Research Methods Midterm Iii

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deductive approach

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*an approach to inquiry in which one begins with abstract ideas and principles then works toward concrete, empirical evidence to test the ideas (theory-->evidence)
*usually found in quantitative research
*general--->specific
*follows logically from available facts
*top-down

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inductive approach

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*an approach to inquiry in which you begin with concrete, empirical evidence, then work towards abstract ideas or general principles
*involves a degree of uncertainty
*evidence-->theory
*usually found in qualitative research
*specific-->general
*"bottom-up approach"

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Theory

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*a generalization about a phenomenon
*an explanation about why something occurs
*scientific vs. common-sense theories
*significance: organizes knowledge, predicts certain outcomes

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What are the parts of a theory?

CAR

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*Concepts: building blocks of a theory
*Assumptions: things not observable or testable
*Relationships: Theory offers reason for why relationships exist

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qualitative research

(hint: methods=GAPED)

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*information in the form of words, pictures, sounds, objects
*methods:ethnography, phenomenology, discourse analysis, grounded theory
*inductive approach
*holistic
*flexible
*exploration

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quantitative research

methods=DICC

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*information in the form of numbers
*deductive approach
*methods: descriptive, inferential, correlational, and cause comparative research
*goal is prediction, control, confirmation, test hypotheses
*attitudes, beliefs, knowledge(instruments)
*can use scales
*studies the relationship between concepts and variables--E.g. grades and hours spent in the library

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basic research

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*advances fundamental knowledge about the social world.
*focuses on developing, testing, and supporting theories that explain how the social world operates, why they operate as they do, and how society changes
*significance: the source of most new scientific ideas

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applied research

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*attempts to solve a concrete problem or address a specific policy question
*has a direct, practical application
*significance: helps with decision-making. (i.e. Should a company market a skin care product to adults instead of teenagers?)

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Post hoc ergo propter hoc

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*After it, therefore, because of it(ATB)
*significance: based upon the mistaken notion that simply because one thing happens after another, the first event was a cause of the second event.

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independent variable

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*The first variable that causes or produces the effect in a causal explanation
*variable the researcher manipulates
*the cause variable
*identifies forces or conditions that act on something else
*significance: iv's affect or have an impact on other variables
*EX: How fast the grass grows depends on how much rain we get. (how much rain we get is the independent variable)

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dependent variable

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*The variable that is the effect, result, or outcome of another variable
*the effect variable
*most basic causal relationship
*significance: does not need to impact other variables
*EX: How fast the grass grows depends on how much rain we get. (how fast the grass grows is the dependent variable)

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Operationalization

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*links a conceptual definition to a specific set of things you do
*connects the language of abstract ideas with that of concrete, empirical measures
*significance: can help you draw on ideas from other studies and go beyond the data of a specific research setting
*part of the measurement process

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Conceptualization

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*the process of carefully thinking through a construct's meaning
*significance: requires you to be very clear in making definitions for your study so other people can understand it from your point of view
*part of the measurement process
*Conceptualization->Operationalization

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Construct

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*an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements
*subjective
*not based on empirical evidence

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Spuriousness

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*A statement that appears to be a causal explanation, but is not because of a hidden, unmeasured, or initially unseen variable
*significance: the unseen variable comes earlier and has a causal impact on the dependent/independent variables

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Creswell's definition of quantitative research

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*"an inquiry into a social or human problem based on testing a theory composed of variables, measured with numbers, and analyzed with statistical procedures, in order to determine whether the predictive generalizations of the theory hold true

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Assumptions

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*statements about the nature of things that are not observable or testable
*part of a theory

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Backward mapping

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*find one good journal article closely related to your study, use the bibliography from this article as your search guide
*significance: follow up on all sources that appear related to your dependent variable

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Forward mapping

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*use databases to find articles related to your study
*significance: this will save time (?)

