Research Review

1. Why do research?
 Validate intuition
 Improve methods
 Demands of the Job
 For publication
2. Nature of Research
 Bogus Survey (SCAM, FABRICATED to make data significant.)
 Statistics are hard to obtain and interpret
 Difficult to know if the situation is getting better or worse.
 Program producers will not allow to talk about the complexities of methods but
will use numbers to horrify viewers
 That’s why researchers now include standard deviation. If future researches will
not be within the standard deviation, it is considered not valid and reliable.
 Real Research
 Methodologically rigorous. (Background of the study – what is the problematic
issue, findings of other studies, why do you need to study again the issue------
establish the need/urgency/relevance to study the issue)
 Findings are interpretable
3. What is not research?
 Just collecting facts or information with no clear purpose
 Reassembling and reordering facts or information without interpretation.
4. What is research then?
 Something that people undertake in order to find things out in a systematic way, thereby
increasing their knowledge.
5. Characteristics:
 There is a clear purpose to find things out.
 Data are collected systematically.
 Data are interpreted systematically.
6. Features of research:
 BASIC
 Purpose:
Expand knowledge of processes of business and management
Results in universal principles relating to the process and its relationship to
outcomes
Findings of significant and value to society in general.
 Context:
Undertaken by people based in universities
Choice of topic and objectives determined by the researcher
Flexible time scales
 APPLIED
 Purpose
Improve understanding of particular business or management problem.
Results in solution to problem
New knowledge
 Context:
Objectives negotiated with originator
Tight time scales
7. Stages of the research process
 Formulating and clarifying a topic (not too wide and not too narrow)
 Reviewing the literature (will establish background of the study, and theoretical
framework)
 Designing the research
 Collecting the data
 Analysing the data ((four kinds of data – nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio)- important to
identify type of data to know the statistical tool))
 Writing up of the dissertation/paper/report etc.
 How to write research questions?
8. Advantages of quanti: practical, easy to interpret if data come from large groups
9. Disadvantages of quanti: inadequate to understand some forms of information (changes
of emotion, behaviour, feelings), phenomenologists state that asking only a limited
amount of information without explanation, lacks validity, respondents may be forgetful
or not thinking within the full context of the situation.
10. Research and research methods
 Research methods are split broadly into quantitative and qualitative methods
 Which you choose will depend on:
 Your research questions
 Your underlying philosophy of research
 Your preference and skills.
11. The interrelationship between the building blocks of research.
 Ontology
 Whats out there to know
 Epistemology (Two main schools are positivism and social constructivism)
 What and how can we know about it? (I will use the standard paragraph
to test to identify the need/weakness of the students in writing…(What
measurement tool will you use?)
 Methodology
 How can we go about acquiring that knowledge? (Interview, focused
group discussion, survey) How did you validate your questions?
 Methods
 Which precise procedures can we use to acquire it? (what sampling
method are you going to use?
 Write a letter to the dean…chuchu
 Sources
 Which data can we collect? (Secondary data or primary data)
12. Research tools : Questionnaire, interview, protocol of the interview, research design,
sampling design, data collection, data analysis (descriptive stat – mean, standard
deviation) and data interpretation (describe mean and standard deviation if descriptive
research).
13. Phenomenology
 Sometimes considered a philosophical perspective as well as an approach to
qualitative methodology
 A school of thought that emphasizes a focus on people’s subjective experiences
and interpretations of the world.
 That is, the phenomenologist wants to understand how the world appears to
others.
 
