Library Lessons This Week

This week's Library Lessons will continue our discussion of Section IV of The Research Proposal you will be submitting as your final exhibit in this course. If you will recall, a few weeks ago we had some initial discussion from the text related to sampling and measurement and I noted then that we would explore these in more detail.  Well, now is the week to go into more depth with these issues.  These issues were chosen in particular because they often lead to a great deal of frustration for researchers.  In addition, these elements are some of the most critical in establishing the quality of your research and the extent to which other researchers and practitioners will find your research valuable to them.  All it takes is a poor sampling technique or a poor measure for readers to completely dismiss the findings of your study regardless of how great your research questions are or how interesting your findings were.

As I have noted previously, all of these elements must be considered and carefully planned in detail in Section IV of your Research Proposal.  You will have to clearly describe the sampling technique you will use and defend its use.  You will also have to clearly operationalize any variables within your research question(s) so it is absolutely crystal clear to the reader exactly how you define and expect to measure each variable. You will also be required to include a copy of the instrument(s) you choose to use in your study.  You will provide an overview and description of the instrument(s) to include evidence of its reliability and validity within your text, but will also include a copy of the instrument in the appendix.

During this week's lessons, you will also explore experimental and quasi-experimental research designs. These are only 2 of the many types of research designs a researcher may choose from to study his/her research problem.  In the chapters we will read over the next several weeks Creswell will introduce a number of research designs providing a balance between quantitative and qualitative designs.  The ones covered in this text are probably the ones most frequently used but do not think they are the only ones out there.  There are a plethora of research designs to choose from. Choosing the research design you intend to use will be an important guiding element for you when completing Section IV of your Research Proposal. It will be important for you to read ahead if you intend on using a research design in later chapters as you  begin working on your rough draft of Section IV.

As a review, the main elements of your Research Proposal will be:

1. Statement of the Problem
   1. Topic for the study appropriate for your field
   2. The research problem within this topic
   3. A justification for the problem based on past research and practice
   4. Deficiencies or shortcomings of past research or practical knowledge
   5. The importance of addressing the problem for diverse audiences
2. Literature Review (Study-by-Study)
   1. Analysis and synthesis of the primary research that assist in validating and supporting the research problem using a study-by-study approach grouped under broad themes
   2. Summarize major themes and present reasons for a proposed study or the importance of studying a research problem
3. Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses
   1. A concise statement of the purpose of the study based on the research approach chosen (qualitative or quantitative)
   2. The research questions or hypotheses to be addressed as appropriate for the research approach
4. Methods
   1. Statement of research approach and research design
   2. Setting for your study (what type of access do you have?)
   3. Participants and how selected (sampling)
   4. Instrumentation - Provide necessary operational definitions of variables, identify types of data needed,  and instruments or measures used.  Include actual copy of the survey or instrument as well as evidence of reliability and validity
   5. Summary of data collection procedures
   6. Summary of data analysis techniques that will be employed
5. References
6. Appendices

This week's Lessons will continue to cover necessary skills and knowledge for Section IV.

Lesson 1

I have already had some of my say on the topic of sampling during week 5 so I do not have much more to say here except that the short documents below should broaden and deepen your understanding of some of the various issues related to sampling.  Many of these issues exist regardless of whether you are planning to use a quantitative or qualitative approach to research.  I suggest you read the following documents in order as some of the topics do build on one another.  As you read and work through the exercises it may be useful to jot down issues that you think will be ones you will need to address within Section IV of your Research Proposal. As you begin thinking about sampling in the context of your own proposal be sure to email me with any questions you might have that pertain to your proposal.

Lesson Links

Open and read the short explanations of the topics [from Patten (1997)] listed below for more information related to different types of sampling.  You may download each of them in Word or RTF format. There are short exercises with answers provided to check your comprehension.

• biased and unbiased sampling (Word or RTF)
• simple random and systematic sampling (Word or RTF)
• stratified random sampling (Word or RTF)
• other methods of sampling (Word or RTF)
• introduction to sample size (Word or RTF)
• a closer look at sample size (Word or RTF)

As an addition to the above readings in this lesson you may want to take a trip to the reference room and peruse the links under the measurement and sampling section for more information.

Lesson Activities

Provided below are links to various case studies that provide a sampling scenario and ask you your opinions. As you review each of these consider your thoughts and opinions. There is nothing due for these but if you have any questions then feel free to email me.

• Case Study 1: Sampling Hispanic Adults by Telephone
• Case Study 2: Using a Sample of Convenience
• Case Study 3: Using Quota Sampling
• Case Study 4: Using an Incentive to Increase Response Rate
• Case Study 5: Obtaining a Sample of Psychotherapy Clients

Lesson 2

Operational definitions were discussed briefly in your text.  While the topic is not one in which there are a multitude of variations such as in sampling and reliability and validity, it does not make it less important.  In fact, it is a critical step in planning your research that many choose to disregard only to have it come around and kick you in the head later. 

Operationalizing the variables you intend to study within your proposal is necessary prior to thinking about what instrument you might use.  In addition, you may find yourself rewriting your research questions if you end up not being able to clearly operationalize a variable for measurement.  If you cannot operationalize in order to measure it then there will be no data to analyze. Finally, many fall into the trap of thinking of variables on a more general level than which they are capable of operationalizing it.  I cannot tell you how many people say they want to study motivation and will use that term throughout a proposal and in their research questions without ever giving a thought to the idea of the wide array in which motivation is defined in the literature.  Motivation may be identified as self-efficacy in one study or internal/external in another.  Some see locus of control as motivation while others look toward self-concept.  Do not fall into this trap.  It is important to say what you mean and mean what you say.  Hopefully, the brief reading, exercise and case studies here will help you think about how you will need to operationalize the variables you choose for your own research.

