Chapter 1: Introduction to research

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Chapter 1 Introduction to research

• Introduction to Research in Physical Activity

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Chapter Outline

• The nature of research
• Unscientific versus scientific methods of problem
  solving
• Alternative models of research
• Types of research
• Overview of the research process

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The nature of research

• As you will see during the course of the class,
  there are many different types
• Clinical experiments
• gt
• 2. Questionnaires
• gt
• 3. Longitudinal studies
• gt
• 4. Cross-sectional studies
• gt
• Regardless of the type of research, there are
  things in common to them all

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Five Characteristics of Research

• Systematic identify variables of interest, then
  design experiments to test the relationships
  between these variables
• plan, identify, design, collect data, evaluate.
• ________ procedures are sufficient to allow
  others to evaluate conclusions
• Empirical collection of data on which to base
  decisions
• ________ general relationships are established
  from data
• Replicable experiments are well-documented, and
  can be repeated if necessary

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The research continuum

• There are a number of different types of
  experiments, that vary in their _______
  validity"
• Is the experiment applicable enough to real-life?
• 1) Putting a dishes of fat, carbohydrate, and
  protein in front of laboratory rats and seeing
  that they eat
• Vs.
• 2) Collecting a survey asking what people eat
• Relative strengths of each is highly debatable!

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Continuum of Basic to Applied Research

• Level IBasic research
• Goal Theory-driven no direct impact on
  practitioners
• Approach Laboratory, or very carefully
  controlled environment
• Level II___________ relevance
• Goal Theory-based, but some relevance to
  practitioners
• Approach Similar to real-world task or setting
• Level IIIApplied research
• Goal Immediate solutions direct impact on
  practitioners
• Approach Real-world settings, but lacks control
  over the environment

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The research continuum
Basic research Level I
Applied research Level III
Real-world scenario
Controlled environment
__________ relevance Level II
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Unscientific Methods of Problem Solving

• Given the apparent contradictions about doing
  research, why even do it?
• Because the alternatives generally aren't
  acceptable
• __________ clinging to beliefs without evidence
  superstition
• Intuition things people believe to be common
  sense
• Much "common sense" is derived from research!
• Authority someone who is an "expert" must be
  correct?

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Unscientific Methods of Problem Solving

• The ___________ method deriving knowledge
  through reasoning
• There is a positive correlation between shoe size
  and mathematics performance
• Therefore, children with big feet are great in
  math?
• The empirical method using experience and data
  collection to solve a problem
• These two components are important in research,
  but there are drawbacks to relying too much on
  either one of them

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Scientific Method of Problem Solving

• Development of research involves 4 general steps

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Scientific Method of Problem Solving

• Step 1 Developing the problem
• Develop the specific question(s) you want
  answered
• ____________ Variable (X) the variable you want
  to manipulate
• Experimental, or treatment variable
• _____________ Variable (Y) the variable that
  measures the effect of the independent variable
• Example Look at the effect of an
  anti-inflammatory drug on return to competition
  from knee surgery
• Independent Variable is the drug (treatment
  variable probably drug vs. no drug given to
  athletes)
• Dependent Variable is return to competition,
  probably measured in days

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Scientific Method of Problem Solving

• Step 2 Formulating the hypotheses
• ____________ expected results
• When you design an experiment, you should have a
  good idea of what you are going to find
• Essential that your hypothesis is ___________
• Can be based on reading other research, etc.
• Example providing anti-inflammatory drug XY will
  reduce the time to competition when compared to
  providing no drug (control, or a placebo pill)

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Scientific Method of Problem Solving

• Step 3 Gathering the data
• Conducting your experiment
• Before you begin this process, you want to be
  certain of certain things
• Are you methods reliable (repeatable)?
• Valid? (do they measure what you want to do?)
• ___________ validity degree to which the results
  observed are attributable to the treatment
• ___________ validity are the results
  generalizable (apply to real-world)?
• objective? (can the test be accurately scored)
• Example how to do accurately assess "time to
  competition"?

