This is 1/2 of my EXTENSIVE notes for Test 1 for the pre-master course Research Methodology and Descriptive Statistics on the University of Twente. With these notes, and the second part, you have a good knowledge to pass the first exam. I passed my exam with a 8.5! These notes consists of UNIT 1 -...
Inhoudsopgave
UNIT 1 – What is Empirical Research? ............................................................................................................... 3
explain what is meant with empirical research and which steps can be taken according to the wheel of
science; ................................................................................................................................................................ 3
differentiate between induction and deduction;................................................................................................... 4
recognize and explain the steps that can be taken in the decision making process; ........................................... 4
explain the relationship between systematic decision making and systematically answering empirical
questions; ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
formulate a relevant research question in the context of a specific phase in a decision making process; ......... 5
recognize and mention examples of confirmation bias; ...................................................................................... 6
explain how systematic empirical research helps avoiding the confirmation bias. ............................................ 8
UNIT 2: What are clear research questions? ....................................................................................................... 9
Learning objectives: .......................................................................................................................................... 10
identify units, variables (with their attributes / values) and settings in clearly................................................. 10
formulated descriptive and explanatory empirical research question; ............................................................. 10
distinguish empirical questions from normative questions and from questions about concepts; ..................... 12
differentiate between explanatory empirical questions from descriptive empirical questions. ......................... 14
Unit 3 – What is data? .......................................................................................................................................... 14
recognize the units of analysis and the units of observation in a study; ........................................................... 14
Difference between Units of ANALYSIS & Units of OBSERVATION ............................................................... 15
tell how mixing up units of analysis and units of observation may sometimes lead to the ecological fallacy;. 16
identify variables with their attributes / values used in a study; ....................................................................... 17
determine if the attributes / values of a variable are complete (a.k.a. exhaustive) and mutually exclusive; .. 17
differentiate between different levels of measurement;.................................................................................... 18
explain what a data matrices looks like............................................................................................................. 20
Unit 1 SPSS - SPSS for absolute beginners ........................................................................................................ 24
UNIT 1 SPSS- An introduction to SPSS (video) ................................................................................................ 26
Unit 2 SPSS............................................................................................................................................................ 26
Turning several survey items into one single variable (creating Index in SPSS) .............................................. 27
Example: Creating index with a reverse question ............................................................................................. 28
Recoding ratio scale to dichotomy in SPSS ....................................................................................................... 29
Unit 4 – Handling data with software ................................................................................................................. 30
Unit 5 – Conceptualizing constructs ................................................................................................................... 32
Relationship between facets and terms (= constructs) ...................................................................................... 32
Two (of five) dimensions of personality – Combine to construct type of relationships between terms and facets
........................................................................................................................................................................... 35
Indices, typologies and scales – measuring theoretical constructs ................................................................... 37
1
, Conceptualizing variables – the ‘quality’ of a teacher...................................................................................... 39
Conceptualisation: personality .......................................................................................................................... 40
Summarize UNIT 5............................................................................................................................................... 41
Unit 6 – operationalization and data collection ................................................................................................. 42
Data collection methods .................................................................................................................................... 42
Classifying data collection methods .................................................................................................................. 42
Examples of data collection methods................................................................................................................. 44
Operationalization and measurement................................................................................................................ 45
Content validity .................................................................................................................................................. 46
Existing data and secondary data analysis........................................................................................................ 47
Surveys and questionnaires – using existing surveys: secondary data analysis ............................................... 47
Q&A – Unit 4-6 ..................................................................................................................................................... 48
Conceptualization .............................................................................................................................................. 49
Ways to combine indicators:.............................................................................................................................. 50
and- or – not – missing relationships ................................................................................................................ 50
Operationalization and measurement................................................................................................................ 54
Unit 7 – Measuring constructs using content analysis ...................................................................................... 57
Data collection method: content analysis.......................................................................................................... 57
Conceptualization using interviews ................................................................................................................... 60
Content analysis and coding (1) straightforward coding of short answers ...................................................... 62
Content analysis and coding (2) coding longer texts using manifest and latent coding ................................... 64
Content analysis and coding (3) machine learning / supervised learning ........................................................ 64
Content analysis and coding (4) content analysis in more complex contents ................................................... 65
2
, Samenvatting Research Methodology & Descriptive Statistics
UNIT 1 – What is Empirical Research?
Agreement reality
= agreed-on knowledge that others give us
• Traditions → passing on customs and beliefs. We do not have to start from ‘zero’ but
we are searching for information that is already known
• Authority → believe experts, however they can also be wrong!
Foundation of social science
Science is characterized as logico- empirical → two pillars of science are:
1. Logic
2. Observation
Those two pillars relate to three major aspects of the enterprise of social science:
1. Theory
2. Data collection
3. Data analysis
• Theory → ‘logic part’, providing systematic explanations for what is logically
expected
• Data collection → ‘observation part’, compares what is logically expected with what
is actually observed
Learning objectives
explain what is meant with empirical research and which steps can be taken according
to the wheel of science;
Empirical research =
Systematically answering question using observations. // Excluding the possibility that other
answers are better than the answers we give, about things we can observe by using our senses
• We start with a research question ------- (explicit procedure, we think & observe!) --
--→ conclusion
▪ Research question = general idea of what you hope to learn from your research
▪ In this way we avoid confirmation bias
Research questions are empirical if you are interested in the causes underlying the theme, for
instance:
• ‘What is the cause of the increase in stabbing incidents among teenagers in the
Netherlands?’
3
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