Lesson Links

Open and read the short explanation of operational definitions below.  You may download it in Word or RTF format. There are short exercises with answers provided to check your comprehension.

• operational definitions of variables (Word or RTF)
• operational definition exercise (Word or RTF)

Lesson Activities

Provided below are links to various case studies that provide a scenario related to operational definitions and ask you your opinions. As you review each of these consider your thoughts and opinions. There is nothing due for these but if you have any questions then feel free to email me.

• Case Study 1: Defining Physical Abuse of Children
• Case Study 2: Defining Economic Well-Being
• Case Study 3: Defining Substance Abuse Among Pregnant Women
• Case Study 4: Defining a Social Interaction
• Case Study 5: Defining Sex in a National Survey

Lesson 3

These are two of the trickiest concepts when it comes to talking about using instruments to measure any variable of interest in research.  If you are collecting data in any form then you should be concerned about one or more forms of reliability and validity.  The trick is to identify which ones are the most critical given your research questions and the instrument(s) you are using.  Again, I hope the reading assists in broadening and deepening your understanding of these two ideas and assist you in applying the necessary skills and knowledge in Section IV of your Proposal.

Lesson Links

Open and read the short explanations of the topics [from Patten (1997)] listed below for more information related to different types of reliability and validity.  You may download each of them in Word or RTF format. There are short exercises with answers provided to check your comprehension.

• introduction to validity (Word or RTF)
• judgmental validity (Word or RTF)
• empirical validity (Word or RTF)
• judgmental-empirical validity (Word or RTF)
• reliability and its relationship to validity (Word or RTF)
• measures of reliability (Word or RTF)

As an addition to the above readings in this lesson you may want to take a trip to the reference room and peruse the links under the measurement and sampling section for more information.

Lesson Activities

Provided below are links to various case studies that provide a scenario related to reliability or validity and ask you your opinions. As you review each of these consider your thoughts and opinions. There is nothing due for these but if you have any questions then feel free to email me.

• Case Study 1: Determining the Validity of Self-Reports
• Case Study 2: Evaluating an Acculturation Scale
• Case Study 3: Measuring Students' Distant Memories
• Case Study 4: Measuring Social Desirability
• Case Study 5: Measuring the Attractiveness of Participants

Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research Designs

Chapter 11 is full to the brim with a multitude of details related to experimental and quasi-experimental research designs.  While it is a lot of information to handle at one sitting, I do believe it is well organized and tries to break down the many different types and issues so that you can comprehend them.

After a brief history of experimental designs, the chapter introduces the key characteristics of experimental designs and then provides a complete explanation of these different characteristics and the elements of each.  Some of you are likely to use an experimental or quasi-experimental design in your research proposal.  However, you probably only thought of a few of the characteristics mentioned in this chapter until you read about them.  What will be your unit of analysis? What procedures will you use for control over extraneous factors? What extraneous factors should I control for? How will I address potential threats to validity? All of these things must be considered as you plan your research and write Section IV of your proposal. As you read this Chapter with your study in mind think about the different issues that you will need to consider and jot notes down for yourself that you will be able to refer to when writing Section IV.

Of special note is the introduction of additional types of validity in this chapter.  Please be careful and realize that the issues of validity we have discussed in previous weeks dealt specifically with the validity of the measures or instruments you use within your study.  The types of validity discussed in this chapter deal with the validity in the context of statistical and design issues.

Beginning on page 295 Creswell discusses various types of experimental designs and provides another excellent table to use to distinguish among these designs using a basic set of criteria. He then provides a complete discussion of each of the types.  He first makes the distinction of between and within-group designs and then under the between-groups designs section distinguishes between true and quasi-experiments.  If your research design falls under the category of experimental design it will be important for you to note in Section IV what type of design you will use within this overarching category and then define such things as factors, time series, repeated measures, etc. as necessary depending on the type of design you choose to employ.

The final section of Chapter 11 provides you with a great step by step manual on conducting experimental research.  Several of these steps you have already completed.  You have already decided on your research problem and formed hypotheses.  Step 6 provides an excellent set of bullets that provide you with specific elements you will need to discuss in the procedures section of Section IV.

Finally, as is noted in your activities below, this Chapter provides an article that employs a true experimental design for you to read and critique. It might also be a good exercise for you to go back through the empirical article you have identified for your literature review and see which articles, if any, employ an experimental design and what type of design they use within this category.

Lesson Links

Here are a few links from the resources page that provide additional information for this week.

• Types of Designs
• Quasi-Experimental Designs
• Non-Experimental Designs

Lesson Activities

• Complete the Chapter Eleven Quiz for Creswell. You will have  150 minutes for this quiz.  You may go directly into the elearning system or read the directions first.
• Beginning on page 311 be sure to work through the section of "applying what you have learned..." This chapter includes an empirical research article that employs an experimental design.

  Begin thinking about Section IV of your Research Proposal.  If you are using an experimental or quasi-experimental design use the steps outlined in Chapter 11 to identify the important elements you will need to include when you write Section IV. Such elements might include the treatment you will employ, how you will assign participants to groups, what specific type of design you will use, what covariates or blocking variables you will use, the procedures for pretest-treatment-posttest, how you will address threats to validity, and how you will organize and analyze your data

• Provided below are links to various case studies that relate issues within experimental/quasi-experimental designs and ask you your opinions. As you review each of these consider your thoughts and opinions. There is nothing due for these but if you have any questions then feel free to email me.

  • Case Study 1: Comparison of Asian and White Americans
  • Case Study 2: Forming Experimental and Control Groups
  • Case Study 3: Forming Comparison Groups in Classroom Research
  • Case Study 4: Forming Comparison Groups for Postpartum Disorders
  • Case Study 5: Identifying Comparison Groups for Childhood Abuse

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