choosing the appropriate study design [compatibility mode]

8/11/2019 Choosing the Appropriate Study Design [Compatibility Mode]

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CHOOSING AN APPPROPRIATERESEARCH DESIGN Vicente C. Handa, Ph.D.Director, WVSU-CTE

CaveatResearch designs appropriate forresearch in the social sciencese.g. anthropology, sociology,psychology, history, economics,education.

QUESTIONS What is an appropriate research design? What comprises a research design? What informs a researcher in

choosing a research design? What available research designs

might inform us in the conduct of ourresearch?

Outline of Presentation The Nature and Scope of Social Science

Research Research Design: Definitions,

Components, and Scope Considerations in Choosing an

Appropriate Research Design(e.g., Research Questions, TheoreticalFrameworks)

Outline of Presentation (Cont.)

Research Designs (Objectivism vs.Constructionism)

Evaluating A Research Design.


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Social science research

. is a process, a tool, or a systematic

study toproduce, develop, construct,create, make, build, and shapeknowledge.

Research is used to produce and buildknowledge in the social sciences.

Important Assumptions:1. Social science is a broad field.2. Research is used to buildknowledge in the social sciences.

Understanding these twoimportant assumptions might helpbetter understand the nature andscope of the social sciences andhow social science researchmight be conducted.

Second Questions : What are the goals of social science

research? Why we do social science research?

To predictTo find relationshipsTo describe.

Traditional social science research- generate valid, reliable, andobjective knowledge- generalizable across populations,sett ings, and history..


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Again, the goal is not to produceobjective knowledge, but to createknowledge that is socially

constructed by the researchparticipants.

Goal: To understandSocial scientists study the socialworld in its natural setting,immersing themselves in thelifeworlds of their participants,interpreting them.

Some research scientists have given upthe goal of producing objective andgeneralizable knowledge acrosspopulations and settings.

They endeavored to build/createknowledge that might true only to specificpopulations, culture, and/or setting.

Objective knowledge vs. sociallyconstructed knowledge

Any ideas?

How they might inform ourresearch design?

Some social researchscientists . Questions the objective and socially

constructed knowledge that we have builtthrough the years.

Knowledge we built have taken for grantedpopulations outside the norm. Have expanded our understanding of what

counts as knowledge in the socialsciences

Critical research

. Paolo Friere, in his book, the Pedagogy ofthe Oppressed, have contended that theknowledge we produced have served thepurpose of those who are in the position ofpower, wealth, and privilege.


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Feminist research

Rosemary Tong and Patti Lathey have

been working hard to re-create knowledgethat caters to womens perspectives, therise of feminism so to speak.Critical and feminist theories have beenused by progressive social scientists toemancipate certain sectors of our societythrough participatory action research.

Deconstruction Research

Postcolonial, poststructural, and

postmodernism theories have recentlygained popularity aimed at deconstructingpreviously known knowledge, resulting tochanges in research paradigms informingsocial science research.

Research Design: Definition, Components, andScope

Talk with a seatmate:What is your understanding of the terms

research design?If you were to write a research article with a

subheading, research design, what shoulddo you expect to find in the discussion?

What s hould be included in the discussion ofresearch design?

What is a research design?


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Research design is the structure thatprovides the glue, holding the researchproject together. address the central research questions. plan for collecting and utilizing data so thatdesired information can be obtained withsufficient precision (Trochim, 2006).

The research design

ensures that the evidence obtained

enables us to answer the initial question provides a logical structure of the inquiry. is an integral part of the research process describes what the researcher did evaluate if the findings and conclusions

made from the study are trustworthy.

Research Methodology more encompassing in describing theresearch design. subsumes both quantitative andqualitative designs.

Research participants/respondents/

subjects Selection criteria and sampling procedure Qualitative researchsnapshot of

research participants biographicalinformation relevant to the study.

What else do we find in researchmethodology?Setting of the studyContexts of the studyProcedure and study design

Instruments/data gathering toolsData analysis/Statistical tools

/

If you were to conduct a study, whatinforms you in planning your researchdesign?

