01a research types

8/8/2019 01A Research Types

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Types of primary research....How to use this presentation...

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What this presentation covers...

This presentation gives a brief introduction to the main

features of two main types of research, Qualitative andQuantitative. It is important that you are clear about the

differences between these two methodologies.


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Types of research....

Primary research

Quantitative

Qualitative

Secondary research

Looks at other researchto draw conclusions

from a greater body of

evidence. May review

research from either

camp (qualitative orquantitative).

Types of primary research....


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Quantitative experimental design...

What do the terms Experimental and

Quasi-experimental mean?

If we don't manipulate one of thevariables but instead look for

differences that occur naturally then our

design is quasi-experimental

An experimental methodology activelycontrols one variable and looks for a

change in another.

Experimental Quasi-experimental

For example, if we wanted to see if there was a

difference between male and female heights this

would be better pursued by looking at a sample ofmales and females from the population we were

interested in rather than trying to control one

variable!

For example, if we wanted to see if there was a

difference between the recovery time for two

treatments we could randomly assign patients to

two groups, each group having one of thetreatments. We could then look for a difference in

recovery time between the groups.

Are people from the north of England more healthy? a health measure was taken of 100people from northern and southern England and compared.

Have a look at the questions below, which type of study are they? press the adjacent button to see if we

agree when you have had a think...

The change in temperature over 8 hours is recorded for two randomly assigned groups

of patients treated with Ibuprofen (group 1) or paracetamol (group 2)

A group of students are measured before and after an exercise program to assess the

effect of the exercise program.

Quasi-experimental

Experimental

Experimental

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Looking for Correlation or Differences.

Typically the researcher would measure or quantify two things and examine therelationship between them.

The relationship might be a difference, e.g. are people from the north of Englandmore healthy? are males taller than females? or it might be a correlation, do peopleweigh more as they get older?

In a wider sense these are all correlational, but in some cases the variables have

only 2 values (e.g. male/female) this is then known as the discriminatory variable, itlets us discriminate between the groups. (to confuse things a little, we might havemore than 2 groups, if for example we were comparing 3 different treatments.)

Quantitative experimental design...

Does the amount of paracetamol taken affect the amount of temperature reduction.

Subjects were given varying doses of the drug and their temperature reduction recorded.

Have a look at the questions below, are they looking for correlation or differences? press the adjacent

button to see if we agree when you have had a think...

Are people from the north of England more healthy? a health measure questionnaire

filled in by 100 people from northern and southern England and compared.

Are female workers more likely to bring a packed lunch to their place of work than their

male counterparts?

Correlation

Difference

Difference

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Surveys

Surveys collect information, typically from an individual,

to measure relationships orcorrelations amongvariables.

The information they collect might be part of anexperiment, or may be looking for effects that exist in theworld.

The resulting data can be analysed fordifferences or

correlation as appropriate. If surveys include open-ended questions, they could

represent a limited qualitative methodology.

Does the amount of physical exercise taken affect the amount of stress perceived by

subjects.

Have a look at the questions below, do they lend themselves to direct measurement or survey/questionnaire

based methods? press the adjacent button to see if we agree when you have had a think...

Do Health Care students perceive people from the north of England to be more or less

healthy than folk from southern England?

Are older adults shorter than younger adults?

Continue on to Qualitative research Back to primary research types

Survey

Survey

Measurement

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Qualitative

Some example types of qualitative method...

Interviews

Ethnographic strategies

Questionnaires

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Ethnographic strategies

Field research: Researchers talk to peoplewithin their own setting, "in the field." Fieldresearchers observe the phenomenon in itsnatural state and typically take extensive field

notes that might then be coded and analyzed.(So analysis could be partly quantitative.)

Participant observation: A method of

qualitative data collection, it requires that theresearcher becomes a participant in the cultureor context being observed.

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Questionnaires

Questionnaires were typically paper-and-pencilinstruments that the respondent completes but electronicmethods are now commonplace.

They may be done remotely or led by a researcher atthis point they start to look like Structured Interviews.

There are of course advantages and disadvantages ineither type.

Questionnaires are sometimes mixed

quantitative and qualitative.

e.g. What is your age in years?

e.g. What influenced your decisions totravel to work on the transport you

chose today?

There are some quite deep

philosophical issues that could be

entered into about where the

boundary between qualitative and

quantitative methodology lies whendata are gathered by questionnaire,

however, at a simple level it seems

reasonably clear which example here

is certainly quantitative!

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Important

There is no best type of research

There is no best research design

It depends on the question

Quantitative research assigns numbers,

or at least categories, to the data. A

quantitative research question might be

"Does a new exercise have a greater

effect on core stability than an existingone?" We could measure the effect of

each exercise on a sample of patients

and compare the two effects. Data are

usually analysed statistically.

Quantitative methods are generally

explanatory, they explain relationshipsbetween variables.

Qualitative research often gathers data

that reflect the content and meaning of

an event or the perspective of an

individual. Data are analysed

qualitatively, e.g. by looking for themes.A qualitative research question might be

"what do the relatives of stoke patients

feel about the impact on their lives?". A

strength of qualitative methods is that

they allow the research to find new

issues in the field, they are explorative.


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It is a continuum...

Qualitative and Quantitative methodologiesare different one is not better than the other,

each has its strengths when used in the

correct context. As a consumer of researchyou need to be able to recognise the method

and consider if it is appropriate to the

research question.

Qualitative Quantitative

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Further study/thought

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/res

_meth/login.html

http://www.alleydog.com/101notes/method

s.html#RESEARCH%20METHODS


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Philosophical perspectives

Positivism

single objective reality

test, verify, measure

experimental

controlled intervention

numbers

statistical analysis

Phenomenology

multiple realities

explain, interpret

sociological, case

study

observation, interview

words

dimensions

01a research types

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