Meaning of Research L1

Searching it again and again means Re-search. Research is defined as human activity
based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for
research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for
the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our
world and the universe.

Types of Research

TYPES OF RESEARCH

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is a research method that describes the characteristics of the

population or phenomenon that is being studied. This methodology focuses more on
the “what” of the research subject rather than the “why” of the research subject.

The following characteristics are as follows:

• Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.

• Descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present

situation.

• Can only report what has happened or what is happening.

• Used to “describe” a situation, subject, behavior, or phenomenon.

• It is used to answer questions of who, what, when, where, and how associated with
a particular research question or problem.

Fundamental or Basic Research

Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, has the
scientific research aim to improve scientific theories for improved understanding or
prediction of natural or other phenomena.

The main characteristics are as follows:

• Fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalizations and with the

formulation of a theory.

• “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.”

• Aim to improve scientific theories for improved understanding or prediction of

natural or other phenomena.

• Fundamental research is inductive in nature (specific-general) that means it comes

with new theory discoveries.

• Fundamental research is driven by curiosity and the desire to expand knowledge in

specific research area.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is defined as a market research method that focuses on obtaining

data through open-ended and conversational communication. This method is not only
about “what” people think but also “why” they think so. For example, consider a
convenience store looking to improve its patronage. Qualitative research is a kind of
research that rely on unstructured and non-numerical data. The data may take the form
of fieldnotes written by the researcher in the course of observation, interviews etc.

It includes following characteristics they are as follows:

▪ Phenomena relating to or involving improving quality or kind.

▪ Aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires, using in depth

interviews for the purpose.
▪ It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions,
and motivations.

▪ It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for
potential quantitative.

▪ Qualitative research is a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical

data.

▪ Obtaining data through open-ended and conversational communication.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is a systematic investigation of phenomena by gathering

quantifiable data and performing statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques.
In natural and social sciences, and maybe in other fields, quantitative research is the
systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical,
or computational techniques.

It includes following characteristics they are as follows:

• Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount.

• Is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data that can be
transformed into usable statistics.

• To quantify and generalize results from a larger sample population.

• Quantitative research deals in numbers, logic, and an objective stance.

• Is a structured way of collecting and analyzing data obtained from different sources.

Longitudinal Research

A longitudinal study is a research design that involves repeated observations of the

same variables over short or long periods of time. It is often a type of observational
study, although they can also be structured as longitudinal randomized experiments.

The main characteristics are as follows:

▪ Is a method in which data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a
period of time.

▪ Longitudinal research projects can extend over years or even decades.

▪ longitudinal study subjects are followed over time with continuous or repeated
monitoring of risk factors.
▪ Longitudinal research is used to study individuals at different stages in their lives.

▪ Cohort Study: Involves selecting a group based on a specific event such as birth,
geographic location.

Cross-sectional Research

Cross sectional research is a study in which subjects of different ages are compared at
the same time. It is often used in developmental psychology, but also utilized in many
other areas including social science, education and other branches of science.

The main characteristics are as follows:

• Is a type of observational study that analyzes data from a population at a specific

point in time.

• involves using different groups of people differ in characteristics, such

as socioeconomic status, educational background, and ethnicity.

• A cross sectional study measures the prevalence of variable outcomes.

• Cross-sectional research control variables, covariates.

• Cross-sectional studies are preferred to find common points between variables.

Action Research

Action research is a philosophy and methodology of research generally applied in the

social sciences. It seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of
taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection.

It includes following characteristics they are as follows:

▪ Studies carried out in the course of an activity or occupation.

▪ Refers to a wide variety of evaluative, investigative, and analytical

research methods designed to diagnose problems or weakness.

▪ Is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action.

▪ The enquiry involved in Action Research is often visualized as a cyclical process.

▪ Action research is essentially research through action.

▪ Action research is often used in the field of education.

Ethnographic Research
Ethnographic research is a qualitative method where researchers observe and/or
interact with a study's participants in their real-life environment. Ethnography was
popularized by anthropology, but is used across a wide range of social sciences.

It includes following characteristics they are as follows:

• Is a qualitative method where researchers observe and/or interact with a study's

participants in their real-life environment?

• Ethnography was popularized by anthropology, but is used across a wide range of

social sciences.

• Ethnography is the systematic study of people and cultures.

• Ethnography can help identify and analyze unexpected issues.

• Ethnographic research is also done in an attempt to discover patterns in human

behavior.

• involves a trained ethnographer living within a specific group of people and

collecting data.

Experimental Research

Experimental research is a study that strictly adheres to a scientific research design. It

includes a hypothesis, a variable that can be manipulated by the researcher,
and variables that can be measured, calculated and compared. Most importantly,
experimental research is completed in a controlled environment. The researcher collects
data and results will either support or reject the hypothesis.

The following characteristics are as follows:

▪ Experimental research is one of the founding quantitative research methods.

▪ Is a scientific approach, where a set of variables are kept constant while the other
set of variables are being measured as the subject of experiment.

▪ It is a collection of research designs which use manipulation and controlled

testing to understand causal processes.

▪ Generally, one or more variables are manipulated to determine their effect on a

dependent variable.

▪ Maintain control over all factors that may affect the result of an experiment.

Exploratory Research
Exploratory research is the process of investigating a problem that has not been
studied or thoroughly investigated in the past. Exploratory type of research is usually
conducted to have a better understanding of the existing problem, but usually doesn't
lead to a conclusive result.

The following characteristics are as follows:

• Is conducted for a problem that has not been studied more clearly, intended to
establish priorities.

• To develop operational definitions and improve the final research design.

• Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data-collection

method and selection of subjects.

• Exploratory work usually depend on direct observation of a small selection of what

is to be studied, for example: drinking behavior.

• Explanatory research is an attempt to connect ideas to

understand cause and effect of variables.

Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological Research Phenomenology is an approach to

qualitative research that focuses on the commonality of a lived experience within a
particular group. The fundamental goal of the approach is to arrive at a description of
the nature of the particular phenomenon

• Is a qualitative research method that is used to describe how human beings

experience a certain phenomenon?

• Attempts to set aside biases and preconceived assumptions about human

experiences to a particular situation.

• Focus on experiences, events and occurrences with disregard.

• Is an approach that focuses on the commonality of a lived or ongoing

experience within a particular group.

• Is an in-depth and detailed investigation of the development of a single event,

situation.

Grounded Theory Research

Grounded theory (GT) is a systematic methodology in the social sciences involving the
construction of theories through methodical gathering and analysis of data.
This research methodology uses inductive reasoning, in contrast to the hypothetical-
deductive model of the scientific method.

It includes following characteristics they are as follows:

▪ Grounded theory is done first time in the world.

▪ Involving the generating of theories through methodical gathering and analysis of

data.

▪ It uses hypothetic-deductive approach.

▪ Grounded theory is likely to begin with a question.

▪ Grounded theory design is a type of qualitative research.

▪ Grounded theory involves the collection and analysis of data.

▪ Enables to seek out and conceptualize the latent social patterns and structures of
an area.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research, sometimes borrowing

techniques from Sociologists and Anthropologists. Qualitative research is not easily
classified, but it often includes studies that collect interview information, either
from individuals or groups; it sometimes involves detailed case studies; or it sometimes
involves carefully designed observational studies.

Qualitative research may include field notes, or notes regarding the behaviors and
actions of people and other events happening in the situation where data are collected;
like Methodological documentation; Also Analytic documentation reflecting the
researcher’s thought processes during data analysis; Documentation of personal
responses to capture the investigator’s role and reactions as the study progresses.
Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding
of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or
helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.

Characteristics of Qualitative Research Methods

→ Qualitative research methods usually collect data at the sight, where the participants
are experiencing issues or problems. These are real-time data and rarely bring the
participants out of the geographic locations to collect information.

→ Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of data, such

as interviews, observations, and documents, rather than rely on a single data source.
→ This type of research method works towards solving complex issues by breaking
down into meaningful inferences, that is easily readable and understood by all.

→ Since its a more communicative method, people can build their trust on the
researcher and the information thus obtained is raw and unadulterated.

Qualitative Research Methods with Examples:

1. One-on-One Interview: Conducting in-depth interviews is one of the most common

qualitative research methods. It is a personal interview that is carried out with one
respondent at a time. This is purely a conversational method and invites opportunities to
get details in depth from the respondent.

2. Focus groups: A focus group is also one of the commonly used qualitative research
methods, used in data collection. A focus group usually includes a limited number
of respondents (6-10) from within your target market.

3. Ethnographic research: Ethnographic research is the most in-depth observational

method that studies people in their naturally occurring environment.

This method requires the researchers to adapt to the target audiences’ environments
which could be anywhere from an organization to a city or any remote location. Here
geographical constraints can be an issue while collecting data.

4. Case study research: The case study method has evolved over the past few years and
developed as into a valuable qualitative research method. As the name suggests it is
used for explaining an organization or an entity.

This type of research method is used within a number of areas like education, social
sciences and similar. This method may look difficult to operate, however, it is one of the
simplest ways of conducting research as it involves a deep dive and thorough
understanding of the data collection methods and inferring the data.

5. Record keeping: This method makes use of the already existing reliable
documents and similar sources of information as the data source. This data can be used
in a new research. This is similar to going to a library. There one can go over books and
other reference material to collect relevant data that can likely be used in the research.

6. Process of observation: Qualitative Observation is a process of research that

uses subjective methodologies to gather systematic information or data. Since, the focus
on qualitative observation is the research process of using subjective methodologies to
gather information or data. The qualitative observation is primarily used to equate
quality differences.

Survey Research
Survey Research is defined as the process of conducting research using surveys that
are sent to survey respondents. The data collected from surveys is then statistically
analyzed to draw meaningful research conclusions.

→ Surveys are used to increase knowledge in fields such as social

research and demography.

→ Survey research is often used to assess thoughts, opinions, and feelings.

Content analysis

Content analysis is a research method for studying documents and communication

artifacts, which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video. Social
scientists use content analysis to examine patterns in communication in a replicable and
systematic manner.

Content analysis is a research technique used to make replicable and valid inferences by
interpreting and coding textual material. By systematically evaluating texts (e.g.,
documents, oral communication, and graphics), qualitative data can be converted into
quantitative data.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research, the data are collected and presented in the form of numbers-
average scores for different groups on some task, percentages of people who do one
thing or another, graphs and tables of data, and so on. Qualitative research, on the other
hand, is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e. Phenomena relating to or
involving quality or kind.

Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. It is

applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. For instance, when
we are interested in investigating the reasons for human behavior (i.e., why people think
or do certain things)

Experimental research

Experimental research is any research conducted with a scientific approach, where a set
of variables are kept constant while the other set of variables are being measured as the
subject of experiment. Experimental research is one of the founding
quantitative research methods.

Experimental research designs are the primary approach used to investigate causal
(cause/effect) relationships and to study the relationship between one variable and
another. This is a traditional type of research that is quantitative in nature.

Types of Experimental Research Design

1. Pre-Experimental Research Design: This is the simplest form of experimental
research design. A group, or various groups, are kept under observation after factors are
considered for cause and effect. It is usually conducted to understand whether further
investigation needs to be carried out on the target group/s, due to which it is considered
to be cost-effective.

→ One-shot Case Study Research Design

→ One-group Pretest-posttest Research Design

→ Static-group Comparison

2. True Experimental Research Design: True experimental research is the most

accurate form of experimental research design as it relies on statistical analysis to prove
or disprove a hypothesis.

→ It is the only type of Experimental Design that can establish a cause-effect

relationship within a group/s.

3. Quasi-Experimental Research Design: The word “Quasi” indicates resemblance. A

quasi-experimental research design is similar to experimental research but is not exactly
that. The difference between the two the assignment of a control group.

→ In this research design, an independent variable is manipulated but the participants

of a group are not randomly assigned as per conditions.

→ The independent variable is manipulated before calculating the dependent variable

and so, directionality problem is eliminated.

→ Quasi-research is used in field settings where random assignment is either irrelevant

or not required.

Meta-analysis

Conceptually, a meta-analysis uses a statistical approach to combine the results

from multiple studies in an effort to increase power (over individual studies), improve
estimates of the size of the effect and/or to resolve uncertainty when reports disagree.

Meta-analysis is used to evaluate the effect that is described by a number of

publications. In systematic reviews researchers generally do not have access to the raw
data, only to the conclusions of the study.

→ A meta-analysis is the statistical analysis of results from numerous independent

studies within the same subject. Researchers can convert a range of study results into
data points, and use them to show patterns or phenomenon. A meta-analysis includes: A
research question.
→ Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to
systematically assess the results of previous research to derive conclusions about that
body of research. Typically, but not necessarily, the study is based on randomized,
controlled clinical trials.

Qualitative Research L2
Here we will be discussing about characteristics of qualitative research and methods
involved in qualitative research.

Attempt: 1

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research

Meaning

Qualitative research is defined as a market research method that focuses on obtaining

data through open-ended and conversational communication. This method is not
only about “what” people think but also “why” they think so. For example, consider a
convenience store looking to improve its patronage. Qualitative research is a kind of
research that rely on unstructured and non-numerical data. The data may take the
form of field notes written by the researcher in the course of observation, interviews etc.

Qualitative research, sometimes borrows

techniques from Sociologists and Anthropologists. Qualitative research is not easily
classified, but it often includes studies that collect interview information, either
from individuals or groups; it sometimes involves detailed case studies; Focus groups, or
it sometimes involves carefully designed observational studies.

Qualitative research may include field notes, or notes regarding the behaviors and
actions of people and other events happening in the situation where data are collected;
like Methodological documentation; Also Analytic documentation reflecting the
researcher’s thought processes during data analysis; Documentation of personal
responses to capture the investigator’s role and reactions as the study progresses.

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an

understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into
the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.

Definitions:
→ As defined by Leshan (2012) this is a method of qualitative data analysis where
qualitative datasets are analyzed without coding.

→ Qualitative research is empirical research where the data are not in the form of
numbers (Punch, 1998, p. 4)

Qualitative Research characteristics:

→ Qualitative research methods usually collect data at the sight, where the participants
are experiencing issues or problems. These are real-time data and rarely bring the
participants out of the geographic locations to collect information.

→ Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of data, such

as interviews, observations, and documents, rather than rely on a single data source.

→ This type of research method works towards solving complex issues by breaking
down into meaningful inferences, that is easily readable and understood by all.

→ Since its a more communicative method, people can build their trust on the
researcher and the information thus obtained is raw and unadulterated.

→ Phenomena relating to or involving improving quality or kind.

→ Aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires, using in depth interviews for
the purpose.

→ It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.

→ It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for
potential quantitative.

→ Qualitative research is a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical

data.

Obtaining data through open-ended and conversational communication.

Qualitative Research Methods with Examples:

1. One-on-One Interview: Conducting in-depth interviews is one of the most common

qualitative research methods. It is a personal interview that is carried out with one
respondent at a time. This is purely a conversational method and invites opportunities to
get details in depth from the respondent.

2. Focus groups: A focus group is also one of the commonly used qualitative research
methods, used in data collection. A focus group usually includes a limited number
of respondents (6-10) from within your target market.
3. Ethnographic research: Ethnographic research is the most in-depth observational
method that studies people in their naturally occurring environment.

This method requires the researchers to adapt to the target audiences’ environments
which could be anywhere from an organization to a city or any remote location. Here
geographical constraints can be an issue while collecting data.

4. Case study research: The case study method has evolved over the past few years and
developed as into a valuable qualitative research method. As the name suggests it is
used for explaining an organization or an entity.

This type of research method is used within a number of areas like education, social
sciences and similar. This method may look difficult to operate, however, it is one of the
simplest ways of conducting research as it involves a deep dive and thorough
understanding of the data collection methods and inferring the data.

5. Record keeping: This method makes use of the already existing reliable
documents and similar sources of information as the data source. This data can be used
in a new research. This is similar to going to a library. There one can go over books and
other reference material to collect relevant data that can likely be used in the research.

6. Process of observation: Qualitative Observation is a process of research that

uses subjective methodologies to gather systematic information or data. Since, the focus
on qualitative observation is the research process of using subjective methodologies to
gather information or data. The qualitative observation is primarily used to equate
quality differences.

7. Grounded theory: involves the construction of hypotheses and theories through the
collecting and analysis of data. Grounded theory involves the application of inductive
reasoning. The methodology contrasts with the hypothetico-deductive model used in
traditional scientific research. A study based on grounded theory is likely to begin with a
question, or even just with the collection of qualitative data. As researchers review the
data collected, ideas or concepts become apparent to the researchers. These
ideas/concepts are said to "emerge" from the data. The researchers tag those
ideas/concepts with codes that succinctly summarize the ideas/concepts. As more data
are collected, and re-reviewed, codes can be grouped into higher-level concepts, and
then into categories. These categories may become the basis of a hypothesis or a new
theory.

8. Discourse analysis (DA): is an approach to the analysis of written, vocal, or sign

language use, or any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysis
(discourse, writing, conversation, communicative event) are variously defined in terms of
coherent sequences of sentences, propositions, speech, or turns-at-talk. Discourse
analysis aims at revealing socio-psychological characteristics of a person/persons rather
than text structure.
9. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: an idiographic focus, which means that it
aims to offer insights into how a given person, in a given context, makes sense of a
given phenomenon. Usually, these phenomena relate to experiences of some personal
significance, such as a major life event, or the development of an important relationship.

10. Triangulation refers to the use of multiple methods or data sources in qualitative
research to develop a comprehensive understanding of phenomena (Patton, 1999). It is a
qualitative research strategy to test validity through the convergence of information
from different sources. Denzin (1978) and Patton (1999) identified four types of
triangulation: (a) method triangulation, (b) investigator triangulation, (c) theory
triangulation, and (d) data source triangulation.

Ethics in Research

ETHICAL TO CONSIDER BEFORE BEGINNING RESEARCH

· Prior to conducting any study, the proposed research must be reviewed to

determine if it meets ethical standards.

· Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) review psychological research to protect the

rights and welfare of human participants.

· Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) review research

conducted with animals to ensure that animals are treated humanely.

· carry out research in a competent manner;

· Report results accurately;

· Manage research resources honestly;

· Fairly acknowledge, in scientific communications, the individuals who have

contributed their ideas or their time and effort;

· Consider the consequences to society of any research endeavor;

· Speak out publicly on societal concerns related to a scientist’s knowledge and

expertise.

Determining Risk

 Potential risks in psychological research include risk of physical injury, social

injury, and mental or emotional stress.
 Risks must be evaluated in terms of potential participants’ everyday activities,
their physical and mental health, and capabilities.
  Involving “minimal risk” when the procedures or activities in the study are similar
to those experienced by participants in their everyday life.
 Research participants are ethically obligated to behave appropriately during the
research by not lying, cheating, or engaging in other fraudulent behavior.
 Informed consent must be obtained from legal guardians for individuals unable
to provide consent (e.g., young children, mentally impaired individuals);
 Assent (withdraw) to participate should be obtained from individuals unable to
provide informed consent.
 Privacy refers to the rights of individuals to decide how information about
them is to be communicated to others.

INFORMED CONSENT

 Researchers and participants enter into a social contract, often using an informed
consent procedure.
 Researchers are ethically obligated to describe the research procedures clearly,
identify any aspects of the study that might influence individuals’ willingness to
participate, and answer any questions participants have about the research.
 Research participants must be allowed to withdraw their consent at any time
without penalties.
 Individuals must not be pressured to participate in research.

DEBRIEFING

 Debriefing benefits both participants and researchers.

 Researchers are ethically obligated to explain to participants their use of
deception as soon as is feasible.
 Debriefing informs participants about the nature of the research and their role in
the study and educates them about the research process.
 Debriefing allows researchers to learn how participants viewed the procedures,
allows potential insights into the nature of the research findings, and provides
ideas for future research.

RESEARCH WITH ANIMALS

 All animals used in experimentation must be lawfully possessed.

 Every effort must be made to avoid bodily discomfort to animals subjected to
experimentation.
 Research must be done under the proper care of veterinary experts.
 All animals must be fed properly during the experimentation with the due
consideration to kind treatment and sanitary environment.
 Where surgical operations are to be done for fulfilling the purpose of research, it
must be done under suitable general anesthesia.
 The animal must be provided with post-operative care in a humane manner.

Attempt: 2
Quantitative Research

Meaning
Quantitative research, the data are collected and presented in the form of numbers-
average scores for different groups on some task, percentages of people who do one
thing or another, graphs and tables of data, and so on. Qualitative research, on the other
hand, is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e. Phenomena relating to or
involving quality or kind.

Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. It is

applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. For instance, when
we are interested in investigating the reasons for human behavior (i.e., why people think
or do certain things)

Definitions:

Matthews & Ross (2010) quantitative research methods are basically applied to the
collection of data that is structured and which could be represented numerically.

liu (2008) said that quantitative research methods are typically adopted because they
are scientific methods and provide immediate results.

Berg (2004) argued that quantitative research is usually given more respect and
acceptance reflecting the tendency of general public to regard science as it uses
scientific methods and implying precisions

characteristics:

• Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount.

• Is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data that can be
transformed into usable statistics.

• To quantify and generalize results from a larger sample population.

• Quantitative research deals in numbers, logic, and an objective stance.

• Is a structured way of collecting and analyzing data obtained from different sources.

• The generation of models, theories and hypotheses

• The development of instruments and methods for measurement

• Experimental control and manipulation of variables

• Collection of empirical data

• Modeling and analysis of data

Types of Experimental Research Design

1. Pre-Experimental Research Design: This is the simplest form of experimental

research design. A group, or various groups, are kept under observation after factors are
considered for cause and effect. It is usually conducted to understand whether further
investigation needs to be carried out on the target group/s, due to which it is considered
to be cost-effective.

→ One-shot Case Study Research Design

→ One-group Pretest-posttest Research Design

→ Static-group Comparison

2. True Experimental Research Design: True experimental research is the most

accurate form of experimental research design as it relies on statistical analysis to prove
or disprove a hypothesis.

→ It is the only type of Experimental Design that can establish a cause-effect

relationship within a group/s.

3. Quasi-Experimental Research Design: The word “Quasi” indicates resemblance. A

quasi-experimental research design is similar to experimental research but is not exactly
that. The difference between the two the assignment of a control group.

→ In this research design, an independent variable is manipulated but the participants

of a group are not randomly assigned as per conditions.

→ The independent variable is manipulated before calculating the dependent variable

and so, directionality problem is eliminated.

→ Quasi-research is used in field settings where random assignment is either irrelevant

or not required.

Meta-analysis

Conceptually, a meta-analysis uses a statistical approach to combine the results

from multiple studies in an effort to increase power (over individual studies), improve
estimates of the size of the effect and/or to resolve uncertainty when reports disagree.

Meta-analysis is used to evaluate the effect that is described by a number of

publications. In systematic reviews researchers generally do not have access to the raw
data, only to the conclusions of the study.
→ A meta-analysis is the statistical analysis of results from numerous independent
studies within the same subject. Researchers can convert a range of study results into
data points, and use them to show patterns or phenomenon. A meta-analysis includes: A
research question.

→ Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to

systematically assess the results of previous research to derive conclusions about that
body of research. Typically, but not necessarily, the study is based on randomized,
controlled clinical trials.

Parametric Tests L5
To understand when and how to apply parametric tests in research.

Parametric Tests

Meaning

Parametric tests are those that make assumptions about the parameters of the
population distribution from which the sample is drawn. This is often the assumption
that the population data are normally distributed. Non-parametric tests are “distribution-
free” and, as such, can be used for non-Normal variables.

Basic Assumptions:

Parametric tests can perform well with skewed and non normal distributions.

Parametric tests can perform well when the spread of each group is different.

High on Statistical power.

Types:

Student's t and Z test

Z-tests are statistical calculations that can be used to compare population means to a
sample's. T-tests are calculations used to test a hypothesis, but they are most useful
when we need to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between two
independent sample groups.
→ To test the significant difference between means

→ An Independent Samples t-test compares the means for two groups.

→ To find the standard error of mean

→ N size is must be more than 30 sample

→ Z tests are most useful when the standard deviation is known.

F test

F-tests are named after its test statistic, F, which was named in honor of Sir Ronald Fisher.
The F-statistic is simply a ratio of two variances.

→ An F-test is any statistical test in which the test statistic has an F-distribution under
the null hypothesis

→ To compare the difference between the variances of a sample

Pearson r

Pearson's Correlation Coefficient. Correlation is a technique for investigating the

relationship between two quantitative, continuous variables, for example, age and blood
pressure. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) is a measure of the strength of the
association between the two variables.

→ Pearson's r can range from -1 to 1.

→ An r of -1 indicates a perfect negative linear relationship between variables;

→ an r of 0 indicates no linear relationship between variables and;

→ An r of 1 indicates a perfect positive linear relationship between variables.

Independent Samples t Test

The Independent Samples t Test compares the means of two independent groups in
order to determine whether there is statistical evidence that the associated population
means are significantly different. The Independent Samples t Test is a parametric test.
This test is also known as: Independent t Test.

→ Random sampling is required for all statistical inference because it is based on

probability

→ Is used when you want to compare the means of a normally distributed interval
dependent variable for two independent groups.
→ The independent samples t-test compares two independent groups of observations
or measurements on a single characteristic.

ANOVA

The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine whether there are any
statistically significant differences between the means of two or more independent
(unrelated) groups (although you tend to only see it used when there are a minimum of
three, rather than two groups).

→ Normality – That each sample is taken from a normally distributed population.

→ The observations are sampled randomly and independently of each other.

→ Sample independence – that each sample has been drawn independently of the
other samples.

Attempt: 1

Non-Parametric Tests

Meaning

Non parametric tests are used when your data isn't normal. Therefore the key is to figure
out if you have normally distributed data. For example, you could look at the distribution
of your data. If your data is approximately normal, then you can
use parametric statistical tests.

Basic Assumptions:
The study is better represented by the median.

You have a very small sample size.

You have ordinal data, ranked data, or outliers that you can’t remove.

Types:

Chi-square Test

Chi-square test is used to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference

between the expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in one or more
categories of a contingency table.
→ A chi square (χ2) statistic is a test that measures how expectations compare to actual
observed data (or model results).

→ The Chi Square statistic is commonly used for testing relationships between
categorical variables.

→ Test for homogeneity.

→ Chi Square statistics is used if the sample size less than 30

→ Chi Square statistics used to 'Test of Independence'.

Mann-Whitney U Test

The Mann Whitney U test, sometimes called the Mann Whitney Wilcoxon Test or the
Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, is used to test whether two samples are likely to derive from
the same population (i.e., that the two populations have the same shape).

→ The Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare differences between two independent

groups when the dependent variable is either ordinal or continuous, but not normally
distributed.

→ You have one dependent variable that is measured at the continuous or ordinal level.

→ You have one independent variable that consists of two categorical, independent
groups (i.e., a dichotomous variable).

→ For two levels, consider using the Mann Whitney U Test instead

Rank-difference Methods

Spearman correlation is often used to evaluate relationships involving ordinal variables.

For example, you might use a Spearman correlation to evaluate whether the order in
which employees complete a test exercise is related to the number of months they have
been employed.

→ Spearman's Rank correlation coefficient is a technique which can be used to

summarize the strength and direction (negative or positive) of a relationship between
two variables.

→ Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient is the non-parametric statistical measure

used to study the strength of association between the two ranked variables.

→ This method is applied to the ordinal set of numbers, which can be arranged in
order.
Coefficient of Concordance

Kendall and Bernard Babington Smith, Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) is a

measure of the agreement among several (m) quantitative or semi
quantitative variables that are assessing a set of n objects of interest.

→ The Coefficient of Concordance symbolized by the letter W has been developed by

Kendell.

→ It is the measure of correlation between more than two sets of ranks.

→ The W is a measure of correlation always among more than two sets of rankings of
events, objects, and individuals.

Median test

→ Median test is used to see if two groups(not necessary of the same size) come from
the same population.

→ Come from population having the same median.