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Scientific Method of Problem Solving

• Step 4 Analyzing and interpreting results
• Gather all your results and compare your findings
  statistically
• Based on your statistical finds, develop an
  explanation for your findings

Pool of athletes that had knee surgery
Drug XY
Placebo Pill
40 days
50 days
You perform a t-test to determine if XY was
really "different" or "better"
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Example (Paul D 2003)

• "No effect of preexercise meal on substrate
  metabolism and time trial performance during
  intense endurance exercise."
• Step 1 Developing the problem
• Previous research indicated that exercise
  performance is related to the amount of
  carbohydrate you have in your body
• Increasing the amount of fat (in the form of
  fatty acids) in the body reduces carbohydrate use
  by the body
• Therefore, increasing the amount of fat in the
  diet will increase exercise performance?
  (rationalistic method)
• Further problem is that the methods employed to
  increase fat in the body were not practical for
  athletes (and illegal)
• Injected people with fat and heparin (blood
  anti-coagulant)

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Step 1 Developing the problem

• _______________ variable (X)
• pre-exercise diet (fat, carbohydrate, placebo)
• ______________ variable(s)(Y)
• Fat and carbohydrate oxidation (use)
• Breath
• Blood
• Muscle
• Athletic performance (time trial, shortest time
  to complete a set cycling distance)

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Step 2 Formulating the hypotheses

• Providing a large of fat (about 8-900 calories!)
  in a pre-exercise meal would
• Reduce of carbohydrate use in muscle, but not
  liver
• Not improve athletic performance
• If there is a reduction in whole-body
  carbohydrate use, where is it? Blood glucose, or
  muscle glycogen?

Blood Stream
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Step 3 Gathering the data

• 8 competitive male cyclists
• Fed them a high carbohydrate meal the night
  before and breakfast (9 hrs before exercise)
• Gave them fat, carbohydrate, placebo (no
  calories) drinks 3 hrs before exercise
• Then cycled very hard for about an hour (30 min
  fixed, last part as fast as possible)
• Collected breath, blood, and muscle samples

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Step 4 Analyzing and interpreting results

• Hypothesis1 Reduce of carbohydrate use in
  muscle, but not liver?

• Nope, made no difference during exercise!

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Step 4 Analyzing and interpreting results

• Hypothesis 2 Giving a fat meal would not
  improve athletic performance
• Actually figured exercise performance would be
  high after carbohydrate, nothing special with
  fat, but would crash-and-burn with placebo (no
  calories)
• In actuality, meals made absolutely no
  difference!
• The big question, is why was there no difference?

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Step 4 Analyzing and interpreting results

• The fat provided in the meals couldn't be used as
  a source of energy! It was "tied" up!
• Not much of a difference in exercise performance
  because they had lots of carbohydrate in storage
• A triglyceride is a molecule with 3 free fatty
  acids (the source of energy for muscle) and a
  glycerol

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Alternative Models of Research

• The project just described can be characterized
  as
• ___________ science (quantitative research)"
• Objective manner of study that is grounded in the
  natural sciences
• Systematic, logical, empirical, reductive,
  replicable
• Adheres to the scientific method
• However, there are challenges to normal science
• Inconsistent findings cannot trust the results
  of one study
• Some variables (human behavior in particular)
  cannot be easily measured and quantified!
• How do you measure "motivation"? "hunger"?
  "happiness"?
• Falls under the category of "Qualitative research"

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Types of Research

• Obviously, there are a number of different types
  of research
• __________ analysis of information already
  available to explain complex phenomena
• Historical research based on events all ready
  occurred
• Philosophic develop theoretical models
• Reviews review of existing research
• Research synthesis (meta-analysis) review of
  studies, generally with some sort of statistical
  analysis

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Types of Research

• ____________ research describes the status and
  characteristics of a population
• Can't determine cause-and-effect relationships
• Questionnaires, interviews, surveys, etc.
• Experimental research manipulation of variables
  to establish cause-and-effect relationships
• Qualitative research research based on
  first-hand observations
• Direct observation, interviews, etc.

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Overall research process

• Although there are a wide array of research
  types, there is a relatively common approach
• Introduction
• Identify the problem you want answered
• Generally based on a review of the literature
• Methods
• Describe how the data were collected
• Should be sufficient that the experiment can be
  replicated
• Results
• List what you found with no interpretation
• Discussions and conclusions
• Narrative of what you found based on results