- 1.Philip Adu, Ph.D. Methodology Expert Instructor National
Center for Academic & Dissertation Excellence (NCADE) The
Chicago School of Professional Psychology
2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.Outline Research
question Hypothesis Research designs Population and sample
Instrument/interview questions Procedure Ethical issues and IRB
Assumptions Limitations Delimitations Data analysis Quality
assurance 3. Research Question Types1. Descriptive (what is
happening?) 2. Relational (what is the relationship between?) 3.
Causal (what is the effect of . on ?)Source Trochim (2006)1.
Confirmatory (close-ended) 2. Exploratory (open-ended) 1.
Ontological question (Related to studying the nature of
participants realities) What are the lived experiences of? 2.
Epistemological question (Related to knowing and an understanding
of the phenomenon of interest) What factors influence?(Saldana,
2013, p.61) 4. Hypothesis Null hypothesis: there is no significant
relationship/difference Alternative hypothesis: there is a
significant relationship/difference Directional hypothesis
Non-directional hypothesis 5. Research designs(Creswell, 2007;
Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson, 2003; Keele, 2011) 6.
Population and Sample A population is any complete group with at
least one characteristic in common. Populations are not just
people. Populations may consist of, but are not limited to, people,
animals, businesses, buildings, motor vehicles, farms, objects or
events (ABS, 2012). 7. Population and Sample 8. Population and
Sample contDetermining the sample size Reviewing existing studies
Using G* power software (for quantitative study) Power Analysis
Following principle of saturation (for qualitative study) Looking
at the functions of the qualitative approach being used Examining
the recommendations made in research method textbooks 9. Instrument
(quantitative study) Choosing an appropriate instrument Validity -
The degree to which an instrument actually measures what concept or
construct it is supposed to measure (Slavin, 2007, p. 178)
Reliability The degree to which the measure produces consistent,
stable indicators of the level of a variable (Slavin, 2007, p. 174)
Internal consistency measure 10. Interview questions (qualitative
study) Open-ended Neutral Culturally sensitive Contributing to
addressing the research question(s) Presenting a smooth transition
from one question to another(Turner, 2010) 11. Procedure
Step-by-step outline of how data will be or was collected How
participants were recruited? How was the informed consent provided
and explained to participants? On average, how much time did
participants spend on completing a survey or interview What was the
channel through which data was collected (eg. Mail, face-to-face,
skype) Response rate (for quantitative) 12. Ethical issues and IRB
Age range of participants Level of risk involved in participating
in the study Are participants part of a vulnerable population? The
benefit of the study to participants Confidentiality and anonymity
DeceptionOrphans Trained to Mindlessly Obey 13. Assumptions They
cant be totally controlled They need to exist for your study to be
valid/essential/credible Truthfulness/honesty of participants
response Representativeness of sample Homogeneity of participants
characteristics Having knowledge of your assumptions Justifying
their existence (Simon, 2011) 14. Limitations to decisions made in
a They are weaknesses relatedstudy They are difficult to contain
Consequences associated with choices made in a study related to:
Sampling technique Data collection strategy Instrument used
Population chosen (in terms of accessibility) Time and resources
How would you be addressing expected challenges? (Simon, 2011) 15.
Delimitations They are features in a study that can be controlled
so as to determine the parameters or scope of the study Researchers
have control over characteristics of the following: Research
problem Research purpose Research question(s) Methodology Variables
Population (Simon, 2011) 16. Data Analysis (Quantitative study) 17.
Data Analysis (Qualitative study) Data Analysis steps developed by
Taylor-Powell and Renner (2003)Five steps Step 1: Get to know your
data Step 2: Focus on the analysis Step 3: Categorize information
Step 4: Identify patterns and connections with and between
categories Step 5: Interpretation: bringing it all together 18.
Quality assurance Traditional Criteria for Judging Quantitative
ResearchAlternative Criteria for Judging Qualitative
ResearchInternal ValidityCredibilityExternal
ValidityTransferabilityReliabilityDependabilityObjectivityConfirmability
(Trochim, 2006) 19. Questions 20. References Creswell, J. W.
(2013). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among
Five Approaches (3rd). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Creswell, J. W.,
Plano Clark, V. L., Gutmann, M. L., & Hanson, W. E. (2003).
Advanced mixed methods research designs. In A. Tashakkori & C.
Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral
research (pp. 209240). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Hanson, W. E.,
Creswell, J. W., Plano Clark, V. L., Petska, K. S., & Creswell,
D. J. (2005). Mixed methods research designs in counseling
psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2(55), 224-235.
doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.224 Jacobs, R. M. (2013, March 20).
Educational research: Sampling a population. website:
www83.homepage.villanova.edu/richard.jacobs/.../lessons/sampling.ppt
Keele, R. (2011), Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice. MA:
Jones & Bartlett, LLC. Saldana, J. (2013). The coding manual
for qualitative researchers. London: Sage Slavin, R. E. (2007).
Educational research: In an age of accountability. USA: Pearson
Education, Inc. Simon, M. K. (2011). Dissertation and scholarly
research: Recipes for success (2011 Ed.). Seattle, WA, Dissertation
Success, LLC.
http://dissertationrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/AssumptionslimitationsdelimitationsX.pdf
Taylor-Powell, E., & Renner, M. (2003, April 4). Analysing
qualitative data. website:
http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/g3658-12.pdf Trochim, W.
M. (2006, October 20). Qualitative validity. Retrieved from
Research methods knowledge base website:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualval.php Turner, D. W.
(2010). Qualitative interview design: A practical guide for novice
investigators. The Qualitative Report, 15(3), 754760. Retrieved
from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR15-3/qid.pdf