The Kruskal-Wallis H test

→ The Kruskal-Wallis H test (sometimes also called the "one-way ANOVA on ranks") is a
rank-based nonparametric test that can be used to determine if there are statistically
significant differences between two or more groups of an independent variable on a
continuous or ordinal dependent variable.

→ One independent variable with two or more levels (independent groups).

→ The test is more commonly used when you have three or more levels.

Wilcoxon Test

The Wilcoxon test is a nonparametric statistical test that compares two paired groups,
and comes in two versions the Rank Sum test or the Signed Rank test. The goal of
the test is to determine if two or more sets of pairs are different from one another in a
statistically significant manner.

→ The Wilcoxon test, which refers to either the Rank Sum test or the Signed Rank test,
is a nonparametric statistical test that compares two paired groups.

→ The test essentially calculates the difference between each set of pairs and analyzes
these differences.
→ compare two related samples, matched samples, or repeated measurements on a
single sample to assess whether their population mean ranks differ (i.e. it is a paired
difference test).

Friedman test

The Friedman test is the non-parametric alternative to the one-way ANOVA with
repeated measures. It is used to test for differences between groups when the
dependent variable being measured is ordinal.

→ The Friedman test is a non-parametric statistical test developed by Milton Friedman

→ The Friedman test is the non-parametric alternative to the one-way ANOVA with
repeated measures.

→ The Friedman test is a nonparametric test that compares three or more matched or
paired groups.

Regression

Regression analysis is a powerful statistical method that allows you to examine the
relationship between two or more variables of interest. While there are many types
of regression analysis, at their core they all examine the influence of one or more
independent variables on a dependent variable.

→ Regression is a technique used to model and analyze the relationships

between variables and often times how they contribute and are related to producing a
particular outcome together.

→ Attempts to determine the strength of the relationship between one dependent

variable (usually denoted by Y) and a series of other changing variables (known as
independent variables)

Research Design

Research design

Research design is the framework of research methods and techniques chosen by a

researcher. The design allows researchers to hone in on research methods that are
suitable for the subject matter and set up their studies up for success.

Meaning of Research design

• The research design is a comprehensive master plan of the research study to be

undertaken, giving a general statement of the methods to be used.
• The function of a research design is to ensure that requisite data in accordance with
the problem at hand is collected accurately and economically.

• Simply stated, it is the framework, a blueprint for the research study which guides
the collection and analysis of data.

• The research design, depending upon the needs of the researcher may be a very
detailed statement or only furnish the minimum information required for planning the
research project.

Definitions:

Kerlinger (1986) defines research design as “the plan and structure of investigation so
conceived as to obtain answers to research questions.“

Rosenthal and Rosnow (1991) define design as a "blueprint that provides the scientist
with a detailed outline or plan for the collection and analysis of data."

Features of Good Design

A good design is often characterized by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient, and
economical and so on.

Generally, the design which minimizes bias and maximizes the reliability of the data
collected and analysed is considered a good design.

The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best
design in many investigations.

 The question of good design is related to the purpose or objective of

the research problem and also with the nature of the problem to be studied.
 A design may be quite suitable in one case, but may be found wanting in one
respect or the other in the context of some other research problem.
 One single design cannot serve the purpose of all types of research problems.

A research design appropriate for a particular research problem, usually involves the
consideration of the following factors:

 The means of obtaining information

 The availability and skills of the researcher and his staff, if any;
 The objective of the problem to be studied;
 The nature of the problem to be studied; and
 The availability of time and money for the research work.
 Types of Research Designs L8
 Here we understand the various research designs and its application in research.
 Types of Research Designs
 Independent Group Design
 An independent measures design is a research method in which multiple
experimental groups are used and participants are only in one group. Each
participant is only in one condition of the independent variable during the
experiment.
 Assumptions:
 • Is also known as between group design
 • The subjects are selected independently according to their characteristics
 • Randomization is done in this design
 • Pre test and post test can be applied between different groups.
 Controlling the extraneous variables are difficult in this design.

 Within-Group Design
 Is a type of experimental design in which all participants are exposed to every
treatment or condition. The term "treatment" is used to describe the different
levels of the independent variable, the variable that's controlled by the
experimenter.

 Assumptions:
 • This design the subjects are tested within the group
 • Pre-tests and post-tests can be adopted in this design
 • Randomization of the subjects can be followed.
 • Helps to determine the homogeneity of the group.
 • It is good design for the small group studies and as the size increases this
design becomes very difficult to adapt.
 One-shot pre-experimental design
 A type of pre-experimental design where a single group of test units is exposed to
an experimental treatment and a single measurement is taken afterwards. It only
measures the post-test results and does not use a control group.
 Assumptions:
 • Treatment is given to a single group and its effect is noted through the
observation
 • No pre-testing is done in this design
 • The design is very rarely used as there is no control over the extraneous
variable
 • Principle of randomization is not used in this design
 • X >> O
 • O-observation
 • X-treatment
 Statistic Group Design
 In this design of experiments, a between-group design is an experiment that has
two or more groups of subjects each being tested by a different testing factor
simultaneously.
 Assumptions:
 • In static group design, two intact groups are taken and only one group is
given treatment.
 • Whereas the other serves as control group
 • After the treatment is over both the groups are tested
 • There is no pre-testing for both the groups.
 • There is no check on the initial conditions of both the intact groups.
 Group 1 X O1
 Group 2 O2
 Post-test Random Group Design
 A type of true experimental design where test units are randomly allocated to an
experimental group and a control group. The experimental group is exposed to a
treatment and both groups are measured afterwards.
 Assumptions:
 • This design is similar to static group design, except the investigator uses the
randomization Before the treatment.
 • The whole lot of subjects are divided in to two groups in random order.
 • One of the groups is given treatment where as other group serves as control.
 • This design takes cares of internal threats to validity.
 R X O1
 R X O2
 • Anova and t test can be used
 Pre-test-Post-test Randomized Group Design
 A pretest post-test design is an experiment where measurements are taken both
before and after a treatment. The design means that you are able to see the
effects of some type of treatment on a group. Pretest post-test designs may be
quasi-experimental, which means that participants are not assigned randomly.
 Assumptions:
 • In this design, two random samples are drawn and pre-tested on the Criterion
variable.
 • One of the samples are given treatment and observations are obtained on the
experimental and control variable.
 • The analysis of the covariance is used for testing the hypothesis.
 • Randomization is done in this design.
 • The internal validity is strong
 R O1 X O2
 R O3 X O4
 Solomon Four Group Design
 Occur naturally without the experimenter's intervention. What is the basic
difference between the classical experiment design and the Solomon four-group
 design? The Solomon four-group design repeats the classical design but
adds groups that are not pretested.
 Assumptions:
 • This design is the extension of pre-test-post-test design.
 • In this design,four groups are randomily selected by the researcher.
 • Two groups act as experimental groups whereas two groups serve as control
group.
 • The first experimental group is pre-tested(O1) and after treatment in the
experimental group is over again post-tested(O4)
 • The second experimental group is given treatment(X) without pre-testing and
after treatment is over, it is post-tested(O5).
 • The second control group is neither given any treatment nor it is pre-tested
and once the treatment is over in the experimental groups, this control group is
post tested.(O6).
 R O1 X O2
 R O3 O4
 R X O5
 R O6

Other Type of Research designs

Completely Randomized Design

A completely randomized design is probably the simplest experimental design, in terms

of data analysis and convenience. With this design, subjects are randomly assigned to
treatments. Treatment.

Assumptions:

• It is the simplest type of randomized design

• Treatments are assigned to the subjects randomly.

• In this design different levels of treatment are compared.

• After treatment is over the observations are obtained to compare the three-groups.

R X1 O1

R X2 O2

R X3 O3

Randomized Block Design

Is an experimental design where the experimental units are in groups called blocks. The
treatments are randomly allocated to the experimental units inside each block. When all
treatments appear at least once in each block, we have a completely randomized block
design.

Assumptions:

• Randomized block design is better managed design than the completely random
design.

• This design is used to control a single extraneous variable.

• The extraneous variable is isolated by blocking out its effect.

• In this design the subjects are divided into homogenous groups, this is done to
ebsure blocking.

• Treatments are given in random fashion.

• The observations are obtained after the treatment is over.

• In this design two-way analysis of variance is used.

Learning Methods Sub junior Junior senior

X1 O1 O1 O1

X2 O2 O2 O2

X3 O3 O3 O3

• In this design error variance is reduced due to blocking effect.

• Thus more variance is exposed.

Factorial Design

Factorial design involves having more than one independent variable, or factor, in a
study. Factorial designs allow researchers to look at how multiple factors affect a
dependent variable, both independently and together. Factorial design studies are
named for the number of levels of the factors.

Assumptions:

• In factorial design, there are n factors, where each of the n factors has m levels.
• Thus n X m factors are required to be investigated and the design is known as n X m
design.

• In a 2 X 2 factorial design, four groups of subjects are randomly selected

• All the four groups are given treatment in random fashion.

Factor – A

A1 A2

B1 A1B1 A2B1

Factor - B

B2 A1B2 A2B2

• Factorial designs helps in knowing interaction and main effects.

• An error in one factor may spoil the entire factors.

Quasi Experimental designs

Quasi-experimental research involves the manipulation of an independent variable

without the random assignment of participants to conditions or orders of conditions.
Among the important types are nonequivalent groups designs, pretest-posttest, and
interrupted time-series designs.

Assumptions:

• The prefix quasi means “resembling.” Thus quasi-experimental research is research

that resembles experimental research but is not true experimental research.

• They are not true experimental designs where compete randomization is not
possible.

• This design does not provide complete control on the variables.

• Quasi-experiments are most likely to be conducted in field settings in which

random assignment is difficult or impossible.

Time Series design

Time-series analysis (TSA) is a statistical methodology appropriate for longitudinal

research designs that involve single subjects or research units that are measured
repeatedly at regular intervals over time. TSA can be viewed as the exemplar of all
longitudinal designs.
Assumptions:

• Time-series analysis (TSA) is a statistical methodology appropriate for longitudinal

research designs that involve single subjects or research units that are measured
repeatedly at regular intervals over time.

• In this design the same subjects are tested over a period of time on different
intervals.

• It used repeated measures technique for statistical analysis.

• Can know the effects on different interval and helps in improvising the techniques

• It is most commonly used in intervention techniques.

Correlational Design

• A correlational study is a type of research design where a researcher seeks to

understand what kind of relationships naturally occurring variables have with one
another. In simple terms, correlational research seeks to figure out if two or
more variables are related and, if so, in what way.

Assumptions:

• It uses the correlation statistical approaches

• Explains the strength of the relationship for the variables.

Mixed Method design

Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry that combines or associates both

qualitative and quantitative forms.

Assumptions:

• In this design it uses the mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative methods

• It gives more information pertaining to the variables and subjects

• It is rarely used in the research studies.

It uses any kind of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques.

Nested research design

• Nested design is a research design in which levels of one factor (say, Factor B) are
hierarchically subsumed under (or nested within) levels of another factor (say, Factor A).
As a result, assessing the complete combination of A and B levels is not possible in
a nested design.

Source: Image retrieved from www.itl.nist.gov

Cohort Design

Cohort studies are a type of medical research used to investigate the causes of disease
and to establish links between risk factors and health outcomes.

Strengths and weaknesses of cohort studies

Strengths

 Multiple outcomes can be measured for any one exposure.

 Can look at multiple exposures.
 Exposure is measured before the onset of disease (in prospective cohort studies).
 Good for measuring rare exposures, for example among different occupations.
 Demonstrate direction of causality.
 Can measure incidence and prevalence.

Weaknesses

· Costly and time consuming.

· Prone to bias due to loss to follow-up.

· Prone to confounding.

· Participants may move between one exposure category.

· Knowledge of exposure status may bias classification of the outcome.

· Being in the study may alter participant's behaviour.

· Poor choice for the study of a rare disease.

· Classification of individuals (exposure or outcome status) can be affected by

changes in diagnostic procedures.

Ex post facto research design

Ex post facto design or after-the-fact research is a category of research design in which

the investigation starts after the fact has occurred without interference from the
researcher.

An ex post facto research design is a method in which groups with qualities that already
exist are compared on some dependent variable. Also known as "after the fact" research,
an ex post facto design is considered quasi-experimental because the subjects are not
randomly assigned - they are grouped based on a particular characteristic or trait.

Although differing groups are analyzed and compared in regards to independent and
dependent variables it is not a true experiment because it lacks random assignment.
The assignment of subjects to different groups is based on whichever variable is of
interest to the researchers.

For example, a researcher is interested in how weight influences self-esteem levels in

adults. So the participants would be separated into differing groups (underweight,
normal weight, overweight) and their self-esteem levels measured. This is an ex post
facto design because a pre-existing characteristic (weight) was used to form the groups.

Review of Literature

Review of Literature

Meaning:

A good literature review is Not simple a list describing or summarizing several article, a
literature review is discursive prose which proceed to conclusion by reason or argument.
A good literature review shows sign of synthesis and understanding of the topic.

A literature review is a search and evaluation of the available literature in your given subj
ect or chosen topic area. It documents the state of the art with respect to the subject or t
opic you are writing about.

The literature review surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a
particular area of research. The review should enumerate, describe, summarize,
objectively evaluate and clarify this previous research. It should give a theoretical base
for the research and help you (the author) determine the nature of your research. The
literature review acknowledges the work of previous researchers, and in so doing,
assures the reader that your work has been well conceived. It is assumed that by
mentioning a previous work in the field of study, that the author has read, evaluated, and
assimiliated that work into the work at hand.

Importance Of Review of Literature

A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the social
sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and combines both
summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual categories. A summary is a
recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or
a reshuffling, of that information in a way that informs how you are planning to
investigate a research problem. The analytical features of a literature review might:

 Give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations,

 Trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates,

 Depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the
most pertinent or relevant research, or

 Usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a
problem has been researched to date.

Characteristics of a good review:

Initially we can say that a review of the literature is important because without it, you will
not acquire a comprehensive understanding of the topic, of what has already been done
on it.

What are the qualities of a good literature review ?

