thursday, mar. 18th, 2004 1 tools of research week 2 lecture 1

Thursday, Mar. 18th, 2004

1

Tools of ResearchTools of Research

Week 2 Lecture 1

Thursday, Mar. 18th, 2004 ISYS3015 Analytical Methods for IS Professionals

School of IT, The University of Sydney 2

AgendaAgenda

• The library and its resources

• Internet

• Techniques of measurement

• Statistics

• The human mind



The Library and Its ResourcesThe Library and Its Resources

• Electronic Journals

• Week 3, lecture 1 will have detailed introduction on how to use the USYD library system



Internet Internet

• Finding literature

• Collecting data– Download secondary data

• Web crawler

– Collect primary data• Online experiment• Online survey



Measurement -- DefinitionMeasurement -- Definition

• Definition– Measurement is limiting the data of any

phenomenon – substantialsubstantial or insubstantialinsubstantial – so those data may be interpretedinterpreted and, ultimately, comparedcompared to an acceptable qualitative or quantitative standard.

– Substantial measurement• Execution time, throughput, and so on..

– Insubstantial measurement• User-friendliness, Attitudes, feelings, opinions



Measuring insubstantial phenomenaMeasuring insubstantial phenomena

• The scenario– A group of 9 people, who work together in a

personnel department of a large corporation, are going to attend a recognition dinner at an exclusive hotel. After arriving, they greet each other and have a brief conversation before dinner. They form some conversation groups as show in next slides



Interpersonal relationshipsInterpersonal relationships

• How to measure the interpersonal dynamics of the group?– Who greet whom with enthusiasm or with indifference?– Who joins in conversation with whom?– Who seems to be a relative outsider?

• To merely observe the behavior of individuals in a particular situation is not to measure it.



A possible approachA possible approach

• Ask each person in the group to record three choices– The individual in the group whom the

person likes most– The individual in the group whom the

person like least– The individual for whom the person has no

strong feeling one way or another.



SociogramSociogram

• Weight the data into numerical categories– +1 for a

positive choice– 0 for

indifference– -1 for a

negative choice



Sociometric matrixSociometric matrix

Gretchen Joe Greg Sara Peter Jeff Tim Matt Terri

Gretchen --- 0 0 0 -1 +1 0 +1 0

Joe 0 --- 0 0 +1 +1 0 0 0

Greg 0 0 --- 0 0 +1 0 +1 0

Sara 0 0 0 --- +1 0 0 0 +1

Peter 0 +1 0 0 -- -1 0 0 +1

Jeff +1 +1 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0

Tim 0 0 +1 0 -1 +1 --- 0 0

Matt +1 0 0 0 0 +1 0 --- 0

Terri 0 0 0 +1 +1 0 0 0 ---

Totals 2 2 1 1 1 4 0 2 3



What we can discover?What we can discover?

• Jeff is the in formal or popular leader

• Probably some schism and tension are present in this group

• Friendship pairs may lend cohesion to the group

• Tim apparently is the isolate of the group



Four scales of measurementFour scales of measurement

• Nominal scale of measurement– Measure data to some degree by assigning

names (numbers) to them.– Elemental and unrefined,– typical use: classification

• Male-female• Social classes

– Only a few statistics are appropriate for analyzing nominal data




• Ordinal scales of measurement– Data can be rank-ordered

• Level of education: elementary, high school, college and graduate education.

– Distance between attributes do not have any meaning

– Typical use – rankings• Preference data • Attitude measures




• Interval scale of measurement– Features

• It has equal units of measurement• Its zero point has been established arbitrarily

– Typical use: • Temperature scales: Fahrenheit and Celsius• Rating scales employed by many businesses, survey

groups and professional organizations are often assumed to be on interval scales

1. How would you rate the availability of your professor for conferences?

0 1 2 3 4

Never available

Seldom available

Available by appointment

only

Generally available

Always available




• Ratio scale of measurement– Difference between interval and ratio scales

• Temperature: We can’t say 30C is twice as warm as 15C.• Execution time: 30 seconds is twice as fast as 15

seconds

– Features• It has equal units of measurement• It has an absolute zero point

– It is possible to multiply and divide scale numbers meaningfully and thereby form ratios



Measurement Scales: summaryMeasurement Scales: summary

• If you can say that– One object is different from another, you have a

nominal scalenominal scale;– One object is bigger or better or more of anything

than another, you have an ordinal scaleordinal scale;– One object is so many units(degrees, inches) more

than another, you have an Interval scaleInterval scale;– One object is so many times as big or bright or tall

or heavy as another, you have a ratio scaleratio scale.



