CHAPTER 2 UNDERSTANDING THE RESEARCH PROCESS

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CHAPTER 2UNDERSTANDING THE RESEARCH PROCESS
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Steps in the research process

• Identifying the research questions.
• Initial review of literature.
• Distilling the question to a specific research
  question.
• Continued review of literature.
• Formulation of hypotheses.
• Determining the basic research approach. ..

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• Identifying the population and sample.
• Designing data collection plan.
• Selecting or developing specific data collection
  instruments or procedures
• Choosing the method of data analysis
• Implementing to research plans.
• Interpreting the results.

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Selecting the Question

• The foundation of the research process
• It all begins with a question.

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Finding a Research Question
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Finding a Research Question

• Curiosity
• Information Gaps
• Controversy
• Replication
• Literature Review
• Other People
• ???

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Three categories

• Those who know precisely what to want to do.
• Those who have many interest areas and are having
  difficulty sorting out exactly what they want to
  do.
• Havent got a clue what they want to do.
• What makes up an appropriate research question?

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Types of Research Questions

• Three types of basic questions
• Descriptive question
• Relationship question
• Difference question

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Descriptive Question

• Seeks to describe characteristics of a particular
  group of subjects being studied.
• Answers the question what is".
• Often the basis of survey research as well as
  qualitative research.

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• Data is gathered by asking questions or group of
  individuals, observing their behavior, or
  measuring their performance on specified task(s).

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Difference Question

• Seeks to make comparisons between or within
  groups of interest.
• Often associated with experimental research,
  where a researcher is comparing the experimental
  group that has been exposed to some treatment, to
  control group that has not.
• In other words is there a difference between the
  control group and the experimental group?

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• Examples
• Is there a difference between serum cholesterol
  concentration between those who consume a high
  fat intake and vs. those who do not?
• Is there a difference in physical activity levels
  between adults with and without mental
  retardation?

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Relationship Question

• Determine the degree to which two or more
  variables are associated with each other.
• Researcher obtained measurements on two or more
  variables for a group of subjects and then
  computes an index of association, such as a
  correlation coefficient.
• Not to establish cause-and-effect.

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• Example
• Is the Canadian childhood obesity epidemic
  related to physical inactivity?

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Designing the problem

• Once you have selected the question, you must
  take the question and distill or refine the
  question.
• Meaning? Well, you start out by doing a thorough
  literature review. Specifically, you want to
  concentrate in the problem area surrounding the
  research question.

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• By then, not only will you know exactly what the
  question is, youll know whether or not the
  problem is worth studying.
• In making this decision, you should consider
  three primary criteria

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Criteria for Selecting a Problem

• Interest does the problem interest you?
• Doesnt matter how important it is if youre not
  genuinely interested in it and this is true
  whether its your first time doing a research
  project or youre doing a doctorate.

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• Is a problem worthwhile?
• Most people think that their research is
  important and worthwhile. Even a manuscript
  publication is often based on how the editor
  judges the worthiness of a research problem.

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• A couple of questions
• Theoretical value contribution to the body of
  knowledge within the field of study?
• Practical value does it make a practical
  contribution?

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• Timeliness is there a recognized demand for a
  solution to the problem?
• External review are you able to justify and
  provide a rationale for these answers in a
  research proposal or report?

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• Is a problem manageable?
• You may have a deep interest in a particular
  problem, but you must determine if the problem is
  actually researchable.

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Review Criteria for Selecting a Problem

• Interest
• Is a problem worthwhile?
• A couple of questions
• Theoretical value
• Practical value
• Timeliness
• External review
• Is a problem manageable?

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Example

• Problem is too large (or too small)?
• Do you have sufficient training and expertise?
  Can you acquire expertise?
• Time?
• Expenses who will pay these expenses?
• No subjects? No subjects, no data, no study!
• Finally

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• Can you do this study without bias or prejudice?
  
• Even if you have a strong conviction, when you do
  the research you cannot allow yourself to be
  subjective.
• All researchers need to be objective.

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Statement of the problem

• Its a statement that indicates precisely the
  question or issue to be addressed in the project.
  
• Problem statement should
• Clear
• Concise
• Definitive

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• It will usually identify the key variables as
  well as give some information about the scope of
  the study.
• Example research participants
• setting
• treatment.
• Important the problem statement tell you what is
  to be done in the study.

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Problem Statements

• The problem of this study is to
• This study is designed to
• The purpose of this investigation is to
• The goal of this study is to
• The focus of this research is to

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• Note the statement of the problem is written in
  the present tense in the research proposal. When
  the final report of the research is written,
  however, the statement of the problem is written
  in the past tense.

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Sample Problem Statements

• The problem was to investigate the effects of
  exercise on blood lipids among college-age
  females.
• The present study was designed to identify those
  characteristics which differentiate between
  students who binge drink and those that do not.

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Delimitations

• Delimitations define the scope of the study. That
  is, they set the boundaries of the study or
  fencing it in.
• Example (1) type of research participant (2)
  number of research participants (3) measures to
  be collected (4) instruments used the study (5)
  time and duration of the study (6) setting (7)
  type of intervention or treatment.

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• In other words these are the parameters or
  criterion of the study that the researcher can
  control.
• Similar to refining or distilling the problem
  as a researcher narrows the questions, many of
  the delimitations are established.

