Summary Academic
Project - Research
Methods The Essential
Knowledge Base (Grade
92) NEW VERSION
, 1. Foundation of Research Methods
1.1 The Research Enterprise
Research is a type of systematic investigation that is empirical in nature and is designed
to contribute to public knowledge.
A particular subclass of research is known as social research that has to do with our
societies, things we do, how we interact, how we live and feel.
A research project is done when conducting research. It addresses one or more
questions, collects specific data, and so on. Each research project contributes to the
broader effort which is the research enterprise.
The research enterprise is a macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple
empirical systematic public research projects.
Translational research is the systematic effort to move research from initial discovery
to practice and ultimately to impacts on our lives. There is a wide variety of clever phrases
that are used in various fields to convey the idea of translational research: “bench to
bedside”, “bench to behaviour”, “mind to the market place”, “brain to vein” and “bench-
to-practice-to-community”.
Think of the research enterprise as encompassing a research-practice continuum within
which translation occurs. In the course of moving through this continuum it is likely that
many individual research projects will be conducted.
Types of research by practice continuum
Basic research: research designed to generate discoveries and to understand how they
work.
Applied research: research where a discovery is tested under increasingly controlled
conditions in real-world contexts (discoveries related to humans).
Implementation and dissemination research: research that assesses how well a
discovery can be distributed and carried out in a broad range of contexts that extend
beyond the original controlled studies.
Impact research: research that assesses the broader effects of a discovery on society.
Policy research: research that is designed to investigate existing policies or develop and
test new ones.
,Book Summary – Academic Project 2017-2018
Amber Plantinga
Research synthesis is a systematic study of multiple prior research projects that
addresses the same research question and summarizes the results in a manner that can
be used by practitioners.
Two major types of research synthesis:
Meta-analysis uses statistical methods to combine results of similar studies to make
general conclusions (quantitative).
Systematic review focuses on a specific question or issue and uses pre-planned methods
to identify, select, assess, and summarize findings of multiple studies (judgmental-expert
driven or meta-analysis)
Practical guideline is a mechanism that is increasingly developed by the research
enterprise. It is the result of a systematic process leading to a specific set of research-
based recommendation for practice that usually includes some estimates of how strong the
evidence is for each recommendation.
The interpositioning of a synthesis and guidelines process in the middle of the research-
practice continuum has transformed virtually every area of applied social research practice
in our society evidence-based practice (EBP). This is a movement designed to
encourage or require practitioners to employ practices that are based on research evidence
as reflected the syntheses or guidelines. The goal is to achieve a better integration of
research and practice.
We view research as an evolutionary system, which is based upon the idea of evolutionary
epistemology. This is the ranch of philosophy that hold that ideas evolve through the
process of natural selection any discovery has a survival value: it either survives or it
doesn’t.
1.2 Conceptualizing Research
Where research topics come from
- Practical problems in the field
- Literature in the specific field
o A type of literature that acts as a source of good research ideas is the
requests for proposals (RFP). It is a document issued by a government
agency that typically describes the problem that needs addressing, the
approach and the amount of money the agency wants to pay.
- Think up a research topic
The literature review is a systematic compilation and written summary of all literature
published in scientific journals related to a research topic of interest. A literature review is
typically included in the introduction section of a research write-up.
Tips conducting a literature review
- Concentrate your efforts on the research literature
o Peer review is a system reviewing potential research papers where authors
submit potential articles to a journal editor who solicits several reviewers
who agree to give a critical review of the paper. The paper is sent to these
reviewers with no identification of the author so that there will be no
personal bias. Based on the reviewers’ recommendations, the editor can
accept or reject the article or recommend that the author revise and
resubmit it.
- Do the review early in the process
- The literature review might help you to find and select appropriate measurement
instruments
, Book Summary – Academic Project 2017-2018
Amber Plantinga
Feasibility issues make trade-offs between rigor and practicality. Also think about
how long the research will take, needed cooperation and ethical constraints.
1.3 The Language of Research
Research vocabulary
Theoretical means pertaining to theory. It is concerned with developing, exploring or
testing the theories that social researchers have about how the world operates.
Empirical means based on direct observations and measurements of reality.
Probabilistic means based on probabilities.
Causal: something is causal if it leads to an outcome cause-effect.
Causal relationship: a cause-effect relationship.
Types of studies
A descriptive study documents what is going on or what exists.
A relational study investigates the connection between two or more variables.
A causal study investigates a causal relationship between two variables.
Time in research
Cross sectional studies: a study taking place at one single point in time.
Longitudinal studies: a study that takes place over time.
Repeated measures: two or more waves of measurement over time.
Time series: many waves of measurement over time.
Types of relationships
Correlational relationship: an association between two variables that is, in general, the
level on one variable is related to the level on the other variable.
Third variable/missing variable problem: an unobserved variable that accounts for a
correlation between two variables.
Patterns of relationships:
- No relationship
- Negative relationship
- Positive relationship
- Curvilinear relationship
Hypotheses
A hypothesis is a specific statement of prediction.
The null hypothesis (H0) describes the possible outcomes other than H1. Usually it
predicts there will be no effect.
The alternative hypothesis (H1) is a specific statement of prediction that usually states
your expectations of the study.
A one-tailed hypothesis specifies one direction increase or decrease.
A two-tailed hypothesis does not specify a direction.
The hypothetico-deductive model is a model in which two mutually exclusive
hypotheses that together exhaust all possible outcomes are tested. One hypothesis should
be accepted only.
Variables
A variable is any entity that can take on different values.
An attribute is a specific value of a variable can be text (qualitative)
or numerical (quantitative).
