Foundations Of Research Flashcards
What is research and its purpose?
A detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover information or reach an understanding
What are the 3 types of research?
Descriptive research
Exploratory research
Casual research
What is descriptive research?
Used to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied
Uses of descriptive research
- Describe behaviours and characteristics
- Inform predictions and inspire hypothesis
- Test hypotheses
- Demonstrate observable relationships/correlations between variables
What is exploratory research?
Research that seeks to explore new areas of interest or clarify ambiguous problems
Uses of exploratory research
- explore a new concept, idea or phenomenon
- contribute to building upon an evidence base
- direct research priorities
- suggest ideas for service developments
- clarify/further concepts and ideas
- further development of hypotheses
What is casual research?
Identifies the extent and nature of cause and effect relationships between 2 or more variables
Uses of casual research
- test/prove/disprove hypotheses objectively
- identify cause and effect relationships between variables
- measure the impact of a manipulated variable on a control variable
- can aid demonstration of extent of effectiveness
What is primary data?
- raw data
- collected by the researcher first hand
- quantitative and qualitative data
- can facilitate a clearer understanding of methodology followed to gather the data
What is secondary data?
- existing data observed/analysed by a researcher
- systematic literature reviews
- can gather/synthesise lots of different data
- exiting online data
- gauge existing ideas/views/experiences
What are the stages of the Scientific Research Cycle?
Observation
Question
Hypotheses
Predictions
Data collection
Conclusion
Describe the Scientific Research cycle
Qualitative research follows an inductive process:
- facilitates gathering o generation of a new theory emerging from data collected
- considers observational and conclusion aspect of cycle
Quantitative research follows a deductive process:
- tests and evaluates existing theories
- considers hypothesis, prediction and data collection can be considered
What is induction?
Generates new concepts
Theories from emergent data
Exploratory in nature
Qualitative data collection
What is deduction?
Aims to test/evaluate existing theories
Problem-solving
Testing of hypotheses
Generalisability of results
What is falsifiability?
Key part of deductive research
Idea that any statements, hypothesis, or theory that may be tested through research
Aim is to prove that the theory is not false
What is qualitative research?
Use of verbal or written language to express, convey and explore views, beliefs, feelings, experiences, thoughts and opinions
What is quantitative research?
Use of measures to categorise/group, rank or scale data. May not always initially be numerical but can be handled/sorted to facilitate counting and calculation of statistics
Name and describe the sub-types of quantitative data
Nominal - allocates people or things to named categories
Ordinal - orders things into a rank order
Interval - gathered on a continuous numerical scale, where there are equal intervals between points
Ratio - alike to interval data but with an absolute zero
