KNR 295Honors Seminar

Introduction

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Introduction to research

Part one: Foundations

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Today...

1. General goals of the course Objectives (what do I want to achieve?)

Research and its place within undergraduate education

Assessment methods (what sort of practice of required skills will I provide, and what sort of skills will be expected of you?)

Understanding and mastering course content Bloom’s taxonomy

2. Introductory lecture/discussion/questions Following Trochim’s chapter 1 - Foundations

3. For next week: Reading assignment & Questions

KNR 295Honors

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A couple of examples

1. Card trick2. Guess my rule

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Foundations of research

Trochim’s Yin/Yang map

Theory Practice

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Foundations of research

Types of studies Three basic types:

Descriptive Relational Causal

Time in research Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal designs Repeated measures vs. time series designs

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Foundations of research

Types of relationships Their nature

Correlation and Causality Mediation/Moderation

Patterns of relationships None/positive/negative/curvilinear

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Foundations of research

Variables Value or attribute = a property of something

(may or may not be numeric) examples: Your age My age Your gender My gender

Variable How about all our ages? We all have an age, but they are all different Age is something we vary by Age is a variable that describes a property of our

group

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Foundations of research

Variables Independent variable

What you or nature manipulates in some way E.g. 1: What happens when you get older?

Age is the independent variable (nature is the manipulator)

E.g. 2: What happens when you drink? Blood alcohol level is the IV (you are the manipulator)

Critiquing IVs: Exhaustive? Mutually exclusive attributes? See also construct validity (later)

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Foundations of research

Variables Dependent variable

The thing that is influenced (changed) by your independent variable E.g. 1 (IV = Age): Skin sag, baldness, frequency of

urine expulsion, memory strength E.g. 2 (IV = Alcohol consumption): Balance, inhibition,

frequency of urine expulsion Critiquing DV’s: see operationalization, reliability,

measurement validity (all later)

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Foundations of research

Hypotheses A specific statement of prediction

Inductive vs. deductive research Deductive has ‘em, inductive often doesn’t

Types Alternative vs. null One-tailed vs. two-tailed

Hypothetical-deductive model 2 mutually exclusive statements (null, alternative) Tests designed to specify which can be rejected

and which cannot

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Foundations of research

Types of data Qualitative vs. quantitative More a case of philosophical difference than

numerical difference (in the better debates, at least)

The unit of analysis Group vs. Individual vs. Artifact vs.

Geographical unit vs. Social interaction Hierarchical modeling

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Foundations of research

Fallacies A variety of errors of either logic or premise

strength that can result in weak arguments being formed.

Beyond the remit of this course, but very important nonetheless for good research papers

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Foundations of research

Philosophy of research Structure of research

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Foundations of research

Structure of research Components of a study

Research Problem Research Question The treatment (or program/event – the purported

cause) The sample (the unit) The outcome (purported effect of treatment) The design

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Foundations of research

Deduction vs. induction

Deduction

Induction

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Foundations of research

Positivism vs. post-positivism Positivism

Science can only address that which is directly observable

Observation and measurement is the only means to the truth

Post-positivism & critical realism Simply put…

all measurements are potentially faulty Truth, though it exists, is unlikely to ever be known

with certainty The point of science is to maintain the search for the

truth despite knowing that one may never reach it Hence seek reality, while being critical of one’s

current estimation of it

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Foundations of research

Post-positivism & critical realism Because we are critical of our grasp on reality,

we Take multiple measures Critique the measures we have Engage in hearty arguments about our perspectives

and their influence on our thought processes (that we might not be aware of)

It is only through such critique that objectivity can be approximated – an individual cannot be objective, but if a viewpoint is generalizable across many perspectives and cultures it may possess some objectivity

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Foundations of research

Post-positivism & critical realism The “natural selection theory of knowledge”

That which survives can claim a degree of objectivity or approximation to the truth

Here lies the value of research that we do, and the criticism to which we subject it

It’s pretty much the only way that our (eventual) understanding can claim a degree of objectivity

(according to critical realism, that is…now, if you’re a relativist…)

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Foundations of research

Validity the best available approximation to the

truth* of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion(*allows for criticism –this is where we come in)

What you wish to say within a study (& therefore the kinds of validity you are going to claim) depends on the type of study you are conducting (see slide 5)

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Foundations of research

Validity Operationalization

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Foundations of research

Validity

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Foundations of research

Validity For each validity type there are typical

threats, and ways to reduce them (we deal with these in later weeks)

This gives us a framework within which to critique the overall validity of our (or any other) study

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Foundations of research

Ethics Protect participants vs. Deprive others of

knowledge A tricky balance One problem is that we are notoriously

untrustworthy as a species (see Milgram, Tuskagee, Stanford prison experiments on web), suggesting the need for strong ethical procedures

Another is that strong ethical procedures can deprive individuals of free will

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Foundations of research

Ethics Institutional Review Boards Informed Consent

these are the ways we currently constrain our practices to keep them “ethical”

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Foundations of research

Conceptualizing research How do you get started/develop and

idea/formulate a research plan/conceptualize and area of research? All this is really for those who wish to conduct

research For now, I’d rather focus on a framework for

understanding and critiquing the research that already exists – we’ll get to the doing stage if time allows (for now, assume that the tried and tested method of asking a faculty member for a question is the best method)