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Research Methods

Research Methods. Points of Emphasis. Experimentation. Types Laboratory Field Natural or quasi. Laboratory. Points to emphasize: Isolates cause and effect High reliability Easy replication Ecological validity is weak. Field. Points to emphasize: Experiment in natural environment

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Research Methods

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  1. Research Methods Points of Emphasis

  2. Experimentation • Types • Laboratory • Field • Natural or quasi

  3. Laboratory • Points to emphasize: • Isolates cause and effect • High reliability • Easy replication • Ecological validity is weak

  4. Field • Points to emphasize: • Experiment in natural environment • Improves ecological validity • Extraneous variables can be an influence

  5. Natural or quasi • Points to emphasize: • Natural: not responsible for the manipulation of the independent variable • Less control but less artificial • Quasi: independent variable is natural (i.e. gender or age) • No random assignment

  6. Correlational Studies • Points to emphasize: • Correlation coefficient (-1 to +1) • Can study variables that can‘t be done in an experiment • No cause-effect relationships • A third variable could be involved • Sometimes relationships can be seen in graphs but not the coefficient

  7. Observations • Covert & Overt • Participant and non-participant • Naturalistic and controlled

  8. Covert and Overt • Points to emphasize • Covert: participants don’t know they are being watched (natural but is it ethical?) • Overt: participants know they are being watched (ethical but is it natural?)

  9. Participant and Nonparticipant • Points to emphasize: • Participant: become part of the group (richer data but you have to “fit”) • Non-participant: watch from outside the group (strong validity but too subjective)

  10. Naturalistic and Controlled • Points to emphasize: • Naturalistic: watch behavior as it naturally occurs (it’s real but no control and can’t explain) • Controlled: create the situation (more control but decreases ecological validity)

  11. Strengths of Observations • Real behavior • Study behavior that’s difficult to describe or discuss

  12. Weaknesses of Observations • Demand characteristics • Hawthorne & audience effects • Researcher bias • Ethics

  13. Ethics in Observations • Informed consent • Can you watch and then debrief without getting consent? • If you get consent, will their behavior be real?

  14. Observations • Recording behavior • A grid to “tally” behaviors • Recording observation on one side of paper and interpretation on the other • Analyzing data • Find themes in one’s notes • Key point from text: quantitative approach to observations make assumptions before research; qualitative allows for interpretation during research

  15. Case Studies • Types • Intrinsic: no need to generalize or build theory (HM and Genie) • Instrumental: describe, explain, and build theory (implementing new technology at a workplace)

  16. Generalizations • Theoretical generalization • Generalizing findings to theory • Statistical generalization • Generalizing findings to other cases

  17. Evaluation of case studies • Points of emphasis: • Rich data; detailed • With enough cases, conclusions can be made • Costs and time are a problem • Personal relationships • Generalization

  18. Case Studies & ethics • Confidentiality • Time and intensity of data collection • Anger over implications of data

  19. Interviews • Types • One on one • Focus Groups • Structured • Semi-structured • Unstructured • Narrative

  20. One on One • Face to face • Telephone • E-mail

  21. Focus Groups • A group interview • Triggers useful discussions • Questions between participants come up that interviewer didn’t think of • Some dominate conversation • Conformity • discomfort

  22. Structured • Specific questions • No deviation

  23. Semi-structured • Basic structure with allowance of deviation is allowed

  24. Unstructured • Freer discussion

  25. Narrative • Minimize influence of interviewer • Fewer questions; interviewer is an active listener • Advantage: accurate story of reality • Disadvantage: Some people will share less

  26. Conducting an interview • Sample • Probably won’t be large • Purposive or snowball sampling leads to better results • Sensitive topics • Limited extent of confidentiality • Characteristics of the interviewer can affect interviewee (continued on next slide)

  27. Research related to interviewer/interviewee relationship • Rosenthal • Gender of interviewer & participant does affect the interview • Walker • South African men shared more with an “outsider”

  28. Type of Questions • Descriptive questions • Structural questions • Contrast questions

  29. Data recording • Participants need to be told about being recorded • Hussey and Hussey (1997) • Postmodern transcription techniques

  30. Debriefing • How recorded info will be used • Who has access to the info • Feedback: how and when… • Member checking

  31. Analysis of Interview data • Inductive content analysis • Identify raw themes • Similar themes then can be grouped together • Subordinate and superordinate themes • Create dimensions which group themes together from several participants • Reflexivity is important

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