An Overview of Research Methods and Methodologies

Why Do I Need to Know About Different Methods?

As a graduate student...
To be able to read and understand the empirical literature in your field; to become a critical consumer of information.

As a graduate student preparing for a thesis or dissertation

To be able to both design and implement your thesis or dissertation as well as future studies that interest you.

Why Do I Need to Know About Different Methods?

As a future practitioner
To be able to intelligently participate in research projects, evaluations, and studies undertaken by your institution.

As a businessmen ...
To be able to professionally conduct a reliable business research, feasibility study and to understand customers behavior

Whats the Difference Between Method and Methodology?

Method: Techniques for gathering evidence The various ways of proceeding in gathering information Methodology: The underlying theory and analysis of how research does or should proceed, often influenced by discipline
(Sandra Harding)

Epistemology, Methodology, and Method

According to Sandra Harding: "a research method is a technique for (or way of proceeding in) gathering evidence" (p. 2) while "methodology is a theory and analysis of how research does or should proceed" (p. 3) and "an epistemology is a theory of knowledge" (p. 3).
From Is There a Feminist Method?

An Overview of Empirical Research Methods

Descriptive (Qualitative) Ethnography Case Study Suvey/Sampling Focus Groups Discourse/Text Analysis Quantitative Description Prediction/Classification

Experimental (Quantitative) True Experiment Quasi-Experiment Meta-Analysis

From Lauer and Asher, Composition Research: Empirical Designs and MacNealy, Empirical Research in Writing

Assessing Methods
Research Question(s) is/are key Methods must answer the research question(s) Methodology guides application Epistemology guides analysis All must include rigor

Ethnographies
+ Observational field work done in the actual context being studied + Focus on how individuals interrelate in their own environment (and the influence of this environment) - Difficult to interpret/analyze - Time consuming/expensive - Can influence subject behavior

Case Studies
+ Focus is on individual or small group + Able to conduct a comprehensive analysis from a comparison of cases + Allows for identification of variables or phenomenon to be studied - Time consuming - Depth rather than breadth - Not necessarily representative

GROUP THINK

Success Story of Facebook

Fall 2003: three Harvard students planned to develop social website for students and alumny of Harvard University. They appointed Victor Gao, to program HarvardConnetion.com In the middle, Victor resigned from the project and proposed his friend, Mark Zuckerberg, a 19 year old 2nd graduate student. Winklevoss and friends agreed to appoint Zuckerberg, because of his ability to popularize social website and attract public attention.

Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra

Mark Zuckerberg

Short History
Zuckerberg made a controversy by delaying HarvardConnetion.com. In the same time, he developed his own project, thefacebook.com. The first investor of thefacebook.com was Eduardo Saverin. He invested $15,000 for 30% shares. Summer 2004, Zuckerberg dropped his study and continued to run thefacebook.com in Silicon Valley. The second investor of thefacebook.com was Peter Theil, CEO of Pay-Pal, who invested $ 500,000. Thefacebook.com started to grow rapidly.

The Investors
Since its growing, many companies started to invest in face book. 2005: $ 12,7 mio in venture capital from Accel Partner, and 27,5 mio from Greylock Partner. 2006: Theil indicated that Face Books internal valuation was around $ 8 bio. Oct 2007: Microsoft invested $240 mio for 1.6% shares. Google also expressed interest in buying Face Book shares. Nov 2007: Li Ka-Sing invested $60 mio in Face Book

Demographic Profile of Visitors to Select Social Networking Sites Percent Composition of Total Unique Visitors August 2006 Total U.S. Home/Work/University Locations
Total Internet MySpace Facebook Friendster Xanga

Unique Visitors (000)

173,407

55,778

14,782

1,043

8,066

Percent (%) Composition of Unique Visitors Total Audience Persons: 12-17 Persons: 18-24 Persons: 25-34 Persons: 35-54 Persons: 55+

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

9.6 11.3
14.5 38.5 18.0

11.9 18.1
16.7 40.6 11.0

14.0 34.0
8.6 33.5 7.6

10.6 15.6
28.2 35.4 8.1

20.3 15.5
11.0 35.6 7.3

What Make Face Book Difference?

Simple and professional user interface Explanation for being added as a friend Unique groups or communities Security of users profile and information Many other fun applications

Market Value
Company
Google Ebay Yahoo Amazon

Market Value (Milyard USD)

250.00 55.20 50.00 34.35

Facebook
PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia PT. Bank Central Asia PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia

25.00
10.60 4.78 3.80

PT. Bank Mandiri

PT. Bumi Resources

3.01
1.25

Survey Research
+ An efficient means of gathering large amounts of data + Can be anonymous and inexpensive - Feedback often incomplete - Wording of instrument can bias feedback - Details often left out

The World Top Ten Oil Producers

Rank
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

country
Russia
Saudi Arabia United States Iran China Canada Mexico United Arab Emirates Brazil Kuwait

(bbl/day)
9,932,000
9,764,000 9,056,000 4,172,000 3,991,000 3,289,000 3,001,000 2,798,000 2,572,000 2,494,000

Date of Information
2009 est.
2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est. 2009 est.

