Outcomes of Research

• Discovery
◦ Discovery is known as the act of detecting something that already pre-exists and has
been around over a long period of time.
◦ A discovery is a new increment in understanding the behaviour of observable natural
phenomena as well as understanding the structure of logical relationships.
◦ Observable natural phenomena consist of all physical, biological, and social processes
◦ Logical relationships are described by the study of pure logic, mathematics, statistics and
computer science.
◦ Some examples of discoveries are the creation of a new theory, the observation of a new
behavioural relationship or the development of a new skill.

• Invention
◦ An invention is a new man-made device or process
◦ Invention is using objects, ideas or theories that are already pre-existing in order to
create a new object, ideas or theories that are not in existence yet.
◦ A new physical product, a new biological life-form or a new piece of software.
◦ An invention may qualify for a patent, does not guarantee that the invention will be
profitable to produce.

Data Collection and analysis

• Data
◦ Data means observations or evidences.
◦ Purpose of data collection is to verify the research hypotheses.
◦ Data are both qualitative and quantitative in nature.
◦ Quantitative Data or Attributes: The characteristics or traits for which numerical value
cannot be assigned, are called attributes, e.g. motivation, confidence, honesty integrity.
◦ Quantitative Data or Variables: The characteristics or traits for which numerical value
can be assigned, are called variables, e.g. Height, Weight etc.
◦ Gathering of data by means of some standardized test or self-constructed research tools.
◦ Constants and Variables (Continuous and Discrete)
◦ Quality of data determines the quality of research.
◦ Qualitative data are used to find out the facts
◦ Quantitative data are employed to formulate new theory or principles.
◦ Dependent Variable vs Independent Variables.

• Resolution
◦ amount of detail that can be discerned
◦ also known as granularity
◦ affects the degree to which a database is suitable for a specific application.
◦ Low resolution does not have the same negative connotation as low accuracy.
◦ accuracy and resolution to be inversely related.
◦ Spatial Resolution refers to the fineness of detail that can be observed
◦ It refers to the minimum length that can be discerned.
◦ Temporal resolution refers to the minimum duration of an event that is discernible.
◦ affected by the interaction between the duration of the recording interval and the rate of
change in the event.
 ◦ Events with a lifetime less than the sampling interval are generally not resolvable
◦ Distinction between resolution and sampling rate in the temporal domain.
◦ Sampling rate refers to the frequency of repeat coverage while
resolution refers to the time collection interval for each measurement.

• Precision and Accuracy

◦ Precision is defined as the closeness between two or more measured values to each other
◦ Indicates the ability to obtain the same value by repeating a given measurement.
◦ Accuracy has to do with how "right" your answer is while precision has to do with how
consistent your answer is. (Note: Least Count is the smallest you can measure your
answer with the tools at hand.)
◦ Example:

Imagine that you pour 25ml of water into a beaker, then ask 10 people to tell you how much water
is in the beaker. Data Sets
One Two Three
23 13 9
24 13 43
25 13 2
25 13 25
26 13 78
26 13 80
25 13 33
26 13 3
23 13 25
25 13 34

Data Set One is very precise (about the same answer) and it is accurate (about the right answer) .
Data Set Two is perfectly precise, but has awful accuracy.
Data Set Three is both imprecise (the answers jump around) and inaccurate (not very near the right
answer most of the time)

• Data resolution
◦ The term resolution is used to represent the resolving power, which includes not only the
capability to identify the presence of two objects, but also their properties.
◦ Resolution is the minimum distance between two objects that can be distinguished in the
image. Objects closer than the resolution appear as a single object in the image.
◦ In qualitative terms the resolution is the amount of details that can be observed in an
image.
◦ Thus an image that shows finer details is said to be of finer resolution compared to the
image that shows coarser details.
◦ Resolution and accuracy are two different things. Resolution refers to the increment in
which the readings are available, i.e. in this case 360°/4096 = 0.09° approx., and
accuracy refers to whether the readings are accurate compared to the true value that is
being measured.
◦ With 12-bit resolution, 212=4096 different numbers can be represented, this means that
the measuring range of a given sensor gets split into 4096 pieces.
◦ As an example, if your sensor can measure from 0V to 409.6V (just for nicer math), then
with 12-bit resolution, you can resolve the measured value in increments of 0.1V.
 Spatial resolution
A digital image consists of an array of pixels. Each pixel contains information about a small area on
the land surface, which is considered as a single object.

Spatial resolution is a measure of the area or size of the smallest dimension on the Earth’s surface
over which an independent measurement can be made by the sensor. It is expressed by the size of
the pixel on the ground in meters.

For a homogeneous feature to be detected, its size generally has to be equal to or larger than the
resolution cell. If more than one feature is present within the resolution cell, the signal response
recorded includes a mixture of the signals from all the features.

Temporal resolution describes the number of times an object is sampled or how often data are
obtained for the same area

Signal-to-Noise Ratio
The data recorded on a sensor are composed of the signal (say reflectance) and noise (from
aberrations in the electronics, moving parts or defects in the scanning system as they degrade over
time). If the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is high, it becomes easy to differentiate the noise from the
actual signals. SNR depends on strength of signal available and the noise of the system.
Increasing the spectral and spatial resolution reduces the energy received or the strength of the
signal. Consequently, the SNR decreases.