According to Jackson (1980), effective literature reviews should do the following (any of
these may be more or less helpful for your own purposes):

1. Define and delimit the topic.

Your review should include a careful definition of your topic, and describe carefully what
your topic will not include. For example, you may state that your topic includes
attribution retraining, but not locus of control research, and state the reason for this.
2. Review previous reviews.
What have previous reviews of the literature concluded? How will your literature review
differ?
3. State procedures for obtaining relevant literature.
If your review is unbiased, it should include systematic procedures for obtaining relevant
literature, procedures that could be replicated by someone else who would then obtain
the same literature.
4. Describe common independent and dependent variables.
This will show how different studies are interrelated.
5. State criteria for evaluating outcomes (this is most relevant for intervention research).
If you say a particular treatment was "effective", what are your criteria for saying so?
Author’s conclusion? Statistical significance? Criterion measure? Some other metric of
your own?
6. Examine covariation of study outcomes with study characteristics.
This is a mouthful, but it means, an educational treatment was effective (outcome), but
only with elementary and not secondary students (study characteristics).
7. Support conclusions of the review with data presented in the review.
Sometimes authors review an enormous amount of literature, then just conclude what
their biases were in the first place! When you make specific conclusions at the end of a
review, you should clearly state how and from what data sources you reached your
conclusions.

Steps in Writing Review of literature

Step 1: Search for relevant literature
Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic.

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will
search for literature related to your research problem and questions.

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to
choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation
research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data.
You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.

Search for relevant sources

 Your university’s library catalogue

 Google Scholar
 JSTOR
 EBSCO
 Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
 Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
 EconLit (economics)
 Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

Step 2: Evaluate and select sources

You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the
topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

 What question or problem is the author addressing?

 What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
  What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use
established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
 What are the results and conclusions of the study?
 How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm,
add to, or challenge established knowledge?
 How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What
are its key insights and arguments?
 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark
studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high
citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be
included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you
usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long
historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over
time).

Step 3: Identify themes, debates, and gaps

To begin organizing your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to
understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based
on your reading and notes, you can look for:

 Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches

become more or less popular over time?
 Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
 Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
 Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed
the direction of the field?
 Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be
addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable)
show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.

Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure

here are various approaches to organizing the body of a literature review. You should
have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these
strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is
discussed chronologically).
Chronological
The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if
you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarizing sources in
order.

Try to analyze patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of
the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

Thematic
If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organize your literature review
into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health
outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural
attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research
methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from
different approaches. For example:

 Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research

 Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical
scholarship
 Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical
A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to
discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various
theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Watch this video on review of Literature:

SAMPLING L11
To understand the need and importance of sampling for conducting Research.

Sampling

Meaning
Sampling is a process used in statistical analysis in which a predetermined number of
observations are taken from a larger population. The methodology used to sample from
a larger population depends on the type of analysis being performed, but it may include
simple random sampling or systematic sampling.

SAMPLING FUNDAMENTALS

1. Universe/Population: Identifiable and well specified group of individuals

example: All primary teachers, college teachers, university students, all housewives etc.,

Finite population: can be easily counted, known to the researcher

Infinite population: whose size is unlimited, members cannot be counted. example: fishes
in river.

2. Statistic(s): A statistic is a characteristic of a sample

when we work out certain measures such as mean, median, mode or the like ones from
samples, then they are called statistic(s) for they describe the characteristics of a sample.

Sample mean ( X ) is a statistic(s)

3. Parameter(s): parameter is a characteristic of a population.

But when such measures describe the characteristics of a population, they are known as
parameter(s). For instance, the population means (u)

4. Sampling unit: A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before

selecting sample.

⮊ Sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village, etc., or a
construction unit such as house, flat, etc., or it may be a social unit such as family, club,
school, etc., or it may be an individual. The researcher will have to decide one or more of
such units that he has to select for his study.

5. Source list: It is also known as ‘sampling frame’ from which sample is to be drawn. It
contains the names of all items of a universe (in case of finite universe only).

⮊ If source list is not available, researcher has to prepare it. Such a list should be
comprehensive, correct, reliable and appropriate. It is extremely important for the source
list to be as representative of the population as possible.

6. Budgetary constraint: Cost considerations, from practical point of view, have a major
impact upon decisions relating to not only the size of the sample but also to the type of
sample. This fact can even lead to the use of a non-probability sample.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SAMPLE DESIGN

(a) Sample design must result in a truly representative sample.

(b) Sample design must be such which results in a small sampling error.

(c) Sample design must be viable in the context of funds available for the research study.

(d) Sample design must be such so that systematic bias can be controlled in a better
way.

(e) Sample should be such that the results of the sample study can be applied, in
general, for the universe with a reasonable level of confidence.

SAMPLE SIZE AND ITS DETERMINATION

(i) Nature of universe: Universe may be either homogenous or heterogeneous in nature.

If the items of the universe are homogenous, a small sample can serve the purpose. But
if the items are heterogeneous, a large sample would be required.

(ii) Number of classes proposed: If many class-groups (groups and sub-groups) are to be
formed, a large sample would be required because a small sample might not be able to
give a reasonable number of items in each class-group.

(iii) Nature of study: If items are to be intensively and continuously studied, the sample
should be small. For a general survey the size of the sample should be large, but a small
sample is considered appropriate in technical surveys.

(iv) Type of sampling: Sampling technique plays an important part in determining the
size of the sample. A small random sample is apt to be much superior to a larger but
badly selected sample.

NEED FOR SAMPLING

1. Sampling can save time and money. A sample study is usually less expensive than a
census study and produces results at a relatively faster speed.

2. Sampling may enable more accurate measurements for a sample study is generally
conducted by trained and experienced investigators.

3. Sampling remains the only way when population contains infinitely many members.

4. Sampling remains the only choice when a test involves the destruction of the item
under study.
5. Sampling usually enables to estimate the sampling errors and, thus, assists in
obtaining information concerning some characteristic of the population.

Methods of data Collection

What is data collection?

Data collection is a systematic method of collecting and measuring data gathered from
different sources of information in order to provide answers to relevant questions. An
accurate evaluation of collected data can help researchers predict future phenomenon
and trends.

Data collection can be classified into two, namely: primary and secondary data. Primary
data are raw data i.e. fresh and are collected for the first time. Secondary data, on the
other hand, are data that were previously collected and tested.

Methods of data collection

• The system of data collection is based on the type of study being conducted.
Depending on the researcher’s research plan and design, there are several ways data can
be collected.

• The most commonly used methods are: published literature sources, surveys (email
and mail), interviews (telephone, face-to-face or focus group), observations, documents
and records, and experiments.

1. Literature sources

• This involves the collection of data from already published text available in the
public domain. Literature sources can include: textbooks, government or private
companies’ reports, newspapers, magazines, online published papers and articles.

• This method of data collection is referred to as secondary data collection. In

comparison to primary data collection, tt is inexpensive and not time consuming.

2. Surveys

• Survey is another method of gathering information for research purposes.

Information are gathered through questionnaire, mostly based on individual or group
experiences regarding a particular phenomenon.

• There are several ways by which this information can be collected. Most notable
ways are: web-based questionnaire and paper-based questionnaire (printed form). The
results of this method of data collection are generally easy to analyse.

3. Interviews
• Interview is a qualitative method of data collection whose results are based on
intensive engagement with respondents about a particular study. Usually, interviews are
used in order to collect in-depth responses from the professionals being interviewed.

• Interview can be structured (formal), semi-structured or unstructured (informal). In

essence, an interview method of data collection can be conducted through face-to-face
meeting with the interviewee(s) or through telephone.

4. Observations

• Observation method of information gathering is used by monitoring participants in

a specific situation or environment at a given time and day. Basically, researchers observe
the behaviour of the surrounding environments or people that are being studied. This
type of study can be controlled, natural or participant.

• Controlled observation is when the researcher uses a standardized procedure of

observing participants or the environment. Natural observation is when participants are
being observed in their natural conditions. Participant observation is where the
researcher becomes part of the group being studied.

5. Documents and records

• This is the process of examining existing documents and records of an organization

for tracking changes over a period of time. Records can be tracked by examining call
logs, email logs, databases, minutes of meetings, staff reports, information logs, etc.

• For instance, an organization may want to understand why there are lots of negative
reviews and complains from customer about its products or services. In this case, the
organization will look into records of their products or services and recorded interaction
of employees with customers.

6. Experiments

• Experiemental research is a research method where the causal relationship between

two variables are being examined. One of the variables can be manipulated, and the
other is measured. These two variables are classified as dependent and
independent variables.

• In experimental research, data are mostly collected based on the cause and effect of
the two variables being studied. This type of research are common among medical
researchers, and it uses quantitative research approach.

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Primary Data Collection Methods

• Primary data collection methods can be divided into two groups: quantitative and
qualitative.

• Quantitative data collection methods are based in mathematical calculations in

various formats. Methods of quantitative data collection and analysis include
questionnaires with closed-ended questions, methods of correlation and regression,
mean, mode and median and others.

• Quantitative methods are cheaper to apply and they can be applied within shorter
duration of time compared to qualitative methods. Moreover, due to a high level of
standardisation of quantitative methods, it is easy to make comparisons of findings.

• Qualitative research methods, on the contrary, do not involve numbers or

mathematical calculations. Qualitative research is closely associated with words, sounds,
feeling, emotions, colours and other elements that are non-quantifiable.

• Qualitative studies aim to ensure greater level of depth of understanding and

qualitative data collection methods include interviews, questionnaires with open-ended
questions, focus groups, observation, game or role-playing, case studies etc.

• Your choice between quantitative or qualitative methods of data collection depends

on the area of your research and the nature of research aims and objectives.

Secondary Data Collection Methods

• Secondary data is a type of data that has already been published in books,
newspapers, magazines, journals, online portals etc. There is an abundance of data
available in these sources about your research area in business studies, almost regardless
of the nature of the research area. Therefore, application of appropriate set of criteria to
select secondary data to be used in the study plays an important role in terms of
increasing the levels of research validity and reliability.

• These criteria include, but not limited to date of publication, credential of the
author, reliability of the source, quality of discussions, depth of analyses, the extent of
contribution of the text to the development of the research area etc.

Types of Sampling Probability and Non-Probability L12

To understand and apply various sampling methods for conducting Research.

Types of Sampling
Probability Sampling

Probability sampling is defined as a sampling technique in which the researcher

chooses samples from a larger population using a method based on the theory
of probability. For a participant to be considered as a probability sample, he/she must be
selected using a random selection.

→ The likelihood of including all the elements or individual in the sample

→ The size of the population must be known to the investigator

→ Each element of the individual in the population must have an equal chance of
included in the sample

→ The desired sample must be clearly specified.

Simple Random Sampling

→ Is also known as unrestricted random sample

→ In which each and every individual of the population has equal chance of being
included

→ Sample selection is made with replacement and without replacement

Example: 40 students 10 students if we select then write their roll numbers and pick the
chits

→ Simple Random Sampling is based on the true representation of the population.

Stratified Random Sampling

→ Is divided into two or more strata which may be on the criteria of Age, Gender

→ These divided populations are called subpopulation which are not overlapping but
constitute the whole population

→ Stratification increase the precision in estimating the attributes of the whole

population

→ The whole population is divided into homogenous units

→ Stratification gives convenience in sampling because of dividing them in each units.

Stratified Random Sampling

Proportionate
• Is known characteristics of the population

• Increases the representativeness

• Sampling error is minimized

• It is from the original distribution

• sample is weighted automatically

• Draws sample till the desired size of the sample is achieved

Disproportionate

• substrata are not necessarily distributed

• Equal weight is given or some times more in or more

• Can assign the samples even if all characteristics are equally present

• Does not draw sample till the desired size of the sample is achieved

Area or Cluster sampling

→ The researcher knows the geographical divisions, territory or community,

neighborhood, cities, states are made on a map

Dividing the poplation into clusters

Drawing samples randomly from the clusters.

→ certain numbers are drawn randomly

→ Tries to draw all the elements randomly from the clusters

→ Large political surveys, religious and social behavior is easily drawn

→ When larger geographical areas are to be covered this method becomes easier

Non-Probability Sampling Methods

Non-Probability Sampling Non-probability sampling is a sampling technique where the

odds of any member being selected for a sample cannot be calculated. It's the opposite
of probability sampling, where you can calculate the odds.
Purposive sampling

• The chances of all the cases to include in the sample

• The sample being handpicked typically from the representative of the population

• The researcher makes the prior judgments for selecting the elements from the
sample

• It does not include any random selection process

• Less costly and more readily accessible to the investigator

Quota sampling

→ Quota sampling the researcher divides into different strata

→ Similar like proportionate stratified but here it is not randomly selected where as in
proportionate stratified is randomly selected

→ can guarantee the inclusion of the individuals from different strata of the population

Example: High, Middle and Low socioeconomic strata

Accidental Sampling / convenience sampling

→ Investigator selects the persons according to his convenience

→ Investigator knows that little can be generalized by adopting this technique

→ This method save time , money, Labor and effort

→ Does not care about including all the desired traits

Snowball Sampling

→ Is basically indirect sociometric method

→ is used by obtaining an impression of informal social relations among individuals

→ snowball becomes difficult when the sample size is more than 100 and increased

→ Elements included are not randomly drawn

→ It is helpful in studying the small groups of people

Saturation Sampling
→ Investigator selects the individuals having similar traits of the population such as
doctors, engineers

→ Investigator draws samples by the desired characteristics by choice

→ It is convenient method of sampling

Dense sampling

→ It takes majority of the individuals included in the sample

example: out of 500 sample draws at least 300 or more samples

→ Chances of having more generalization results

→ Chances of including more representation of the population

→ Time and money consuming

→ It is inconvenient and difficult process for the investigator

Double Sampling

→ As the name implies the sample is drawn again from the same sample

Example: 1000 sample 300 is selected and studied later again 700 is drawn later and
studied

→ It helps gaining in-depth information of the sample

→ Time and money can be saved

Systematic Sampling

→ Systematic sampling is drawing every nth number from the population

Example: every 7th phone number from the phone diary(yellow pages)

→ Is relatively quick method for obtain the sample of elements

→ is very easy method to use

→ saves lot of time and money

→ equal chances may not be feasible for including all the elements from the
population.
Diagram Showing Sampling Methods

Methods of drawing sample and Sampling errors L13

To understand various methods to draw sample from a population.

