Descriptive research proposal
Arvind Reddy
Week-4_Ch-4_PlanningYourResearchProject.pptxPractical Research
Planning Your Research Project
Chapter Four
Planning Your Research Project
Research design:
It is a general strategy for solving a research problem.
Provides the overall structure for the procedures the researcher follows,
Provides the data that researcher collects,
Provides the data analyses the researcher conducts.
OVERALL, RESEARCH DESIGN IS PLANNING YOUR RESEARCH PROBLEM.
Basic Format of the Research Process
A question is posed
Clear statement
Hypotheses
Literature review
Data collection
Statistics
Interpretation
Support or reject hypotheses and answer research questions
Some Research Areas
People
Things
Records
Thoughts and Ideas
Dynamics and energy
Research Planning vs. Research Methodology
In research planning, you decide how you will approach your research questions and your research as a whole.
In research methodology, you decide how you will collect and analyze the data.
Data
Data are a manifestation of reality, transient and ever changing.
Primary data: closest to the truth
Secondary data: derived from the primary data
Know that NOT all data collected can be used to for your research.
Qualitative and Quantitative
Qualitative research involves looking at characteristics or qualities that cannot be entirely reduced to numerical value. Such as, verbal information, visual displays, etc.). NON-NUMERICAL DATA
Quantitative research involves looking at amounts or quantities of one or more variables of interest. NUMERICAL DATA
Qualitative versus Quantitative Approaches
Deciding Whether to Use a Quantitative or Qualitative Approach
Read and analyze the Guidelines, Deciding Whether to Use a Quantitative or Qualitative Approach, on pages 83-84. No submission is required.
Start working on which research approach you should use for your own research!
Validity of Research Approach
Validity of your research approach means the likelihood that your approach will yield accurate, meaningful and credible results that can potentially help you address your research problem.
You should VALIDATE YOUR RESEARCH AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF YOUR PROJECT!!!
Internal and External Validity
Internal validity is the extent to which the design and the data it yields allow the researcher to draw accurate conclusions about case-and-effect and other relationships within the data.
Cause-and-effect relationship
Especially used in experimental designs
Conclusions obtained from the data collected
External validity is the extent to which the results apply to situations beyond the study itself
Results apply to situations beyond the study itself
Conclusions can be generalized to other contexts
Measurements
Measurement is limiting the data of any phenomenon, substantial or insubstantial, so that those data may be interpreted and, ultimately, compared to a particular qualitative or quantitative standard.
Measurements help you to capture the variables that you are studying using qualitative or quantitative measurements
Especially If you are planning a quantitative research project, you must also determine HOW you will measure the variables you intend to study. Such as, what type of equipment you will need to use to perform tests, and collect and measure the data.
Types of Measurement Scales
Types of measurement scales: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio.
Nominal Scale: By assigning name to each data point
Limits the data to specific group
Ordinal Scale: Symbols such as <, >, etc.
Compare sets of data in specific groups
Interval Scale: a) Has equal units of measurements
b) Its zero point has been established arbitrarily
Ratio Scale: a) Has equal units of measurements
b) An absolute zero point, such that “0” on the scale of reflects a total absence of the entity being measured.
Summary of Measurement Scales, Their Characteristics, and Their Statistical Implications
Identifying Scales of Measurement
Do and analyze the exercise questions on pages 95-96. No submission is required.
This exercise is planned to help you identify and differentiate different scales of measurements in different research applications.
Validity and Reliability in Measurement
Validity is the extent to which the instrument measures what it is intended to measure.
Face validity
Content validity
Criterion validity
Construct validity
Reliability is the consistency with which a measurement instrument yields a certain, consistent results when the entity being measured has not changed.
Interrater reliability
Test-retest reliability
Equivalent forms reliability
Internal consistency reliability
Drawing a picture in a paper and being able to draw the same picture in different papers
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Determining Reliability of Measurements
1) Getting two measures for each individual in a reasonably large group of individuals---in particularly by doing one of the following:
A) The extent to which two or more individuals evaluating the same product or performance with identical judgments– Interrater Reliability
B) The extent to which a single instrument yields the same results for the same people on two different occasions– Test-retest Reliability
C) The extent to which two different versions of the same instrument yield similar results– Equivalent form Reliability
D) The extent to which all of the items within a single instrument yield similar results– Internal consistency Reliability
2) Calculating a correlation coefficient that express the degree to which the two measurement are similar.
“Bake a cake” example
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Identifying Problems with Validity and Reliability in Measurement
Do and analyze the exercise questions on pages 101-102. No submission is required.
This exercise is planned to help you identify problems with validity and reliability in measurement of different research applications.
Planning an Ethical Research Study
Read and analyze Ethical Issues in Research topic in Textbook pages from 102 to 107.
Do the Checklist questions on pages 107-108: Determining Whether Your Proposed Study Is Ethically Defensible (No submission is required)
