Research Notes 4

Building Blocks of Research Examples of Constructs

Objectives:  Theory
 Define & distinguish new terms with quantitative = an explanation of some aspect of reality
and qualitative research = composed of concepts knitted together to describe or
 Describe the flow & sequence of activities in explain some aspect of the world
quantitative and qualitative research = built using research; Research  supports logicality of
theory OR refute/dispute a particular claim of a theory
Key Terms in Quantitative & Qualitative Research = used to back up the logical relationship among the variables
Context Quantitative Qualitative Term you want to look into & study on
Term
Person Subject; Study Study Participant, Nursing theories
contributing Participant Informant, Key = important because without these theories they will not
Information Informant be able to say anything about nursing in general especially
Person Researcher/ Researcher/ on the 4 metaparadigms of nursing (person, health,
undertaking the Investigator Investigator environment, nursing)
study
That which is Concepts, Phenomena,
Research
being Constructs, Concepts
investigated Variables = is to be conducted in order to:
Information Data (numerical Data (narrative  test/generate a theory
gathered values) description)  add more knowledge
Connections Relationships Patterns of  improve a theory
between (cause and effect, associations  expand/edit the theory
concepts associative) Themes  refute theory
Logical reasoning Deductive Inductive (specific  check applicability of theory
processes (general to to general)
specific) Concepts in Qualitative Research
Phenomenon of Interest / Phenomenon / The study
Subject
focus / The concept of interest / The central issue
= pertains to participants in an experimental study
= the foundational topic on which the qualitative research
Variables
is focused
= should be concretely measured in a quantitative research
Emergent concept
(through a survey questionnaire & other types of
= what the researcher discovers during the process of
measurement)
studying the phenomenon of interest
Concepts
Themes / Essences / Truths
= ideas, mostly intangible and abstract
= for phenomenology & other qualitative inquiry
= more cognitive in nature
Factors, factors of interest, categories, codes, core
= emanates from the thinking of people & how they view
variable
things
= for grounded theory
Constructs
Qualitative research
= ideas often deliberately invented or constructed by the
= researchers are required to immerse themselves into the
researchers
data & establish connection with the participant/key
= made if the research is aimed to look into the
informants in order for them to know what are
development of a particular theory
theme/essences/truth about a particular phenomenon
Phenomena
= Example: What are the lived experiences of mothers who
= the entirety of a particular situation
have lost a child due to abortion?
= a new happening/event that has not been studied well on
 Their unique experience would help us to
yet hence you need to collect more data about it
understand what they go through.
= ideas / concepts used in qualitative research
Qualitative & Quantitative Research
Concepts in Quantitative Research
= both involve concepts Variables
 There will be no research if there is no concept. = the central building blocks of Quantitative studies
Research Notes 4
= any quality of a person, group, or situation that VARIES or
takes on different values
= concepts that can be measured, yielding at least 2
different “values”, either numeric or non-numeric
 Example: If you want to measure the level of
happiness, use a tool that would indicate the level
of happiness.
= ALWAYS related to quantitative studies (Qualitative =
Phenomenon, Concepts)
Demographic variables
= commonly collected among study participants in a
quantitative research
= subject characteristics measured during a study and used
to describe a sample, such as age, gender, ethnicity, year
levels
= define the population represented by the sample
= Make sure that these variables are included in the aim of
your study or in your objectives. Make sure that what you
are doing in every step of your research is deliberately
thought of.
 Example: If you want to study on which gender,
male or female, is happier, then ask a particular
part in your questionnaire na “Please state your
gender/sex birth”. If it is not in your objectives, do
not ask for it. Do not ask for it if it is not used.
Otherwise, that would be an unethical question.
Independent vs. Dependent Variables
Independent Variable Dependent Variable
 Presumed cause  Presumed effect
 The outcome that
researchers want to
understand, explain,
or predict
I.C.D.E  Independent = Cause; Dependent = Effect
Example:
Among heart failure patients, is reduced grey matter
volume (as measured through MRI) associated with poorer
performance in instrumental activities of daily living?
 Independent variable = Reduced grey matter
volume
 Dependent variable = Level of performance in
instrumental activities of daily living
Interventional research designs
= another type of quantitative research
= aka experimental and quasi-experimental designs
= The researcher enacts an intervention upon the
experimental group and not the control group
= With this, we want to establish if the introduced
interventions/treatment could really cause the outcome
among your participants
= Naa kay iintroduce na intervention & you check if there is
a change among a particular parameter that you are
looking into among the groups that you are comparing (the
one that has received the intervention & the control group
who has most likely not received any intervention or can
only receive the standard of care)
= has 2 variables:
 Independent variable
= intervention or treatment that is applied to the
experimental group
 Dependent variable
= the outcome after intervention is applied
Quantitative
= not just experimental! Experimental/Non-experimental is
only one type of it
Predictive Correlational Design
= non-experimental quantitative research
= has 2 variables:
 Outcome variable / Dependent variable
= the variable that the researcher is attempting to
predict
= Example: You would like to predict that among
Velez College nursing students, if they have these
particular characteristics, they are more likely to
get passing grades.
 Outcome variable: The probability of
passing Nursing in Velez College having
these particular characteristics
 Independent variable
= the predictor that predict the value of the
dependent variable and to what extent they do so
= Example: If students have this level of grit,
resilience, and happiness, they would most likely
pass Nursing.
 Independent variable: The grit, resilience,
and happiness (cause)
 Dependent variable: Whether they will
pass or not (effect/outcome)
Extraneous variables
= any variable that you are not investigating which can
potentially affect the dependent variable of your research
study
Research Notes 4

