Research Methodology and

Academic Writing
Data Acquisition and Analysis
Content

1. Introduction
2. Research Problems and Hypothesis
3. Process and Methodologies
4. Working Thesis Statement
5. Writings
6. Literature Review
7. Preparing Good Research Proposal
8. Variable, Sampling, Research Instrument
9. Data Acquisition and Analysis
10. Experimental Research Design
11. Academic Writing in Research Reports
12. Presenting and Publishing Research Works
13. Ethics in Research
Survey Research
• Nonexperimental method using interviews or
questionnaires to assess attitudes, activities, opinions, or
beliefs
• Surveys often used to assess changes in attitudes over
time, to test theoretical models, and to describe and
predict behavior
• To insure high external validity random samples should
be used
Steps in Conducting Survey Research
• Plan and design the survey
• Construct and refine the survey instrument
• Collect the survey data
• Enter and “clean” the data
• Analyze & interpret the data
Steps in Conducting Survey Research
(cont’d)
Cross-sectional and Longitudinal
Designs
• Cross-sectional studies involve collecting data in a single,
brief time period
• Longitudinal studies involve collecting data at more than
one point in time
▫ panel studies – type of longitudinal design in which
the same individuals are surveyed multiple times over
time
▫ trend study or successive independent samples design
– same survey questions are asked of different samples
over time
Methods of Data Collection
• Face-to-face or personal interview
▫ advantages include ability to clear up ambiguities and
higher completion rate
▫ disadvantage - expense
• Telephone interview
▫ less expensive than face to face and comparable data
• Mail questionnaires
▫ low cost but low return rate
• Group-administered questionnaire
Methods of Data Collection (cont'd)
• Electronic survey
▫ e-mail & Web-based
▫ advantages of electronic surveys
 cost
 instant access to wide audience
 download to spreadsheet
 flexible in layout—especially web-based survey
▫ disadvantages of electronic surveys
 privacy and anonymity
 sample may not be representative of population
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument
• Principle 1. Write Items to Match the Research
Objectives
▫ conduct literature review
▫ write items that will yield reliable and valid data
• Principle 2. Write Items That Are Appropriate for the
Respondents to be Surveyed
▫ use easy-to-understand language based on reading
level, culture etc
• Principle 3. Write Short, Simple Questions
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 4. Avoid Loaded or Leading Questions
▫ a loaded term is one that produced an emotional
response
▫ a leading question suggests to the respondent how
they should respond
• Principle 5. Avoid Double-Barreled Questions
▫ double-barreled questions ask two or more things in a
single question
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 6. Avoid Double Negatives
Example
I don’t know nothing about building a compost pile.
We don’t need no education
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 7. Determine Whether Closed-Ended or
Open-Ended Questions are Needed
▫ open-ended better if researcher is unsure what
respondent is thinking or variable is not well-defined
▫ closed-ended are easier to code and provide more
standardized data
▫ mixed-question format uses a combination of both
open and closed-ended questions
 Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 8. Construct Mutually Exclusive and
Exhaustive Categories
▫ mutually exclusive means that the categories do not
overlap
▫ exhaustive items include all possible responses

mutually exclusive
Usia: a. 17-25 tahun b. 25-35 tahun c. 35-45 tahun d. 45-55 tahun e. atas 55 tahun
Usia: a. 17-24 tahun b. 25-34 tahun c. 35-44 tahun d. 45-54 tahun e. atas 55 tahun

exhaustive
Usia: a. 17-25 tahun b. 25-35 tahun c. 35-45 tahun d. 45-55 tahun
Usia: a. 17-24 tahun b. 25-34 tahun c. 35-44 tahun d. 45-54 tahun e. atas 55 tahun
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 9. Consider the Different Types of Closed-
Ended Response Categories
▫ rating scales
 multichotomous (more than two choices) usually
preferred
 ability to measure direction and strength of
attitude
 distance between each descriptor should be the same

dichotomous

multichotomous
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 9. Consider the Different Types of Closed-
Ended Response Categories

▫ binary forced choice

 participant chooses one of pair of attitudes
 typically not recommended
Bad - Good
Like - Dislike

▫ ranking
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 9. Consider the Different Types of Closed-
Ended Response Categories
▫ checklist
▫ semantic differential – scaling method in which
participants rate an object on a series of bipolar rating
scales

▫ likert scaling
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 10. Use Multiple Items to Measure Complex
or Abstract Constructs
konstruk multi-item
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 11. Make Sure the Questionnaire is Easy to
Use From Beginning to End
▫ ordering of questions
 positive and interesting questions first
 demographic questions last
▫ limit the number of contingency questions

