research methods midterm

communication

is a process based on interaction between humans where people create, share, and manage meaning

transactions and constitutive

what are the two types of communication?

empirical research

a method of gaining knowledge based on observable evidence gathered through direct experience and experiementation

build, explain, challenge, or apply theory

what are the goals of social science research?

the scientific method

generating knowledge through prediction and systematic investigation to establish facts

ontology

focused on the nature of human beings existence and the nature of reality

axiology

the philosophy of what has value. what is worth knowing?

epistemology

focused on knowledge and knowing

paradigm

a way of looking at the world

critical, post postitivist, interpretivist

what are the three paradigms?

critical paradigm

critique instiutions of power and emancipate the people disenfranchised by these instituations

post positivist

make predicitons to explain patterns of behaviors

interpretivist

understand and describe a phenomenon from a particular point of view

quantitative research

• post positivist

• concered with making predictions and making predictions

• measures relationships among variables, test hypotheses, make predictions, data collection

reality is measurable

what is the assumption of quantitative research?

qualitative research

• interpretivist

• concerned with understanding and describing social phenomenon/complex interactions

• want to understand, describe, and get those to those studied, understand how participants see the world

reality is constructed

what is the assumption of qualitative research?

theory

helps explain human behavior, understand people’s experiences, or shed light on disparities

process

focuseses on how people, behaviors, or things change over time

context

in which a process unfolds or a theory can be observed

population

a specific group of people of interest

boolean logic

helps filter articles and specify topics as you conduct a literature review

unbiased, well research, and well backed by sound evidence (ex. peer reviewed, journal articles, academic books)

what are examples of credible sources?

1. abstract

2. introduction

3. literature review

4. method

5. results

6. discussion

what are the parts of a journal article?

abstract

provides a succint summary of the whole article

introduction

provides the topic of the article, the primary aim or goal of the study

literature review

contains the articles main arguments for doing the study, review the literature important for undestanding the study. contains the study research question and hypotheses

method

contains information about study’s participants, data, the procedures the researcher followed the conduct the research

results

answers the research questions and describes the outcomes of the hypotheses

discussion

authors make sense of the findings and results by summarizing and putting the findings into conversation within existing literature.

IRB

a committee of people who indepedently review and approve studies before researchers can start enrolling participants in research.

research in the past has been conducted unethically. the IRB has 3 principles to protect research participants: respect for persons, beneficience, justice.

why is the IRB important?

respect for persons, beneficience, justice

what are the three IRB principles?

respect for persons

individuals should be treated as autonomous agents

beneficence

the researcher must maximize benefits and minimize risks for participation

justice

participants must be treated equally

informed consent

informed that is provided to your residents about their involvement in the study and resumbit

1. identify your research topic (a general inquiry that interests you)

2. identify your research objective; narrow down your topic by using theory and previous research to guide the context, sample, or variables you are interested in

3. choose a design (quantiative, qualitative, mixed) and sample data

4. collect data; test and explore the research objective

5. analyze and interpret data; data analysis, write up findings and discussion

what is the research process?

research topic

a general inquiry that interests you

they serve as a frame work for research. qualitative research guides what creates theory in research questions. in quantiative we test and apply theory using hypotheses.

what is the purpose of theory in the research process?

interpretive research

informed by theory

critical research questions

shed light on disenfranchised and stigmatized experience to expse inequality

research questions

aim to answer something, ask about the who, what, when, and why of communication, and are focused on exploring lived experiences, meanings, or perceptions.

hypotheses

precise, testable statements that contain a prediction, or educated guess. concered with making predictions about variables based on some sort of evidence

directional hypotheses

predicts the direction of the relationship difference

nondirectional hypotheses

predicts that there is a relationship but does not specify the direction

structured interview

follows a predetermined set of questions asked in the same order to participants. uses an interview schedule.

high consistency across interview, reduces interviewer bias, faster to conduct and analyze, good for large sample sizes

what are the advantages of a structured interview?

limited flexibility to explore unexpected topics, can feel rigid or impersonal to participants, may not capture the full complexity of participants’ experiences

what are the disadvantages of a structured interview?

semi structured interview

more flexible and organic in nature. uses an interview guide.

balances consistency with flexibility, allows exploration of unexpected themes, enables follow up questions, more natural conversational flow

what are the advantages of semi structured interviews?

requires skilled interviewers, more time consuming to conduct analyze, potential for interviewer bias in follow up questions, risk of going off topic

what are the disadvantages of semi structured interviews?

unstructured interviews

informal conversations, usually spontaneous and open ended conversations that allow narrators to control and perform their stories naturally

maximum flexibility and partcipant autonomy, discovers unexpected insights and themes, most natural and conversational approach, allows participants to share whats most important to them

what are the advantages of unstructured interviews?

requires highly skilled interviewers, difficult to analyze and compare across participants, high potential for interviewer bias, may lack focus or miss key research questions

what are the disadvantages of unstructured interviews?

opening questions

first few minutes of the interview that should break the ice

generative questions

non directive, non threatening queries that serve to generate frameworks for talk

directive questions

structure and direct the interview; devils advocate

closing questions

questions at the end of the interview meant to close the interview sucessfully

1. before the interview: choose a setting and provide informed consent

2. during the interview: build rapport, ask questions

3. after the interview: inform them of the next steps, ask if they want to add anything that has not been covered

what are the steps of conducting an interview?

ethnography

a type of qualitiatve research method

reflexivity statement

researchers reflect on how their experiences influence observations through a self idenity audit, prompting them to consider any implict biases

thematic analysis

a technique for organizing and describing your data in rich detail

1. familiarize yourself with the data

2. generate coding categories

3. generate themes

4. review themes

5. define and name themes

6. identify exemplars

what are the steps of a thematic analysis?

helps convey the integrity of the findings you present

what is the purpose of qualitative data verification?

1. prolonged engagement (provides scope)

2. persistent observation (provides depth)

3. negative case analysis

4. referential adequacy

5. triangulation

6. data conferencing

7. peer debriefing

8. member checking

9. investigator triangulation

what are some ways we can check for credibility in qualitiatve research?

transferability

occurs when the data has been represented with so much thick description that people can see themselves in the shoes of the participants being described or at least imagine what it was like for them

depndability

the researcher can show they came to their findings (others must be able to track the ways their processes informed their own observations)

confirmability

another researcher must be able to confirm that the audit trail is legitimate and that if another reesearcher followed the same process they would likely reach a similar conclusion