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RESEARCH DESIGN - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The final written report has a flexible structure.
    - - The final written report has a set structure consisting of introduction, literature and theory, methods, results, and discussion.
  - - - Postpositivist Worldview
        
        The Postpositivist Worldview The postpositivist assumptions have represented the traditional form of research, and these assumptions hold true more for quantitative research than qualitative research.
        
        This worldview is sometimes called the scientific method, or doing science research. It is also called positivist/postpositivist research, empirical science, and postpositivism.
        
        Postpositivists hold a deterministic philosophy in which causes (probably) determine effects or outcomes. Thus, the problems studied by postpositivists reflect the need to identify and assess the causes that influence outcomes, such as those found in experiments.
        
        It is also reductionistic in that the intent is to reduce the ideas into a small, discrete set to test, such as the variables that comprise hypotheses and research questions. The knowledge that develops through a postpositivist lens is based on careful observation and measurement of the objective reality that exists “out there” in the world.
        
        Thus, developing numeric measures of observations and studying the behavior of individuals becomes paramount for a postpositivist.
        
        • Determination • Reductionism • Empirical observation and measurement • Theory verification
      - The Constructivist Worldview
        
        Understanding • Multiple participant meanings • Social and historical construction • Theory generation
        
        Constructivism or social constructivism (often combined with interpretivism) is such a perspective, and it is typically seen as an approach to qualitative research.
        
        Social constructivists believe that individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work. Individuals develop subjective meanings of their experiences—meanings directed toward certain objects or things. These meanings are varied and multiple, leading the researcher to look for the complexity of views rather than narrowing meanings into a few categories or ideas. The goal of the research is to rely as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation being studied.
        
        The more open-ended the questioning, the better, as the researcher listens carefully to what people say or do in their life settings.
        
        They are not simply imprinted on individuals but are formed through interaction with others (hence social constructivism) and through historical and cultural norms that operate in individuals’ lives.
        
        The process of qualitative research is largely inductive; the inquirer generates meaning from the data collected in the field.
      - The Pragmatic Worldview
        
        Consequences of actions • Problem-centered • Pluralistic • Real-world practice oriented
        
        There are many forms of this philosophy, but for many, pragmatism as a worldview arises out of actions, situations, and consequences rather than antecedent conditions (as in postpositivism).
        
        Instead of focusing on methods, researchers emphasize the research problem and question and use all approaches available to understand the problem (see Rossman & Wilson, 1985).
        
        Pragmatism is not committed to any one system of philosophy and reality. This applies to mixed methods research in that inquirers draw liberally from both quantitative and qualitative assumptions when they engage in their research.
        
        Individual researchers have a freedom of choice. In this way, researchers are free to choose the methods, techniques, and procedures of research that best meet their needs and purposes.
        
        Pragmatists do not see the world as an absolute unity. In a similar way, mixed methods researchers look to many approaches for collecting and analyzing data rather than subscribing to only one way (e.g., quantitative or qualitative).
        
        Truth is what works at the time. It is not based in a duality between reality independent of the mind or within the mind. Thus, in mixed methods research, investigators use both quantitative and qualitative data because they work to provide the best understanding of a research problem.
        
        The pragmatist researchers look to the what and how to research based on the intended consequences—where they want to go with it.
        
        Pragmatists agree that research always occurs in social, historical, political, and other contexts. In this way, mixed methods studies may include a postmodern turn, a theoretical lens that is reflective of social justice and political aims.
        
        Pragmatists have believed in an external world independent of the mind as well as that lodged in the mind. But they believe that we need to stop asking questions about reality and the laws of nature (Cherryholmes, 1992). “They would simply like to change the subject” (Rorty, 1990, p. xiv).
        
        Thus, for the mixed methods researcher, pragmatism opens the door to multiple methods, different worldviews, and different assumptions, as well as different forms of data collection and analysis.
      - The Transformative Worldview
        
        Another group of researchers holds to the philosophical assumptions of the transformative approach.
        
        A transformative worldview holds that research inquiry needs to be intertwined with politics and a political change agenda to confront social oppression at whatever levels it occurs (Mertens, 2010).
        