Methods of drawing sample and Errors in sampling

Methods of drawing sample

⮊ Fish bowl techniques

⮊ Table of Random numbers

⮊ Computerized Methods

⮊ Sociometry

Fishbowl

In a Fishbowl discussion, students seated inside the “fishbowl” actively participate in a

discussion by asking questions and sharing their opinions, while students standing
outside listen carefully to the ideas presented. Students take turns in these roles, so that
they practice being both contributors and listeners in a group discussion. This strategy is
especially useful when you want to make sure all students participate in a discussion,
when you want to help students reflect on what a good discussion looks like, and when
you need a structure for discussing controversial or difficult topics. A Fishbowl discussion
makes for an excellent pre-writing activity, often unearthing questions or ideas that
students can explore more deeply in an independent assignment.

Procedure

1. Select a Topic
Almost any topic is suitable for a Fishbowl discussion. The most effective prompts
(questions or texts) do not have one right answer or interpretation, but rather
allow for multiple perspectives and opinions. The Fishbowl strategy is excellent
for discussing dilemmas, for example.
2. Set Up the Room
A Fishbowl discussion requires a circle of chairs (“the fishbowl”) and enough room
around the circle for the remaining students to observe what is happening in the
“fishbowl.” Sometimes teachers place enough chairs for half of the students in the
class to sit in the fishbowl, while other times teachers limit the chairs further.
Typically, six to 12 chairs allows for a range of perspectives while still giving each
student an opportunity to speak. The observing students often stand around the
fishbowl.
3. Prepare for the Discussion
Like many structured conversations, Fishbowl discussions are most effective when
students have had a few minutes to prepare ideas and questions in advance.

4. Discuss Norms and Rules

There are many ways to structure a Fishbowl discussion. Sometimes teachers have half
the class sit in the fishbowl for ten to 15 minutes before announcing “Switch,” at which
point the listeners enter the fishbowl and the speakers become the audience. Another
common Fishbowl discussion format is the “tap” system, where students on the outside
of the fishbowl gently tap a student on the inside, indicating that they should switch
roles.

5. Debrief
After the discussion, you can ask students to reflect on how they think the
discussion went and what they learned from it. Students can also evaluate their
performance as listeners and as participants. They could also provide suggestions
for how to improve the quality of discussion in the future. These reflections can
be in writing, or they can be structured as a small- or large-group conversation.

Table of Random numbers

A random number table is a list of numbers, composed of the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

and 9. Numbers in the list are arranged so that each digit has no predictable relationship
to the digits that preceded it or to the digits that followed it. In short, the digits are
arranged randomly.
Source: Image retrieved from: researchmethodology.net

How to use a random number table:

1. Let’s assume that we have a population of 185 students and each student has
been assigned a number from 1 to 185. Suppose we wish to sample 5 students
(although we would normally sample more, we will use 5 for this example).
2. Since we have a population of 185 and 185 is a three digit number, we need to
use the first three digits of the numbers listed on the chart.
3. We close our eyes and randomly point to a spot on the chart. For this example,
we will assume that we selected 20631 in the first column.
4. We interpret that number as 206 (first three digits). Since we don’t have a
member of our population with that number, we go down to the next number
899 (89990). Once again we don’t have someone with that number, so we
continue at the top of the next column. As we work down the column, we find
that the first number to match our population is 100 (actually 10005 on the chart).
Student number 100 would be in our sample. Continuing down the chart, we see
that the other four subjects in our sample would be students 049, 082, 153, and
164.
5. Researchers use different techniques with these tables. Some researchers read
across the table using given sets (in our examples three digit sets). For our class,
we will use the technique I have described.

SAMPLING ERRORS

⮊ Sampling error is incurred when the statistical characteristics of a population are

estimated from a subset of that population.

⮊ Sampling error occurs because researchers draw different subjects from the same
population. Subjects have individual differ.
⮊ It is the deviation of the selected sample from the true characteristics, behaviors,
figures of the entire population.

⮊ Greater sample size will have smaller standard error, because closer your sample is
to the actual population itself.

Diagram showing Errors in sampling:

Reducing Sampling Errors

1). Minimize the selection of the bias through random sampling: Random sampling is a
systematic approach for selecting a sample.

2). Increase the sample size: By square root formula the standard error is reduced by half
if the sample size is quadrupld.

3). Partition variability through stratification: A stratified sample is obtained by taking

samples from each stratum of a population.

4). sampling bias: A consistent error that arises due to the sample selection.

5). Replicate the study by taking the same measurement repeatedly, use more than one
group or multiple studies.

HYPOTHESIS L14
To understand the hypothesis in order to formula for Research.

Hypothesis and Types

HYPOTHESIS

A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a

starting point for further investigation.

A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For

a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test
it.

• Hypothesis is a tentative statement given by researcher to answer the research

question

• Hypothesis is a suggested testable answer to a problem

• A hypothesis is a testable relationship between two or more variables

• “A conjectural statement of the relation between two or

more variables”(Kerlinger,1973).

• “a testable statement of potential relation between two or more

variable”(McGuigan,1990).

CHARACTERSTICS OF A GOOD HYPOTHESIS

1. The hypothesis should be conceptually clear based upon operationally defined

concepts.
2. The hypothesis should be testable to be true or false.
3. The hypothesis should be highly economical involving monetary expenses.
4. The hypothesis should be related to the existing body of facts and theory.
5. Hypothesis must be always proven through the scientific method.
6. The hypothesis should have logical unity, comphrensive.
7. The hypothesis should be general in scope and permits several deductions.
8. The hypothesis should be related to available scientific tools and techniques.
9. The hypothesis should be in accord with the same field.
10. The hypothesis is an assumption about certain characteristics of a population.

TYPES OF HYPOTHESIS

☞ Simple Hypothesis

☞ Complex Hypothesis
☞ Empirical Hypothesis

☞ Null Hypothesis (Denoted by "HO")

☞ Alternative Hypothesis (Denoted by "H1")

☞ Logical Hypothesis

☞ Statistical Hypothesis

Simple hypothesis

A simple hypothesis is a prediction of the relationship between two variables: the

independent variable and the dependent variable.

Example: Drinking sugary drinks daily leads to obesity.

Complex Hypothesis

A complex hypothesis examines the relationship between two or more

independent variables and two or more dependent variables.

Example: Overweight adults who 1) value longevity and 2) seek happiness are more likely
than other adults to 1) lose their excess weight and 2) feel a more regular sense of joy.

Empirical Hypothesis

An empirical hypothesis, or working hypothesis, comes to life when a theory is being put
to the test, using observation and experiment. It's no longer just an idea or notion. It's
actually going through some trial and error, and perhaps changing around those
independent variables.

Example: Roses watered with liquid Vitamin B grow faster than roses watered with liquid
Vitamin E. (Here, trial and error is leading to a series of findings.)

Null Hypothesis

A null hypothesis (H0) exists when a researcher believes there is no relationship between
the two variables, or there is a lack of information to state a scientific hypothesis. This is
something to attempt to disprove or discredit.

There is no significant change in my health during the times when I drink green tea only
or lemon tea only.

Alternative Hypothesis
Alternative hypothesis (H1) enters the scene. In an attempt to disprove a null hypothesis,
researchers will seek to discover an alternative hypothesis.

→ My health improves during the times when I drink green tea only, as opposed to
lemon tea only.

Logical Hypothesis

A logical hypothesis is a proposed explanation possessing limited evidence. Generally,

you want to turn a logical hypothesis into an empirical hypothesis, putting your theories
or postulations to the test.

→ Cacti experience more successful growth rates than tulips on Mars. (Until we're able
to test plant growth in Mars' ground for an extended period of time, the evidence for
this claim will be limited and the hypothesis will only remain logical.)

Statistical Hypothesis

A statistical hypothesis is an examination of a portion of a population.

→ If you wanted to conduct a study on the life expectancy of Adivasi communities, you
would want to examine every single resident of Adivasi communities. This is not
practical. Therefore, you would conduct your research using a statistical hypothesis, or a
sample of the Adivasi communities’ population.

Variables and Types L15

To understand the different types of variables in research.

Variable and Types

VARIABLES

A variable in research simply refers to a person, place, thing, or phenomenon that you
are trying to measure in some way. The best way to understand the difference between a
dependent and independent variable is that the meaning of each is implied by what the
words tell us about the variable you are using.

→ Variable as the name implies, is something which varies

→ Variables as those attributes of events, objects, things and being which can be
measured

→ Variables are the characteristics or conditions that are manipulated, controlled or

observe by the experimenter
→ Variables are identified events which change in value

→ Statisticians gain information about a particular situation by collecting data for

random variables

Dependent and Independent Variable

→ The Dependent and independent variables are borrowed from mathematics

→ The dependent variable where an experimenter makes prediction

→ The independent variable is manipulated, measured and selected by the

experimenter for the purpose of producing observable changes in the behavioral
measure

→ Independent variables are assumed to affect dependent variables especially if they

are controlled in experiments.

TYPES OF VARIABLES

Qualitative variables

→ are variables that can be placed into distinct categories, according to some
characteristic or attribute.

For example, if subjects are classified according to gender (male or female), then the
variable gender is qualitative. Other examples of qualitative variables are religious
preference and geographic locations.

Quantitative variables

→ Quantitative variables are numerical and can be ordered or ranked. For example, the
variable age is numerical, and people can be ranked in order according to the value of
their ages.

Other examples of quantitative variables are heights, weights, and body temperatures.

Manipulating Independent variables

→ By manipulating context

→ By presenting different stimuli

→ By manipulating social setting in which confederates(not actual subjects) used

→ By manipulating intervening variables

→ By manipulating the likely information to be given to the subjects

→ By manipulating physiological processes

→ By stressing or overloading psychological system

Diagram showing the classification of variables:

Levels of Measurement L16

In this Unit we will understand the different types of scales of mesurement in research and its
application towards research.

Levels of Measurement

Levels of Measurement

Nature of Measurement

→ In the process of measurement, numbers are assigned according to some rules

→ In the process of measurement, investigator assign numbers, not of his own

choice but according to certain fixed, explicit rules

→ Rules are the procedures to transform qualities of attributes (qualities) into numbers
→ Measurement is always concerned with certain attributes or features of the object.

→ In the process of measurement, numerals are used to represent quantities of

attribute

→ Measurement involves the process of quantification

→ Measurement is different from evaluation

→ Measurement is used in all spheres of life, include in various subjects

Levels of Measurement or (Measurement Scales)

Before we understand about measurement we need to understand different postulates

of measurement:

A postulate is defined as a “sort of assumption which stipulates

the relationship between groups, objects or events being measured”

According Guilford (1954) there are nine basic postulates of measurement:

1. Postulates relating to equalities or identities

2. Postulates relating to rank order

3. Postulates relating to additively.

1. Postulates relating to equalities or identities

1.1. Either a=b or a≠b

1.2. if a=b then b=a

1.3. if a=b, b=c then a=c

2. Postulates relating to rank order

2.1. If a>b then b> a or a<b then b < a

This means relation between a and b is asymmetrical

We cannot reverse the relationship

2.2. If a>b, b>c then a>c this is a transivity definite ranking

2.3. if a = p and b>0 then a+b>p.This postulates indicates the summation process when
Zero is added, it produces no variability in result

3. Postulates relating to additivity

3.1. a+b = b+a This process denotes that in the process of addition.

3.2. if a = p and b = q then a+b = p+q this process indicates addition identical numbers.

3.3. (a+b) +c = a+ (b+c) Indicates the process of addition the order of combinations
objects or numbers makes no difference.

Scale of Measurement L17

Levels of measurement helps you decide how to interpret the data from that variable.
Second, knowing the level of measurement helps you decide what statistical analysis is
appropriate on the values that were assigned.

Scale of Measurement

Nominal Scale

In nominal measurement the numerical values just “name” the attribute uniquely. No
ordering of the cases is implied. For example, jersey numbers in basketball are measures
at the nominal level. A player with number 30 is not more of anything than a player with
number 15, and is certainly not twice whatever number 15 is.

Characteristics:
→Nominal scale is the lowest form of measurement
→Nominal scale use to name,identify or classify the persons, objects, groups etc.
→classifications would be an example of nominal scale of measurement
→In nominal scale members of any two groups are never equivalent but all members of
any one group are equivalent
Examples: Hindu,Christian, Muslim,Sikhs

Girls or Boys

Rural or Urban
→Statistical operations
are counting or frequency, percentage, proportion, mode, addition, subtraction, multiplic
ation, division and coefficient of contingency
→The drawback of nominal scale is most elementary and simple.
Ordinal Scale of Measurement

In ordinal measurement the attributes can be rank-ordered. Here, distances between

attributes do not have any meaning. For example, on a survey you might code
Educational Attainment as 0=less than high school; 1=some high school.; 2=high school
degree; 3=some college; 4=college degree; 5=post college.
Characteristics:
→This is the second level of measurement
→There is a property of Magnitude but not of equal intervals or no absolute Zero
→In ordinal scale numbers numbers denote the rank order of the objects or
the individuals
→Here numbers are arranged in Lowest to Highest or Highest to Lowest
The statistical operations include:

→Median,Percentiles,Rank Correlation also those which are permissible for

nominal measurement

Interval scale of Measurement

In interval measurement the distance between attributes does have meaning. For
example, when we measure temperature (in Fahrenheit), the distance from 30-40 is same
as distance from 70-80. The interval between values is interpretable.

Characteristics:

→ This is the third level of Measurement

→ It include the characteristics of the nominal and ordinal scales of measurement

→ It include the equal distances in the proportion of objects being measured

→ It is also known as equal-interval measurement

Example: (20-16) + (8-4) = 4+4 = 8

→ Zero point does not tell the real absence of the property being measured

→ The statistical operations include:

→ Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson r ,t-test, f-test widely used.