In other words, what are majorconsiderations will you look into inplanning/selecting your research design?


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Research questions

Epistemological and theoreticalperspectives (research paradigm).

The research question is the most centralcomponent in planning the researchdesign of a study

Informs how we collect data, analyze data,and represent data

What methods will I use to collect data? How do I analyze my data? What can I learn from the data? What form will the representation of my

data take? Who is my audience? \How might I

represent my participants?

Research paradigm refersto the epistemology andtheoretical perspectives ofthe study.

The epistemology andtheoretical researchperspectives are twoover arching frameworksthat info rm the researchmethodolog y and methods

Epistemology is a branch of philosophythat deals with the theory of knowledge,particularly the nature and scope ofknowledge.

Epistemology is the study or theory ofkno wledge especially with reference to itslimits a nd validity (New CollegiateDictionary, 1981, p.381).


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What is knowledge?

How is knowledge acquired? What do people know? How do we know what we know?

Three Epistemological Stances

Objectivism

Constructionism Subjectivism.

Social reality exists as meaningful entitiesindependently of consciousness andexperience

Truth and meanings reside in social realityas objects

We can obtain the objective truth andmeaning about this object

We can obtain an objective knowledge ofthat social reality.

Objectivism Roots in ancient Greece Objective truth/objective knowledge/objectivereality. Foundation of Western science Bases for social research, particularlyquantitative methodologies

Two popular research perspectives: positivism post-positivism

Positivist research provides a theoreticalbasis in conducting quantitative researchmethodologies Experimental research, causal-comparative research, correlational research sur vey.


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Goal To Predict

Reality (Ontology) Concrete, objective Absolute, fixed,determinable,measurable

Knowledge Neutral, value- free(Epistem ology )

Researcher Scientist

Methodologies Quantitative Method scientific,

deductive,hypothesis testing

Purpose Predict

(B , G , & , 2003, . 13)

Positivist Science

Aims of research Universal knowledgeTheory building and testing

Type of knowledge Acquired UniversalCovering law

Nature of data Context free

Validation Logic, measurementConsistency of prediction and control

Researchers role Observer

Researchers relationship tosetting

Detached, neutral

Meaning is not in objects themselves. Meanings occurs when engaged by

consciousness Meanings are dependent on the

consciousness of the perceiver We are the ones who give meanings to the

objec ts in the social world.

We do not create meaning, but rather construct/co-contract meanings by working or living in theworld and the objects in the social world.

Meanings: individual construction and/or groupconstruction. We inherit a world of meanings from our

ancestors. We be come part of the on-going construction of

meanings in the social world.

Objectivism Constructionism Subjectivism

Reality Object Object-Subject Subject

Knowledge Objective Socially constructed BiasedResearcher Detached Interactive Subjective


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Central to interpretivism is the idea that all

human activity is fundamentally a socialand meaning-making experience, thatsignificant research about human life is anattempt to reconstruct that experience,and that methods to investigate thatexp erience must be modeled after orapprox imate it. (Eisenhart, 1988, p. 102)

It does not concern itself with the search

for broadly applicable laws and rules, butrather seeks to produce descriptiveanalyses that emphasize deep,interpretive understandings of socialphenomena (Scott, 2001, p. 2).

Denial of an objective reality independentof the frame of reference of the observer

Reality is mind dependent

Interpretive research thus generallyenables the researcher to gain adescriptive understanding of the values,actions, and concerns of the subjectsunder study. It also provides an avenuethrough which the researcher can offer athick description (Geertz, 1973) of thephenom ena at hand.

Symbolic interactionism Phenomelogy

Ethnography Grounded theory Phenomenology Narrative Inquiry Action Research His torical Research


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Interpretive Research Methodologies The goal is to understand

..the social world in its natural setting...from a holistic perspective

..confluence of multiple factorsGoes beyond describing.