Mini workshopMini workshop

• Indicate the levels of measurements of the following variables:

VARIABLES HOW VARIABLES MEASURED

Attendance How often do you attend religious services?

(0) Never, (1) less than once a year, (2) several times a year, … (8) several times a week?

IQ Score Most intelligence tests are organized with 100 as average, middle, or normal. Scores higher or lower indicate distance from the average

Religion Could be Jewish, catholic, Lutheran, Baptist

Age



Validity and reliability of measurementValidity and reliability of measurement

• Validity– The extent to which the instrument

measures what it is supposed to measure• Well-established measurement• Other measurement, measurement of

insubstantial phenomena– To what extent does a standardized IQ test actually

measure a person’s intelligence?– Problem of “Professor’s availability” measurement



Validity and Reliability of measurementValidity and Reliability of measurement

• Reliability– The stability and consistency of a measure

• Validity vs. Reliability



Statistics as a tool of researchStatistics as a tool of research

• Primary functions of statistics– Descriptive

• Summarize the general nature of the data obtained– What’s the average

– How disperse the data are

– How closely two or more characteristics are Interrelated

– more

– Inferential• Help the researcher make decisions about the data

– Statistics software• Excel• SPSS, SAS



The human mind as a tool of researchThe human mind as a tool of research

• Methods of knowing– Method of tenacity– Method of authority– Method of intuition (a priori method)– Method of Science

• Self-correction




• Deductive Logic– Starts from one or more premises, draw conclusion

through logic reasoning• Premise: All tulips are plants• Premise: All plants produce energy through

photosynthesis• Conclusion: All tulips must produce energy through

photosynthesis

– Premise can be false• Premise: All metals expand when heated• Premise: Tulips are metals• Conclusion: Tulips will expend when heated

– Deductive logic is extremely valuable for generating research hypotheses and testing them




• Inductive Reasoning– Begins with empirical observations and

draw general conclusions from them• Observations:Observations: Psychiatrists have found that

psychological problems in patients depend upon their experiences in childhood

• Conclusion:Conclusion: All psychological problems are based on experiences in childhood.

– We can never be 100 percent sure about the inductive conclusions



Induction and DeductionInduction and Deduction

Facts acquired through observation

Explanations and Predictions

Laws and theories

induction deduction



Scientific MethodScientific Method

• Control– Enable researcher to identify the causes of his or her

observation

• Operational definition– Terms must be defined by the steps or operations used to

measure them• “Anxiety causes students to score poorly in test”

• What is meant by “anxiety”?

• Replication– The same result must be found if the study is repeated

• Hypothesis testing– “being ill is a punishment for being sinful”– “Boys are better than girls at mathematics”



Critical thinkingCritical thinking

• Verbal reasoning

• Argument analysis

• Decision making

• Critical analysis of prior research



Facility with language Facility with language

• Communicating effectively through writing– Say what you mean to say– Keep your primary objective in writing your paper

in mind at all times, and focus your discussion accordingly

– Provide an overview of what you will be talking about

– Organize your ideas into general and more specific categories and use headings and subheadings to guide your readers through your discussion of these categories

– Provide transitional phrases



Facility with languageFacility with language

– Use concrete examples to make abstract ideas more understandable

– Use appropriate punctuation– Use figures and tables when such

mechanisms can more effectively present or organize your ideas and findings

– At the conclusion of a chapter or major section, summarize what you’ve said

– Anticipate that you will almost certainly have to write multiple drafts.



SummarySummary

• The library and its resources• Internet• Techniques of measurement

– How to measure intangible concept– Different scales of measurements– Validity and reliability

• Statistics– Descriptive and inferential – Several statistics packages

• The human mind

thursday, mar. 18th, 2004 1 tools of research week 2 lecture 1

Documents

professionals school

university of sydney

isys3015 analytical

slides slide

negative choice slide

human mind slide

usyd library system

insubstantial phenomena