Ratio scale of measurement

ratio measurement there is always an absolute zero that is meaningful. This means that
you can construct a meaningful fraction (or ratio) with a ratio variable.
Characteristics:

→ It is the highest level of measurement

→ It has all the properties of measurement of nominal, ordinal, interval

→ It has absolute Zero and true Zero point

Examples:

→ Weight, Width, Height, Loudness, length and so on.

Properties of Scale of Measurement L18

Here we will understand the properties of scaling and methods of scaling.

Properties of Scale of Measurement

Magnitude:

Is defined as the property of “moreness”

Equal intervals:

Equal interval between two extremes

Absolute Zero:
An absolute zero is said to exist when nothing of the property being measured exists

Functions of Measurement

→ In selection

→ In Classification

→ In comparisons: Retarded, Gifted, Poor or Rich

→ In Guidance and Counseling

→ In Research

Problems of Measurement

1. Indirectness of Measurement

Certain variables can't be measured directly

Example: IQ can’t be measured directly by seeing, touching

2. Incomplete of Measurement

Example: Achievement and Aptitude

3. Relativity of Measurement

Example: English Language and Comprehension

4. Errors in Measurement

4.1. Respondent Error

4.2. Measurer Error

4.3. Situation Error àtesting in unfavorable situation

4.4. Test Instrument

Scaling Methods

⮊ Scaling methods are through which stimuli or individuals are sorted according to
some known attributes or characteristics

⮊ It is used to investigate the quantitative relationship

between subjective measurement on objective environment
⮊ The concept of Threshold was first introduced by Harbert(1824)

⮊ Threshold refers to minimum value on a stimulus dimension

⮊ Absolute threshold refers to Reiz Limen that a minimal value which produces
a response 50% of the time

⮊ Point of subjective equality(PSE) is the value judged on

an average with Comparable and standard stimulus

Method of Limits

→ The method was named by Kraeplin (1891)

→ It is presenting the stimulus in two modes Increasing mode and decreasing mode

→ Increasing mode is called as ascending series

→ Decreasing mode is called as descending series

Method of Constant Stimuli

→ Is also known as method of frequency

→ The subject is presented with the stimuli constantly or randomly

→ The mean (average) of the reported values become the RL

→ In each trial one standard and one variable are presented to subject

Method of Average Error

→ Is also known as method of adjustment

→ It is one of the oldest method of psychophysics

→ In this method subject is provided with standard and comparable stimulus, he/she is
require to adjust the comparable stimulus until he matches with standard stimulus

→ The difference between standard and point of subjective equality gives constant
error(PSE-RL)

→ If PSE is smaller than it is understood that the subject is underestimating the stimulus
with (-Negative sign)

→ If PSE is Larger than it is understood that the subject is overestimating the stimulus
with (+positive sign)
Weber's Law

→ Is the Differential Limen or Just Noticeable Time (JND) important

→ The relationship between the size of the standard stimulus and the size of JND is
technically known as Weber Law

→ “The law states that for a given stimulus dimension the DL bears a constant ratio to
the dimension (standard stimulus) at which DL was measured.”

∆R= K

∆R= DL; R= Standard stimulus; K= constant

DL = constant

Standard stimulus

Fetchners Law

→ Fetchner derived his Law from Weber's Law

→ Fetchner's Law is an indirect method of scaling judgement where DL is used as the

unit of the equal-interval scale

→ the DL or JND indicates equal increments in psychological sensations irrespective of

the absolute level at which it is produced

→ Psychological sensation is the sum of all those JND steps which becomes its origin

→ Example:

If one stimulus value is 20 units the other stimulus value should be 1/4 of 20 or (0.20*20)
= 5 units

Psychological Tests L19

Her we will understand the Characteristics and importance of the Psychological tests.

Psychological Tests

Psychological Tests
Psychological tests are used to assess a variety of mental abilities and attributes,
including achievement and ability, personality, and neurological functioning.

→ Psychological test is defined as a series of questions on the basis of which

some information is sought

→ Is a standardized procedure to measure quantatively or qualitatively one or more

aspect of a trait?

→ Anastasi & Urbina(1997) defined “essentially an objective and standardized

measure of sample behavior”

→ Cullari(1998) “a test is a standardized procedure for sampling behavior and

describing it with scores or categories”

Characteristics of a Test

1. A test is an organized succession of stimuli (items)

2. Both Quantitative and Qualitative measurements are possible through
psychological tests
3. A Psychological test is based on a limited sample of behaviour
4. Psychological tests usually provide scores or categories which are interpreted on
a standardized sample
5. Some psychological tests are norm-referenced tests
6. In testing more limited in administering, scoring and interpreting test scores

Assessment on the other hand is more comphrensive and wider that includes the entire
process of compiling and synthesizing information

Importance of the Test

1. Objectivity of the Test

2. Reliability of the Test
3. Validity of the Test
4. Norms of the Test
5. Practicability of the Test

Ethical Issues in Psychological tests

1. Issues relating to human rights

2. Issues related to Labeling
3. Issues related to invasion of privacy
4. Issues related to divided loyalty
5. Issues related to responsibility of test constructors and test users
6. Issues relate to creating the Psychological Anxiety
 7. Issues relate to permanently categorize the persons
8. Issues relate to screening and placement

Test Construction L20

Here you will understand how to develop and construct psychological tools and tests.

Test Construction

General Steps in Test Construction

1. Planning the Test

2. Writing the Items for the Test
3. Preliminary administration of the Test(experimental try-out)
4. Reliablity of the final Test
5. Validity of the final Test
6. Preparation of norms for the final Test
7. preparation of manual and reproduction of the test

Item Writing

Characteristics of Item writing

1. An item should be phrased in such a manner that there should not be

any ambiguity
2. The items should not be too easy or too difficult
3. It should have discriminating power
4. It should not be concerned with the trival aspects of the subject-matter
5. It must only measure the significant aspects of knowledge or understanding
6. 6. It should not encourage guess work by the subject
7. 7. It should not present any difficulty in reading
8. 8. It should not be such that its meaning is dependent upon another item
9. 9. Clarity in item writing should be maintained
10. 10.Non-functional words must not be included in the item writing process
11. 11.Irrelevant clues must be avoided
12. 12.Sterotyped words must not be used in item writing
13. 13.It must not take too much time to score
14. 14.It must not be such that only trained person can adopt it

Norms Development

⮊ Norms may be defined as the average performance on a test made by

standardized sample
⮊ Raw scores with the performance of the standardization sample they
are converted into dervied scores or standard scores

⮊ When the raw scores are compared to the norms, a scientific meaning emerges

Steps in Developing Norms

→ Defining the target population

→ Selecting the sample from the population

→ Standardizing the conditions by controlling external variables

Types of Norms

→ Age- equivalent Norms

Selecting by particular age

→ Grade- equivalent Norms

Selecting by particular class or grade

→ Percentile Norms or percentile-rank norms

→ Standard scores norms

uses Z scores, T-scores Stanine scores

Test Construction L20

Here you will understand how to develop and construct psychological tools and tests.

Test Construction

General Steps in Test Construction

1. Planning the Test

2. Writing the Items for the Test
3. Preliminary administration of the Test(experimental try-out)
4. Reliablity of the final Test
5. Validity of the final Test
6. Preparation of norms for the final Test
7. preparation of manual and reproduction of the test

Item Writing
Characteristics of Item writing

1. An item should be phrased in such a manner that there should not be

any ambiguity
2. The items should not be too easy or too difficult
3. It should have discriminating power
4. It should not be concerned with the trival aspects of the subject-matter
5. It must only measure the significant aspects of knowledge or understanding
6. 6. It should not encourage guess work by the subject
7. 7. It should not present any difficulty in reading
8. 8. It should not be such that its meaning is dependent upon another item
9. 9. Clarity in item writing should be maintained
10. 10.Non-functional words must not be included in the item writing process
11. 11.Irrelevant clues must be avoided
12. 12.Sterotyped words must not be used in item writing
13. 13.It must not take too much time to score
14. 14.It must not be such that only trained person can adopt it

Norms Development

⮊ Norms may be defined as the average performance on a test made by

standardized sample

⮊ Raw scores with the performance of the standardization sample they

are converted into dervied scores or standard scores

⮊ When the raw scores are compared to the norms, a scientific meaning emerges

Steps in Developing Norms

→ Defining the target population

→ Selecting the sample from the population

→ Standardizing the conditions by controlling external variables

Types of Norms

→ Age- equivalent Norms

Selecting by particular age

→ Grade- equivalent Norms

Selecting by particular class or grade

→ Percentile Norms or percentile-rank norms

→ Standard scores norms

uses Z scores, T-scores Stanine scores

Psychometric Properties (Reliability) L22

Here we understand the reliability and its types in Research.

Reliability

Reliability

The term reliability in psychological research refers to the consistency of a research study
or measuring test. For example, if a person weighs themselves during the course of a day
they would expect to see a similar reading. Scales which measured weight differently
each time would be of little use.

Characteristics:

→ Reliability in quantitative research is essentially a synonym

for dependability, consistency and replicability over time, over instruments and
over groups of respondents.

→ Reliability refers to precision,or accuracy of the measurement scores

→ Reliability refers to stability

Methods or Types of Reliability

⮊ Test Re-test Reliability: Is a single form of test administered twice on the same
sample with a reasonable time gap.

⮊ It is likely to increase the reliability co-efficient

⮊ Test re-test Reliability method is appropriate of estimating both speed

test and power test

Internal Consistency Reliability

→ Internal Consistency Reliability indicates the Homogenity of the test

→ It tries to measure same trait and same function

→ The most common method of estimating internal Consistency Reliability is the Split-
half method

Split-half Reliability

→ Splitting the test into even and odd items

→ Kuder Richardson (KR20) or (KR21) can be computed for reliablity co-efficient

Inter-rater Reliability

⮊ Used to assess the degree to which different raters give consistent estimates of the
same phenomenon

Used to assess the degree to which different raters/observers give consistent estimates
of the same phenomenon.

Whenever you use humans as a part of your measurement procedure, you have to worry
about whether the results you get are reliable or consistent. People are notorious for
their inconsistency. We are easily distracted. We get tired of doing repetitive tasks

Case Study and Interview Methods L24

Here we will discuss about various techniques involved in case study and Interview
methods.
Case Study and Interview Methods

Case Study

What Is a Case Study?

A case study is an in-depth study of one person, group, or event. Much of Freud's
work and theories were developed through the use of individual case studies. Some
great examples of case studies in psychology include Anna O, Phineas Gage, and Genie.

• In a case study, nearly every aspect of the subject's life and history is analyzed to
seek patterns and causes of behavior.

• The hope is that learning gained from studying one case can be generalized to
many others. Unfortunately, case studies tend to be highly subjective and it is
sometimes difficult to generalize results to a larger population.
• One of the greatest advantages of a case study is that it allows researchers to
investigate things that are often difficult to impossible to replicate in a lab. The case
study of Genie, for example, allowed researchers to study whether language could be
taught even after critical periods for language development had been missed.

• In Genie's case, her horrific abuse had denied her the opportunity to learn a
language at critical points in her development. This is clearly not something that
researchers could ethically replicate, but conducting a case study on Genie allowed
researchers the chance to study otherwise impossible to reproduce phenomena.

Types

There are a few different types of case studies that psychologists and other researchers
might utilize:

• Collective case studies: These involve studying a group of individuals. Researchers

might study a group of people in a certain setting or look at an entire community of
people.

• Descriptive case studies: These involve starting with a descriptive theory. The
subjects are then observed and the information gathered is compared to the pre-
existing theory.

• Explanatory case studies: These are often used to do causal investigations. In other
words, researchers are interested in looking at factors that may have actually caused
certain things to occur.

• Exploratory case studies: These are sometimes used as a prelude to further, more
in-depth research. This allows researchers to gather more information before developing
their research questions and hypotheses.

• Instrumental case studies: These occur when the individual or group allows
researchers to understand more than what is initially obvious to observers.

• Intrinsic case studies: This type of case study is when the researcher has a personal
interest in the case. Jean Piaget's observations of his own children are good examples of
how an intrinsic cast study can contribute to the development of a psychological theory.

Case Study Methods

• There are also different methods that can be used to conduct a case study,
including prospective and retrospective case study methods.

• Prospective case study methods are those in which an individual or group of people
is observed in order to determine outcomes. For example, a group of individuals might
be watched over an extended period of time to observe the progression of a particular
disease.

• Retrospective case study methods involve looking at historical information. For

example, researchers might start with an outcome, such as a disease, and then work their
way backward to look at information about the individual's life to determine risk factors
that may have contributed to the onset of the illness.

Sources of Information Used

• There are a number of different sources and methods that researchers can use to
gather information about an individual or group. The six major sources that have been
identified by researchers are:

• Archival records: Census records, survey records, and name lists are examples of
archival records.

• Direct observation: This strategy involves observing the subject, often in a natural
setting. While an individual observer is sometimes used, it is more common to utilize a
group of observers.

• Documents: Letters, newspaper articles, administrative records, etc are the types of
documents often used as sources.

• Interviews: Interview are one of the most important methods for gathering
information in case studies. An interview can involve structured survey-type questions or
more open-ended questions.

• Participant observation: When the researcher serves as a participant in events and

observes the actions and outcomes it is called participant observation.

• Physical artifacts: Tools, objects, instruments and other artifacts are often observed
during a direct observation of the subject.

Interview Methods

Interview Method of Data Collection in Research

Interview is one of the popular methods of research data collection. The term interview
can be dissected into two terms as, ‘inter’ and ‘view’. The essence of interview is that one
mind tries to read the other. The interviewer tries to assess the interviewed in terms of
the aspects studied or issues analyzed.

Purpose and Importance of Interview

• The main purpose of interview as a tool of data collection, is to gather data
extensively and intensively. As Pauline.V Young pointed out that the objectives of the
interview may be exchange of ideas and experiences, eliciting of information pertaining
to a very wide range of data in which the interviewee may wish to rehearse his past,
define his present and canvass his future possibilities. Thus, in brief, the objectives of
interviewee are two fold:

• To exchange ideas and experience and

• To elicit information.

