Research Design
A plan for collection, measurement and analysis of data
Planning Stage
- Identifying the issue or questions of interest
- Review relevant literature and theories
- Develop questions and hypotheses
- Identify independent and dependent variables
Operational Stage
- Conduct study
- Use descriptive statistics to describe data
- Use inferential statistics to evaluate statistical hypotheses
- Accept or reject hypotheses
- Prepare formal report for publication or presentation
Developing Research Questions
- Should be based on literature
- Every word counts
- Ends with a ?
- Should be open-ended
Constructing hypotheses
= a speculative statement of the relation between two or more variables
- Should contain two or more variables that are capable of measurement
- Can be tested
- Predictable
Sorts of variables (4)
- Dependent Variable
- Independent Variable
- Intervening Variable
- Extraneous Variable
Operationally defining variables
= giving meaning to a constructs or a variable by setting out the activities or ‘operations’ that are necessary to measure it
- Otherwise hypotheses and research questions will be general and vague
- Allows us to rethink assumptions
Intervening Variable
= variable mediating the relationship between two other factors. Such a variable is causally situated between them and accounts at least partly for their association
- Acts only indirectly via another variable
- Relationship between variables may be association but not necessary causality
Extraneous Variable
= all variables which are not the independent variable but could affect the results of the experiment
- Must be controlled through elimination and randomization
Principle of Validity
Measuring what you intend to measure
Principle of Reliability
Measuring consistently same results on different days by different researchers
