A.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

Application Pure research - involves developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are
perspective intellectually challenging to the researcher but may or may not have
practical application at the present time or in the future.
- is also concerned with the development examination, verification and
refinement of research methods, procedures, techniques and tools that
form the body of research methodology

Applied - Most of the research in the social sciences is applied.

research - The research techniques, procedures and methods that form the body of
research methodology are applied to the collection of information about
various aspects of a situation, issue, problem or phenomenon so that the
information gathered can be used in other ways.

Objectives Descriptive - attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon,

perspective study service or programme
- provides information about the living conditions of a community
- describes attitudes towards an issue
Ex:
- describing the types of service provided by an organization
- the attitudes of employees towards the management

Correlational - discovers or establishes the existence of relationship/ association/

study interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation.
Ex:
- What is the impact of an advertising campaign on the sale of a product?
- What is the relationship between stressful living and the incidence of heart
attack?
- What is the relationship between smoking and lung cancer?

Explanatory - attempts to clarify or explain why and how there is a relationship

research between two aspects of a situation or phenomenon.
Ex:
- Why stressful living results in heart attacks
 - How the home environment affects children’s level of academic achievement

Exploratory - is undertaken with the objective either to explore an area where

research little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a
particular research study
- When a study is carried out to determine its feasibility it is also called
a feasibility study or a pilot study.
- A small-scale study is undertaken to decide if it is worth carrying out
a detailed investigation.
- On the basis of the assessment made during the exploratory, a full
study may eventuate
- Exploratory studies are also conducted to develop, refine and/or test
measurement tools and procedures

Mode of The structured - Everything that forms the research process - objectives, design, sample,
enquiry approach and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents
perspective - Is more appropriate to determine the extent of a problem, issue or
phenomemon

The - Allows flexibility in all these aspects of the process

unstructured - Is used to explore its nature/ variation/ diversity in a phenomenon,
approach issue, problem or attitude towards an issue

B. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH VS. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

ASPECTS QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

Approach to Unstructured/ flexible/ open methodology Structured/ rigid/ predetermined methodology

enquiry

Main purpose of To describe variation in a phenomenon. To quantify extent of variation in a

investigation situation issue phenomenon, situation, issue

Measurements of Emphasis on some form of either Emphasis on description of variables

variables measurement or classification of variables

Methods Interviews or focus groups ⇒ Attempts to Questionnaires or structured interviews

 get an in-depth opinion from participants

Sample size Fewer people take part in the research, but Many more people, but the contact with those
the contact with these people tends to last a people is much quicker than it is in qualitative
lot longer. research.

Focus of enquiry Covers multiple issues but assembles Narrow focus in terms of extent of enquiry,
required information from fewer but assembles required information from a
respondents greater number of respondents

Dominant research Authenticity but does not claim to be value- Reliability and objectivity (value-free)
value free

Dominant research Explore attitudes, behavior, experiences, Explain prevalence, incidence, extent, nature
topic perceptions, meanings and feelings of issues, opinion and attitude, discover
regularities and formulate theories

- Examples of qualitative methodologies - If a market researcher has stopped you on

include action research, ethnography, the streets, or you have filled in a

feminist research and grounded theory. questionnaire which has arrived through the
post, this falls under the umbrella of
quantitative research

C. PRIMARY RESEARCH VS. SECONDARY RESEARCH

There are two types of background research – primary and secondary research.

Primary research Secondary research

● Involves the study of a subject through firsthand ● Involves the collection of information from studies
observation and investigation. that other researchers have made of a subject.
● This is what you will be doing with your main
project, but you may also need to conduct primary
research for your background work, especially if
you’re unable to find any previously published
material about your topic.
● Primary research may come from your own
observations or experience, or from the
information you gather personally.
 D. RESEARCH PROBLEMS VS. RESEARCH GAP

Research problem Research gap

Any question that you want answered and any A research gap is essentially an unanswered
assumption or assertion that you want to challenge or question or unresolved problem in a field, which
investigate can become a research problem or a reflects a lack of existing research in that space.
research topic for your study.

E. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK VS. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The theoretical framework The conceptual framework

consists of the theories or issues in which your study describes the aspects you selected from the
is embedded theoretical framework to become the basis of your
inquiry.

F. STUDY DESIGN
Based on the number of contacts with the study population, designs can be classified into three groups

1. cross-sectional studies Cross-sectional studies, also known as one-shot or status studies.

They are useful in obtaining an overall ‘picture’ as it stands at the
time of the study.

The main advantage of the before-and-after design (also known as the pre-
2. before-and-after
test/post-test design) is that it can measure change in a situation,
studies
phenomenon, issue, problem or attitude. A before-and-after study is carried
out by adopting the same process as a cross-sectional study except that it
comprises two cross-sectional data sets, the second being undertaken after a
certain period.

In longitudinal studies the study population is visited a number of

3. longitudinal studies
times at regular intervals, usually over a long period, to collect the
required information.

