Exam 1 Flashcards
What are the functions of research? (3)
- corrects perceptions and expands on them
- gathers info on subjects or phenomena we lack or have little knowledge about
- provides hard facts which serve as basis for planning, decision making, project implementation and evaluation
How can people solve problems unscientifically? (5)
- Tenacity - cling to a belief regardless of supporting evidence
- Intuition - common sense
- Authority - referring to authorities
- Rationalistic method - derive knowledge through reasoning
- Correlation vs. causation - correlation did not imply causation
What is the difference between correlation and causation?
Correlation - 1 thing always happen because of something else
Causation - something is caused by another
What are the 3 research approaches?
Qualitative, Quantitative, Mixed methods
What are the 4 widely accepted philosophical world views?
- post pragmatism - single truth/reality to be discovered through research
- constructivism - multiple realities exist
- pragmatism - concerned with solutions to problems and not committed to one way of thinking
- transformative - focuses on reform and change through research
what is the difference between subjective and objective?
Subjective - based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, opinions
Objective - not influenced by those things, based on evidence
what is quantitative research?
for testing theories, describing status on variables, looking at relations between/among variables
- measurement, statistics, protection against bias, set structure
what is the nature of quantitative research? (5)
- systematic (research design)
- logical (can’t poke holes in study)
- empirical (collects data and uses observation to answer questions)
- reductive (takes data to establish relationships)
- replicable (enables others to test findings)
what is qualitative research?
- makes sense of reality
- can create theories
- tries to develop decryption of phenomenon and generate theories as outcome
- often used to explore topics or questions in which relatively little is known
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative - developing theory
Quantitative - testing theory
What is the difference between skinny and fat research questions?
Skinny - can be answered in a yes or no, or in 1 sentence (often starts with when, how many, who, where)
Fat - can’t be answered in 1 sentence (often starts with why, which, how)
What are the different styles of research questions? (5)
- Challenge the norm
- conflicting views (researching opposition or look for null findings)
- geographical variation (urban vs. rural vs. suburban, high altitude vs. low altitude, north or south of the equator, different countries)
- Population variation (different races or cultural groups, disabilities)
- Overlooked topics (rare-conditions or underfunded conditions, can’t be properly investigated due to limitations)
What is a literature review?
summary and explanation of complete and current state of knowledge on a limited topic
what is the difference between primary and secondary sources?
primary - first hand account, most research articles are primary, must have new info, usually created during or very close to the events they report on
secondary - second hand info that has been digested, analyzed, reworded or interpreted, can be written well after events
Examples of primary and secondary sources
primary - health records, diaries, interviews, letters, data, official documents, speeches, photographs, news articles, journal articles of original research
secondary - systematic review or meta-analysis, magazines
what are scholarly sources?
academic, peer-reviewed, refereed sources
- written by experts in the field
- serve to keep others unto date on most recent research findings and news
what does peer-reviewed mean?
undergone review and scrutiny of a review board of colleagues in the authors field
What are variables?
measurable attributes that can vary