▫ questionnaire length
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 11. Make Sure the Questionnaire is Easy to
Use From Beginning to End
▫ response bias
 social desirability bias occurs when participants
respond in a way to make themselves look good
 avoid by insuring anonymity
 response set – tendency to respond in a specific way
 use even number of response categories on rating
scale
 include multiple question types
Constructing and Refining a Survey
Instrument (cont'd)
• Principle 12. Pilot Test the Questionnaire Until It Is
Perfected
▫ To identify problems and fixed them
▫ Must be done before using the instrument in data
collection
▫ Can start testing questionnaire with friends to identify
unclear item or other problems.
Selecting Your Survey Sample From the
Population
• If primary goal is to explore relationship between
variables rather than generalization, convenience sample
is acceptable
• If generalization to population is needed a random
sampling method should be used
Descriptive Statistics
• The goal of descriptive statistics is to describe sample
data
• Can be contrasted with inferential statistics where the
goal is to make inferences about populations from
sample data
Frequency Distributions
• A listing of values in a data set along with their frequency
▫ systematic arrangement of data values
▫ the unique data values are rank ordered
▫ the frequencies are provided for each of these values.
▫ Oftentimes, the percentages for each frequency are
also included in a frequency distribution
Graphic Representations of Data
• Bar graph
▫ used with categorical variables
▫ height of bar represents frequency of category
▫ bars should not touch
• Histogram
▫ used with quantitative variables
▫ is a presentation of a frequency distribution in bar
format.
▫ no space between bars
Figure 14.2 A bar graph of undergraduate major.
Figure 14.3 Histogram of starting salary.
Graphic Representations of Data
(cont'd)
• Line graphs
▫ also used with quantitative variables
▫ particularly useful for interpreting interactions
• Scatterplots
▫ depicts relationship between two quantitative
variables
Figure 14.5 Line graph of results from pretest–posttest control group design studying
effectiveness of social skills treatment.
Figure 14.6 A scatterplot of starting salary by college GPA.
Measures of Central Tendency
• Provide a single value that is typical of the distribution of
scores
▫ mode
 most frequently occurring value
 least useful measure of central tendency
▫ median
 middle score when numbers are in ascending or
descending order
▫ mean
 arithmetic average
 most commonly used measure of central tendency
Measures of Variability
• Provides a numerical value indicating the amount of
variation in a group of scores
▫ range
 highest score minus lowest score
 rarely used as a measure of variability
▫ variance
 average deviation of the data values from their mean
in squared units
▫ standard deviation
 square root of variance
 roughly the average amount that individual scores
deviate from the mean
Measures of Variability
Measures of Variability (cont'd)
• Provides a numerical value indicating the amount of
variation in a group of scores
▫ standard deviation and the normal curve
▫ z-scores
 standardized values transformed from raw scores
 mean of z-distribution is always zero; standard
deviation always 1
Measures of Variability (cont'd)
• Provides a numerical value indicating the amount of
variation in a group of scores
▫ z-scores
 indicates how far above or below a raw score is from
its mean in standard deviation units; e.g., a z-score
of +1.00 indicates a raw score that is one standard
deviation unit above the mean
 in a normal distribution, the proportion of scores
occurring between any two points can be determined
Figure 14.8 Areas under the normal distribution.
Examining Relationships Among
Variables
• Unstandardized difference between means
▫ a comparison of mean differences between levels of a
categorical independent variable
• Standardized difference between means
▫ effect size
 Cohen’s d is a common measure of effect size
 mean difference is divided by standard deviation
 small, medium, and large effect sizes are indicated
by values of at least .2, .5, and .8 respectively
Examining Relationships Among
Variables (Example)
Examining Relationships Among
Variables (cont'd)
• Correlation Coefficient
▫ numerical representation of the strength and direction
of relationship between two variables
 value ranges from +1.0 to -1.0; absolute value
indicates strength of relationship; sign indicates
direction
 positive correlation indicates that the two variables
vary together in the same direction; negative
correlation means that they move in opposite
directions
Examining Relationships Among
Variables (cont'd)
• Correlation Coefficient
▫ Pearson correlation (r) used with two quantitative
variables; only appropriate if data is related in a linear
fashion
▫ partial correlation is a technique that involves
examining correlation after controlling for one or
more variables
▫ a scatterplot can be used to judge the strength and
direction of a correlation
Figure 14.10 Correlations of different strengths and directions.
Regression Analysis
• Statistical technique designed to predict dependent
variable based on one or more predictor values
▫ simple regression involves the use of one independent
or predictor variable
▫ multiple regression involves two or more independent
or predictor variables
Regression Analysis (cont'd)
• Statistical technique designed to predict dependent
variable based on one or more predictor values
▫ prediction is made using the regression equation
 y-intercept - point where regression line crosses y-
axis
 regression coefficient - predicted change in the
dependent variable (Y) given a one unit change in
the independent variable (X)
 partial regression coefficient
Contingency Tables
• Table used to examine relationship between two
categorical variables
• Cells may contain frequencies or percentages