DESIGNING A RESEARCH STUDY Week 5: Psy 360L

1
DESIGNING A RESEARCH STUDY Week 5 Psy 360L

• Your Research Questions
• Chapter 5 Methods (Maxwell)
• 5 minute presentation of Lab 3
• Discuss Lab 4 Participant Observation
• Research Proposal Guidelines discussed - to be
  continued next week in more detail!

2
Weekly Work
3
Research Questions What do you want to
understand? Think with an open mind.Methods
What will you actually do? What tools will you
use? Remember the hammer and nail story...

• Linking what you want to understand with how
  you are going to go about understanding it!

4
Research Questions

• Are at the heart of your research design
• They are the one component that directly links to
  all of the other components of the design
• They should be responsive to every other part of
  your study
• State what you want to learn

• Specific questions are generally the result of an
  interactive design process, rather than being the
  starting point for that process
• Help you focus the study
• Give you guidance on how to conduct it
• Test grounded theory

5
Research Questions-

• IF TOO FOCUSED

• TUNNEL VISION
• Leaving out things that are important for the
  purposes or context of the study
• May overlook areas of theory or prior experience
  that are relevant
• Smuggling unexamined assumptions
• Sham questions

6
METHODS what you will actually do in conducting
a qualitative study

• The research relationship you establish with
  those you study
• Sampling what times, settings, or individuals
  you select to observe or interview and what other
  sources of information you decide to use
• Data collection how you gather the information
  you will use
• Data analysis what you do with this information
  in order to make sense of it

7
Methods What will you actually do?

• Structured and Unstructured Approaches
• Negotiating Research Relationships Do Exercise
  5.1, p. 86 - 87 in Maxwell.
• Site and Participant Selection
• Decisions About Data Collection
• Triangulation
• Decisions About Data Analysis
• Strategies for Analysis
• Data Matrix pp. 100 - 101 in Maxwell Do for your
  Research Proposal include it

8
LAB 4 Participant Observation
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Research Proposal Guidelines The written
research proposal is due October 12 at the
beginning Of class, but we will discuss each
proposal on Oct. 5. Come prepared To present
your proposal to the class On Oct. 5.
12
Data-Planning Matrixfor a study ofWomen on
E-Mail A Relational Approach