Longitudinal Cross-sectional
 - Looks at variables repeatedly over a period - Looks at variables at a point of time
of time
- Observes the same sample/subjects - Observes different samples (cross-section)
- Observes change at both group and - Gives a snapshot of the population
individual level - Not expensive and does not take a lot of
- Tends to be expensive and time-consuming time
- Can study the cause-effect relationship - Cannot study the cause-effect relationship
between variables between variables

The reference period refers to the time-frame in which a study is exploring a phenomenon, situation,
event or problem. Studies are categorized from this perspective as

1/ retrospective
Retrospective studies investigate a phenomenon, situation, problem or issue
that has happened in the past.

2/ prospective
Prospective studies refer to the likely prevalence of a phenomenon,
situation, problem, attitude or outcome in the future

Retrospective–prospective studies focus on past trends in a phenomenon

3/ retrospective–prospective
and study it into the future. Part of the data is collected retrospectively
from the existing records before the intervention is introduced and then the
study population is followed to ascertain the impact of the intervention

G. STRUCTURED/ SEMI-STRUCTURED/ UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

Three types of interview are used in social research:

Unstructured - in-depth interviews/ also called life Researchers need to:

interviews history interviews - be able to establish rapport with the
- the researcher attempts to achieve a participants: be trusted if someone is to
holistic understanding of the reveal intimate life information
interviewees’ point of view or situation - remain alert, recognising important
- the participant is free to talk about what information and probing for more
he or she deems important, with little detail
directional influence from the researcher - know how to tactfully steer someone
- can only be used for qualitative research back from totally irrelevant digressions
- realise that unstructured interviewing
 can produce a great deal of data which
can be difficult to analyse

Semi-structured - is perhaps the most common type of - the researcher produces an interview
interviews interview used in qualitative social schedule with a list of specific
research questions or topics to be discussed
- the researchers want to know specific which is taken to each interview to
information which can be compared and ensure continuity
contrasted with information gained in - in some research, such as a grounded
other interview theory study, the schedule is updated
- however, the researcher also wants the and revised after each interview to
interview to remain flexible so that other include more topics which have arisen
important information can still arise as a result of the previous interview

Structured - Structured interviews are used in survey

interviews research to ask the same set of
standardized questions to all respondents
in the same order
- The questions are grouped into
predetermined categories that will help to
answer the research question, or confirm/
disconfirm the hypothesis

H. CLOSE-ENDED VS. OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONNAIRE

OPEN QUESTIONS CLOSED QUESTIONS

Respondents use their own words to answer a Prewritten response categories are provided
question

Tend to be slower to administer. Tend to be quicker to administer.

Can be harder to record responses. Often easier and quicker for the researcher to
record responses.

May be difficult to code, especially if multiple Tend to be easy to code.

answers are given.

Do not stifle response. Respondents can only answer in a predefined

way.
Enable respondents to raise new issues. New issues cannot be raised.

Respondents tend to feel that they have been able to Respondents can only answer in a way which
speak their mind. may not match their actual opinion and may,
therefore, become frustrated.

In self-administered questionnaires, respondents Is quick and easy for respondents to tick boxes
might not be willing to write a long answer and – might be more likely to answer all the
decide to leave the question blank. How do you questions.
know the meaning of a blank answer when you
come to the analysis?

Can use open questions to find out all the possible Can include a section at the end of a closed-
responses before designing a closed - ended ended questionnaire for people to write in a
questionnaire. longer response if they wish.

I. SAMPLING

PROBABILITY SAMPLES PURPOSIVE SAMPLES

● all people within the research population ● Purposive samples are used if generalisation is
have a specifiable chance of being selected not the goal
● In some purposive samples it is difficult to
specify at the beginning of the research how
many people will be contacted.
1/ Simple random sampling (SRS) Convenience sampling
- Each element in the population is given an - A sample that is easy or convenient for
equal and independent chance of selection researchers to find
→ all possible names are identified and - You stop collecting data when you reach the
selected in a random way required number of respondents you decided
Ex: Pull names out of a hat to have in your sample.
- This method of sampling is common among
2/ Systematic random market research and newspaper reporters.
- is used when the sampling frame is large You are not guided by any obvious
- Systematic refers to using a computer characteristics, some people contacted may
program to generate numbers and select not have the required information.
the desired numbers in a sample
Purposeful sampling
- The primary consideration in purposive
 3/ Stratified random sampling sampling is your judgement as to who can
- is used when the working population contains provide the best information to achieve
groups of interest that are of unequal size the objectives of your study.
- the division of a population into units are - You as a researcher only go to those people
called strata who in your opinion are likely to have the
- Once the sampling population has been required information and be willing to share
separated into non overlapping groups, you it with you
select the required number of elements from
each stratum, using the simple random Snowball sampling:
sampling technique. - A few individuals in a group or organisation
- There are two types of stratified sampling: are selected and the required information is
proportionate stratified sampling and collected from them.
disproportionate stratified sampling - They are then asked to identify other people
in the group or organisation, and the people
4/ Cluster sampling selected by them become a part of the
- Cluster sampling is based on the ability of sample.
the researcher to divide the sampling
population into groups (based upon visible Quota sampling:
or easily identifiable characteristics), called The sample is selected from a location convenient
clusters, then to select elements within each to you as a researcher, and whenever a person
cluster, using the SRS technique. with this visible relevant characteristic is seen that
person is asked to participate in the study. The
process continues until you have been able to
contact the required number of respondents

J. VARIABLES
From the viewpoint of causal relationship

Independent the cause supposed to be responsible for bringing about change(s) in a phenomenon or situation
Variable - Example: The amount of study time (in hours) given to students.

