Action (or practitioner) research
ongoing improvement of practice a cycle of plan -> act -> study the act -> learn from
the study -> act again -> ... Evaluation research
Formative: How have I met the objectives of my life? Summative
Has my life been worth living?
Qualitative (interpretive) & Quantitative
Research Think in terms of how to do the study
View of the world: holistic vs. variables Primary data types Naturalistic settings or manipulation Researcher involvement Data analysis Report writing
Traditional Chinese vs. Western Medicine
The "whole body" health approach
•sees the person as an integral Mind/body organism
•Emotional, mental life, physical symptoms
•stimulate the body’s natural healing potential by treating root causes rather than just symptoms
Descriptive/Survey Research to describecustomer service
Correlational ResearchNot “causation”
Causal-Comparative Research The personal, social, and family characteristics
of angry teens Experimental Research
Independent variable: manipulated
Collecting numerical and narrative data to test hypotheses or answer questions concerning current status.
Through self-reports, questionnaires or interviews, or through observations.
Focused on particular aspects of behavior that can be quantified
One may count occurrences of a behavior, or its accuracy, intensity, duration, maturity, or some other dimension
• Developmental Explores how a particular characteristic changes as
people mature … or a setting or situation becomes institutionalized
• Cross-sectional: people from different age groups are sampled and compared (gerontology studies, school studies, etc.)
• Longitudinal: single group of participants are followed over the course of time (Head Start, Early Start, High Scope, NAEP)
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• Survey research focused on characteristics, opinions, attitudes or previous
experiences Example: the census, National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE; see: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/quick_facts.cfm)
Purpose: to understand/draw inferences about a particular population
Captures a moment in time—thus the data are quite short-lived
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A study to determine the beliefs of EDTEC graduate students.
Pre-service teachers:how often they use specific
strategies/techniques they’ve been “taught” Determining a “recycling”/green
mindset Team/group dynamics
(working collaboratively) Yours?
Descriptive Research (sampling) Probability sampling
Uses some form of random selection ensures that each segment of a population is
represented to let blind chance determine the outcomes of the
selection process
An illustration Online: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampprob.php
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Descriptive Research (sampling)
NonprobabilityConvenience (accidental) sampling
Starbucks between 7 to 8 am, to Vons between 6 and 7 pm
Quota—no randomnessPurposive:
people or “units” are chosen deliberately … for one or more reasons
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Are ages of EDTEC graduates related to job satisfaction?
Do Stock Prices correlate
with employee training?
Do Big Bob test scores correlate highly with other intelligence test? Do they correlate highly with people's self-esteem and height?
Correlational Research
But… be careful with causationCorrelation does not necessarily mean
causation Can we conclude that
churches cause peopleto drink more?
To lower the number ofbars, we should eliminatechurches
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The cause, or reason, for existing differences in the behavior or status of groups of individuals
Gender, ethnicity, personality, height…
BehaviorsSmoking InsomniaLack of motivation
Explore the reason for an observed difference in receptivity to online learning (gender? age? cultural beliefs)?
• The observed difference has already occurred – it’s being studied in retrospect
• The variable of interest (see above) cannot be “manipulated”
One begins with a “noted” difference between groups—and then looks for possible causes for … or consequences of … that difference
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Conducting causal-comparative research (p. 366)
• Formulating a “problem”• Sampling• Instrumentation
Goal is to select two or more groups that differ on a particular variable of interest
(example: persistence) and compare them on other variables (examples: ethnicity, socioeconomics, gender, age)
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22Source: http://www.nvcc.edu
What can you conclude about the constructs in these scatterplots?
WHAT IS THIS LITTLE BOY DOING? 23
One-Shot Case Study One-Group Pretest-Posttest Quasi-Experimental
No random assignments Pretest-Posttest Control Group Posttest-Only Control Group Factorial Design
two or more separate independent variables
• “Weak” experimental designs• One-shot experimental case study: one
group, a simple intervention, measurement
• One-group pretest/posttest: one group, preassessment, exposure to an intervention, post-assessment
• Static group comparison (with or without a pretest): experimental and control group, experimental group exposed to an intervention, both groups assessed
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• Quasi-experimental designs aren’t randomly assigned to groups
• Counterbalanced design: multiple groups exposed to the varying treatments, but in a different order (determined randomly)
• Simple time series: one group, series of initial measurements, exposure to an intervention, series of post-measurements
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Bob’s Multimedia ExperimentsBoat going through the Canal What Typeface is most readable online?
Yours?
