DEVELOPING AS A RESEARCHER Flashcards
Define qualitative
Provides understanding of experiences, perceptions, motivations, intentions. Behaviours based on description and observation.
What is the goal of a study design in qualitative methods
participants are comfortable with the researcher
What are some methods used in qualitative studies
Semi structured interviews, focus groups, participant observation
Define quantitative
Based on numerical data and usually seeks to establish casual relationships and differences between variables
- Observations measured in numbers
- Start with a testable hypothesis
What is the goal of a quantitative study design
Findings can be repeatedly tested by others.
Variables are defined and statistical analyses test relationships and differences between variables/ groups.
What are some methods used in quantitative studies
Surveys, RCTS, Lab experiments
How to choose target article in a peer review process
Topic, target audience, level, type & length of articles, speed of review process, comply with journal guidelines.
What is the editors role in a peer review process
- Can influence the content of a journal and the scientific community.
- Can also decide who the reviewers will be, decide on section editors, decide on rejection revision & acceptance, communicating journals policies and guidance.
What is the reviewer in a peer review process
Experts in the field, mainly within the topic area
Process often anonymous
Unpaid, under pressure to turn over rapidly therefore can lead to drop in quality
What are revisions in a peer review process
- Understand and answer the questions, suggestions and request of reviewers. Some of these questions are hard to answer which leads to a delay in journal rewriting.
- Can sometimes be multiple goes at revisions due to conflicting opinions between reviewers or new findings since submissions.
What is rejection in the peer review process
- Desk rejection- usually due to not adhering to journal requirements
- Rejection after revisions- less common, suggestion to another journal
How long is the duration of process in a peer review process
roughly 80 days but can range from a few months to a year.
define research ethics
the ethics process aims to protect the welfare, dignity and rights of participants and researchers in the research process
What is the declaration of Helsinki 1964
Statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects
What are the 6 principles to human ethics
- Safety & well being of all participants
- Scientific value/ validity
- Informed consent
- Anonymity, confidentiality and data protection
- Respect for participants
- Conduct research with honesty, integrity and minimal risk to participants
What does the safety of participants involve
All involved are safe- researchers, participants, public, environment
what does scientific value/ validity concern
- Is the study worth doing
- Is the theory supporting the hypothesis
- Is the method suitable
- Is the number of participants suitable
What does informed consent involve
All participants have given verbal or written consent
They understand the implications of consent
What does anonymity, confidentiality and data protection involve
anonymity- identity of participants is not known to researchers
confidentiality- when researcher knows identity of participant but protects it
data protection- where is data stored
who has access to it
what does respect for participants Involve
- Keeping their private info confidential
- Allowing them to withdraw at any point
- Monitoring welfare
- Informing them of any new info that may arise
What is the theoretical perspective
The philosophical stance informing the methodology and thus providing a context for the research process and grounding its logic and criteria
What is there?
What is reality?
How can we understand existance?
What is epistemology
The theory of knowledge embedded in the theoretical perspective and thereby in the methodology.
How we know what we know?
What is valid knowledge?
How can we obtain it?
Define methodology
The strategy, plan of action and process of design that lies behind the choice and use of particular methods. It links the choice and the use of methods to the desired outcomes.
define methods
The techniques or procedures used to gather and analyze data/ evidence related to a specific research question or hypothesis.
what is the world view of objectivism
the whole truth
what is the world view of constructivism
the whole truth is constructed
What is ethnography
the scientific description of peoples cultures with their customs, habits and mutual differences
state some types of interview
- individual- group
- structured, semi structured, structured
- open questions-closed questions
- styles- bibliographical, clinical, ethnographical
- method- face 2 face, telephone, computer assisted
what are the strengths to interviewing
Good rate of return
Extensive interaction
Possible to probe
Flexible
what are the limitations to interviewing
Subjective to interpretation
Limited reliability
Memory decay
how to design the interview
Why are u asking people questions?
Why those people?
What are you asking
How are u going to ask them
questions to avoid in an interview
double questions
long questions
bias questions
invasion of privacy (how much do u earn)
a good interviewer must…
have listening skills
straightforward questions
be sensitive
enjoy it
what is median
The middle of the set of numbers
what is mean
The most common number in a data set
what is mode
The average of a data set
what is the range
Highest score minus the lowest score of data
what Is the variance
The degree of spread within the data. How close the score is to the middle of the distribution. (The larger the spread, the larger the variance)
what is standard deviation
A measure of how the average score deviates away from the mean
what are the different types of statistics
descriptive
inferential
what are descriptive stats
- Summarises features from a collection of data
- Mean, median, range, standard deviation (typically reported using graphs, figures and tables)
what are inferential stats
- Draw conclusions from one group of data that can be generalized to another group/ population/ situation
- T test, correlation, ANOVA, regression
Why dont we test the whole population
Time
cost
inability to access entire population
What can be some issues with sampling
- sample size too small
- non representative sample
During the review process, at what time point can a scientific paper be DESK REJECTED
When submitted the first time as it doesn’t comply to the guidelines to authors
