Quantitative Methods - research paper

Research Questions

Research Design

Research Topic

Purpose

Literature Review

Value of

the Study

Expected Results

Research Process Feedback Loops

1. Turn your idea into a research question

First stages

Where do you start?

 Decide on a general area of interest

 Why does this area interest you?

 Answer the questions:

o What is your aim? (In general terms)

o What is your hypothesis? (In specific terms)

o Is your idea novel? (See Section 2 on reviewing the literature)

o Why does it matter?

o How will NHS patients or service users benefit form your research?

Consult

o colleagues and other researchers

 Information Competency Tutorials

o These eight tutorials will teach you how to become an effective researcher

develop your information literacy and critical thinking skills.

 Educational Research Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches

 Educational Research Companion Website

2. Review the Literature

It is essential that existing sources of evidence, especially systematic reviews, are considered carefully prior to undertaking research. Research which duplicates other work unnecessarily or which is not of sufficient quality to contribute something useful to existing knowledge is in itself unethical.

Conducting a literature review will expand your knowledge about the topic hone your information seeking skills, i.e., the ability to scan the literature efficiently to identify a set of useful articles and books.

To be effective, a literature review must satisfy the following requirements:

1. be organized around and related directly to the research questions you are developing;

2. synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known; 3. identify areas of controversy in the literature; 4. formulate questions that need further research.

Where do I start?

 How to search literature: attend a short introductory course (available at most university libraries)

 Discuss with your mentor

 Then work out a search strategy to decide on your plan of action

 Start reading: use reading lists, texts, journals, abstracts, etc.

 Internet search engines may be helpful but beware of incomplete information

The purpose of writing a literature review is to convey the knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and their strengths and weaknesses. The literature review must be defined by a guiding concept, such as your research objective or the problem or issue you are discussing; it is not just a descriptive list of the material available, or a set of summaries

Please see the following references for additional information. They provide excellent tips and questions you should ask yourself about conducting a literature review and each book or article you include.

 Write a Literature Review

 What is a review of the literature?

 Handouts & Demos

3. Design the Study and Develop Methods

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Which research method is most appropriate to your research project? Do you know the difference between quantitative and qualitative research methods?

 Choosing an appropriate method of research

 Developing your research idea

Adapted from material by Keith Chantler, R&D Manager, Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals (Page 11 - Table of comparison)

Participant Involvement Consider the effect of your research on the participants.

 Does the design methodologies pose practical or even ethical problems for those taking part?

 Engage with users while designing your study to ensure your study works well in the real world. Engagement should:

o Be as early as possible in the process o Could be in the form of a small focus group, users on your study design

team or speaking to a relevant patient support or other group.

Writing Qualitative and Quantitative Research Questions

The following sites offer useful steps for writing good qualitative and quantitative

research questions:

 Writing Good Qualitative Research Questions

 Writing Good Quantitative Research Questions

Survey Design Do you know what is the most appropriate survey method for your research project? What method will give you the most useful data for the project you are working on? The Research Methods Knowledge Base has many useful

sections on social research methods including: Survey Research Sampling What method of sampling will give you the most useful data for the project you are working on?

 Sampling methods from the National Audit Office Sampling Guide

 Discussion on the distinction between Probability and Non-probability sampling methods

Statistical Issues Are you familiar with the statistics you may need to use? If not, consider enrolling on a suitable course. Other tools and guidance:

 Online Statistics Textbook from Statsoft.com

 Statistical Sampling Terms

 Statistics glossary, from the School of Psychology, St. Andrews University Questionnaire Design Do you know how to design a questionnaire for survey research?

 A Guide to the Design of Questionnaires

 Questionnaire Design and Surveys Sampling 4. Writing your research proposal Starting your research proposal

 Discuss your research proposal with your dissertation chair.

 Consider how you get input from participants in the development process (see section 3) and ideally have several involved throughout the development process

 You should contact your proposed sponsor and discuss your proposal.

