Research Design

Why do we do research?

  • Exploratory studies

    • Professional curiosity and desire for better understanding

    • To test the feasibility of further research

    • To develop the methods to be used in further study- (lab research)

  • Descriptive studies

    • Many social scientific studies aim at describing situations and events. The researcher observes and then describes what was observed. Because scientific observation is careful and deliberate, however, scientific descriptions are typically more accurate and precise than are causal ones

    • Anthropological ethnography

  • Explanation

    • To answer questions about why something happens

Criteria for nomothetic causality

  • Nomothetic explanation seeks to identify a few causal factors that generally impact a class of conditions or events

    • Variables must be correlated

      • Correlation is an empirical relationship between two variables such that (1) changes in one are associated with changes in the other or (2) particular attributes of one variable are associated with particular attributes of the other

    • The cause must take place before the effect

    • The variables are nonspurious

      • Association v. causality

      • A spurious relationship is a coincidental correlation between two variables, shown to be caused by some third variable

False criteria for nomothetic causality

  • There is no complete causation

  • Exceptions do not disprove causal relationships

  • Causal relationships can be true even if it does not apply to the majority of relationships

Necessary and sufficient causes

  • A necessary cause represents a condition that MUST be present for the effect to follow

  • A sufficient cause represents a condition that if present, GUARANTEES the effect in question

Faulty reasoning

  • Ecological fallacy is formally defined as a erroneously basing conclusions about individuals solely on the observation of groups

  • Reductionism involves attempts to explain a particular phenomenon in terms of limited and/or lower-order concepts

The Time dimension

  • Cross-sectional study: a study design based on observations representing a single point in time

  • Longitudinal study: a study design involving data collected at different points in time

  • Trend study: a type of longitudinal study that examines changes within a population over time

  • Cohort study: a study in which some specific sub-population or cohort is studied over time, although data may be collected from different members in each set of observations

  • Panel study: defined as a type of longitudinal study in which data is collected from the same set of people at several points in time

The research proposal

  • Statement of the problem or objective of the research

  • Tell me what you want to study and why it is worth studying. Is this going to be useful outside of this class? What contribution do you hope to make in terms of theory construction? Note that I did not ask if it was new or novel. I personally don’t care. Make a decision and follow through with it

Identify subjects for a study

  • Who and what are you going to study?

  • How will you recruit participants and select a sample?

  • How will you prioritize participant wellbeing?

Measurement

  • What ae the key variables?

  • How will you define and measure them?

  • Will you be replicating another study or developing a questionnaire on your own

    • The questionnaire will go on the appendix of your proposal

Data Collection methods

  • How will you collect data for your research?

Analysis

  • What analytic procedure or framework will you use to analyze your data?

Schedule

  • Make a schedule and stick to it

Budget

  • If you’re trying to get someone to pay for your research, then you will want to know how much that stuff will cost

International Review Board (IRB)