        Thus, the research contains an action agenda for reform that may change lives of the participants, the institutions in which individuals work or live, and the researcher’s life.
        
        Moreover, specific issues need to be addressed that speak to important social issues of the day, issues such as empowerment, inequality, oppression, domination, suppression, and alienation.
        
        This research also assumes that the inquirer will proceed collaboratively so as to not further marginalize the participants as a result of the inquiry. In this sense, the participants may help design questions, collect data, analyze information, or reap the rewards of the research. Transformative research provides a voice for these participants, raising their consciousness or advancing an agenda for change to improve their lives. It becomes a united voice for reform and change.
        
        Political • Power and justice oriented • Collaborative • Change-oriented
        
        This philosophical worldview focuses on the needs of groups and individuals in our society that may be marginalized or disenfranchised.
        
        In studying these diverse groups, the research focuses on inequities based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic class that result in asymmetric power relationships.
    - - Quantitative Designs
        
        One type of nonexperimental quantitative research is causal-comparative research in which the investigator compares two or more groups in terms of a cause (or independent variable) that has already happened.
        
        Another nonexperimental form of research is the correlational design in which investigators use the correlational statistic to describe and measure the degree or association (or relationship) between two or more variables or sets of scores (Creswell, 2012).
        
        Experimental designs • Nonexperimental designs, such as surveys • Longitudinal designs
        
        Survey research provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population. It includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using questionnaires or structured interviews for data collection— with the intent of generalizing from a sample to a population (Fowler, 2008).
        
        Experimental research seeks to determine if a specific treatment influences an outcome. The researcher assesses this by providing a specific treatment to one group and withholding it from another and then determining how both groups scored on an outcome. Experiments include true experiments, with the random assignment of subjects to treatment conditions, and quasi-experiments that use nonrandomized assignments (Keppel, 1991). Included within quasi-experiments are single-subject designs.
      - Qualitative Designs
        
        Narrative research • Phenomenology • Grounded theory • Ethnographies • Case study
        
        The historic origin for qualitative research comes from anthropology, sociology, the humanities, and evaluation.
        
        Narrative research is a design of inquiry from the humanities in which the researcher studies the lives of individuals and asks one or more individuals to provide stories about their lives (Riessman, 2008).
        
        Often, in the end, the narrative combines views from the participant’s life with those of the researcher’s life in a collaborative narrative (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).
        
        Phenomenological research is a design of inquiry coming from philosophy and psychology in which the researcher describes the lived experiences of individuals about a phenomenon as described by participants. This design has strong philosophical underpinnings and typically involves conducting interviews (Giorgi, 2009; Moustakas, 1994).
        
        Grounded theory is a design of inquiry from sociology in which the researcher derives a general, abstract theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in the views of participants.
      - Mixed Methods Designs
        
        Convergent . Explanatory sequential • Exploratory sequential • Complex designs with embedded core designs
        
        Mixed methods involves combining or integration of qualitative and quantitative research and data in a research study. Qualitative data tends to be open-ended without predetermined responses while quantitative data usually includes closed-ended responses such as found on questionnaires or psychological instruments.
        
        Ways to integrate the quantitative and qualitative data, such as one database, could be used to check the accuracy (validity) of the other database. One database could help explain the other database, and one database could explore different types of questions than the other database. One database could lead to better instruments when instruments are not well-suited for a sample or population. One database could build on other databases, and one database could alternate with another database back and forth during a longitudinal study.
        
        Convergent mixed methods is a form of mixed methods design in which the researcher converges or merges quantitative and qualitative data in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this design, the investigator typically collects both forms of data at roughly the same time and then integrates the information in the interpretation of the overall results.
        
        Explanatory sequential mixed methods is one in which the researcher first conducts quantitative research, analyzes the results and then builds on the results to explain them in more detail with qualitative research.
        
