Research Methods Final

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Explanatory

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to explain the reason or a desire to know why a given phenomenon of interest has occurred, and to construct, elaborate and expand or test a theory of a well-defined phenomenon that is built on a descriptive and an exploratory research.

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Narrative research

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Used to study the lives of individuals and to provide their life stories in a collaborative narrative.

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Research Design

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A framework for the collection and analysis of data. It is a direction, road map or master plan for conducting your research.

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Research Purpose

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All decisions regarding data, measurement, analysis and reporting emanate from a research purpose. (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory)

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Descriptive

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To provide a better picture and more detailed description of an idea that is well developed or to address a research that focuses on who, when, where and how questions.

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Exploratory

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To understand a new topic, or little understood issue, with an intention of learning more about the phenomenon of interest. Used to identify information & formulate more precise questions that the future studies can address.

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Phenomenology

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is the “lived experience” of several individuals which seeks an extensive and prolonged engagement. It is a method used by researchers to experience a phenomenon and to ascribe meaning to it.

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Ethnography

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is a strategy of inquiry where a researcher studies an intact cultural group.

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Grounded theory

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seek to discover an inductively driven theory through the constant comparison of data with emerging categories & theoretical sampling of different groups.

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Case Study

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has been described as a strategy of inquiry in which the researcher explores a program, event, activity, process or one or more individuals in depth.
a strategy of inquiry in which the researcher explores a program, event, activity, process of one or more individuals in depth.

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Experiment

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used in a situation where the research has a form of question as a how or why; requires control of behavioral events & focuses on contemporary events.

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Survey

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uses a questionnaire to collect data from a large number of research participants. The data is used for statistical analysis to infer about population from sample.

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Secondary Sources

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example statistics Canada, Forbes, government documents

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Reliability

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the results remain the same each time a particular measurement technique is used on the same subject. The results aren’t influenced by the research, the location, the timing, etc.

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Replicability

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the results remain the same when others repeat all of part of a study. The procedures used to conduct the research are sound.

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Validity

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integrity to the conclusions. Measurement validity (or construct validity) involves the question “Are you measuring what you want to measure?”

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Internal validity

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concerned with the issue of whether causation has been established by a particular study.

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Independent variable

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the proposed cause (occurs first)

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Dependent variable

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the proposed effect (occurs second)

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External validity

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Are the findings applicable to situations outside the research environment? Can the findings be generalized beyond the people or cases studied?

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Trustworthiness

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a criterion for qualitative work. Includes: credibility (internal validity), transferability (external validity), dependability (reliability), confirmability (replicability).

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Quantitative data

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a systematic investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or numerical data. Researcher asks a specific, narrow question and collects a sample of numerical data from participants to answer the question that can be generalizable to the population.

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Concept

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ideas of mental representations of things.

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Coding

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transforming a measure into numbers.

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Nominal

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describes the concept in words, much like a dictionary definition.

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Operational

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describes how the concept is to be measured.

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Measurement reliability

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refers to whether an indicator devised to measure a concept really does so. (face validity, construct validity, concurrent validity, convergent validity)

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Internal reliability/ Internal consistency

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multiple measure administered in one session consistent with eachother.

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Inter-observer consistency

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all observers should classify behavior or attributes in the same way

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Measurement validity

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concerned with whether one is measuring what one wants to measure.

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Face validity

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established if, at first glance, the measure appears to be valid.

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Concurrent validity

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established if the measure correlates with some criterion thought to be relevant to the concept.

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Construct validity

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established if the concepts relate to eachother in a way that is consistent with the researcher’s theory.

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Convergent validity

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established if a measure of a concept correlates with a second measure of the concept that uses a different measurement technique.

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Measure

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data is sued to understand or quantify social phenomena, concepts & their interrelations, in general.

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Establishing causality

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researchers want to now what causes social phenomena.

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Survey

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a research strategy that involves either structured interviews or written questionnaires that respondents fill out themselves.

