Practical Research by Leedy and Ormrod 10th Edition

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Practical Researchby Leedy and Ormrod10th
Edition

• Charles C. Tappert
• Seidenberg School of CSIS, Pace University

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Chapter 1 Research is Not

• Merely gathering information
• Merely looking for hard-to-locate information
• Merely transporting facts from one location to
  another

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Chapter 1 Research Has 8 Characteristics

1. Research originates with a question or problem
2. Research requires clear articulation of a goal
3. Research usually divides the principal problem
   into more manageable subproblems
4. Research is guided by the specific research
   problem, question, or hypothesis
5. Research requires a specific plan for proceeding
6. Research rests on certain critical assumptions
7. Research requires the collection and
   interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve
   the research problem
8. Research in, by its nature, cyclical or, more
   exactly, helical

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Chapter 1 Research Cycle
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Chapter 1 Six General Tools

1. The library and its resources
2. Computer technology
3. Measurement
4. Statistics
5. Language
6. The human mind

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Chapter 2 Finding the Research Problem

1. Look around you
2. Read the literature
3. Seek the advice of experts
4. Attend professional conferences
5. Choose a topic that intrigues and motivates you
6. Choose a topic that others will find interesting
   and worthy of attention

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Chapter 2 Stating the Research Problem

1. State the problem clearly and completely
2. Think through the feasibility of the work the
   problem implies
3. Say precisely what you mean
4. State the problem in a way that reflects an open
   mind about its solution
5. Edit your work

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Chapter 2 Every problem needs further delineation

• Dividing the research problem into subproblems
• Stating the hypotheses and/or research questions
• Identifying the variables under investigation
• Independent variable -gt dependent variable
• Delimiting the research
• Defining terms
• Stating the assumptions
• Importance of the study (so what?)

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Chapter 3 Review the Related Literature

• Role of literature review
• Understand the field and what is known
• Put your problem into context
• Strategies for locating related literature
• Library and reference librarians (Michelle Lang)
• Indexes and abstracts
• Online databases
• Conference proceedings
• Know when to end the literature review
• When you no longer encounter new viewpoints

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Chapter 4 Planning Your Research Work
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Chapter 4 Relation between Data and Truth
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Chapter 4 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

• Characteristics of quantitative and qualitative
  research

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Chapter 4 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

• Choose quantitative or qualitative research

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Chapter 5 Writing the Research Proposal

• The problem and its setting
• Problem statement, hypotheses, delimitations,
  definitions, assumptions, importance of study
• Review of Related Literature
• The data and the treatment of the data
• Data needed and means of obtaining the data
• The research methodology
• Outline of the proposed study
• Steps to be taken, timeline, etc.

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Chapter 6 Qualitative Research

• Case study
• Analysis of an event or programs
• Phenomenological study perceptions
• Interviews, surveys
• Grounded theory
• Begin with data and develop a theory
• Content analysis
• Examine a body of material to identify patterns,
  themes, etc.

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Chapter 6 Qualitative Research
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Chapter 7 Historical Research

• Examine a sequence of events and develop a
  rational explanation for the sequence, possible
  cause and effect relationships, etc.
• Examples
• Moores Law by Gordon Moore
• Kurzweils Law of Accelerating Returns by Ray
  Kurzweil
• The Dot-Com Bubble Reconsidered by Lee Gomes
• Cooperation from a Game Theory Perspective by
  Dietrich Fischer
• Online Handwriting Recognition Interfaces by
  Charles Tappert
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

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Chapter 8 Descriptive Quantitative Research

• Involves describing the situation as it is
• Descriptive research designs
• Observation studies
• Correlational research
• Survey research

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Chapter 9 Experimental Quantitative Research

• Look for cause-and-effect relationships
• Independent and dependent variables
• Dr. Mary Villani (DPS 2006) - keystroke biometric
  study

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Chapter 10 Mixed-Methods Research

• Both qualitative and quantitative dimensions
• Usually require more time and energy than a
  strictly qualitative or quantitative study

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Chapter 11 Analyzing Quantitative Data

• Exploring and organizing the data
• Visual representations graphs, charts, etc.
• Spreadsheets
• Choosing appropriate statistics
• Descriptive statistics
• Nominal (non-numeric), ordinal (numeric),
  interval (equal units) , and ratio (true zero)
  data
• Normal and non-normal distributions
• Parametric (e.g., means, std) and non-parametric
  statistics
• Inferential statistics
• E.g., use small sample to estimate the
  characteristics of a population

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Chapter 12 Writing the Dissertation

• Description of the research problem
• Stating the hypotheses and/or research questions
• Delimitations, definitions, assumptions
• Importance of the study (so what?)
• Description of the method
• Presentation of the data
• Interpretation of the data
• Conclusions

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Chapter 12 Writing the Dissertation