Daftar Orang Terkaya Indonesia 2010

01. R. Budi & Michael Hartono US$ 7 billion 02. Martua Sitorus US$ 3 billion 03. Susilo Wonowidjojo US$ 2.6 billion 04. Aburizal Bakrie US$ 2.5 billion 05. Eka Tjipta Widjaja U$S 2.4 billion 06. Peter Sondakh US$ 2.1 billion 07. Putera Sampoerna US$ 2 billion 08. Sukanto Tanoto US$ 1.9 billion 9. Anthoni Salim US$ 1.4 billion

10. Soegiharto Sosrodjojo US$ 1.2 billion

Focus Groups
+ Aid in understanding audience, group, users + Small group interaction more than individual response + Helps identify and fill gaps in current knowledge re: perceptions, attitudes, feelings, etc. - Does not give statistics - Marketing tools seen as suspect - Analysis subjective

Discourse/Text Analysis
+ Examines actual discourse produced for a particular purpose (job, school) + Helps in understanding of context, production, audience, and text + Schedule for analysis not demanding - Labor intensive - Categories often fluid, making analysis difficult

Quantitative Descriptive Studies

+ Isolates systematically the most important variables (often from case studies) and to quantify and interrelate them (often via survey or questionnaire) + Possible to collect large amounts of data + Not as disruptive + Biases not as likely - Data restricted to information available

Prediction and Classification Studies

Goal is to predict behaviors: Prediction forecasts and interval variable (Diagnostic/TAAS scores)
Classification forecasts a nominal variable (Major selection after taking 2311)

+ Important in industry, education to predict behaviors - Need substantial population

- Restricted range of variables can cause misinterpretation

- Variables cannot be added together; must be weighted and looked at in context of other variables

The Monty Hall Problem

Positive Aspects of Descriptive/Qualitative Research

Naturalistic; allows for subjects to interact with environment Can use statistical analysis Seeks to further develop theory (not to influence action); Prescientific Coding schemes often arise from interplay between data and researchers knowledge of theory

Problems with Descriptive/Qualitative Research

Impossible to overlay structure Impossible to impose control Subject pool often limited, not representative Seen as more subjective, less rigorous Beneficial only in terms of initial investigation to form hypothesis

Experimental Research: True Experiment

+ Random sampling, or selection, of subjects (which are also stratified) + Introduction of a treatment + Use of a control group for comparing subjects who dont receive treatment with those who do - Adherence to scientific method (seen as positive, too) - Must have both internal and external validity - Treatment and control might seem artificial

ASCH EXPERIMENT

Experimental Research: QuasiExperiment

+ Similar to Experiment, except that the subjects are not randomized. Intact groups are often used (for example, students in a classroom). + To draw more fully on the power of the experimental method, a pretest may be employed. + Employ treatment, control, and scientific method - Act of control and treatment makes situation artificial - Small subject pools

Meta-Analysis
+ Takes the results of true and quasi-experiments and identifies interrelationships of conclusions + Systematic + Replicable + Summarizes overall results - C/C apples and oranges? - Quality of studies used?

Positive Aspects of Experimental Research

Tests the validity of generalizations Seen as rigorous Identifies a cause-and-effect relationship Seen as more objective, less subjective Can be predictive

Problems with Experimental Research

Generalizations need to be qualified according to limitation of research methods employed Controlled settings dont mirror actual conditions; unnatural Difficult to isolate a single variable Doesnt allow for self-reflection (built-in)

What Makes Research Good?

Validity Reliability Replicability Consistent application/analysis Trustworthiness Rigor

Validity in Research
Refers to whether the research actually measures what it says itll measure. Validity is the strength of our conclusions, inferences or propositions.
Internal Validity: the difference in the dependent variable is actually a result of the independent variable External Validity: the results of the study are generalizable to other groups and environments outside the experimental setting Conclusion Validity: we can identify a relationship between treatment and observed outcome Construct Validity: we can generalize our conceptualized treatment and outcomes to broader constructs of the same concepts

Reliability in Research
The consistency of a measurement, or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same condition with the same subjects. In short, it is the repeatability of your measurement. A measure is considered reliable if a person's score on the same test given twice is similar. It is important to remember that reliability is not measured, it is estimated. Measured by test/retest and internal consistency.

Validity and Reliability

The relationship between reliability and validity is a fairly simple one to understand: a measurement can be reliable, but not valid. However, a measurement must first be reliable before it can be valid. Thus reliability is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition of validity. In other words, a measurement may consistently assess a phenomena (or outcome), but unless that measurement tests what you want it to, it is not valid.

Rigor in Research
Validity and Reliability in conducting research Adequate presentation of findings: consistency, trustworthiness Appropriate representation of study for a particular field: disciplinary rigor Rhetorical Rigor: how you represent your research for a particular audience

Thank you for your kind attention

Go forth and research. .but be careful out there.