Research design

Question 1

What is research design?

Answer 1

a strategic framework for action - a system for (systematic) observation

Question 2

what does research design aim to do?

Answer 2

overall blueprint or roadmap for conducting your research study - outlines key ingredients and steps involved

Question 3

what does research design define?

Answer 3

defines the strategy you’ll use to answer research question and gather meaningful data

Question 4

what is the first step in research design?

Answer 4

review the field and identify which questions still need to be answered

Question 5

what is meant by question/aim?

Answer 5

we needed a design that would allow us to answer that question in such a way that we could draw valid conclusions from the study.

Question 6

what is meant when referring to the typology of the research?

Answer 6

typologies (categorizations) of different kinds of research, that describe the broad terms

Question 7

what are the research types that fall into the first typology?

Answer 7

exploratory, descriptive, explanatory

Question 8

what is exploratory research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 8

preliminary investigations into unknown areas - typology 1

Question 9

what is descriptive research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 9

describes phenomena - typology 1

Question 10

what is explanatory research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 10

looks for causal explanations - typology 1

Question 11

what are the research types that fall into the second typology?

Answer 11

basic research, applied research

Question 12

what is basic research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 12

basic research advances our knowledge of the world - typology 2

Question 13

what is applied research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 13

applied research has a practical application - typology 2

Question 14

what are the research types that fall into the third typology?

Answer 14

quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods

Question 15

what is quantitative research and what typology is it part of?

Answer 15

broad generalizable comparisons, numbers, stats - typology 3

Question 16

what is qualitative research and which typology is it part of?

Answer 16

words, themes, depth and detail - typology 3

Question 17

what are the four major categories to consider when doing research design?

Answer 17

purpose, paradigm, techniques and context

Question 18

what does purpose refer to?

Answer 18

what the study aims to do/achieve with the research being done

Question 19

what does context refer to?

Answer 19

where the research will be done and who/what the sample is made up of to get accurate results for the research purpose

Question 20

what does the paradigm refer to?

Answer 20

which research paradigm (positivist, ….) is going to be used to gather the research/data of the study

Question 21

what do techniques refer to?

Answer 21

how the data will be collected, what testing methods will be used etc.

Question 22

how is coherence in a research design achieved?

Answer 22

when purpose, context, paradigms and techniques work together, coherence is achieved

Question 23

what are the conditions for causality?

Answer 23

covariation, temporal precedence, eliminate third variables

Question 24

what does covariation as a condition for causality refer to?

Answer 24

as the independent variable changes, the dependent variable must be observed to change

Question 25

what does temporal precedence as a condition for causality refer to?

Answer 25

the ‘cause’ must come before the ‘effect’

Question 26

what does eliminating third variables as a condition for causality refer to?

Answer 26

any other alternative explanation must be eliminated - goes into validity

Question 27

how do you eliminate third variables in a research design?

Answer 27

have a control group, random assignment to control and experimental groups, chose valid and reliable measurements, keep interviewers blind to conditions, keep statisticians blind to conditions, keep track of who dropped out and why

Question 28

why is having a control group important for eliminating third variables?

Answer 28

allows you to estimate what people would have been like if they hadn’t got the program - Otherwise you might get to the end and discovered that they’d all improved anyway, and you wouldn’t be able to tell what the program did that was different from the normal passage of time.

Question 29

why is randomized control important for eliminating third variables?

Answer 29

This ensures that the two groups are equal in every respect so it’s not that one group started out bad and the other started out good, that gives you your results. You also report the baseline (measures before the program started) to check that the two groups were in fact equal.

Question 30

what factors go into randomized control?

Answer 30

sample size - big enough sample, do randomization off site, report baseline conditions of each group

Question 31

why is choosing valid and reliable measures for eliminating third variables important?

Answer 31

Choose measures that work, and that measure what they’re supposed to measure – otherwise you don’t know what you’re measuring, and it’ll mean that your results can’t be interpreted.

Question 32

why is keeping interviewers blind when eliminating third variables important?

Answer 32

don’t want “experimenter bias” where they might subtly hint to the experimental group

Question 33

why is keeping statisticians blind when eliminating third variables important?

Answer 33

giving numbers to groups, and not saying which was which, in case that influenced interpretation of statistics.

Question 34

why is keeping track of who dropped out and why when eliminating for third variables important?

Answer 34

participants might drop out because of specific factors of the research design that could influence the results

Question 35

What are the types of variables?

Answer 35

independent variable, dependent variable, mediating variables, extraneous variables

Question 36

what is the independent variable?

Answer 36

what changes in the study - eg; control group vs experimental group

Question 37

what is the dependent variable?

Answer 37

what you are measuring - eg; attention span

Question 38

what are extraneous variables?

Answer 38

variables that could effect the results of the study that need to be controlled for

Question 39

what are mediating variables?

Answer 39

how the independent variable effects the dependent variable, the mechanisms of how this happens