Formulating the method

1. Formulating the method Image owned by Loughborough College Practitioner Research

2. Learning Outcomes From this lecture you will be able to…..

3. Formulating the Method • Participants • Instruments / Equipment • Procedures 4. Design / Analysis The purpose of the method is to explain how the study was conducted. As a rule, a method should be thorough enough for another researcher to replicate the study • Planning is required to eliminate any rival hypothesis. • When a study is designed correctly and the results are as predicted, the only explanation is what you did – your method. • We must use the MAXICON principle • A method usually has 4 parts Why plan the method?

4. Describing participants Image owned by Loughborough College What needs to be described Keep in mind The interaction between subjects, measures and the nature of the treatment program is essential in allowing the study to work • The how and why the participants were selected and which of their characteristics are pertinent to the study • Age (children, elderly?) • Sex (males, females, both?) • Level of training (trained / untrained) • Level of performance (expert /novice) • Size (height / weight) • Can you obtain the necessary permission and cooperation from subjects? • Can you find enough subjects? Who will your sample of subjects be?

5. Describing instruments Image owned by Loughborough College Information about the instruments equipment or tests used to collect data is used to generate the IV’s used in the study • What is the validity and reliability of the measures • How difficult is it to obtain the measures • Do you have access to the required equipment • Do you know how to administer the tests? (can you learn?) • Do you know how to evaluate test performance? • Will the participants be willing to spend the time required for testing? • Will the tests / equipment yield a reasonable range of scores for the participants selected?

6. Procedures? Planning treatments continued When planning procedures….. Collecting the data.....When? Where? How much time was required Pilot testing…..Do you have the necessary skill to collect data? Do you need to run pilot tests? Recording data…..Have you developed a scheme for recording data Planning treatments…..How long? How intense? How often? • How will participants adhere to treatments given? • Do you have pilot data showing how this can be achieved? • Are treatments appropriate? • Attack and defence • Set play • Positioning Choice of appropriate/correct technique • Use of space • ability to 'read the play/situation' • acquired knowledge • decision-making skills “The contact between people testers and people subjects in people experiments should be minimised, standardised, and randomised” (Martens, 1973)

7. Importance of pilot work Methodological Flaws Ways to eradicate methodological flaws • Approximately 75% of student research studies (including MSc and PhD theses) are not publishable • Make sure your topic knowledge is sound and up to date • Design your study correctly and appropriately – watertight • Perform pilot testing Image owned by Loughborough College • This is mostly due to methodological flaws • Don’t produce flawed research! Avoiding methodological flaws requires careful planning

8. Pilot Studies

9. Describing design and data analysis Designing Well • Experimental studies contain a section on data analysis. In some cases the study design may be described in this section….. • Statistical analysis used and how • applied (t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation etc) • Level of significance used (usually < 0.05) • Confidence interval used (usually 95%) • How data will be reported (means ± standard deviations) • Statistics package used (SPSS) A well designed study is one In which the only explanation for change in the dependent variable is how the participants were treated (independent variable) All other rival or alternative hypotheses should be eliminated IV’s and DV’s may be described, control, randomisation, manipulation

10. Constructing a Method

11. Establishing cause and effect • Agreement…..If an effect occurs when both A and b are present and A and B only have C in common, the C is the likely cause of the effect • Disagreement…..If the effect does not occur in A or B and the only missing element is C, then C is the likely cause of the effect • Your own reasoning / beliefs will influence the establishment of cause and effect • The establishment of cause and Think of it like this….. • effect is more than a statistical and • design issue • Logic?.....if the null hypothesis is not true, then what hypothesis is true? • Hopefully the alternative hypothesis • Causes…..the researcher should try to explain that certain effects normally happen given certain circumstances or causes • Example.....water boils in the presence of a high enough temperature but not in the absence of this temperature

12. Avoiding flaws Manipulation Effects In certain circumstances manipulation checks are essential For example, in a study in which you have asked subjects to abstain from using caffeine, should you check this? How? • Fatal flaws in research • Issues that compromise the validity of your study and would prevent it from being published • Examples • Are all hypotheses logical? • Are all assumptions good ones? • Are the ‘right’ subjects in sufficient numbers selected • Are treatments intense enough and of sufficient length to produce an effect • Are all measurements valid / reliable / appropriate • Are data collection and storage procedures well planned • Are all extraneous variables controlled

13. Glossary

14. References Baumgartner, T.A. and Hensley, L.D. (2006). Conducting and Reading Research in Health and Human Performance 4th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill. Hoenes, R.L. andChissom, B. (1975). A Student Guide for Educational Research. Statesboro, GA: Vog Pres McCloy, C.H. (1930). Professional progress through research. Research Quarterly, 1, 63 – 73. Thomas, J. R., Nelson, J. and Silverman, S. (2005). Research Methods in Physical Activity. 5th Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics

15. Quiz 5