        Exploratory sequential mixed methods is the reverse sequence from the explanatory sequential design. In the exploratory sequential approach the researcher first begins with a qualitative research phase and explores the views of participants.
    - - Quantitative Methods
        
        Pre-determined
        
        Instrument based questions
        
        Statistical analysis
        
        Statistical interpretation
      - Mixed Methods
        
        Both predetermined and emerging
        
        Both open- and closed-ended questions
        
        Multiple forms of data drawing on all possibilities
        
        Statistical and text analysis
        
        Across databases interpretation
      - Qualitative Methods
        
        Emerging methods
        
        Open-ended questions
        
        Interview data, observation data, document data, and audiovisual data
        
        Text and image analysis
        
        Themes, patterns interpretation
- - - - The Research Problem
        
        The narrative hook opens the introduction with a bang!
        
        Write an opening sentence that will stimulate the readers interest and relate to a broad audience
        
        Consider numeric information "5 million... "
        
        clearly identify the research problem
        
        indicate why it is important
        
        frame the problem consistent with the research approach
        
        indicate if there is a single problem or multiple problems
      - Literature to address the problem
        
        Justify the importance of the problem by highlighting other studies that examined the issue (s)
        
        This is called setting the research problem within the ongoing dialogue in the literature
        
        refer to literature by summarizing groups of studies
        
        review studies that used different research methods
        
        cite literature within the last 10 years - only site old sources if they are valuable
      - Deficiencies in Past Literature
        
        identify areas where past studies failed to address the issue - perhaps the scope, the method, a key variable is missing, contextually, or otherwise
      - Significance of a Study for Audiences
        
        3-4 reasons that the study adds to the scholarly research and literature in the field
        
        3-4 reasons about how the study helps improve practice
        
        3-4 reasons as to why the study will improve policy or decision making
      - Chapter 6: The Purpose Statement
        
        establishes the intent (why you do it and what you hope to get out of it) of the entire study
        
        most important statement in the entire study
        
        must be clear - specific - informative
        
        in journals it is written as the final statement in the introduction, in the thesis, it is usually given a separate section
        
        it is NOT the research questions
        
        Qualitative Purpose Statement
        
        contains information about the central phenomenon you are exploring in the study
        
        Uses words from the qualitative language: purpose, intent, study, aim, objective
        
        set the statement off in a separate sentence or paragraph
        
        use action verbs to convey how learning will take place: understand, develop, explore, examine, generate or discover
        
        general working definition of the phenomenon or idea in terms that a broad audience can understand,
        
        Example
        The purpose (or study aim) of this ___ (strategy of inquiry, such as ethnography, case study, or other type) study is (was? will be?) to ___ (understand? explore? develop? generate? discover?) the ___ (central phenomenon being studied) for ___ (the participants, such as the individual, groups, organization) at ___ (research site). At this stage in the research, the ___ (central phenomenon being studied) will be generally defined as ___ (provide a general definition).
        
        Quantitative Purpose Statement
        
        differ from qualitative statement
        
        think of the variables: variables: independent, mediating, moderating, and dependent.
        
        the relationship of the variables, the participants and the research site
        
        it begins with identifying the purpose of the major variables,
        
        Depicting the visual models, identifying sequence, measurement etc.
        
        the way the variables will be used in the experiement.
        
        use words to signal intent: purpose, intent, objective
        
        identify the theory,
        
        identify the dependent and independent variables
        
        use words like comparison, to discuss the relationship of the variables
        
        mention specific strategy
        
        Example
        The purpose of this ___ (experiment? survey?) study is (was? will be?) to test the theory of ___ that ___ (describes outcomes) or ___ (compares? relates?) the ___ (independent variable) to ___ (dependent variable), controlling for ___ (mediating or moderating variables) for ___ (participants) at ___ (the research site). The independent variable( s) ___ will be defined as ___ (provide a definition). The dependent variable( s) will be defined as ___ (provide a definition), and the intervening variable( s), ___, (identify the intervening variables) will be defined as ___ (provide a definition).
        -
        
        Mixed Methods Purpose Statement
        
        contain overall intent of the study
        
        the rationale for including both strands of methods
        
        identified early in the introduction of the study as it provides signposts for the reader to understand the quantitative and qualitative parts of the study
        
        indicate the mixed method design: convergent design, an explanatory sequential design, an exploratory sequential design or a complex design
        
        justify the reason for the design
        
        see pages 126 and 127 for specific examples based on the type