• The importance of interview may be known through these points,

• It is the method best suited for the assessment of personal qualities.

• It has definite values for diagnosis of emotional problems and for therapeutic
treatments.

• It is one of the major bases upon which counseling procedures are carried out.

• It provides information to supplement other methods of collecting data.

• It may be used, in addition to observation, to verify information obtained through

correspondence methods.

Types of Interviews used in Research

• There are different types of interviews used in the research data collection. An
interview is either structured or unstructured, depending upon whether a formal
questionnaire has bean formulated and the questions asked in a prearranged order or
not. An interview is also either direct or indirect as a result of whether the purposes of
the questions asked are plainly stated or intentionally disguised. Cross-classifying these
two characteristics provides four different types of interviews. That is, an interview may
be:

(1) structured and direct,

(2) unstructured and direct,

(3) structured and indirect, or

(4) unstructured and indirect.

Structured-Direct Interview:
• The usual type of interview conducted during a consumer survey to obtain
descriptive information is one using a formal questionnaire consisting of non-disguised
questions, a questionnaire designed to “get the facts”. If the marketing search manager
of a television set manufacturer wants to find out how many and what kinds of people
prefer various styles of television cabinets, for example, he may have a set of questions
drawn up that asks for these facts directly. Assuming that personal interviewing is being
used, each interviewer will be instructed to ask the questions in the order given on the
questionnaire and to ask only those questions. The resulting interviews will be
structured-direct in nature.

Unstructured-Direct Interview:

• In the unstructured-direct method of interviewing, the interviewer is given only

general instructions on the type of information desired. He is left to ask the necessary
direct questions to obtain this information, using the warding and the order that seems
most appropriate in the context of each interview. Unstructured-direct interviews are
often used in exploratory studies. Many research projects that use a formal questionnaire
for the final interviews go through an exploratory phase in which respondents are
contacted and unstructured interviews are held. These interviews are useful in obtaining
a clearer understanding of the problem and determining what areas should be
investigated.

• Structured-indirect interview: In the case of structured indirect interview the

questions are pre-decided and arranged in a structured way. However the purpose of
the study is not revealed.

• Unstructured-indirect interview: In the case of unstructured indirect interview the

questions aren’t pre-decided and neither the purpose of the study made known
explicitly.

• Focus-Group Interviews: Perhaps the best-known and most widely used type of
indirect interview is the one conducted with a focus group. A focus-group interview is
one in which a group of people jointly participate in an unstructured-indirect interview.
The group, usually consisting of 8 to 12 people, is generally selected purposively to
include persons who have a common background or similar buying or use experience
that relates to the problem to be researched. The interviewer, moderator, as he or she is
more often called, attempts to focus the discussion on the problem areas in a relaxed,
nondirected manner. The objective is to foster involvement and interaction among the
group members during the interview will lead to spontaneous discussion and the
disclosure of attitudes, opinions, information on present or prospective buying and use
behavior.

• Focused Interviews: This is a semi-structured interview where the investigator

attempts to focus the discussion on the actual effects of a given experience to which the
respondents have been exposed. It takes place with the respondents known to have
involved in a particular experience, e.g, seeing a particular film, viewing a particular
program on TV., involved in a train/bus accident, etc. The situation is analyzed prior to
the interview. An interview guide specifying topics relating to the research hypothesis
used. The interview is focused on the subjective experiences of the respondent, i.e., his
attitudes and emotional responses regarding the situation under study. The focused
interview permits the interviewer to obtain details of personal reactions, specific
emotions and the like. The merits of using this type of interview is that, it’s free from the
inflexibility of formal methods, yet gives the interview a set form and insured adequate
coverage of all the relevant topics. The respondent is asked for certain information, yet
he has plenty of opportunity to present his views. The interviewer is also free to choose
the sequence of questions and determine the extent of probing.

• The Third-Person Technique: The simplest way of obtaining information through

indirect questioning of a respondent is to ask for the view of a neighbor, an (unnamed)
associate, or some other person whose views on the subject at hand might reasonably
be known. This permits the respondent to project his own views with no feeling of social
pressure to give an “acceptable” answer.

• The Depth Interview: There is substantial use of the unstructured, informal

interview in marketing research to explore the underlying predispositions, needs, desires,
feelings, and emotions of the consumer toward products and services. This method of
interviewing is referred to as a “depth interview”. The depth interview in marketing
research may consist of either direct or indirect questions, or some combination of the
two. The skilled interviewer will generally employ both types of questions, A direct, free
answer question such as “What are the major reasons why you bought your iPhone?
Might well be followed up, for example, with an indirect question such as “Why do you
think people who own smart phones bought them?” By following leads and cues
provided by respondents, phrasing questions to continue the flow and pattern of the
conversation and to maintain the rapport established, the competent interviewer can
explore and probe the underlying motivations of the respondent.

• The Personal Interview: As the name implies, the personal interview consists of an
interviewer asking questions of one or more respondents in a face-to-face situation. The
interviewer’s role is to get in touch with the respondent(s), ask the desired questions,
and to record the answers obtained. The recording of the information obtained may be
done either during or after the interview. In either case, it is a part of the interviewer’s
responsibility to ensure that the content of the answers is clear and unambiguous and
that it has been recorded correctly.

• The Telephone Interview: Telephone interviews are sometimes used in lieu of

personal interviews, especially when the information must be collected quickly and
inexpensively and the amount of information required is limited. The telephone interview
is well suited to such research problems as determining “coincidental” viewing of
television or listening to radio programmes. In this type of study, calls are placed to a
sample of telephone subscribers during the time the programme is on the air. The
person received the call is simply asked “Are you now watching television?” and, if so,
“What programme you are watching?” Other questions such as “How often do you watch
this programme?” “Who sponsors this programme?” and the like may also be asked. The
result is a rapid and inexpensive measurement of audience level. Either a structured or an
unstructured interview may be held. Since the amount of information sought is usually
well defined, non-confidential in nature, and limited in amount, virtually all telephone
interviews are structured in nature. This medium does not lend itself well to indirect
interviews and has not been used for this purpose.

Observation Method L25

Here we will understand how observation methods are used in research.

Observation Method

Observation Method

Observation Method of Data Collection

Observation is a technique that involves systematically selecting, watching, listening,

reading, touching, and recording behavior and characteristics of living beings, objects, or
phenomena.

• The researchers, adopting this method, attempt to understand behavior and

societies by getting to know the persons involved and their values, rituals, symbols,
beliefs, and emotions.

• The technique qualifies as a scientific method of data collection when it is specially

designed to answer a research question and is systematically planned and executed with
proper controls.

• The versatility of the method makes it an indispensable primary source of data and
a supplement to other methods.

Advantages of the observation method

Directness

• The main advantage of observation is its directness. We can collect data at the time
they occur. The observer does not have to ask people about their behavior and reports
from others.

• He or she can simply watch as individuals act and speak. While the survey
respondents may have a hazy or lapse memory about events that occurred in the distant
past, the observer is studying events as they occur.

Natural environment
• Whereas other data collection techniques introduce artificiality into the research
environment, data collected in an observation study describe the observed phenomena
as they occur in their natural settings.

• Observation is neither as restrictive nor as artificial as either the survey or the

experiment.

Longitudinal analysis

• Since the observation is possible to be conducted in a natural setting, the observer

can conduct his or her study over a much longer period than with either the survey or
experiment.

Non-verbal behavior

• Observation is decidedly superior to survey research, experimentation, or

document study for collecting data on nonverbal behavior. Some studies focus on
individuals who are unable to give verbal reports or to articulate themselves
meaningfully.

• For these subjects, the observational method is indispensable. These include

children, crippled, and mentally and physically handicraft people.

Disadvantages of the Observation Method

Lack of control

• Despite the advantage as achieved from the natural environment, the observation
study, however, has little control over extraneous variables that may affect the data.

• The presence of a stranger (the observer) and the error involved in human
observation and the recording of data, which may remain out of control of the
observer, are likely to bias the observations to a great extent.

Difficulties in quantification

• Measurement in observational studies generally takes the form of observer’s un-

quantified perceptions rather than the quantitative measures often used in the survey
and experimental studies.

Smallness in sample size

• Because observational studies are generally conducted in-depth, with data that are
often subjective and difficult to quantify, the sample size is usually kept at a minimum.
• Also, the in-depth nature of the observation studies generally requires that they are
conducted over an extended period, then the survey method or experiments. This
feature tends to limit the size of the sample.

No opportunity to learn past

• In an observational study, there is no way to know the past. It is also difficult to

gather information on such topics as intentions, opinions, attitudes, or preferences.

• This technique can generate either quantitative or qualitative data but tends to be
used more for small-scale exploratory studies than for large-scale quantitative studies.
This is because it usually requires

• Relatively highly skilled observers and analysts

• Prolonged periods of observation

• High cost per unit of observation.

Technique of Observation

• This technique lends itself particularly well to the observation of community

responses to program efforts.

• It is the chief method of ethnographers, who specialize in community studies. It is

also useful for organizational studies such as observation of clinic operations, activities of
field-workers, and administrative procedures.

• An observational study is usually initiated from three different perspectives as

outlined below:

• Whether the observation is direct or indirect,

• Whether the observer’s presence is known or unknown, and

• ‘ What role the observer plays during the observation.

• When an observation study is conducted with the first two approaches, we call it
a non-participant observation study.

• The third approach leads to a study which we refer to as participant observation

study.

• Participant observation: The observer takes part in the situation he or she observes.

Direct observation
• Direct observation refers to the situation when the observer remains physically
present and personally monitors what takes place.

• This approach is very flexible because it allows the observer to react to and report
subtle aspects of events as they occur.

• During the act of observation, the observer is free to change the focus of
observation, concentrate on unexpected events, or even change the place of observation
if the situation demands.

Indirect observation

• Indirect observation occurs when the recording is done by mechanical,

photographic, videotape, cameras, or other electronic means.

• For example, a special camera may be set in a department store to study customers’
or employees’ movements.

• A camera may also be mounted in a passenger train or plane to determine

passenger’s comfort by observing how passengers sit and move in their seats. Such
observation can also be conducted in planning traffic control and redesigning of
peripheral streets.

• The second approach of observation concerns whether the presence of the observer
is known (overt) or unknown (covert) to the subjects. In an overt study, the observer
remains visible to the observer, and the subjects are aware that they are being observed.

• In a covert study, on the other hand, subjects are unaware that they are being
observed.

• The major problem with the overt study is that it may be reactive. That is, it may
make the subjects ill at ease and cause them to act differently than they would if they
were not being observed.

• The covert study uses a concealment approach where the observers shield
themselves from the object of their observations.

• Often technical means are used, such as one-way mirrors, hidden cameras, or
microphones.

• This method reduces the risk of observer bias but brings up a question of ethical
issues in the sense that hidden observation is a form of spying.

Participant observation,
• The third approach of data collection in natural settings is through participant
observation, which refers to an observation in which an observer gains firsthand
knowledge by being in and around the social setting that is being investigated.

• With this method, the observer joins in the daily life of the group or organization he
is studying.

• He watches what happens to the members of the community and how they behave,
and he also engages in conversations with them to find out their reactions to and
interpretations of the events that have occurred.

• Prolonged and personal interaction with the subjects of the research is the prime
advantage of participant observation.

• Extended contact with the subjects helps them feel comfortable in the participant
observer’s presence. The observer’s task is to place himself in the best position for
getting a complete and unbiased picture of the life of the community, which he is
observing.

• To ensure this, the observer needs to learn the language, habits, work patterns,
leisure activities, and other aspects of their daily life. In participatory research, the
researcher assumes either a complete participant role or a participant-as- observer role.

Controlled Observation

• Controlled observations (usually a structured observation) are likely to be carried

out in a psychology laboratory. The researcher decides where the observation will take
place, at what time, with which participants, in what circumstances and uses a
standardized procedure. Participants are randomly allocated to each independent
variable group.

• Rather than writing a detailed description of all behavior observed, it is often easier
to code behavior according to a previously agreed scale using a behavior schedule (i.e.
conducting a structured observation).

The researcher systematically classifies the behavior they observe into distinct categories.
Coding might involve numbers or letters to describe a characteristic, or use of a scale to
measure behavior intensity. The categories on the schedule are coded so that the data
collected can be easily counted and turned into statistics.

Role Play, Meta-analysis and Thematic Analysis L26

Here we will understand the Role-play how its applied in Research for the method of
data collection.

Here we will understand how to conduct meta- analysis and its usefulness for
conducting research.

Here we will also understand the approach of Thematic-Analysis for Qualitative Research.

Role Play

Role Play

Role playing was developed by Jacob Moreno, a Viennese psychologist who contended
that people could gain more from acting out their problems than from talking about
them. This method requires a protagonist (the client whose problems are being acted
out); auxiliary egos (group members who assume the roles of other people in the
protagonist's life); an audience (other group members who observe and react to the
drama); and a director (the therapist). The protagonist selects an event from his or her
life and provides the information necessary for it to be reenacted. Although every detail
of the event cannot be reproduced, the reenactment can be effective if it captures the
essence of the original experience. The group members who serve as auxiliary egos
impersonate significant people from the protagonist's past or present, following the
protagonist's instructions as closely as possible. Techniques used in the reenactment
may include role reversal, doubling, mirror technique, future projection, and dream work.

• The therapist, acting as facilitator and director, assists the protagonist in

orchestrating the scene, offers emotional support, enlists the audience's response, and
helps the protagonist gain new insights from the experience. Immediately preceding the
reenactment is a warmup period designed to prepare all the participants for the
experience by motivating them and establishing a safe and trusting atmosphere. After
the reenactment, members of the audience discuss their reactions to the reenactment,
including ways that it touched on their own experiences. Encouragement and support is
offered to the protagonist, as well as suggestions for responding to the problems dealt
within the reenactment.

• Role playing is sometimes employed in a combination of techniques in other types

of therapy, such as Gestalt therapy. The client may role play with the therapist in an
individual treatment session or with group members in group therapy.