Dependent the outcome or change(s) brought about by introduction of an independent variable

Variable - Example: The scores obtained by students in an English language proficiency test.

Extraneous several other factors operating in a real-life situation may affect changes in the dependent
variable variable. These factors, not measured in the study, may increase or decrease the magnitude or
strength of the relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Intervening sometimes called the confounding variable, links the independent and dependent variables. In
variable certain situations the relationship between an independent and a dependent variable cannot be
established without the intervention of another variable.
- Example: Teaching methodology. If different teaching methodologies are used for
different groups of students, it may confound the relationship between study time and test
scores, as the teaching methodology may also influence test scores independently of study
time.

From the viewpoint of causal relationship

Active variables Attribute variables

those variables that can be manipulated, changed or those variables that cannot be manipulated, changed
controlled or controlled, and that reflect the characteristics of the
study population, for example age, gender, education
and income

From the viewpoint of the unit of measurement

There are two ways of categorising variables:

1. Whether the unit of measurement is categorical (as in nominal and ordinal scales) or continuous in

nature (as in interval and ratio scales)

- 3 types of categorical variables

Constant variable Dichotomous variable Polytomous variables

has only one category or value, has only two categories, as in can be divided into more than two
for example taxi, tree and water male/female, yes/no, good/bad, categories, for example religion
head/tail, up/down and rich/poor (Christian, Muslim, Hindu);
political parties (Labor, Liberal,
Democrat); and attitudes (strongly
favourable, favourable, uncertain,
 unfavourable, strongly
unfavourable).

Example: Educational level. It can be categorized into groups such as high school, bachelor's degree, master's
degree, etc.

- Continuous variables: These variables have a range of possible values and can be measured on a
continuous scale. Examples include age, weight, or time. Example: Age. It can take on any value within a
certain range (e.g., 18 years, 20 years, 22.5 years)

2. Whether it is qualitative (as in nominal and ordinal scales) or quantitative in nature (as in interval

and ratio scales)

K. SCALES OF MEASUREMENT

Nominal or - Enables the classification of individuals, objects or responses based on Ex:

Classificator a common/ shared property or characteristic. - tree, house, taxi
y Scale - These people, objects or responses are divided into a number of - gender: male/
subgroups in such a way that each member of the subgroup has a female
common characteristic.
- A variable measured on a nominal scale may have one, two or more
subcategories depending upon the extent of variation.
⇒ The sequence in which subgroups are listed makes no
difference as there is no relationship among subgroups.
- Counting and % calculation

Ordinal Or - An ordinal scale has all the properties of a nominal scale but also ranks Ex: income
Ranking Scale the subgroups in a certain order. - above average
- They are arranged in either ascending or descending order according to - average
the extent that a subcategory reflects the magnitude of variation in the - below average
variable.
Ex:
- The magnitude itself is not quantifiable.
- 0-30
- Counting and % calculation
- 31-40

Interval Scale - An interval scale has all the characteristics of an ordinal Ex:
 scale. - Temperature
- An interval scale uses a unit of measurement that enables the
individual or responses to be placed at equally spaced intervals in
relation to the spread of the variable. It has a unit of measurement
with an arbitrary starting and terminating point.
- Addition and Subtraction

Ratio Scale - A ratio scale has all the properties of nominal, ordinal and interval EX:
scales and it also has a starting point fixed at zero. Therefore, it is an - Score of an exam
absolute scale – the difference between the intervals is always - Salary
measured from a zero point. This means the ratio scale can be used
- Age
for mathematical operations.
- Weight
- Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and all statistical
techniques

L. VALIDTY VS. RELIABILITY OF A TEST

Reliability Validity
Tells the extent to which the results can be reproduced Tells the extent to which the results really measure
when the research is repeated under the same conditions. what they are supposed to measure.
(Emphasizes consistency/ stability/ repeatability) (Emphasizes accuracy)

Is assessed by checking the consistency of results across Is assessed by checking how well the results
time, across different observers, and across parts of the correspond to established theories and other measures
test itself. of the same concept.

A reliable measurement is not always valid: the results A valid measurement is generally reliable: if a test
might be reproducible, but they’re not necessarily produces accurate results, they should be reproducible
correct.

Face and content validity Concurrent and predictive Construct validity

validity

The judgement that an instrument is Suppose you develop an instrument is based upon statistical procedures.
measuring what it is supposed to is to determine the suitability of It is determined by ascertaining the
primarily based upon the logical applicants for a profession. The contribution of each construct to the
link between the questions and the instrument’s validity might be total variance observed in a
objectives of the study determined by comparing it with phenomenon.
- Each question or item on the another assessment
research instrument must have a
logical link with an objective
- In addition, the coverage of the
issue or attitude should be
balanced; that is, each aspect
should have similar and
adequate representation in the
questions or items.