Research Methods The Knowledge Base
Part 1 Foundations
1. Foundations of Research Methods
1.1 The research Enterprise
Research = systematic investigation
It is an empirical edeavor – an effort that is based upon systematic observation that yields data you
can use in your decision making
It is a public effort – it needs to be described in a way that others can understand them as well
So…
Research is a type of systematic investigation that is empirical in nature and is designed to contribute
to public knowledge.
Research Project: Every research project is undertaken with the realization that there was prior
research that addressed some aspect of what we are looking at.
Research Enterprise
It is the macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple empirical systematic public
research projects
The broader effect that every research project contributes to
THE IMORTANT ASPECTS OF RESEARCH ENTERPRISE:
1. Translational Research
- When we move research from discovery to practice (and the effect of that research in our
lives)
- It is the systematic effort to move research from initial discovery to practice and ultimately to
impacts on our lives.
- There are a lot of different models of translational research that devide the process into
stages in different ways: (Dougherty & Conway, 2008; Khoury et al., 2007; Sung et al., 2003;
Trochim, Kane, Graham, & Pincus, 2011; Westfall, Mold, & Fagnan, 2007),
➔ But al of those convey the central agenda of translational research; to move research
from discovery to impact in the research enterprise.
- We can think of the research enterprise as encompassing a research-practice continuum
within which translation occurs. It is likely within this that many individual research projects
will be conducted in here. Some examples:
, o Basic research → are designed to generate discoveries and to
understand their mechanisms better
o Applied research → projects where the discovery is tested under
increasingly controlled conditions with humans
o Implementation and dissemination research → a process of
seeing how well it can be implemented in and desseinated to a
broad range of context
o Policy research → some discoveries lead to the development of
new policies that are investigated within this research
o Impact research → many discoveries are assessed for the impacts
they have broadly on society
o The research practise continuum is shown under:
2. Research Syntheses and Guidelines
- A research synthesis is a systematic study of multiple prior research
project that address the same research question or topic and summarize
the results in a manner that can be used by practitioners.
o A meta-analysis uses statistical methods to combine the results of
similar studies quantitatively in order to allow general conclusions
to be made.
o A systematic review is a research synthesis approach that focuses
on a specific question or issue and uses specific preplanned
methods to identify, select, assess, and summarize the findings of
multiple research studies.
While a meta-analysis is always a quantitative synthesis, a systematic review may be a
judgmental expert-driven synthesis, a meta-analysis, or both.
- Both of these types of reviews can be somewhat technical and are written in a scientific style
that typically is cautious about making formal recommendations for action. To help address
this problem, the research enterprise has increasingly developed a mechanism called a
practice guideline.
Guideline: is the result of a systematic process that leads to a specific set of research-based
recommendations for practices that usually includes some estimates of how strong the
evidence is for each recommendation.
, 3. Evidence-based practice
- is a movement designed toencourage or require practitioners to employ practices that are
based on research evidence as reflected in research syntheses or practice guidelines.
- The EBP movement represents a major attempt of the research enterprise to achieve a
better integration of research and practice.
4. An evolutionary perspective on the research enterprise
- It is the branch of philophy that holds that ideas evove through the process of natural
selection
- It helps unify our thinking about the emerging research enterprise in the twenty-first
century.
1.2 Conceptualizing Research
Sources of research ideas
• Practical problems in the field
• The literature in your specific field
• Requests for proposals (RFPS) → These RFPs describe some problem that the agency would
like researchers to address; they are virtually handing the researcher an idea.
• Think up their research
The literature review
- Is a systematic compilation and written summary of all of the literature published in scientific
journals that is related to a research topic of interest.
, - In a peer review, authors submit potential articles to a journal editor who solicits several re-
viewers who agree to give a critical review of the paper.
The feasibility issues → bear in mind several practical considerations
- How long will it take to accomplish
- Ethical constrains require consideration
- Whether you can require cooperation
- Costs will be manageable
1.3 The Language of Research
Research Vocabulary
Words you need to know…
• Theoretical and Empirical
o Theoretical= Pertaining to theory. Social research is theoretical, meaning thatmuch
of it is concerned with developing, exploring, or testing the theories or ideas that
social researchers have about how the world operates.
o Empirical = meaning that it is based on observations and measurements of reality on
what you perceive of the world around you.
• Probalistic = Based on probalities
• Causal = meaning that it is based on observations and measurements of reality—on what
you perceive of the world around you.
Types of studies
The basic forms:
- descriptive studies A study that documents what is going on or what exists.
- relational studies A study that investigates the connection between two or more variables.
- causal studies A study that investigates a causal relationship between two variables.
Time in research
One of the most fundamental distinctions in research design nomenclature:
• Cross-sectional studies take place at a single point in time. In effect, you are taking a slice or
cross-section of whatever it is you’re observing or measuring.
• Longitudinal studies take place over multiple points in time. In a longitudinal study, you
measure your research participants on at least two separate occasions or at least two points
in time.
There is no universally agreed-upon rule for distinguishing between these two terms; but in general,
if you have two or a few waves of measurement, you are using a repeated measures design. If you
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