Fixed Role Therapy

• A variation on the theme of role playing is called Fixed Role Therapy. In fixed role
therapy you act as though you have certain characteristics that you aspire to have, but
don't currently have. For a period of time set by yourself, you pretend to have these
desired characteristics as you go about your life and interact with people. For example, if
you are a shy person, you act as though you are more outgoing. The purpose of fixed
role therapy is not to help you develop a fake personality, but rather to allow you the
experience (and practice) of living your life from another perspective which you would
normally never consider. The artificiality of the task tends to free people up to take it on.
Though they might not be able to be outgoing on their own, they are able to do it when
it is prescribed play acting. Having acted out such a fake fixed role, people then have the
experience they need to integrate desirable aspects of that role into their normal selves.
In other words, having play acted at being outgoing, people now know how to be more
outgoing within their own personalities and feel more comfortable doing so.

Role Play, Meta-analysis and Thematic Analysis L26

Here we will understand the Role-play how its applied in Research for the method of
data collection.

Here we will understand how to conduct meta- analysis and its usefulness for
conducting research.

Here we will also understand the approach of Thematic-Analysis for Qualitative Research.

Meta-analysis

• Meta-analysis is the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies.
When the treatment effect (or effect size) is consistent from one study to the next, meta-
analysis can be used to identify this common effect.

• A systematic review answers a defined research question by collecting and

summarizing all empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria.

A meta-analysis is the use of statistical methods to summarize the results of these

studies.

Characteristics:

• Meta-analysis is a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent

studies.

• Meta-analysis is most often used to assess the clinical effectiveness of healthcare

interventions; it does this by combining data from two or more randomized control trials.
• Meta-analysis of trials provides a precise estimate of treatment effect, giving due
weight to the size of the different studies included.

• The validity of the meta-analysis depends on the quality of the systematic review on
which it is based.

• A Good meta-analyses aim for complete coverage of all relevant studies, look for
the presence of heterogeneity, and explore the robustness of the main findings using
sensitivity analysis.

• The precision with which the size of any effect can be estimated depends to a large
extent on the number of patients studied.

• The validity of the meta-analysis depends on the quality of the systematic review on
which it is based.

• A Good meta-analyses aim for complete coverage of all relevant studies, look for
the presence of heterogeneity, and explore the robustness of the main findings using
sensitivity analysis.

• The precision with which the size of any effect can be estimated depends to a large
extent on the number of patients studied.

Other Characteristics

• Location of studies

• Calculating effect sizes

• Checking for publication bias

• Quality assessment

• Heterogeneity

The Five-step process

Step 1: The research question

A clinical research question is identified and a hypothesis proposed. The likely clinical
significance is explained and the study design and analytical plan are justified.

Step 2: systematic review

• A systematic review (SR) is specifically designed to address the research question

and conducted to identify all studies considered to be both relevant and of sufficiently
good quality to warrant inclusion. Often, only studies published in established journals
are identified,.

• but identification of ‘unpublished’ data is important to avoid ‘publication bias’ or

exclusion of studies with negative findings. Some meta-analyses only consider
randomized control trials (RCTs) in the quest for highest quality evidence.

• Other types of ‘experimental’ and ‘quasi-experimental’ studies may be included if

they satisfy the defined inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Step 3: data extraction

• Once studies are selected for inclusion in the meta-analysis, summary data or
outcomes are extracted from each study.

• In addition, sample sizes and measures of data variability for both intervention and
control groups are required.

• Depending on the study and the research question, outcome measures could
include numerical measures or categorical measures.

• For example, differences in scores on a questionnaire or differences in

a measurement level such as blood pressure would be reported as a numerical mean.
However, differences in the likelihood of being in one category versus another (e.g.,
normal birth versus cesarean birth) are usually reported in terms of risk measures such as
or relative risk (RR).

Step 4: standardization and weighting studies

• Having assembled all the necessary data, the fourth step is to calculate appropriate
summary measures from each study for further analysis.

• These measures are usually called Effect Sizes and represent the difference in
average scores between intervention and control groups. For example, the difference in
change in blood pressure between study participants who used drug X compared with
participants who used a placebo.

• Since units of measurement typically vary across included studies, they usually need
to be ‘standardized’ in order to produce comparable estimates of this effect. When
different outcome measures are used, such as when researchers use different tests,
standardization is imperative.

Step 5: final estimates of effect

• The final stage is to select and apply an appropriate model to compare Effect
Sizes across different studies.
• The most common models used are Fixed Effects and Random Effects models. Fixed
Effects models are based on the ‘assumption that every study is evaluating a common
treatment effect’.

• This means that the assumption is that all studies would estimate the same Effect
Size were it not for different levels of sample variability across different studies.

• In contrast, the Random Effects model ‘assumes that the true treatment effects in
the individual studies may be different from each other’. 5 and attempts to allow for this
additional source of inter study variation in Effect Sizes. Whether this latter source of
variability is likely to be important is often assessed within the meta-analysis by testing
for ‘heterogeneity’.

Advantages

• Greater statistical power

• Confirmatory data analysis

• Greater ability to extrapolate to general population affected

• Considered an evidence-based resource

Disadvantages

• Difficult and time consuming to identify appropriate studies

• Not all studies provide adequate data for inclusion and analysis

• Requires advanced statistical techniques

• Heterogeneity of study populations

Limitations

• Was heterogeneity considered and tested for?

• Was combined effect size calculated using appropriate statistical methods?

• Was the quality of the individual studies assessed using an appropriate checklist of
criteria?

• Was publication bias assessed?

Was the search strategy comprehensive and likely to avoid bias in the studies identified
for inclusion?
Thematic Analysis

Thematic Analysis

What is thematic analysis?

• Briefly, thematic analysis (TA) is a popular method for analysing qualitative data in
many disciplines and fields, and can be applied in lots of different ways, to lots of
different datasets, to address lots of different research questions!

• It is one of a cluster of methods that focus on identifying patterned meaning across

a dataset.

• TA is best thought of as an umbrella term for a set of approaches for analysing

qualitative data that share a focus on identifying themes (patterns of meaning) in
qualitative data. The different versions of TA tend to share some degree of theoretical
flexibility, but can differ enormously in terms of both underlying philosophy and
procedures for producing themes.

What is reflexive thematic analysis?

• Reflexive TA as it differs from most other approaches to TA in terms of both

underlying philosophy and procedures for theme development.

• We initially outlined our approach in a 2006 paper, Using thematic analysis in

psychology. We have written extensively about our approach since then, and our
thinking has developed in various ways, so do check out some of our more recent
writing.

• Although the title of this paper suggests TA is for, or about, psychology, that’s not
the case! The method has been widely used across the social, behavioural and more
applied (clinical, health, education, etc.) sciences.

• The purpose of TA is to identify patterns of meaning across a dataset that provide

an answer to the research question being addressed. Patterns are identified through a
rigorous process of data familiarisation, data coding, and theme development and
revision.

• One of the advantages of (our reflexive version of) TA is that it’s theoretically-
flexible. This means it can be used within different frameworks, to answer quite different
types of research question.

• It suits questions related to people’s experiences, or people’s views and perceptions,

such as ‘What are men’s experiences of body hair removal?’ or ‘What do people think of
women who play traditionally male sports?’
• It suits questions related to understanding and representation, such as ‘How do lay
people understand therapy?’ or ‘How are food and eating represented in popular
magazines targeted at teenage girls?’

• It also suits questions relating to the construction of meaning, such as ‘How is race
constructed in workplace diversity training?’

Different orientations in thematic analysis

• There are different ways TA can be approached – within our reflexive approach all
variations are possible:

• An inductive way – coding and theme development are directed by the content of
the data;

• A deductive way – coding and theme development are directed by existing

concepts or ideas;

• A semantic way – coding and theme development reflect the explicit content of the
data;

• A latent way – coding and theme development report concepts and assumptions
underpinning the data;

• A (critical) realist or essentialist way – focuses on reporting an assumed reality

evident in the data;

• A constructionist way – focuses on looking at how a certain reality is created by the

data.

Phases in doing reflexive thematic analysis

• Although these phases are sequential, and each builds on the previous, analysis is
typically a recursive process, with movement back and forth between different phases.
These are not rules to follow rigidly, but rather a series of conceptual and practice
oriented ‘tools’ that guides the analysis to facilitate a rigorous process of data
interrogation and engagement. With more experience (and smaller datasets), the analytic
process can blur some of these phases together.

• Familiarisation with the data | This phase involves reading and re-reading the
data, to become immersed and intimately familiar with its content.

• Coding | This phase involves generating succinct labels (codes!) that identify
important features of the data that might be relevant to answering the research
question. It involves coding the entire dataset, and after that, collating all the codes and
all relevant data extracts, together for later stages of analysis.
• Generating initial themes | This phase involves examining the codes and collated
data to identify significant broader patterns of meaning (potential themes). It then
involves collating data relevant to each candidate theme, so that you can work with the
data and review the viability of each candidate theme.

• Reviewing themes | This phase involves checking the candidate themes against the
dataset, to determine that they tell a convincing story of the data, and one that answers
the research question. In this phase, themes are typically refined, which sometimes
involves them being split, combined, or discarded. In our TA approach, themes are
defined as pattern of shared meaning underpinned by a central concept or idea.

• Defining and naming themes | This phase involves developing a detailed analysis
of each theme, working out the scope and focus of each theme, determining the ‘story’
of each. It also involves deciding on an informative name for each theme.

• Writing up | This final phase involves weaving together the analytic narrative and
data extracts, and contextualising the analysis in relation to existing literature.

Attempt: 1

Research Design

Research design

Research design is the framework of research methods and techniques chosen by a

researcher. The design allows researchers to hone in on research methods that are
suitable for the subject matter and set up their studies up for success.

Meaning of Research design

• The research design is a comprehensive master plan of the research study to be

undertaken, giving a general statement of the methods to be used.

• The function of a research design is to ensure that requisite data in accordance with
the problem at hand is collected accurately and economically.

• Simply stated, it is the framework, a blueprint for the research study which guides
the collection and analysis of data.

• The research design, depending upon the needs of the researcher may be a very
detailed statement or only furnish the minimum information required for planning the
research project.

Definitions:
Kerlinger (1986) defines research design as “the plan and structure of investigation so
conceived as to obtain answers to research questions.“

Rosenthal and Rosnow (1991) define design as a "blueprint that provides the scientist
with a detailed outline or plan for the collection and analysis of data."

Need of Good Research design

• The Importance of good Research design is needed because it facilitates the smooth
sailing of the various research operations, thereby making research as efficient as
possible yielding maximal information with minimal expenditure of effort, time and
money.

• Just as for better, economical and attractive construction of a house, we need a

blueprint (or what is commonly called the map of the house) well thought out and
prepared by an expert architect, similarly we need a research design or a plan in advance
of data collection and analysis for our research project.

• Research design stands for advance planning of the methods to be adopted for
collecting the relevant data and the techniques to be used in their analysis, keeping in
view the objective of the research and the availability of staff, time and money.

• Even then the need for a well thought out research design is at times not realised by
many. The importance which this problem deserves is not given to it. As a result many
researches do not serve the purpose for which they are undertaken. In fact, they may
even give misleading conclusions.

• Thoughtlessness in designing the research project may result in rendering the

research exercise futile. It is, therefore, imperative that an efficient and appropriate
design must be prepared before starting research operations.

• The design helps the researcher to organize his ideas in a form whereby it will be
possible for him to look for flaws and inadequacies. Such a design can even be given to
others for their comments and critical evaluation. In the absence of such a course of
action, it will be difficult for the critic to provide a comprehensive review of the proposed
study.

• Preparation of the research design should be done with great care as any error in it
may upset the entire project. Research design, in fact, has a great bearing on the
reliability of the results arrived at and as such constitutes the firm foundation of the
entire edifice of the research work.

Characteristics of a resign design:

  Designs helps investigators obtain answers to the questions of research and also
helps them to experimental, extraneous and error variances of the
particular research problem under study.
 Research designs are invented to enable researchers to answer research
questions as validly, objectively, accurately and economically as possible.
 Designs are carefully worked out to yield dependable and valid answers to the
research questions epitomized by the hypotheses.
 Research design sets up the framework for study of the relations
among variables.
 Design tells us, in a sense, what observations to make, how to make them and to
analyze the quantitative representations of the observations.
 Strictly speaking, design does not “tell” us precisely what to do, but rather
“suggests” the directions of observation making and analysis.
 A design tells us what type of statistical analysis to use.
 Finally, an adequate design outlines possible conclusions to be drawn from the
statistical

Features of Good Design

A good design is often characterized by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient, and
economical and so on. Generally, the design which minimizes bias and maximizes the
reliability of the data collected and analysed is considered a good design. The design
which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design in many
investigations.

 The question of good design is related to the purpose or objective of

the research problem and also with the nature of the problem to be studied.
 A design may be quite suitable in one case, but may be found wanting in one
respect or the other in the context of some other research problem.
 One single design cannot serve the purpose of all types of research problems.

A research design appropriate for a particular research problem, usually involves the
consideration of the following factors:

 The means of obtaining information;

 The availability and skills of the researcher and his staff, if any;
 The objective of the problem to be studied;
 The nature of the problem to be studied; and
 The availability of time and money for the research work.

Criteria of Good Research design

Although the research works and studies differ in their form and kind, they all still meet
on the common ground of scientific methods employed by them. Hence, scientific
research is expected to satisfy the following criteria:
 The aim of the research should be clearly mentioned, along with the use of
common concepts.
 The procedures used in the research should be adequately described, in order to
permit another researcher to repeat the research for further advancement, while
maintaining the continuity of what has already been done.
 The researches procedural design should be carefully planned to obtain results
that are as objective as possible.
 The flaws in the procedural design should be sincerely reported by the researcher
to correctly estimate their effects upon the findings.
 The data analysis should be adequate to reveal its significance.
 The methods used during the analysis should be appropriate.
 The reliability and validity of the concerned data should be checked carefully.
 The conclusions are needed to be confined and limited to only those data, which
are justified and adequately provided by the research.
 In case, the researcher is experienced and has a good reputation in the field of
research, greater confidence in research is warranted.