= variables that are not central to a study’s research to change the research design because it will really alter
purpose the findings of your study puhon. That is why you have to
= not identified as either independent or dependent plan fully when you conduct especially experimental
variables researches.
= ang mga samok-samokan na variables Other Quantitative Design Variables
= could be anticipated or worse, they may not be directly Research variable
identified by the researcher = Neither an independent or dependent variable
= 1 dangerous thing about these variables: they have the = the focus of a quantitative research that is neither
potential to cause an effect on the results (Pwede maka causative nor predictive
hugaw2 sa result) thus, you will not be able to get a true = refer to descriptive researches where you aim to describe
reliable data which will compromise your research something
= Very important for us researchers na sa proposal palang  Example: You would like to know the learning
daan, we will be able to identify & properly mitigate and styles of the students in Velez College. Learning
control these extraneous variables especially if we are styles is the research variable. It is neither
doing an experimental research independent or dependent because wala kay gi
tan-aw na cause & effect.
Modifying variable
= a variable that changes the strength, and possibly the
direction or a relationship between other variables
= very much related to the confounding variable but it can
modify; it can strengthen/weaken the effect of one
particular variable
Mediating variable
= a variable that is an intermediate link in the relationship
between other variables
= could also lead to potential changes to future study
results
= Example: For instance, imagine that you find a positive
association between note-taking and performance on an
Confounding variable exam. This association may be explained by number of
= a special subtype of extraneous variable hours studying, which would be the mediating variable. 
= embedded in the study design because it is intertwined Environmental variable
with the independent variable = a characteristic from the study setting
= cannot be controlled for once the study is underway = Example: The researchers aimed to check the effectivity
= Example: You are conducting an educational of letting students listen to beta-beats, to know if it can
experimental research on which you would like to know increase their memory. They noted that a particular
which is more effective. The traditional face-to-face environmental variable that may have had great impact on
teaching or the online teaching. In order to know the their findings is that during the time when they collected
effectivity, you are going to see if asa sa group ang naay their data, it was in the afternoon after a long exam.
mas dako ug score. So academic performance imong tan- Therefore, students who participated in the research kay
awn na outcome. One confounding variable here is if who wala na sa kondisyon to go & listen to the music.
will be the teacher who will conduct the intervention. For
example, you will employ 2 teachers. 1 will conduct the Variables Pertaining to Measurement
face-to-face and the other one will conduct the online. The Type of Other Description Examples
confounding variable can be identified during the conduct Variable Name
of the actual research (nagsugod na silag teaching). What if Dichotomou Binary or Has only 2 Dead-
ang isa ka teacher kay a fresh-graduate compared to the s Bernoulli possible alive, yes-
other one who has a long teaching experience. This will values no,
have a potential effect on how the intervention will be present-
absent, L-
implemented. So indeed, the mastery of the teachers also
R
on the topic could be a confounding variable that you have Nominal Categorical Values are Married-
to foresee because it may raise the need for the research
Research Notes 4