14. Search for KEY FEATURES OF POSITIVIST AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL PARADIGMS in terms of
validity, reliablitiy, generalizability, beliefs….
Quanti – larger sample (200 and up)
Deductive, begins with hypotheses and theories, precise technical language,
numerical presentation (Approach)

Purpose
Assumptions
Researchers Role
Approach

Quali – smaller sample

Researcher is primary instrument for data collection and analysis
Inductive, end with hypotheses and grounded theory, thick description writing
(Approach)
Action research, fielf study, case study
Interview, direct observation, document analysis (data collection methods)

Both approaches are highly respected

When done well, both contribute equally to the knowldge base

SEARCH SUMMARY OF QUANTITAVE AND QUALITATIVE FEAUTURES

Phenom – 7-10
15. Search for QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN in terms
of methods, choosing the design, analysis…
16. How to determine your own research philosophy? What is your personal worldview and
the possible theoretical lens that you can use in your study?
 Consider your own research background/experience
 Consider your topic (theoretical basis, research subjects, desired knowledge,
etc.)
 Read widely on research philosophy
17. Discuss the basic goals of scientific research and expound each and give examples of
particular studies.
Goals:
 To describe behaviour
Observational method – simply observing human or animal behavior
Naturalistic observation – natural habitat
Laboratory observation
Case studymethod
Survey method
 To predict behaviour
Correlational method – assesses the degree of relationship between two
measured variables. If 2 variables are correlated with each other, then we can
predict from one variable to the other with a certain degree of accuracy.
Is there a significant relationship between….

Positive relationship - a relationship between two variables in which an

increase in one variable is accpmpanied by an increase in the other variable.
 Negative relationship – a relationship between two variables in which an
increase in one variable is accompanied by a decrease in the other variable.

Quasi-experimental method - allows you to compare naturally occurring groups

of individuals
Example: Whether the alcohol consumption by students in a fraternity or
sorority differs from that of students not in such organziations.

Subject variable – a characteristic inherent in the subjects that cannot be

changed. (male or female)

 To explain behaviour
Experiment method - a research method that allows a researcher to establish a
cause and effect relationship through manipulation of a variable and control of
the situation.
Control group - serves as the baseline of standard condition
Experimental group – Is the group that receives the treatment
18. REVIEW RESEARCH METHODS… (ABOVE)
19. In a recent study, researchers found a negative correlation between income level and
incidence of psychological disorders. Graduate sTudent A thinks this means that being
poor leads to psychological disorders. Is he correct in his conclusion? Why or Why not?
No because a correlational study does not identify the cause and effect of a problem.
20. In a study designed to assess the effects of smoking on life satisfaction, subjects were
assigned to group based on whether or not they reported smoking. All subjects then
completed a life satisfaction inventory.
1. What is the independent variable ? Explain why
Smoking or not smoking. Because these are the factors to look for to identify life
satisfaction.
2. What is the dependent variable? Explain why?
Life satisfaction.
3. Is the independent variable a subject variable or a true manipulated variable?
SUBJECT VARIABLE.
21. Survey Methods
Concerns:
Sampling bias
Interviewer Bias
Socially desirable responses
Return rate
Expense
22. Imagine that you want to sudy cell phone use by drivers. You decide to conduct an
observational study of drivers by making observations at three locations – a busy
intersection, an entrance/exit to a shopping mall parking lot, and a residential
intersection. You are interested in the number of people who use cell phones while
driving. How would you recommend conducting this study? How would you recommend
collecting the data? What concerns do you need to take into considerations?
23. Defining Variables
Operational definition- definition of a variable in terms of the operations a researcher
uses to measure or manipulate it.
Properties of measurement
 Identity – property of measurement in which objects that are different receive
different scores.
Magnitude (also called ordinality) – a property of measurement in which the
ordering of numbers reflects the ordering of variable.
Equal unit of size – a property of measurement in which a difference of 1 is the
same amount throughout the entire scale
Absolute zero - a property of measurement in which assigning a score of zero
indicates an absence of the variable being measured.
24. Scales (levels) of measurement
a. Nominal scale – scale in which objects or individuals are assigned to categories
that have no numerical properties (ethnicity, religion, sex)
Properties – identity
Mathematical operations – Determine whether = or not equal
b. Ordinal scale – a scale in which objects or individuals are categorized and the
categories from a rank order along a continuum (class rank, letter grade)
Properties – identity, magnitude
Mathematical operations – determine wether = or not equal, determine wether
<or>
c. Interval scale – a scale in which the units of measurement (intervals) between the
numbers on the scale are all equal in size. (temperature, many of the
psychological test)
Properties-identity, magnitude, equal unit size
Mathematical operations: determine wether = or not equal, determine wether
<or>, add, subtract
d. Ratio Scale – a scale in which, in addition to order and equal units of
measurement, an absolute zero indicates an absence of the variable being
measured (weight, height, time)
Properties-identity, magnitude, equal unit size
Mathematical operations: determine wether = or not equal, determine wether
<or>, add, subtract, multiply, divide