The researcher looks into the personal

subjective world of each researchparticipant

Draws out a collective understanding ofthe social reality

Draw a socially constructed knowledgebase d from the multiple perspectives

socially constructed interpretations living with his research participants immersing in their life worlds conduct individual interviews or focus

group discussions Collect artifacts observe , and observe

Socially constructed knowledge Does not claim total objectivity Interpretations of the social world Biased, value-laden. The researcher is the instrument.

Did the researcher accurately representedhis/her research participants?

The burden of the proof: argue that findingand conclusions are accuraterepresentations of research participantsperspectives.

An epistemological stance assumes thatknowledge is purely dependent in the mindof the perceiver.

Decartes: I think, therefore I am.


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Meaning does not come out of the interplay

between the subject and object. (p. Crotty,2003, p.9). Meaning is imposed on the object by the subject. The object makes no contribution to the

generation of meaning. Me aning making is a subjective act essentially

indepe ndent of the object.

The subjectivist epistemology has

spawned so many recent theoreticalperspectiveswhich are quite popularnowadays in international researchcommunities that attempt to critic thestatus quo through deconstruction andemancipation.

Critical Theories Feminism Poststructuralism Postcolonialism Postmodernism Wh at will happen if r esearch is framed from any of these

perspe ctives?

Quantitative Research Design

Experimental research Correlational research Causal-comparative research Survey


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E

Attempts to influence a particular variable.

When used properly Can establish the cause and effect

relationships through hypothesis testing Most powerful type of research to prove

the cause and effect

(C C , 2002, . 224)

1. There is a comparison of treatments.

2. There is a direct manipulation of one ormore independent variables by theresearcher.

E

RANDOMIZATIONRandom assignment is the most important

ingredient for the best experimentaldesign. (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006, p.300).

Control of Extraneous Variables

Randomization Holding certain variables constant Building variables into the design Matching Using subjects as their own controls Using the analysis of covariance.

Group Designs inExperimental Research

weak experimental designs true experimental designs quasi-experimental designs factorial designs.

Weak experimental designs

One-shot case study design One-group pretest-posttest design Static-group comparison design


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One-shot case study design

A single group is exposed to treatment or

event, and its effects are assessed. __________________________________

X OTreatment Observation

(Dependent variable) ________________________________

The One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design

___________________________________

O X OPretest Treatment Posttest

___________________________________

The Static-Group Comparison Design

_________________________________X O--------------------------------

O _________________________________

G D

_________________________________O X O

O O _________________________________

CG D

___________________________________Treatment group R X O

___________________Control group R C O

__________________________________


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CG D

___________________________________

Treatment group R O X O _______________________

Control group R O C O

__________________________________

F GD

___________________________________

Treatment group R O X O _______________________

Control group R O C O

Treatment group R X O _______________________

Control group R C O _____________________________________________

_________________________________

FG D

A

C CG D ,

___________________________________Treatment group M r X O

_______________________

Control group M r C O

__________________________________

CC G D ,

___________________________________Treatment group M r O X O

_______________________

Control group M r O C O

__________________________________


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E D

CG D

___________________________________

Treatment group M X O _______________________

Control group M C O

__________________________________

CG D

___________________________________Treatment group M O X O

_______________________

Control group M O C O

__________________________________

A C D

___________________________________Group 1 X 1 O X2 O X 3 O

____________________________________

Group 2 X 2 O X3 O X 1 O ____________________________________

Group 3 X3 O X1 O X 2 O

__________________________________

A B D

___________________________________O1 O2 O 3 O4 O 5 X O6 O7 O8 O9 O10 __________________________________

F D


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F GD

___________________________________

Treatment group R O X Y 1 O ______________________________

Control group R O C Y 1 O ______________________________

Treatment group R O X Y 2 O ______________________________

Control group R O C Y 2 O _____________________________________________

F D

Alternative Illustration

X CY1

Y2

FAC A DE G

A

C E A A E EA C


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C C (2002) A

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A . A ,

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1 2

A B C D E

: 30 (F &, 2006)

CC

0.35 0.40 0.60

0.65

0.85

Causal-ComparativeResearch

Causal-Comparative Research

Seeks to identify associations Attempts to determine the cause or

consequences of differences that alreadyexist

Begins with a noted difference, then lookfor possible causes for, or consequencesof , this difference

Causal-comparative vs correlationalresearch

Both seek to explore relationshipsCausal-comparative vs. experimental In experimental research, the group

membership variable is manipulated; incausal-comparative research, the groupdifferences already exists.

