Chapter 1: Introduction Flashcards
What is research?
Research is a set of procedures for the systematic and objective observation, collection, processing, analysis, and reporting of information.
What are the three main parts of research?
- Pre-research
- Research
- Post-research
What happens during the pre-research phase, and who engages it?
Pre-research is initiated by a decision maker who needs relevant and reliable info.
This phase includes:
Monitoring of environment and literature.
Identifying a problem, trend, opportunity, issue, phenomena, or theory.
Specification of research topic in research question or hypothesis form.
Design a research study using ethical standards considering factors as budget, time, and population.
Decide who will conduct the study.
What happens during the Research phase, and who engages it?
The research phase is initiated by the research expert.
The phase includes:
Consulting with the decision maker.
In-depth literature review.
Implement research design with ethics.
Drafts and pretests of measurement instruments.
Selection of participants.
Secure final approval from decision maker.
Collect, process, and analyze data.
Write a report and oral presentation.
Share results with decision maker and relevant audiences.
What happens during the post-research phase, and who initiates it?
The decision maker initiates the post-research phase.
The phase includes:
The review and evaluation of the results using ethical standards.
Decisions are made based on results and evaluation of impact of decisions implemented.
Deciding the next step.
Research Questions
A question formulated to clarify what information is needed to understand an issue, solve a problem, document a trend or take advantage of an opportunity.
Ex: What do television viewers usually do when commercials come on?
Research Hypotheses
A statement that predicts the nature of a relationship between two or more variables under investigation.
Ex: As Internet use increases, newspaper reading decreases.
How did the philosophers Morris Cohen and Ernest Nagel describe the scientific method?
They described it as “the way in which we test impressions, opinions, or surmises by examining the best availible evidence for and against them.”
What are the other three methods of forming opinions and explaining things as defined by Cohen and Nagel ?
Tenacity
Authority
Intuition
Explain tenacity as one of the methods.
This is an example of holding on to a belief because we have always believed it.
Explain authority as a method.
This method comes from believing something because a higher source says we must believe it, whether from religion, or tradition.
Explain intuition as a method.
The method of intuition suggests that propositions are believed to be true because they’re obvious. (Based or theory rather than experience.)
Theory
A set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena.
Explain the term “measurement” within the context of research as defined by Keith Stamm.
A set of rules for signing numbers to observations.
Internal validity
Internal validity is concerned with the whether the measurement is an accurate representation of the concept being studied.