names or partnered- person to withstand anything that comes and is

categories, divorced- measured using the Grit Scale by Cohen 2021.”
not real widowed-
numbers single Example of Conceptual & Operational Definitions
Continuous Ratio Values use Age,
Stoddard and colleagues (2015) studied the relationship
the real income,
number weight
between young adolescents’ hopeful future expectations
scale on the one hand and bullying on the other. The researchers
including defined bullying conceptually as “intentional aggressive
the values behaviors that are repetitive and impose a power
between imbalance between students who bully and students who
numerals are victimized” (p. 422). They operationalized bullying
Discrete Does not Number of behavior by asking a set of 12 questions. One question
have times
asked how often in the past month did the study
potential hospitalized
participant “say things about another student to make
values in
the “gaps” others laugh?” Participants were asked to respond to a
bet. scale from 0 (never) to 5 (five or more times).
numbers  The researchers made an operational definition of
Continuous & Discrete bullying, wherein they stipulated that bullying in
= variables that can be measured/computed using statistics their study is the result of the participants’
Continuous responses to the questionnaire with 12 questions
= has decimals that measure the extent of bullying.
Discrete
= whole numbers; cannot have decimals Different Types of Quantitative Research
 Descriptive Research
Conceptual & Operational Definitions  Correlational Research
Conceptual definition  Experimental Research
= definition of terms  Quasi-experimental Research
= the theoretical meaning of a concept
Descriptive Research
= can be derived from a theorist’s definition of a variable Descriptive research
or developed through concept analysis = explore and describe ideas in real-life situations
= may be drawn from previous publications on the same = performed when collective knowledge about a
topic, a medical dictionary, a standard dictionary, and then phenomenon is incomplete: either no research has been
synthesized by the researcher so as to encompass the conducted, or there is limited knowledge
study’s intended focus = “To what extent does this exist?”
= built from literature review = “What are the principal types of this?”
= Types:
 Simple descriptive design
Operational definition
 Comparative descriptive design
= indicates what the researchers must do to measure the
 Longitudinal descriptive design
concept and collect needed information  Cross-sectional descriptive design
= operationally defining a concept converts it to a variable = Example: You would like to know the learning styles of the
and establishes how it will be measured in that particular first-year students in Velez College. Having known that this
study population pag senior high nila last year kay online, karun 1st
= Most researchers that calls for operational definition falls year of college, online gihapon. So you want to describe what
on quantitative research will be their learning styles now.
 For example: You are studying on grit level. There
is a lexical/theoretical definition of grit, which is Correlational Research
Correlational Research
considered as the conceptual definition, defined
= The researcher measures the numerical strength of
by the previous theorist. However, if you wish to relationships between and among variables in order to
have operational definition of grit, you will state discover whether a change in the value of one is likely to
“In this study, grit is the level of strength in a occur when another increases or decreases.
Research Notes 4
= ALLOW PREDICTION; you try to predict the extent of the
occurrence of one variable with another
= aims to allow prediction BUT it cannot establish cause &
effect
= Use of correlational formulas produce numbers varying
from -1 through +1
= 3 possible results:
 Negative/Inverse Correlation
 Positive Correlation
 No correlation
Negative/Inverse Correlation
= A correlation between two variables of – 1 is a perfect
negative correlation
= Perfect negative correlation  As one variable increases,
the other decreases, and the amount of that increase is
completely predictable
 The predictability of which depends on various
parameters because you will have to make sure that
you have a lot of samples at the same the statistical
tool/formula that you use is correct. Lastly, your
questions or the quality of your data should be really
strong.
= Example: When a certain study would say that there is a
negative correlation between suicidal ideation and resilience.
If there is higher level of suicidal ideation, then the resilience
level among these people who have higher suicidal ideation
scores are lower, and vice versa. If mas taas kag resilience,
lesser chance ka na mag suicidal ideation.
Positive Correlation
= A correlation of + 1
= As one variable increases in value, the value of the other
variable also increases by a predictable amount
= Example: There is a positive correlation between suicidal
ideation & level of stress. The more stressed a person is, the
more likely he will have suicidal ideation.
No Correlation
= a value of 0 means no relationship at all
Types of Correlational Design:
 Simple Correlational Design
 Predictive Correlational Design
 Model Testing Design
Predictive Correlational & Model Testing Design
= need more sample size or a stronger valid tool to use in
collecting results from the participants
Experimental Research
Experimental research
= type of interventional research
= Purpose: To test the NULL hypotheses by means of an
applying an intervention to the experimental group and not
to the control group
= should have the 3 elements of:
 RANDOMIZATION = random assignment of a
homogenous participant to the control &
experimental group
 CONTROL = all extraneous variables are controlled
