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Research Design. What is Research Design ?. Plan for getting from the research question to the conclusion Blueprint for data collection and interpretation Deals with the logic of scientific inquiry A strategy for testing hypothesis Interpretative work Understanding phenomenon - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Research Design
What is Research Design ? Plan for getting from the research question
to the conclusion Blueprint for data collection and
interpretation Deals with the logic of scientific inquiry A strategy for testing hypothesis Interpretative work Understanding phenomenon A plan for conducting scientific research for
the purpose of learning about a phenomenon of interest
What is Research Design ? Overall plan or framework for the
investigation, anticipate all of the subsequent stages of the research process.
Decision also be made for: Selecting unit of analysis Selecting variable to observed and controlled How to measured variables How to analyze of data
Good Research Design should rule-out alternative explanations
Alternative Explanations
Asian financial crisis in the late 1990’s Institutional weaknesses (lack of
transparency in corporate and political governance) -> cronyism
Market failure with under-regulation of financial market
Unit of Analysis The entity about whom or which the
researcher gathers information. The unit is simply what or who to be
described or analyzed Examples of unit:
Individuals Groups Artifacts (books, photos, newspapers) Geographical units (town, census tract, state) Social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces,
arrests)
Units of Analysis Examples If you are comparing the children in two
classrooms on achievement test scores, the unit is the individual child because you have a score for each child.
On the other hand, if you are comparing the two classes on classroom climate, your unit of analysis is the group, in this case the classroom, because you only have a classroom climate score for the class as a whole and not for each individual student.
Units of Analysis Examples (2)
If the researcher wanted to know what kind of people are attracted to the field of computer science, the unit is individual people
If the researcher wanting to determine if larger organization have more bureaucratic rules and regulations, the unit is organization
Hierarchical Modeling The incorporation of multiple units of analysis
within a single analytic model Aggregation in the analysis Analyze individual person using aggregate data to
characterize the groups or collectivities to which the individuals belong.
For instance, in an educational study, you might want to compare student performance with teacher expectations. To examine this relationship would require averaging student performance for each class because each teacher has multiple students and you are collecting data at both the teacher and student level.
Fallacy
An error in reasoning, usually based on mistaken assumptions. Ecological fallacy Exception falalcy
Ecological Fallacy Occurs when you make conclusions about
individuals based only on analyses of group data. For instance, assume that you measured the
math scores of a particular classroom and found that they had the highest average score in the district. Later (probably at the mall) you run into one of the kids from that class and you think to yourself, 'She must be a math whiz.' Aha! Fallacy! Just because she comes from the class with the highest average doesn't mean that she is automatically a high-scorer in math. She could be the lowest math scorer in a class that otherwise consists of math geniuses.
Exception fallacy Sort of the reverse of the ecological
fallacy. It occurs when you reach a group
conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases.
The stereotype is of the guy who sees a woman make a driving error and concludes that women are terrible drivers. Wrong! Fallacy!
Variables Any entity that can take on different values Characteristics of units that vary, taking on
different values, categories, or attributes for different observations
May vary over cases, over time or over both cases and time
Example: Age (range of years) Gender (female & male) Marital status (single, married, divorced, widowed, etc) Level of education (primary, secondary, diploma, etc)
Types of variables Explanatory
Dependent variables Independent variables Antecedent variables Intervening variables
Extraneous Controlled Uncontrollled
Qualitative & Quantitative
Dependent-Independent Dependent is variables that the researcher
interested in explaining or describing Independent is the explanatory variables that
do the influencing and explaining, also called predictor variable
In terms of cause and effect, the independent variable is the presumed cause and the dependent variable is the presumed effect
For example: when the relationship between educational attainment (years of schooling) and income is studied, educational attainment is the IV and income is DV
Antecedent & intervening Antecedent variable
occurs prior in time to both the independent and dependent variable
Intervening variable occurs if it is an effect of the independent variable and a cause of the dependent variable
Parent’s income(antecedent)
Type of school (independent)
Academic achievement(dependent)
Amount of homework(intervening)
Type of school (independent)
Academic achievement(dependent)
Quantitative & Qualitative A variable is quantitative if its value or
categories consist of numbers and if differences between its categories can be expressed numerically Income
Qualitative variables have discrete categories, usually designated by words or labels, and nonnumerical differences between categories Gender male & female
RQ, Unit analysis and variables
Research Question/Hypothesis
Unit of Analysis Variables
[What ones to know][What entities are described and compared]
[With respect to what characteristics]
Are older people more afraid of crime than younger people ?
Individuals age, fear of crime
Does economic development lower the birth rate ?
nationslevel of economic development, birth rate
The longer the engagement period, the longer the marriage
coupleslength of engagement, marriage duration
a student's grade-point average is directly related to his or her class attendance
Individualsgrade-point average, attendance record
Relationship Types of relationship:
Among Qualitative variables Among Quantitative variables Between Qualitative and Quantitative variables
Properties of relationship: The extent of to which variables are associated
or correlated Strength
How changes in one variable are related to changes in another
Directionality Linearity
Relationship among qualitative variables
Relationship among quantitative variables
Direction and linearity Direction positive vs negative Linearity linear vs curvilinear
A positive (direct relationship) between variables exists if an increase in the value of one variable is accompanied by an increase in the value of the other, or if a decrease in the value of one variable is accompanied by a decrease in the value of the other.
Sons’ heights and fathers’ heights (the taller the father, the taller the son will tend to be)
A negative (inverse relationship) between variables exists if a decrease in the value of one variable is accompanied by increase in the value of the other.
Speed and accuracy (the faster one does something, the less accuracy one is likely to do it)
Relationship among quantitative variables (2)
Relationship between qualitative and quantitative variables