Project - Research
Methods The Essential
Knowledge Base (Grade
92) NEW VERSION
, 1. Foundation of Research Methods
1.1 The Research Enterprise
Research is a type of systematic investigation that is empirical in nature and is designed
to contribute to public knowledge.
A particular subclass of research is known as social research that has to do with our
societies, things we do, how we interact, how we live and feel.
A research project is done when conducting research. It addresses one or more
questions, collects specific data, and so on. Each research project contributes to the
broader effort which is the research enterprise.
The research enterprise is a macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple
empirical systematic public research projects.
Translational research is the systematic effort to move research from initial discovery
to practice and ultimately to impacts on our lives. There is a wide variety of clever phrases
that are used in various fields to convey the idea of translational research: “bench to
bedside”, “bench to behaviour”, “mind to the market place”, “brain to vein” and “bench-
to-practice-to-community”.
Think of the research enterprise as encompassing a research-practice continuum within
which translation occurs. In the course of moving through this continuum it is likely that
many individual research projects will be conducted.
Types of research by practice continuum
Basic research: research designed to generate discoveries and to understand how they
work.
Applied research: research where a discovery is tested under increasingly controlled
conditions in real-world contexts (discoveries related to humans).
Implementation and dissemination research: research that assesses how well a
discovery can be distributed and carried out in a broad range of contexts that extend
beyond the original controlled studies.
Impact research: research that assesses the broader effects of a discovery on society.
Policy research: research that is designed to investigate existing policies or develop and
test new ones.
,Book Summary – Academic Project 2017-2018
Amber Plantinga
Research synthesis is a systematic study of multiple prior research projects that
addresses the same research question and summarizes the results in a manner that can
be used by practitioners.
Two major types of research synthesis:
Meta-analysis uses statistical methods to combine results of similar studies to make
general conclusions (quantitative).
Systematic review focuses on a specific question or issue and uses pre-planned methods
to identify, select, assess, and summarize findings of multiple studies (judgmental-expert
driven or meta-analysis)
Practical guideline is a mechanism that is increasingly developed by the research
enterprise. It is the result of a systematic process leading to a specific set of research-
based recommendation for practice that usually includes some estimates of how strong the
evidence is for each recommendation.
The interpositioning of a synthesis and guidelines process in the middle of the research-
practice continuum has transformed virtually every area of applied social research practice
in our society evidence-based practice (EBP). This is a movement designed to
encourage or require practitioners to employ practices that are based on research evidence
as reflected the syntheses or guidelines. The goal is to achieve a better integration of
research and practice.
We view research as an evolutionary system, which is based upon the idea of evolutionary
epistemology. This is the ranch of philosophy that hold that ideas evolve through the
process of natural selection any discovery has a survival value: it either survives or it
doesn’t.
1.2 Conceptualizing Research
Where research topics come from
- Practical problems in the field
- Literature in the specific field
o A type of literature that acts as a source of good research ideas is the
requests for proposals (RFP). It is a document issued by a government
agency that typically describes the problem that needs addressing, the
approach and the amount of money the agency wants to pay.
- Think up a research topic
The literature review is a systematic compilation and written summary of all literature
published in scientific journals related to a research topic of interest. A literature review is
typically included in the introduction section of a research write-up.
Tips conducting a literature review
- Concentrate your efforts on the research literature
o Peer review is a system reviewing potential research papers where authors
submit potential articles to a journal editor who solicits several reviewers
who agree to give a critical review of the paper. The paper is sent to these
reviewers with no identification of the author so that there will be no
personal bias. Based on the reviewers’ recommendations, the editor can
accept or reject the article or recommend that the author revise and
resubmit it.
- Do the review early in the process
- The literature review might help you to find and select appropriate measurement
instruments
, Book Summary – Academic Project 2017-2018
Amber Plantinga
Feasibility issues make trade-offs between rigor and practicality. Also think about
how long the research will take, needed cooperation and ethical constraints.
1.3 The Language of Research
Research vocabulary
Theoretical means pertaining to theory. It is concerned with developing, exploring or
testing the theories that social researchers have about how the world operates.
Empirical means based on direct observations and measurements of reality.
Probabilistic means based on probabilities.
Causal: something is causal if it leads to an outcome cause-effect.
Causal relationship: a cause-effect relationship.
Types of studies
A descriptive study documents what is going on or what exists.
A relational study investigates the connection between two or more variables.
A causal study investigates a causal relationship between two variables.
Time in research
Cross sectional studies: a study taking place at one single point in time.
Longitudinal studies: a study that takes place over time.
Repeated measures: two or more waves of measurement over time.
Time series: many waves of measurement over time.
Types of relationships
Correlational relationship: an association between two variables that is, in general, the
level on one variable is related to the level on the other variable.
Third variable/missing variable problem: an unobserved variable that accounts for a
correlation between two variables.
Patterns of relationships:
- No relationship
- Negative relationship
- Positive relationship
- Curvilinear relationship
Hypotheses
A hypothesis is a specific statement of prediction.
The null hypothesis (H0) describes the possible outcomes other than H1. Usually it
predicts there will be no effect.
The alternative hypothesis (H1) is a specific statement of prediction that usually states
your expectations of the study.
A one-tailed hypothesis specifies one direction increase or decrease.
A two-tailed hypothesis does not specify a direction.
The hypothetico-deductive model is a model in which two mutually exclusive
hypotheses that together exhaust all possible outcomes are tested. One hypothesis should
be accepted only.
Variables
A variable is any entity that can take on different values.
An attribute is a specific value of a variable can be text (qualitative)
or numerical (quantitative).
