Week 6 Module 1 Exploratory and Descriptive Designs and Qualitative Research

What are observational designs?

Data are collected as they naturally exist, without experimental manipulation by a researcher; can be exploratory or descriptive

What is exploratory research?

The extension of observation to investigate relationships among two or more variables

Ex: long-term medical conditions and depression

What is prospective research?

Variables are measured through direct recording in the present

What retrospective research?

Examines data collected in the past

What is longitudinal research?

Subjects followed overtime, repeated measurements at prescribed intervals

What is cross-sectional research?

Stratified group of subjects studied at one point in time to draw conclusions about a population

What are cohort effects?

Effects that are not age specific but are due to a subject’s generation or time of birth

What does a correlational study describe?

The nature of existing relationships among variables

What is a predicative study design to do?

Predict a behavior or response based on the observed correlational relationships

What are cases?

A situation where there is the presence of a condition, disease, or impairment

What are controls?

A comparison group without the phenomenon under investigation

______ and ______ are compared, usually retrospectively, to identify differing histories, characteristics, or risk factors for developing the condition of interest

Cases, controls

What is a cohort study?

When a group is followed overtime to identify changes in conditional status or development characteristics, risk factors, or exposures

What are you looking at when trying to identify causality?

Time sequence

Strength of association

Biologic credibility

Consistency

Dose-response relationship

What is methodological research?

Development and testing of measurement tools; establishing reliability and validity metrics

What is historical research?

Critical review of past research to formulate new research questions and draw new conclusions

What is secondary analysis?

Using existing data to reexamine variables and develop new hypotheses or conclusions

What is descriptive research?

Documenting the nature of existing phenomena and describe how variables change over time; the type used depends on the underlying question and application

What is developmental research?

Involves the description of developmental change and the sequencing of behaviors in people over time

What is the longitudinal approach of developmental research?

Track development over a long period of interest

What is the cross-sectional approach of developmental research?

Study a sample spanning different developmental stages and compare

What is natural history?

A longitudinal study of the natural development of a disease state over time with a sample spanning different stages

What is normative research?

Describes typical or standard values for characteristics of a given population; usually expressed as a mean with a confidence internal or percentile

What are case studies?

A description of new, interesting, unique cases in a particular field of study or with a particular impairment/condition

What is a case series?

Sequential observations with multiple similar cases

What is a case study useful for?

The development of new knowledge, pilot data, new theoretical underpinnings, and unique conditions

What is qualitative research?

Seeks to describe the complex nature of humans and how individuals perceive their own experiences within a specific social context

What is logical positivism?

Human experience is assumed to be limited to logical and controlled relationships between specific measurable variables

What is reductionist?

Complicated behaviors can be better understood by reducing them into smaller pieces

What is quantitative research?

Research that aims to quantify a question through measuring, testing, and statistically analyzing results

What are things looked at in qualitative research?

Human experience and perspective

Interpretivism (anti-positivism)

Holistic (opposite of reductionism)

Naturalistic inquired

What are mixed method designs?

Both qualitative and quantitative data is collected; the data must be integrated together in some way (interviews with standardized assessments)

What is phenomenology?

Seeks to draw meaning from complex realities through careful analysis of first-person narrative materials

What is ethnography?

Study of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of a specific group of people within their own cultural milieu

What is grounded theory?

Development of theory based on observation, narrative, and description of a populations lived experience

How is qualitative data collected?

Observation

Interviews- structured, unstructured, semi-structured

Focus groups