• Consistency (Reliability)
◦ refers to the absence of apparent contradictions in a database
◦ Spatial consistency: only one point may exist at a given location, lines must intersect at
nodes, polygons are bounded by lines.
◦ The objects in the database respect the reality in measure.
◦ The topology and the spatial relationships are represented and respected.
◦ The variable use adhere to the appropriate values (limits, datatypes).
◦ Temporal consistency: At a given location only one event can occur at one time, an
inconsistency exists if a different entity appears at the same location on two maps of the
same date.
◦ Validity period

• Validity
◦ Content Validity
◦ Criterion related Validity
◦ Construct Validity

• (Reading: Page 65-73 from Sherri L. Jackson. Research Methods and Statistics_ A Critical
Thinking Approach (2008, Cengage Learning))

• Completeness
◦ Completeness refers to the relationship between the objects in the database and the
‘abstract universe’ of all such objects
◦ Monitors the lacuna/omission as well as the excess/commission in information contained
in the database
◦ Data completeness: errors of omission or commission which are measurable.
◦ Model completeness: is the model rich enough to fulfil application requirements.
Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies

• Quantitative Research — A type of educational research in which the researcher decides

what to study (Formal, Systematic, Objective, Rigorous)
• Qualitative Research — A type of educational research in which the researcher relies on the
views of the participants.

• Types of Quantitative Research

◦ Descriptive
◦ Correlational
◦ Experimental

• Descriptive Research
◦ Explore and describe “real-life” phenomena
◦ Large number of participants
◦ Natural setting
◦ No manipulation of variables
◦ Goals:
▪ Concept identification and description
▪ Identification of relationships between concepts
▪ Hypothesis generating

• Correlational Research
◦ Investigate and describe relationships between or among variables
◦ Relationships can be positive or negative
◦ Do not determine cause and effect
◦ Do not test interventions
◦ Goals:
▪ Explore relationships or associations
▪ Hypothesis generating

• Experimental Research
◦ Highly controlled, systematic design
◦ Examines causality
◦ Controlled manipulation of an independent (treatment) variable
◦ Comparison of a treatment group and a control group (unexposed to treatment)

• (Reading: Page 16-24 from Sherri L. Jackson. Research Methods and Statistics_ A Critical
Thinking Approach (2008, Cengage Learning))

Quantitative Research Qualitative Research

Ask specific narrow Qs.
Seek measurable, observable
data on variables
Collecting data using instruments with
preset questions and resolution.
Ask broad, general Qs
Seek to understand the
participants’ experiences
Collecting data using forms with general,
emerging Qs to permit the participant to

Description of trends or an explanation of
relationships between variables
Analyses numerical data using statistics.
Data analysis tends to consist
of statistical analysis
Interpretation tends to consist of comparing
results with prior predictions and past research.
Tend to use standard fixed structure and
evaluation criteria.
generate responses.
An exploration in which little
is known about the problem
Descriptions and analysis of words for themes.
Text analysis.
Stating the larger meaning of
findings.
A flexible, emerging structure
and evaluative criteria.

• Research designs associated with quantitative and qualitative research

◦ Research designs are the specific procedures involved in the last three steps of the
research process: data collection, data analysis and report writing.
◦ Experimental Design: An independent variable is manipulated and one or more
dependent variables are controlled to see the effect of the independent variable on the
dependent variable(s).
◦ Correlational Designs/Observational research design: which involves study of variables
without manipulating them in natural setting for the purpose of description, exploration,
explanation or identification of correlation between two or more variables. Need of non-
experimental design arise when independent variables cannot be manipulated (Exoplanet
study)

• Advantages of Experimental design

◦ establish the casual relationship between independent and dependent variables and an
explanation may be sought.
◦ Conditions not found in natural setting can be created in experimental setting where
independent variable is manipulated by the researcher.
◦ Greater degree of purity because of controlled environment
◦ Randomized experimental designs remove any accusations of conscious or subconscious
bias, practically guaranteeing external validity

• Advantages of Correlational design

◦ Tend to be closest to real life situation
◦ Most suitable for nursing research studies
◦ Extremely useful to enhance our understanding about the existing real-world setting
◦ Numerous human characteristics are inherently not subject to experimental manipulation
(blood type, personality, health beliefs), therefore effects of these cannot be studied
experimentally.
◦ Fair to carry out in dilemmas of ethical issues
◦ Cost- effective, time saving

• Advantages of Quantitative approach as a whole

◦ Permits formulation of statistically sound hypotheses with no room for emotional design
◦ Probabilistic inference and prediction permits sound implementation and rigorous
evaluation
◦ Enables evaluation of multiple datasets and hypotheses faster and accurately
◦ Time consuming manual implementations of ideas can be automated
• Disadvantages of Experimental Design
◦ Results of lab based experiments cannot be replicated in studies on human being due to
ethical concerns
◦ In some cases because of danger to physical and psychological health on human
subjects, experiments could not be done
◦ Lack of valid measurable criteria or instruments to measure them
◦ Difficult to control extraneous variables
◦ Often impractical when the effect of independent variable may require a lengthy period
before it can emerge a response.
◦ Small sample size raise question of generalization of results.

• Disadvantages of Correlational design

◦ Results obtained and the relationship between the dependent and independent variables
can never be absolutely clear or error free
◦ Mainly used for conducting comparison using non randomly elected groups which may
not be homogeneous and tend to be dissimilar in different traits and characteristics that
may affect the authenticity and generalize ability of the results

• Disadvantages of Quantitative approach as a whole

◦ Requires constant or periodic monitoring of model performance to ensure continued
compliance with original hypotheses
◦ Inadequate quality of training data can lead to errors or disastrous performance on
unseen data
◦ Requires a deep background in multiple complex disciplines that are hard to master
◦ Improper representation of target population
◦ Lack of resources for data collection
◦ Inability to control the environment or extraneous variables
◦ Time consuming, expensive, limited outcomes