Week Twelve

Question 1

What are the four social research philosophies

Answer 1

Positivism

Post positivism

Interpretivism

Constructivism

Question 2

What is the positive philosophy

Answer 2

An objective reality exists apart from perceptions (empirical reality)

Goal of research is to study things in a way that helps discover or understand reality

Question 3

What is post-positivism?

Answer 3

Empirical reality exists, but because of complexity of human behaviour and associations, we may not be able to understand it completely

Goal of research is to achieve intersubjective agreement because limitations in research techniques often prevent ability to perceive objective reality

Question 4

What is interpretivism

Answer 4

No single empirical reality
People have different understandings of the situations
Research should study how people perceive reality

Participatory action research
Researcher collaborates with some of the persons studied
Develop valid definitions, bring unique insights and desire change in the organisation

Question 5

What is constructivism

Answer 5

Extends interpretivism to emphasise the importance of how different stakeholders construct their beliefs

Question 6

What is the principal orientation of quantitative and qualitative research

Answer 6

QUAN: deductive

Qual: inductive

Question 7

What is the epistemological orientation of QUAN and qual?

Answer 7

QUAN: natural science model: in particular positivism

Qual: interpretivism

Question 8

What is the ontological orientation of qual and QUAN

Answer 8

QUAN: objectivism

Qual: constructivism

Question 9

What is operation and operationalisation

Answer 9

Operation: the procedure for measuring concepts - the identification of a value of a variable

Operationalisation: the process of specifying the operations (measures) that will indicate the value of a variable

Question 10

What are the four categories of variables

Answer 10

Interval/ratio: regular distances between all categories in range

Ordinal: categories can be ranked but unequal distances between them

Nominal: qualitatively different categories: cannot be ranked

Dicotomous: only two categories

Question 11

What is probability sampling?

Answer 11

Allows researchers to select study subjects to be statistically representative of population they want to learn about

The larger the same and the more homogenous the population, the more confidence we can have about sample representation

Question 12

What are the four types of probability sampling

Answer 12

Simple random sampling

Systematic random sampling

Cluster sampling

Stratified random sampling

Question 13

What is non probability sampling

Answer 13

Each member of population has an unknown probability of being selected

Question 14

What are the four types of non-probability sampling?

Answer 14

Availability

Quota

Purposive:judgement

Snowball

Question 15

What are the requirements for a true experiment?

Answer 15

At least one treatment group and one control group

Random assignment to the groups

Assessment of change in dependent variable in both groups after the experimental group receives the treatment

Question 16

What are the characteristics of non experimental designs

Answer 16

Design lacks a seperate comparison group; all cases are exposed to the experimental treatment

The basis for comparison is provided by the pretreatment measure in the experimental group

Question 17

What is a fixed sample panel design

Answer 17

Non experimental design

Involved only one pre test and one post test
Does not qualify as a quasi-experimental design because comparing subjects to themselves at only one earlier point in time failed to provide an adequate comparison group

Question 18

What are the common features of qualitative research

Answer 18

Collection of primary qualitative narratives rather than QUAN data

Exploratory, committed to inductive reasoning. It does not begin by seeking to test pre-formulated hypotheses

Focus on human subjectivity and the meaning that subjects attach to events and people in their lives

Researchers pay attention to social context and interconnections between social phenomena

A focus on the events leading up to a particular outcome instead of general causal explanations

It focuses on dynamic social processes. Looks at causes as a series of events embedded within an unfolding, interconnected action sequence

Sensitivity to the subjective role of the researcher

Use of reflexive design/data collection

Data collection is adjusted as study progresses, based on what researcher learns

Major approaches include 1. Intensive interviewing, 2. Participant observation and 3. Focus group.

Question 19

What is content analysis

Answer 19

The systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of message characteristics

A content analysis is a survey designed with fixed choice responses so that it produces quantitative data that can be analysed statistically

Content analysis studies often quantify the content in news reports, magazine and journal articles and television programs

Question 20

What is mixed methods

Answer 20

The use of qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate a phenomenon

Commonly used by members of the early Chicago school to study crime and juvenile delinquency in the early 1920s

Not frequently used

Question 21

What is meta analysis

Answer 21

A quantitative method for identifying patterns in findings across multiple studies

Previous studies are treated as cases whose features are measured as variables and then analysed statistically

Shows how evidence about the interventions varies across research studies

Enhances the generalisability of the findings from any single study or research project

Question 22

What is univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis?

Answer 22

Conditions // strategies for establishing causality

Simultaneous analysis of two or more variables

Independent variable and dependent variable analysis

Spurious relationship - effect disappears

Intervening (mediating variable) variable - - indirect effect

Moderated relationship - value of one IV changes the effect that another IV has on DV

Statistical significance - test statistics for making inferences to the larger population