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Structured interviews

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also called standardized interviews. The interviewer asks questions listed on an interview schedule or a formalized script of questions. Questions are read exactly as they are phrased & in the same order as they appear in the schedule.

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Questionnaire

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simply, a structured interview without an interviewer.

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Interview schedule

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a formal list of questions that the interviewer must follow in detail. Helps to ensure that all interviewers experience the same form of questioning and receive exactly the same form of stimulus- reduces error in interview variation.

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Standardization

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ensures greater accuracy, and ease in processing and categorizing respondents’ answers.

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Greater accuracy

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reduces the change of variation due to error on the part of the interviewer/interview process.

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Intra-interviewer variability

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an interviewer is not consistent in asking questions or recording answers.

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Inter-interviewer variability

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lack of consistency in asking questions or recording answers between different interviewers.

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Credibility

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biases based on organizational structure (hierarchy) may lead to a distorting of data.

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Limitations

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lack of familiarity with the data.

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Qualitative research

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research concerned primarily with words and images rather than numbers. It is usually inductive. It tends to be interpretivist. The process starts with field research, then concepts and theories are developed.

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Ethnography

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a strategy of inquiry where a researcher studies the culture of a group. A researcher will be immersed in a particular social setting for a long period of time, sometimes even years.

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Qualitative interviewing

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in-depth, semi-structured or unstructured

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Focus groups

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interview several people together

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Discourse and conversation analysis

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analyze the language

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Phenomenology

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appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experiences. (try to build a picture of the experience through using a combination of theories, literature in the area, illustrated by anecdotes, to build a detailed portrait of the experience)

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Grounded theory

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seek to discover an inductively driven theory through the constant comparison of data with emerging categories & theoretical sampling of different groups. OR is a research method that seeks to develop theory that is grounded in data systematically gathered and analysed.

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Narrative research

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a spoken or written account of connected events. (a story) Can refer to a life history of a person you have interviewed, a story about a significant aspect of their life, or a specific event.

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Sampling

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a process of selecting a set of participants from the population, which is less in number (size) but represents the population from which it is drawn so that inferences about the population can be made from the results obtained.

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Element or unit

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a single case in the population

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Population

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all cases that a researcher is interested in

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Sampling frame

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the list of elements that the sample will be selected from

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Sample

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the elements selected for investigations

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Sample size

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the number of participants in a sample

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Representative sample

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a sample that contains the same essential characteristics as the population

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Probability sample

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a sample selected using a random process so that each element in the population has a known likelihood of being selected.

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Non-probability sample

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a sample selected using a non-random method

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Sampling error

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estimation the error that occurs because of differences between the characteristics of the sample and those of the population

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Non-Response

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when an element selected for the sample does not supply the required data

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Census

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data that comes from an attempt to collect information from all elements in the population

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Simple random sample

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each element has the same probability of being selected

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Systematic sample

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every nth case in the sampling frame is selected.

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Stratified random sampling

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ensures that subgroups in the population are proportionally represented in the sample.

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Cluster sampling

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multi-stage cluster sampling. Used for large populations and involves selecting clusters and then selecting subunits within clusters.

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Quota sampling

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collecting a specified number of cases in particular categories to match the proportions of cases in that category in the population.

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Structured Observation

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often no sampling frame, may involve time sampling, may include place sampling, may include behavior sampling.

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Rationale

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an attempt to overcome the limitations associated with the use of either an exclusively quantitative method or a qualitative method.

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Triangulation

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use of more than one approach to investigate research questions to enhance confidence in findings. (Also known as Mixed Methods)
seeks convergence, corroboration and correspondence of results from different methods.

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Mixed methods

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the type of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches for the broad purpose of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration.

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Complementarity

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seeks elaboration, enhancement, illustration, clarification of results of one method with the results from the other method.

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Development

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seeks to use the results of one method to help or inform the other method.

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Initiation

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seeks the discovery of paradox and contradiction, new perspectives, the recasting of questions or the results from one method with questions or results from the other method.

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Expansion

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seeks to extend the breadth and range of inquiry by using different methods from different inquiry components.