Practice
Zip Code – nominal
Performance of teachers – ordinal
Reaction time – ratio
Score on the graduate school entrance exam- ratio
Class rank – ordinal
Number on a football jersey – nominal
Miles per gallon – ratio

25. Reliability refers to the consistency or stability of a measuring instrument

A correlation coefficient measures the degree of a relationship between two sets of
scores and can vary between -1.00 and +1.00.

Positive correlation

Search Values for weak, moderate and strong correlation coefficients

Search: Statistical analysis correlational
 26. Validity - a measure of the truthfulness of a measuring instrument. It indicates whether
the instrument measures what it claims to measure
27. Hypothesis
a. Two tailed or nondirectional – an alternatice hypothesis stating that a difference
is expected between the groups, but there is no prediction as to which group will
perform better or worse.
b. One tailed or directional test – an alternative hypothesis stating that a difference
is expected between the groups.
c. Type 1 error – the error of rejecting the null hypothesis when we should have failed
to reject it. (naay significance, pero niingon na wala)
d. Type 2 error – the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when we should have
rejected it. (walay significance, pero niingon naa)
e. Statistical significance – When the probability of a Type 1 error is low (.05 or less)
28. A researcher hypothesizes that children in City A weigh less (because they spend more
time outside) than the national average. Identify the null and alternative hypothesis. Is
this a one- or two tailed test?
Null : Children in City A weigh equal, lesser, or greater than the national average.
Alternative : Children in City A weigh less than the national average.
29. Analysis of Research Data: Descriptive statistics
Descriptive Statistics – numerical measures that describe a distribution by providing
information on the central tendency of the distribution, the width, of the distribution and
the shape of the distribution
Measures of central tendency
Mean – interval ratio
Median – oridinal, interval, and ratio data
Mode – nominal, ordinal or ratio
30. Measures of variation – range, average deviation, standard deviation
31. Inferential statistics – procedures for drawing conclusions about a population based on
data collected from a sample
Parametric test – involves making assumptions about estimates of population
Nonparamentric test
32. Significant – SIG is lower than .05
33. No significance – SIG is higher than .05
Since the p value (sig) is _____ lesser than the level of significance which is set at .05
…therefore we reject the null hypothesis. It is concluded that the score of the ……..
34. Analysing quantitative data
35. SEARCH ABOUT SKEWNESS
Positive skewed to the right
Negative skewed to the left
36. When to use parametric or non-parametric
37. Significance level – set at .05

Interpretation

First paragraph – over all

2nd paragraph – first category (do not discuss the standard deviation, mention only the highest
and the lowest)
 1. Look for overall mean. (The statues of attitudes as reflected in figure 1 is high with a mean
of 3.58. It means that the status of attitudes of teachers towards science is often
manifested. In addition, its minimal standard deviation of .42 showed that public
secondary school science teachers’ responses about their attitude closely resemble
each other. (pag gamay ang SD meaning magkaparehas ang answers)
2. In particular, the results show that in perceived relevance category, teachers show the
highest score in their agreement in the item uneasy to to use complex tasks with multiple

How to answer:

What is null? There is no significance

What is your decision?..Reject null or do not reject null

What is your interpretation? There is….

Correlation

+ direct there is higher…..

- inverse