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Empirical

Empirical. Empirical:

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Empirical

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  1. Empirical • Empirical: • Function: adjective1: originating in or based on observation or experience <empirical data>2: relying on experience or observation alone often without due regard for system and theory3: capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment <empirical laws>4: of or relating to empiricism • Source: http://www.m-w.com/

  2. Research • Research: • Function: noun1: careful or diligent search2: studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws3: the collecting of information about a particular subject • Source: http://www.m-w.com/

  3. Empirical Research • Empirical Research: • Research that uses data drawn from observation or experience.

  4. Pre-empirical Research • Descriptive Methods • Experimental Methods • Qualitative Methods • Evaluation Research (Davis put this in its own category because its orientation is different. The purpose of Evaluation Research is decision-making) Source: John Davis, http://www.naropa.edu/faculty/johndavis/prm2/index.html

  5. Pre-empirical Research • These are the steps done prior to collecting data. • CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS: analyzing the meaning and uses of the concepts in the research. The methods are philosophical, linguistic, etymological, etc.. This may answer some questions or lead to a better operational definition. B. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS: defining concepts in terms of the procedures (operations) used to observe them. Example: anxiety may be operationalized as a score on a scale measuring anxiety; sociability may be operationalized as the number of social contacts one makes within a certain time frame, physical fitness may be operationalized in terms of levels of muscle tone, flexibility, strength, and aerobic capacity. C. METHODOLOGY: determining how will we conduct the research and how will ethical standards be maintained.

  6. Descriptive Methods • Their goal is describing phenomena, using behaviors or attitudes, as they exist without control or manipulation. A. NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: choosing a specific behavior and counting its occurrences. B. SURVEY RESEARCH: Assessing the incidence and distribution of behaviors and/or attitudes in a population. C. CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH: determining the relationships between two or more variable.

  7. Experimental Methods • Their goal is establishing cause-effect relationships between independent and dependent variables by eliminating alternative hypotheses; uses quantitative data. The underlying model is that the world works in a linear, cause-and-effect way and that science should identify causal laws. A. QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS: able to eliminate some but not all alternative hypotheses. Examples include static groups, non-equivalent groups, and time series designs. Used most often in program evaluation, evaluation of public policies, and other research where complete control of the experimental setting is not possible. B. TRUE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS: If well done, these designs eliminate many alternative hypotheses. Include both field experiments and laboratory experiments. Two main types: between-groups or randomized groups designs where each subject gets only one treatment and repeated-measures designs where each subject get more than one (or all) treatments. These two types may be combined in complex designs. C. SINGLE-SUBJECT DESIGNS: experimental designs with one subject; variation on repeated-measures designs; includes baseline, reversal, changing baseline D. META-ANALYSIS: statistical re-analysis of previously analyzed experimental data to compute treatment effects

  8. Qualitative Methods The goal of qualitative research methods is rigorous, systematic description of experience. They are most appropriate when the focus of the research is subjective experience and meaning. They depend strongly on context and are highly interactive. The specifics of qualitative research are more open than other types of psychological research methods. Many types of qualitative methods are being used. These are three examples. • IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS, HERMENEUTIC ANALYSIS and NATURALISTIC INQUIRY: primarily use open-ended interviews, minimal direction from interviewer, similar to client-centered interview, analysis of meaning-units into higher-order categories and themes. B. PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION: researcher is in both roles, describes own experience in context C. ETHNOGRAPHY: description of an intact culture's lifeways; may include subcultures (e.g., teenage drug users, gang members, meditation group, hospitalized children); uses a wider variety of data collection, e.g., observations, interviews, collection of artifacts

  9. Evaluation Research • The goal of EVALUATION RESEARCH is data-based decision making. The types of evaluation research reflect different decisions to be made. A. NEED ASSESSMENT: provides data to help make decisions about the need for a program, its targets, and its design. B. PROCESS EVALUATION: provides data on how the program was delivered. C. OUTCOME EVALUATION: provides data on the extent to which the program met its intended objectives. It is useful in deciding whether to revise the program, re-fund it, or to export it to other settings. D. CONTEXT EVALUATION: provides information about the factors behind the program, including who has a stake in it, who holds the power, and what the contraints on it are. Context evaluation is necessary for fully understanding other aspects of the program evaluation.

  10. Inferential Statistics • Techniques that allow us to study samples and then make generalizations about the population from which they were selected. • Sample: a set of individuals selected from a population, usually intended to represent the population in a research study. • Population: The collection of all individuals (cases) in which the researcher is interested.

  11. Inferential Statistics • Statistical Significance (probability) • Probability = Proportion • Ranges from 0 to 1 • Probability is used to predict what kind of samples are likely to be obtained from a population. • Probability establishes a connection between populations and samples • Relying on this connection, inferences of populations can based on sample statistics

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