Research Design

Depicting Validity (clusters around bull’s-eye) and Reliability (consistent, tight clustering)

Valid but unreliable

Valid and reliable

Invalid but reliable

Based on Babbie (1998)

Point of Focus

Unit of Analysis Point of FocusCharacteristic Orientation Action

Individual Gender, age, sex, highest educational qualification, marital status, disability, height, region of origin

attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, prejudices, personality traits,

purchase, sell, make decision, go on strike, participate

Social group size, structure, location, aggregated description of members

policy, strategy, rules, regulations, goals; aggregated orientations of their members

merge, invest, contribute, pray, sponsor

Social artefact (physical)

size, weight, colour, speed; characteristics of people associated with them

- -

Pace, drill, grind, weigh, project etc.

Social artefact (interaction)

where, when, how, why, what people involved

political or non-political

succeed, fail,