 The researcher has a responsibility for developing proposals that are scientifically sound and ethical.

 No two proposals are the same, but they will all have a similar structure:

(Adapted from material by Keith Chantler, R&D Manager, Central Manchester and Manchester Children's Hospitals)

o title

o abstract/summary o background or rationale of the project o aims/objectives o experimental design and methods o ethical considerations o benefits of the study o resources and costs

Key elements in a research proposal (from Hull & East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust R&D Resource pack) Use the following to check if you have included everything you need in your research proposal:

o What is your research question?

o Why does it matter?

o How will you address this question? (i.e. what will be your methodology?)

o What is the significance of this research study?

o Is your research question clear?

o Are your research methods appropriate?

o How many subjects do you need? How will you choose them?

o What statistic will you use? See the following useful web sites.

When writing a proposal it is important to consider who will be reviewing it, such as members of dissertation committees. The following offers advice on writing clearly & effectively.

1. Understand your task Lack of understanding is a common cause of confused writing, (eg. rambling sentences, jumbled paragraphs, vagueness). Unless you understand clearly what you have to do, you can't hope to write plainly about it. Before you begin, ask yourself:

o What has to be done? Why? o For whom? In what form? o Ways to clarify understanding include: asking, conferring, consulting

brainstorming, doodling, 'free writing', outlining, note taking using a 'critical friend' making diagrams, drawings, flowcharts, lists, summaries reading instructions and checking requirements.

The earlier efforts to clarify understandings are made the more likely they are to be effective. In the early stages of writing, you are more likely to be receptive to comments and ideas of others and be able to make changes easily. At first,

concentrate on putting down ideas and information without assigning value to them. If you are unsure about how or where to begin, just start writing, i.e., 'free write'. As you do, your understanding should become clearer and you can start grouping like points. (Try to keep all your preliminary notes and jottings. Refer back to them as your writing develops to ensure nothing important has been overlooked). 2. Write for your reader(s)

o Who is the reader? (eg. influence, position, etc.) o How informed is the reader? o What background information will the reader need? (e.g., circumstances, o conditions, history, local context.) o How does the reader want to use what you write? o What writing style is appropriate? (If background information interrupts o the flow of your writing, include it in footnotes and/or appendices.)

3. Put first things first Give the most prominence and space to what is most important. When writing a report, put the most important information first. Put the most important information first when writing a report. 4. Arrange your points logically Logical organization is the basis of clarity. Ways to do this include: advantages and disadvantages; ascending/descending order; causes/effects; chronology; general and specific; priority; proximity; significance. (Where items are of equal importance and/or there is no preferred order, arrange alphabetically.) 5. Write direct sentences Ways to do this include:

o Using strong verbs rather than overused adjectives. Many commonly used adjectives have lost their impact. Words like magnificent, wonderful, and interesting mean very little. Reserve your adjectival sledge hammers for when they actually mean something.

o Using the active rather than passive voice. The active voice indicates the subject is doing the action of the verb. The move is from subject to verb to object (where there is an object). e.g.,: The director will return incomplete forms. The passive voice indicates the action is taking place but not necessarily who or what is committing the action. e.g.,: Incomplete forms will be returned by the director Active voice sentences are more direct and forceful than passive voice ones.

o Keeping sentences correct and simple. Keep sentences short. Use two sentences rather than join with 'and'. Have only one idea or point per sentence. Make sure subject agrees with verb. Be unfailingly consistent with person and tense.

o Being specific. If numbers continue to increase at the present rate, more staff will be needed in the future. Two further staff will be required from 1st January if increased enrolments continue, i.e., from 85 in August to 120 in October.

6. Distinguish fact from opinion An acceptable discharge rate is being maintained, with 61% of patients returning home within two days. 61% of patients return home within two days. Medical staff consider this acceptable. Use conventions as guidelines rather than rules Use writing conventions to support and strengthen your writing. 'Do's' don't mean always and 'Don'ts' don't mean never. Your first responsibility is to write to achieve your goals, i.e., accurate, immediate, effective communication. Review, revise and re-write Writing is an art; Editing is a craft - both take time. Check progressively for accuracy and appropriateness, particularly of facts, spelling and sentence construction. Seek the advice and opinion of others. Remove all unnecessary words and information from finished copy.

