Research Methods

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Research Methods

• The Philosophy of Research
• David M. Dilts

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• It is the theory that decides what we can
  observe
• Albert Einstein

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Philosophy of Research

• So long ago when we were taught,For whatever
  kind of puzzle youve got,You just stick the
  right formula in.A solution for every fool.
• Indigo Girls
• Least Complicated, Retrospective

http//www.museumofhoaxes.com/images/worldfool.jpg
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Structure of Research, Trochims Ideas

• Components of a Causal Study
• The research problem
• The research question
• The program (cause)
• The units
• The outcomes (effect)
• The design

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Foundations Logical Reasoning

• Deduction
• Induction
• All research is based on assumptions about how
  the world is perceived and how it can best come
  to be understood.

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Epistemology VS Methodology

• Epistemology The philosophy of knowledge
• or of how you know you know
• Methodology Focuses on the methods and involves
  the practice

http//www.nerdbook.com/sophia/practice.jpg
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Foundations Positivism VS Post-positivism

• Positivism A rejection of metaphysics
• Simply to describe the phenomena that are
  experienced
• Empiricism observation and measurement was the
  core of the scientific endeavor
• Post-positivism A wholesale rejection of the
  central tenets of positivism
• Scientific reasoning and common sense reasoning
  are essentially the same process
• Critical realist VS Subjectivist
• Constructivist

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Validity, Trochim again

• Validity Questions are
• Cumulative

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Problem Finding
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Characteristics of Good Research Problems

• Contribution to the State of Knowledge
• Extends, enhances, or exams theory
• Publishable
• (in academic, refereed journals)
• Feasible
• (do-able given time resource constraints)
• Has a personal interest
• (something you personally are interested in)
• Of interest to others
• (would someone else care?)

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Isnt it all common sense?
Source Nagel, Ernest (1979) Ch. 1,
Introduction, The Structure of Science, Hackett
Publishing.

• Science versus Common Sense (Nagel, 1979)
• Common sense does not require justification
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Common sense has no specified limits
• Bad things happen in threes
• Science makes you think through the problem more
• Why does this happen?
• Language of Common Sense is too general
• How out is out?
• Science is there not for today but for eternity
  (or as close as we can come)
• Science can be proven false
• Bad air causes yellow fever.

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Problem with Common Sense
Source http//members.aol.com/gspz2/illusions/
A face or the word Liar? (note you cannot see
both simultaneously!)
Is this a spiral?
These problems will be extremely important for
your results write-up!
Which middle circle is bigger?
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Normal Science as Science

• A scientist, whether theorist or experimenter,
  puts forward statements, or systems of
  statements, and tests them step by step.
• Sir Karl Popper (1959) Logic of Scientific
  Discovery, p. 27

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Normal Science as Puzzle Solving
Source Kuhn, Thomas (1973) IV. Normal Science
as Puzzle-Solving, The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions, Univ. of Chicago.

• And the project whose outcome does not fall in
  that narrower range is usually just a research
  failure, one which reflects not on nature but on
  the scientist. (p. 35)
• one of the things that a scientific community
  acquires with a paradigm is a criterion for
  choosing problems that, while the paradigm is
  taken for granted, can be assumed to have
  solutions. To a great extent these are the only
  problems that the community will admit as
  scientific or encourage its members to
  undertake. (p. 37)
• Science solves puzzles using standard,
  well-accepted rules (the scientific method)
• Think of the jigsaw puzzle or the 5-coin problem

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Kuhns Key Points

• Researchers only tackle problems for which they
  already know the answer.
• In fact, they dismiss unanticipated results as
  human error, not theory error
• The method of solving gets refined.
• Jigsaw Puzzle example.
• Real breakthroughs (paradigm shifts) in
  scientific theory occur when the failures of an
  existing theory can no longer be ignored.

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What do you see?
Is it possible to see both at once?
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Popper v. Kuhn
Source Kuhn, Thomas, (1977) Logic of Discovery
or the Psychology of Research, The Essential
Tension, Univ. of Chicago Press.

• The Logic of Discovery or the Psychology of
  Research?
• Commonalities, both
• Concerned with the dynamic process of knowledge
  creation
• Emphasize facts spirit of science
• Look to revolutionary theory building
• Acknowledge the importance of language in
  discussions (I.e., no neutral observation
  language)
• Agree that the aim of science is to explain
  observed phenomena in terms of real objects.

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Kuhn v. Popper

• How to get to revolutions
• Popper
• New data forces revolutions
• We can learn from our mistakes
• Falsification is the only sure method of knowing
• Kuhn
• New social systems recognize revolutions
• Social systems only accepts as problems those
  that follow norms
• It is not the psychology of the individual that
  is important, it is the idiosyncrasies of the
  scientific group

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What Happens When You Discover Something?

• You write it up!
• Example Darwin v. Wallace
• You write it up for the right audience
• Compare
• Bower and Christensen - Disruptive Technologies
  Catching the Wave
• V
• Christensen, Suarez, and Utterback Strategies
  for Survival in Fast-Changing Industries

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HBR vs. Management Science

• What are the target markets of each?
• Where would you rather be published?
• How does each publication contribute to
  scientific knowledge?

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Productivity in Writing

• Productivity in knowledge work is reflected in
  the time and energy that the knowledge worker
  expends to achieve a result with desired
  quality.
• (page 28)
• Five ways productivity may be improved in doing a
  dissertation or other knowledge work
• Improve motivation
• Improve task management
• Conserve attention
• Reduce errors and omissions
• Eliminate redundant processes

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Management in Writing

• Individuals tend to be motivated by task
  completion Check it off
• Three ways to improve task management for
  dissertation work are
• Task planning
• Task scheduling
• Stopping rules

http//pages.cthome.net/jfleary/images/task.gif
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Your Research

• Describe your research topic
• Explain why your topic is researchable
• And why it is important!