Research Methods & Data

Research Methods and Data

College of Advancing Studies

Brendan Rapple

You have Informally Conducted a Type of “Research” All Your Life:

• Compared two types of apple to see which one you preferred.

• Collected the statistics of your favorite team or favorite player.

• Enjoyed a novel and then read reviews to see what critics thought of it.

• Compared brochures to choose a holiday vacation.

• Gone on a diet and computed the calories of your meals.

• Researched all the literature when deciding to buy a new car.

• Compared different daycare centers when selecting one for your children.

• But is it really RESEARCH?

Which of the Following Activities Would Most Likely Involve Research?

a) Finding the year when the Battle of the Somme was fought

b) Preparing a report on the ten most influential battles of the 20th century

c) Labeling on a map all the capitals of European countries

d) Learning about the various causes of anorexia or bulimia.

Why Do We Use Research Methods?

• Why not rely on alternatives?

On Authority

On Personal Experiences

On Common Sense

On Intuition

On The Contrary

• We should use more scientific methods

• Move from limited, biased perceptions and opinions to fact or at least tentative truth.

• Research should be open to the public test – that is, one's procedures and data are open to the scrutiny of one's

colleagues.

Think About How Our Ancestors First Discovered Fire

Essence of Research Methodology

• The above naive example of discovering fire should illustrate two basic facts:

1. The methodology of research is a basic procedure

2. The steps in solving a problem are practically the same for the modern researcher as they were for our first ancestors.

Reviewing These Steps Briefly:

1. In the beginning there was a PROBLEM

2. Data relating to the problem –FACTS

3. A rationalization and a guess -- logical reasoning

4. Sticks began to smoke -- another FACT.

5. Additional data CONFIRMED THE HYPOTHESIS.

6. THE PROBLEM WAS RESOLVED our ancestor's guess (hypothesis) proved to be correct.

N.B. • Though the general research process is conceptually easy, the actual

practical research may not be.

• Research inevitably involves false starts, dead ends, and changes of direction.

Steps in Research Process

1. Selecting a problem area2. Formulating a research question 3. Designing an overall research plan or research methodology:

Selecting a data-collection methode.g. --Who will be studied?

--How will they be selected?--What info will be gathered from or

about them?Or maybe it’s more traditional research of documents

4. Actually collect the data5. Analyze the data (and test hypothesis)6. Draw conclusions 7. Write the research report

Above steps may vary according to the research problem

Steps are rarely completed in sequence, as a task in a later step may affect the decisions made earlier. There's generally a backward and forward movement.

Goals of Different Types of Research

Descriptive Research

• To discover facts, to describe reality

e.g.

What are people's attitudes towards welfare?

Regional variations in unemployment during the Great Depression.

What are the feelings of workers faced with redundancy?

Predictive Research

• Making projections about what may occur in the future.

e.g. Insurance companies by means of actuarial research techniques can predict how long people with certain characteristics are likely to live.

In which city would it be most profitable to open a new retail outlet?

Explanatory Research

• Determining why something occurred -- goes beyond merely describing something

e.g. Why do certain people become criminals?

Why do males live shorter spans than females?

How can we reduce the number of complaints made by customers?

Why did the Renaissance occur?

Evaluation Research

• Very important in social science research.

• To monitor and determine how effectively programs or clinical practices achieve their goals.

e.g.Is a program designed to ameliorate crime in a certain district working?

Quantitative Research

• Objective in nature.

• Involves collecting and analyzing numerical data.

• Often an application of statistical tests.

Qualitative Research

More subjective in nature.

Involves examining and reflecting on perceptions to gain an understanding of social and human conditions.

A Research Study Into Stress Caused by Working Night Shifts

Quantitative Approach:– collect objective, numerical data such as absenteeism rates,

productivity levels etc.

Qualitative Approach:– collect subjective data about how stress is experienced by night

workers in terms of their perceptions, health, social problems etc.

Experimental Research

- Used by scientists and medical researchers.

- Describes what will be when certain variables are carefully controlled or manipulated.– e.g. experiments with lab. rats or rhesus monkeys

Pure/Theoretical Research

• Purpose: advance knowledge with little concern for any immediate practical application.

Applied Research

• Purpose: Research designed with a practical outcome in mind

Historical Research

• Many different types of research methods used, including quantitative methods.

Survey Research

e.g. questionnaires

Ethnographic Research

-- carried out in natural settings.

-- uses participant observation and interviewing

e.g. an anthropologist living for a year with a New Guinean stone-age tribe.

• Very often, a research methodology is a mixture of the preceding.