5. Certification of Research Projects This Institutional Review Board Handbook contains descriptions of procedures and forms required by Argosy University for any research project conducted by employees or students of Argosy University, and for the conduct of research by outside organizations or institutions seeking the involvement of any Argosy University employee or student. This includes research done for dissertations, Clinical Research Projects (CRPs), and other significant research, but it also includes research done for student

posters, PowerPoint presentations, and class assignments where research is being done.

 Institutional Review Board Handbook 6. Analyze the data and interpret findings Quantitative Data Analysis

 Quantitative research techniques generate a mass of numbers that need to be summarized, described and analyzed.

 Characteristics of the data may be described and explored by drawing graphs and charts, doing cross tabulations and calculating means and standard deviations.

 Further analysis will build on these initial findings, seeking patterns and relationships in the data by comparing means, exploring correlations, performing multiple regressions, or analyses of variance.

 Advanced modeling techniques may eventually be used to build sophisticated explanations of how the data addresses the original question.

 Although methods used can vary greatly, the following steps are common in quantitative data analysis:

o Identifying a data entry and analysis manager (e.g., SPSS) o Reviewing data (e.g., surveys, questionnaires etc) for completeness o Coding data o Conducting Data Entry o Analyzing Data (e.g. statistical tests).

Qualitative Data Analysis

 Qualitative data analysis describes and summarizes the mass of words generated by interviews or observational data.

 It allows researchers to seek relationships between various themes that have been identified or relate behavior or ideas to biographical characteristics of respondents.

 Implications for policy or practice may be derived from the data, or interpretation sought of puzzling findings from previous studies.

 Ultimately theory could be developed and tested using advanced analytical techniques.

 Although methods of analysis can vary greatly the following steps are typical for qualitative data analysis:

o Familiarization with the data through repeated reading, listening

o etc. o Transcription of interview etc. material. o Organization and indexing of data for easy retrieval and o identification (e.g. by hand or computerized programs such as (Nvivo) o Maintaining anonymity of sensitive data. o Coding (may be called indexing). o Identification of themes. o Development of provisional categories. o Exploration of relationships between categories. o Refinement of themes and categories. o Development of theory and incorporation of pre-existing knowledge.

For more information see 'Qualitative Research' from Trent RDSU. Interpreting Data

 Visit the following site for a list of websites containing relevant information on statistics

 The last step of data analysis consists of interpreting the findings to see whether they support your initial study hypotheses, theory or research questions.

 Data interpretation methods vary greatly depending on the theoretical focus (i.e., Qualitative or Quantitative research) and methods (e.g., Multiple Regression, Grounded Theory).

 You should seek further advice for this step from:

o Computer Package Manuals (e.g., SPSS, Nvivo) and methodology books o The material in Section 3 of this flowchart on statistics and sampling

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4. Choosing a Topic and Research Strategies- Tutorials 1 and 2

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4. Assignment Resources 5. Additional Help

Welcome to the City University of New York Information Competency Tutorials (ICT).

These eight tutorials will not only teach you how to become an A+ researcher but will develop your information literacy and critical thinking skills. The tutorials follow a set of CUNY information literacy learning goals and objectives that all students should achieve by the time they have completed 60 credits.

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Web pages on which this introduction is based include: California State University (CSU) – Introductory Competencies in Specific Disciplines and CSU – Information Competence Project – Module Outlines

Spanish translation of the CUNY Information Competency Tutorials was made possible by a grant from

the CUNY Office of Compliance and Diversity, Diversity Projects Development Fund. Prof. José Diaz,

Hostos Community College and Prof. George Thorsen, Queensborough Community College translated

these modules into Spanish. The Hostos Community College Instructional Technology support center

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