In-depth summary of Trochim, W.M., Donnelly, J.P., & Arora, K. (2016). Research Methods: The essential knowledge base. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2nd edition, ISBN 4774.
All chapters covered in the exam: 1-12.
Summary of Research Methods – William Trochim (2016)
1.1 The Research Enterprise
1.1a What Is Research?
Research: A type of systematic (concentrated thinking, in a rational and careful manner)
investigation that is empirical (collecting data to use for decision making) in nature and is
designed to contribute to public knowledge.
Research enterprise: The macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple
empirical systematic public research projects.
1.1b Translational Research
Translational research: The systematic effort to move research from initial discovery to
practice and ultimately to impacts on our lives.
Research-practice continuum: The process of moving from an initial research idea or
discovery to practice, and the potential for the idea to influence our lives or world.
Basic research: Research that is designed to generate discoveries and to understand how
the discoveries work.
Applied research: Research where a discovery is tested under increasingly controlled
conditions in real-world contexts.
Implementation and dissemination research: Research that assesses how well an
innovation or discovery can be distributed in and carried out in a broad range of contexts
that extend beyond the original controlled studies.
Impact research: Research that assesses the broader effects of a discovery or innovation on
society.
Policy research: Research that is designed to investigate existing policies or develop and test
new ones.
1.1c Research Syntheses and Guidelines
Research synthesis: A systematic study of multiple prior research projects that address the
same research question or topic and that summarizes the results in a manner that can be
used by practitioners.
• Meta-analysis: A type of research synthesis that uses statistical methods to combine
the results of similar studies quantitatively in order to allow general conclusions to
be made.
• Systematic review: A type of research synthesis that focuses on a specific question
or issue and uses pre-planned methods to identify, select, assess, and summarize the
findings of multiple research studies (often involves a panel, discuss how well a
discovery works to address a problem).
,Meta-analyses and systematic reviews are sometimes not sufficient by themselves as guides
for how they might change what they implement as they are rather technical and scientific,
and therefore cautious about making recommendations for actions.
Guideline: A systematic process that leads to a specific set of research-based
recommendations for practice that usually includes some estimates of how strong the
evidence is for each recommendation.
Translational research across the research-practice continuum with the addition of a system
for research synthesis and the development of practice guidelines interposed between basic
and applied research and its subsequent implementation and dissemination.
1.1d Evidence-Based Practice
Evidence-based practice (EBP): A movement designed to encourage or require practitioners
to employ practices that are based on research evidence as reflected in research syntheses
or practice guidelines.
1.1e An Evolutionary Perspective on the Research Enterprise
Evolutionary epistemology: The branch of philosophy that holds that ideas evolve through
the process of natural selection.
Any discovery has survival value; it either survives or it doesn’t. Our research-based
knowledge evolves, often in unpredictable and surprising ways.
1.2 Conceptualizing Research
,1.2a Where Research Topics Come From
Practical problems in the field.
Literature in your specific field.
Requests for proposals (RFPs): A document issued by a government agency or other
organization that, typically, describes the problem that needs addressing, the contexts in
which it operates, the approach the agency would like you to take to investigate the
problem, and the amount the agency would be willing to pay for such research.
Think up research topic.
1.2b The Literature Review
Literature review: A systematic compilation and written summary of all of the literature
published in scientific journals that is related to a research topic of interest. A literature
review is typically included in the introduction section of a research write-up.
• Focus your efforts on the research literature (most credible research journals).
• Do the review early in the research process (learn about the necessary trade-offs)
Peer review: A system for reviewing potential research publications where authors submit
potential articles to a journal editor who solicits several reviewers who agree to give a
critical review of the paper. The paper is sent to these reviewers with no identification of
the author so that there will be no personal bias (either for or against the author). Based on
the reviewers’ recommendations, the editor can accept the article, reject it, or recommend
that the author revise and resubmit it.
• Check their literature review to get a quick start
• Prior research helps ensure that you include all of the major relevant constructs in
your study.
• Literature review will help you find and select appropriate measurement
instruments (see what instruments researchers used themselves in contexts similar
to yours).
• Helps you anticipate common problems in your research context.
1.2c Feasibility Issues
• Trade-offs between rigor and practicality
• How long the research will take to accomplish
• Question whether any important ethical constraints require consideration
• You must determine whether you can acquire the cooperation needed to take the
project to its successful conclusion
• Must determine the degree to which the costs will be manageable
1.3 The Language of Research
1.3a Research Vocabulary
, Theoretical: Pertaining to theory. Social research is theoretical, meaning that much of it is
concerned with developing, exploring, or testing the theories or ideas that social
researchers have about how the world operates.
Empirical: Based on direct observations and measurements of reality.
Probabilistic: Based on probabilities.
Causal: Pertaining to a cause-effect relationship, hypothesis, or relationship. Something is
causal if it leads to an outcome or makes an outcome happen.
Causal relationship: A cause-effect relationship. For example, when you evaluate whether
your treatment or program causes an outcome to occur, you are examining a causal
relationship.
1.3b Types of Studies
1. Descriptive studies: A study that documents what is going on or what exists.
2. Relational studies: A study that investigates the connection between two or more
variables.
3. Causal studies: A study that investigates a causal relationship between two
variables.
1.3c Time in Research
Cross-sectional studies: A study that takes place at a single point in time.
Longitudinal: A study that takes place over time.
a. Repeated measures: Two or more waves of measurement over time.
b. Time series: Many waves of measurement over time; at least twenty waves. Less
than twenty is called repeated measures design.
1.3d Types of Relationships
A relationship refers to the correspondence between two variables; the nature or the
pattern of the relationship.
The nature of a relationship (2 types)
Correlational relationship: Two things perform in a synchronized manner. The two variables
are correlated; but knowing that the two variables are correlated does not tell whether one
causes the other.
Causal relationship: A synchronized relationship between two variables just as a
correlational relationship is, but in a causal relationship we say that one variable causes the
other to occur.
Relationship: An association between two variables such that, in general, the level on one
variable is related to the level on the other. Technically, the term “correlational
relationship” is redundant: a correlation by definition always refers to a relationship.
However the term correlational relationship is used to distinguish it from the specific type of
association called a causal relationship.
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