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pa550online1.whatisresearch31.pptxPA 550: Research Methods Week 1 - 3/3
Andrew (Andy) Pattison
A Broad Outline for the Class
Foundations of research design
Data collection approaches
Interviews, field research, surveys
Data analysis approaches
Quantitative and non-quantitative approaches to analysis
Post-analysis issues
Management of projects and presenting results
Basic Elements and Concepts in Research
Clarifying the Purpose of Research and Evaluation Projects
Conceptualization and Operationalization
Project Objectives
Theory and Prior Work
Understanding What to Study and What to Measure
Unit of Analysis
The entities (objects or events) being examined by a researcher
Variables
A characteristic of a unit of analysis that is not constant but instead varies across individual observed cases
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Asking Research Questions (RQ)
A project’s central RQ helps guide a series of more specific sub-questions
The nature of a core RQ relates to the basic purpose of the project:
Descriptive purpose produces “what” or “how” questions
Explanatory purpose produces causality questions
Writing research Hypotheses
“A proposition indicating how two or more factors are related to one another, and stated in a way that it can be tested with empirical evidence”
Empirical, Generalizable, Plausible, Precise
Approaches or Strategies
Qualitative
Quantitative
Mixed Methods
Ethics and the Research Process
Protection of Human Subjects
The case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The Belmont Report
Institutional Review Boards