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Limitations

• Limitations are very similar to delimitations,
  but they tend to focus on potential weaknesses of
  the study.
• It only makes sense compromises frequently have
  to be made.
• Limitations are those things that researchers
  could not control, BUT that may have influenced
  the results of the study and a researcher
  should always be aware of this.

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• Examples include
• sampling problems
• uncontrolled factors and extraneous variables
• reliability and validity of measuring instruments
  (discussed later)
• compromises to internal/external validity
  (discussed later)

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• Faulty administration of tests or training
  programmes
• Generalizability of the data
• Representative of subjects
• The researcher will try to eliminate extremely
  serious weaknesses before the study start

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Limitations

• In a manuscript, the author will frequently
  discuss the limitations of the research and
  implications thereof within the discussion.

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Assumptions

• Assumptions are conditions that the researchers
  presumes to be true conditions that are taken
  for granted.
• What can the researcher assume to be true?

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• Assumptions could be made about
• whether subjects responded truthfully,
• the validity of the measuring instrument,
• whether subjects followed directions correctly,
• whether the subjects were a representative sample
  of adults

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Concept of Variables
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• A variable is a characteristic, trait, or
  attribute of a person or thing that can be
  classified or measured.
• Eye colour, sex, voter preference are all
  classifications.
• Skill, self-concept, strength, heart rate,
  intelligence are variables that can be measured.

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• The term variable indicates that a characteristic
  can have more than one value.
• When the character does not vary, it becomes a
  constant.

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Classification of Variables

• Variables can be qualitative or categorical if
  they are classified according to some
  characteristic, attributes, or property.
• Example gender, eye colour.

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• Variables are called quantitative if they can be
  measured numerically.
• Example height, age.

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Independent and dependent variables

• The idea of the experimental approach involves
  observing what effect different amounts of one
  variable (independent) have on a second variable
  (dependent).

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• Independent Variable a variable that is
  presumed to influence another variable the
  variable under study or the one that the
  researcher manipulates or controlled.

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• Dependent Variable the variable that is
  expected to change as a result of the
  manipulation of the independent variable that
  which is measured in a study.
• Presumed consequence of the independent
  variable.
• and so

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• Problem 1 a study is designed to investigate
  the effects of different brands of toothpaste
  (e.g. Colgate, Crest) on the prevention of dental
  cavities.
• Independent variable brand of toothpaste
• Dependent variable number of cavities

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• Problem 2 a researcher wants to compare a
  dosage of 1200 mg versus 2400 mg of a popular
  over-the-counter pain reliever on delayed onset
  muscle soreness (DOMS) following an intense
  exercise bout.
• Independent variable dosage level
• Dependent variable some measure of muscle
  soreness

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• Problem 3 an investigator seeks to study the
  effects of different types of incentives on
  participation in a smoking cessation program.
• Independent variable type of incentive
• Dependent variable participation rates

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• Problem 4 a study is undertaken to compare male
  and female attitudes toward a television
  advertisement promoting physical activity.
• Independent variable gender
• Dependent variable attitudes toward
  advertisement

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• It is not at all uncommon for research studies to
  have more than one independent variable and/or
  more than one dependent variable...

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• Problem 5 a study is designed to investigate
  the effects on a new AIDS education unit taught
  in a ninth-grade health class on students
  attitudes toward and knowledge about AIDS.
• Independent variable method of teaching AIDS
  (new versus traditional) unit.
• Dependent variable attitude toward AIDS and
  score on a knowledge test.

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• Problem 6 a researcher is interested in
  investigating the effects of a high-protein diet
  and two different modes of strength training on
  muscular strength development of college-age
  males.
• Independent variable type of diet and method of
  training
• Dependent variable muscular strength

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• Problem 7 an educational researcher seeks to
  determine the effects of block scheduling of
  classes on skill acquisition and attitude toward
  physical activity among junior high school
  students. Furthermore, the researcher is
  interested if boys and girls respond to block
  scheduling differently.

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• Independent variable type of scheduling (block
  versus traditional) and gender
• Dependent variable skill achievement and
  attitude toward physical activity

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Extraneous Variable

• These are error-producing factors or variables
  that could affect the results of the research
  studywant to eliminate or control the potential
  influence!

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Potential extraneous variables

• IQ
• Sex
• Socioeconomic levels
• Teacher competence
• Personality

• Enthusiasm
• Physical health
• Emotional health
• Age
• Use of volunteers

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• May affect the relationship between the
  independent variable and the dependent variable
  if not adequately controlled.
• Difficult (impossible?) to controlbut a good
  design of a study can help to play down the
  effect of such variables as much as possible.

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Controlling Extraneous Variables

• Some ways that are used to control extraneous
  variables
• Random selection of research participants laws
  of probability systematic bias is removed,
  effect is minimized.
• Then, you can assume that the groups are equal,
  and any difference is due to probability or
  chance.

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• Matching cases according to some criterion
  subjects are paired on some characteristics
  (e.g. age). Then, the experiment and control
  groups would be comparable.
• Also reduce variation among the subjects because
  of chance difference (large/small).

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• Excluding the variable may simply choose not to
  include a particular trait in the study. Intent
  is to eliminate the possible effects of a
  variable constant, thereby removing it from the
  study.
• aka controlling for the variable.
• Example grade, age, gender.