by the researcher to be derived to the purest true
data & to establish that the introduction of the
intervention is really the cause of the outcome
 INTERVENTION/MANIPULATION = intervention that
is introduced to the experimental group; see if there
are changes/effectivity
= Common types of Experimental Design:
 Pretest/Posttest Control Group Design
 Experimental post-test only control group
 Factorial Design
 Solomon four-group design
RANDOMIZATION, CONTROL, INTERVENTION (RCI / RCM)
= the 3 elements of a true experimental research
Quasi-experimental Research
= Purpose: To test hypothesis of a cause-and-effect
relationship when an experimental design cannot or should
not be used
= May lack in one or more of:
1) Researcher-controlled intervention/manipulation of
independent variable
2) Traditional type of control group
3) Randomization of subjects
Control or randomization
= most likely kuwang
Kanus-a mana mahitabo na dili ma use ang Experimental
Design?
 If your target subjects are very rare/few. Thus,
instead of experimental, quasi-experimental nalang.
Basic Research Vs. Applied Research
Basic Research
= Research designed to add up or extend the base of
knowledge in a discipline for the sake of knowledge
production or theory construction rather than for solving an
immediate problem
= Findings are broadly generalizable because they are not
limited to distinct specific settings
= important when you try to develop your new theory; when
you have to learn more and establish the concepts that you
would like to use in your theory
= In PhD, the dissertation really takes a lot of time & effort
because pang higher level najud siya
Applied Research
= Research designed to find a solution to an immediate
practical problem.
= Purpose: To answer specific questions, not general
theoretical ones
Research Notes 4
Major Steps in a Quantitative Study
1. Conceptual Phase = coming up w/ research topics
that you want to engage in for your research
2. Design & Planning = actual doing of research
proposal, consultations, chapters 1, 2, 3, a good
blueprint before you conduct your actual study
3. Empirical Phase = actual collection of data accdg. to
what you have written on your research proposal
4. Analytic Phase = apply statistical tools, formulas, to
measure and help you in making good
conclusions/implications of your findings, properly
answer the research objectives that you have set
during the design & planning
5. Dissemination Phase
= making other people know about the research
especially the beneficiaries
*All these phases call for an iterative process.
Iterative process
= scrutinizing every step, planning it meticulously
Quantitative is more kapoy than qualitative because you
really have to plan every step cos you know already what
variables you need to answer. At the same time, you have to
make sure that you have adequate sample size to make a
generalizable result. Otherwise, if nag kulang ka sa sampling,
1 weak point naa sa imong study.
Phase 1: Conceptual Phase
1. Formulating & delimiting the problem
2. Reviewing the related literature
3. Undertaking clinical fieldwork
4. Defining the framework/ developing conceptual
definitions
5. Formulating hypotheses
Phase 2: Design & Planning
1. Selecting a Research Design
2. Developing intervention protocols
3. Identifying the population
4. Designing the sampling plan
5. Specifying methods to measure research variable
6. Developing methods to safeguard subjects
7. Finalizing Research Plan
Phase 3: Empirical Phase
1. Collecting the data
2. Preparing the data for analysis
Phase 4: Analytic Phase
1. Analyzing the data
2. Interpreting the results
Phase 5: Dissemination Phase
1. Communicating the Findings
2. Utilizing the findings in practice
Activities in a Qualitative Study
1. Planning the study
2. Developing data collection strategies
3. Gathering & analyzing data  Developing data
collection strategies
4. Disseminating findings
Qualitative study
= we cannot compute for a particular sample size; instead, we
determine it using data saturation
= research design or plan is evolving
= While you plan a study & develop the data collection
strategies, you try to go back & forth
= If ever there’s a better way for you to collect the data, or
you have sufficiently selected thick descriptions of the
phenomenon, or your target participants are really the ones
who can answer your question
= you have the freedom to tweak as opposed to quantitative
proposal, wherein kailangan siya mas established daan
otherwise maguba ang entire study
= Proposal does not take much time compared to
quantitative. However, during the actual data collection,
especially during data analysis, it demands time and effort of
the researchers
Phase 1: Planning the Study
1. Identifying the research problem
2. Doing a literature review
3. Developing an overall approach
4. Selecting and gaining entrée into research sites
5. Developing methods to safeguard participants
Phase 2: Developing Data Collection Strategies
1. Deciding what type of data to gather and how to
gather them
2. Deciding from whom to collect the data
3. Deciding how to enhance trustworthiness
Trustworthiness
 (qualitative) pertains to your study rigor; how credible,
dependable, or authentic your data is
 (quantitative) the counterpart of reliability and validity of
your quantitative data
Research Notes 4

Phase 3: Gathering & Analyzing Data

1. Collecting data
2. Organizing and analyzing data
3. Evaluating data: making modifications to data
collection strategies, if necessary
4. Evaluating data: determining if saturation has been
achieved

Data saturation
 nag balik2 na ang sturya so ma predict na nimo ang sturya
sa imong mga gi interview
 researcher reaches peak of findings
 signal that you can now stop collecting data & start the
analysis of data

Phase 4: Disseminating Findings

1. Communicating Findings
2. Utilizing (or making recommendations for utilizing)
findings in practice and future research