Research Methods 1

Research

A critical process for asking and attempting to answer questions about the world

Epistemology

The study of the nature of knowledge, how we know what we know

The 4 primary methods we use to decide how we know what we know:

A priori method, authority, tradition, and science

Priori method

Defines knowledge as anything that appears to make sense, to be reasonable

Authority

Believing something because the source of the knowledge is accepted as inherently truthful

Tradition

because of historical precedent or because it has always been believed

Science

The process of using systematic, empiricle observation to improve theories about phenomena based on a set of rules that defines what is acceptable knowledge

Exploratory research

Involves an attempt to determine whether or not a phenomenon exists

Descriptive Research

Involves examining a phenomenon to characterize it more fully or to differentiate it from other phenomena

Prediction

Identifying relationships that enable us to speculate about one thing by knowing about some other thing

Predictive research

Involves any study in which the purpose is to determine whether a relationship between variables exists such that one can use one of the variables in place of another.

Explanatory Research

Examines cause and effect relationships

Action Research

Used to solve a social problem

Worldview

The basic set of untestable assumptions underlying all theory and research

Prevalence

Amount of people with disease

Mortality

Death related to specific disease

Morbidity

State of being unwell; having disease; comorbidities is more than one

Incidence

All new cases in a certain amount of time

Association

Relationship between 2 or more events

Informed consent

Process of enabling potential research participants to make a reasonable decision concerning participation

Descriptive; exploratory

Which two studies can be qualitative?

Exploratory

Does a phenomenon exist

Descriptive

Characterizes a phenomenon

Exploratory

Cause + effect

Ethnography, grounded theory, phenomenology, case studies

Four aspects of qualitative studies:

Focus groups, observation, content analysis, interviews

Methods of Qualitative studies:

Predictor, outcome, population

Research question

Feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant

Writing purpose statements:

Qualitative Purpose Statements

Central phenomenon, participants, research site; uses words such as purpose, intent, objective; exploration of relationships; non-directional language; participants, site, scope

Quantitative Purpose Statements

Focuses on relating or comparing the variables and how they relate to the participants and the site; Discuss intent by using purpose, intent or objective; identify major variables; order convention: independent before dependent

The inhumane treatment of POW by the Nazis

How did code of ethics become a thing?

The Nuremberg Code

What is the code of ethics called?

1974 National Research Act

“In the United States, breaches of research ethics, again primarily in biomedical research led to the passage of the

The Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects

________, which was known as the Common Rule, mandated the establishment of institutional review boards (IRB) to conduct prior review and continuing oversight of all human subjects research conducted within the purview of any institution or organization that received federal funds.

Autonomy

The ability to conduct oneself

Respect for persons, beneficence, justice, trust, and scientific integrity

What are the 5 principles of National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research?

Respect for Persons

Involves maintaining someone’s autonomy; informed consent; for researchers, this includes giving researchers proper credit, respecting others’ work accurately, and providing comprehensive information to those who will benefit from consumption of research

Beneficence

As research consumers, as we engage in evidence-based practice, we also have an ethical obligation to promote the public good

Justice

Generally to ensuring that risks and benefits associated with research are distributed equally throughout the population

Trust

Regardless of the discipline in which evidence-based practice is engaged, all those who are affected must place a considerable amount of trust in those who develop, analyze, and implement the practice

Scientific integrity

-For researchers, this involves, quite simply, “doing good research” in all that the phrase entails

-For consumers of research, this involves adopting a scientific approach to reading, understanding, and reporting on others’ research, even if one is not actually a scientist.

Becoming aware of the conflict, think critically of our own thought processes,

Tactics that we have to overcome bias in a conflict-of-interest situation:

Control group

The group in a study composed of individuals who received the original treatment or no treatment at all; the group to which the treatment group is compared

Who are the researchers, participants, and consumers?

The “who” of research involves 3 questions:

Introduction

We learn about the “what” of research primarily in the ____, in which researchers explain the topic as well as the theory on which the research is based

Why

How the research is going to add to the current research

How

The ____ of research range from the manner in which one obtains an idea to the ways in which one writes about the research results, and understanding each of these is useful in our attempts to consume research conducted by others; the methods part, how it is done