Introduction to research methods

1. 1 2 Click on the speaker to hear the audio for each slide…here first… Introduction to research methods 1: Preface & Foundations …and here second.

2. 1 Guess my rule

3. 1 For this introduction... General goals of the course • Objectives (what do I want to achieve?) • Research and its place within graduate education • Systems of belief – ways of knowing • Authority • Intuition • Confirmation bias • Astrology • Psychic reading • Association • Science • Is science “natural?” • Nope, but it works • We basically spend the semester learning a way of knowing that’s tried and tested and is “good science” 2 3 4 5

4. Foundations of research 1 • Positivism vs. post-positivism • Positivism • Science can only address that which is directly observable • Observation and measurement is the only means to the truth • Post-positivism & critical realism & critical naturalism • Simply put… • all measurements are potentially faulty • Truth, though it exists, is unlikely to ever be known with certainty • The point of science is to maintain the search for the truth despite knowing that one may never reach it • Hence seek reality, while being critical of one’s current estimation of it 2 3 4

5. Foundations of research 1 • Post-positivism & critical realism & c. naturalism • Because we are critical of our grasp on reality, we • Take multiple measures • Critique the measures we have • Engage in hearty arguments about our perspectives and their influence on our thought processes (that we might not be aware of) • It is only through such critique that objectivity can be approximated – an individual cannot be objective, but if a viewpoint is generalizable across many perspectives and cultures it may possess some objectivity 2 3

6. Foundations of research • Post-positivism & critical realism • The “natural selection theory of knowledge” • That which survives can claim a degree of objectivity or approximation to the truth • Here lies the value of research that we do, and the criticism to which we subject it • It’s pretty much the only way that our (eventual) understanding can claim a degree of objectivity • (according to critical realism, that is…now, if you’re a relativist…) • And so back to graduate education 1 2 3

7. Figure 2The Yin and Yang of Research 1 2 3 4

8. Foundations of research 1 • The language of research • Empiricism, theory, probabilities & causation • Types of studies • Three basic types: • Descriptive • Relational • Causal • Time in research • Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal designs • Repeated measures vs. time series designs 2 3

9. Foundations of research • Variables • Value or attribute = a property of something (may or may not be numeric) examples: • Your age • My age • Your gender • My gender • Variable • How about all our ages? • We all have an age, but they are all different • Age is something we vary by • Age is a variable that describes a property of our group 1

10. Foundations of research • Variables • Independent variable • What you or nature manipulates in some way • E.g. 1: What happens when you get older? • Age is the independent variable (nature is the manipulator) • E.g. 2: What happens when you drink? • Blood alcohol level is the IV (you are the manipulator) • Critiquing IVs: Exhaustive? Mutually exclusive attributes? See also construct validity (later) 1 2

11. Foundations of research • Variables • Dependent variable • The thing that is influenced (changed) by your independent variable • E.g. 1 (IV = Age): Skin sag, baldness, frequency of urine expulsion, memory strength • E.g. 2 (IV = Alcohol consumption): Balance, inhibition, frequency of urine expulsion • Critiquing DV’s: see operationalization, reliability, measurement validity (all later) 1 2 3