Three types of causal-comparative research Exploration of effects Exploration of causes Exploration of consequences


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Three types of causal-comparative research Exploration of effects (dependent variable)

caused by membership in a given groupQuestion: What difference in abilities are

caused by gender?Research hypothesis: Females have a

greater amount of linguistic ability thanmales.

Three types of causal-comparative research Exploration of causes (independent

variable) of group membership Question: What causes individuals to join

gang?Research hypothesis: Individuals who are

members of gangs have more aggressive personalities than individuals who are notmembers of gangs.

Three types of causal-comparative research Exploration of consequences (dependent

variable) of an interventionQuestion: How do students taught by the

inquiry method react to propaganda?Research hypothesis: Students who were

taught by inquiry method are more criticalof propaganda than those who weretaught by the lecture method.

Steps in Causal-comparative

Formulating a problem Identify phenomena Consider possible causes for or

consequences of these phenomena

Selecting a sample Define the characteristics Select groups that differ in characteristic

B C C D

Group IV DV ___________________________________(a) I C O

(Group posses (Measurement)characteristics)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------II -C O

(Group does not (Measurement)possess characteristics)

_______________________________________________

B C C D

Group IV DV ___________________________________(a) I C O

Dropouts Level of self -esteem

----------------------------------------------------------------------------II -C O

Nondropouts Level of self-esteem

_______________________________________________


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B C C D

Group IV DV

___________________________________(b) I C 1 O

(Group posses (Measurement)characteristics 1)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------II C2 O

(Group possess (Measurement)characteristics 2)

_______________________________________________

B C C D

Group IV DV

___________________________________(a) I C 1 O

Councilors Amount of job satisfaction

----------------------------------------------------------------------------II C2 O

Teachers Amount of job satisfaction

_______________________________________________

Threats to Internal Validity Two weaknesses: lack of randomization &

inability to manipulate variables Major threat: Subject characteristics Procedures to counter: matching subjects

on related variables, creatinghomogeneous subgroups, and statisticalmatching.

Other threats: location, instrumentation,and loss of subjects

Data analysis T-test ANCOVA

The results should be treated with cautionbecause they do not prove cause andeffect.

E E EA C

Characteristics of Survey Research

Collection of information From sample By asking questions

in order to describe some aspects of thepopulation of which the sample is a part.


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Purpose of Survey ResearchTo describe the characteristics of a

population

The sample is surveyed and adescription of the population is inferredfrom the sample.

Types of Surveys Two major types: Cross-sectional and longitudinal Longitudinal survey: trend studies, cohort studies, and

panel studies

Trend studydifferent samples from a population whosemembers change are surveyed at different points in time. Cohort study-- different samples from a population

whose members do not change are surveyed atdifferent points in time.

Panel study- the same sample of individuals is surveyedat different times over the course of the survey.

Steps in Survey Research

Focus of the study: unit of analysisTarget populationFour basic ways to collect data: by direct administration using a survey

instrument by mail By tele phone

By personal interviews

Steps in Survey Research

The sample should be selected randomly aspossible.

Common instrument used: questionnaire &interview schedule

Questions Asked in Survey Research

The nature of the questions, and the waythey are asked , are extremely important insurvey research.

Most surveys use some form of close-endedquestions.

The survey instrument must be pretested.Contin gency questions must be prepared.

(Follow up questions)

Threats to Internal Validity

Location Instrumentation Instrument decay Mortality


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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

METHODOLOGIES

Ethnography

Grounded theory Phenomenology Narrative Inquiry Action Research Historical Research

Research Design: SomeIntegrative Thoughts

choosing the appropriate study design [compatibility mode]

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