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Scales

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*captures the intensity, direction, level, or potency of a variable construct along a continuum
*a type of quantitative data measure
*significance: to measure social behaviors/variables

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Indexes

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*the summing/combining of many separate measures of a construct or variable
*significance: deals with the issue of multidimensionality

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Reliability

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*the consistency of your measurement, or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same circumstances
*the repeatability of your measurement!
*PIIS types of reliability
*significance: tests how stable, how dependable, etc., a measure is

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Validity

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*truthfulness: does the test measure what it sets out to measure?
*You cannot have validity w/o reliability!
*CCCF types of validity
*significance: *the degree to which measurement tools accomplish the purpose for which they're being used

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Confirmation (selection) bias

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*is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses
*significance: could screw with your data and mess up the whole study

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Literature Review Thesis Statement

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*offers an argument or observation about the literature on your topic
*lit review adds to the "conversation among scholars at a dinner party"

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What is a research question?

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*refer to the relationships among a small number of variables
*a clear, focused, concise, arguable q around which you center your research
*raises a problem that if not answering it keeps us from knowing something more important than its answer
*significance: what you want to answer by the end of your study (or, answered by the thesis statement?)

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What is a hypothesis?

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*links 2 variables together
*the statement form a causal explanation that has at least one independent and one dependent variable, but has yet to be empirically tested
*must be testable
*i.e. People who work out together are likely to have more fun than people who don't.
*significance: to develop a starting point for research

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What is an attribute?

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*a specific value on a variable
*describes the intensity or strength of attachment to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
*significance: male is an attribute of the variable gender

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abstract

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*short summaries on the first page of the article

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soft data

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*qualitative
*in the form of impressions, words, sentences, photos, symbols, etc.
*dictate different research strategies and data collection techniques

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hard data

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*quantitative
*in the form of numbers
*dictates different approach o a study

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control variable

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*constant
*affects dependent variable

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"So What?"

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*This question answers why others should care about your work
*the ticket into the conversation of your community of researchers

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What is communication?

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*process by which verbal and nonverbal messages are used to create and share meaning.

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What are 4 components of the communication model?--PMCC

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1)people
2)messages
3)channels
4)contexts

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What is research?

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*studious inquiry
*strategies researchers use to solve "puzzles"
*means used to collect evidence necessary for testing explanation about something being studied

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Mixed-methods approach

(what are 6 core characteristics?
PAID PC)

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*mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches
*collection, analysis, integration, philosophical, design, persuasive

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Another way to look at deductive research

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Theory-->Hypothesis-->Observation-->Confirmation

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What are three things you need to establish causality?

Hint: ATE

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1) Temporal-order
2) Association (of causality)
3) Eliminate alternative explanations

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What is the goal of your study?

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*A research statement

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How to begin...

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find JUST THOSE DATA that you need to ANSWER YOUR QUESTION

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If a researcher wants to understand why a policy failed,

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the study's dependent variable is the failure of the study

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What is your topic? (in terms of variables)

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the dependent variable

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What are characteristics of causal hypotheses?

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*at least 2 variables
*express a cause & effect relationship
*can be expressed as a prediction or expected outcome
*falsifiable-->testable against empirical evidence to be false/true

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What is a quantitative approach?

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*a formal, objective process in which numerical data are used to obtain info about the world
*main feature: produces generalizable findings, purpose of research is to measure concepts & variables
*make sure you're studying not "what ought to be", but rather, "what is"
*mathematically-based methods

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What are some quant. research characteristics?

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*about qualifying the relationships between variables
*construct statistical methods
*the researcher knows in advance what he/she is looking for

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What is quant. research process?

THRDS APAW

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*theory
hypothesis
r.d.
devise measures of concepts
data
administer research instruments
process data
analyze data
write up conclusions

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What are diff. types of quant. research?

DICC

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descriptive, inferential, correlational, cause comparative

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What are advantages/limitations of quant. research?

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advantages: provides estimates of populations, has precision, indicates extensiveness of ppls' attitudes
limitations: categories that are used might not reflect data, confirmation bias, knowledge produced might be too abstract & general