Pr1

• Descriptive Method:

  • Describes the phenomena being studied and addresses the "what" question
  • Data are gathered and descriptive statistics are used to analyze the data
  • Considers one variable at a time and typically describes what appears to be happening and what the important variables seem to be
• Experimental Method:

  • Researcher manipulates one or more independent or grouping variables and observes the impact on dependent or outcome variables
  • Includes true experiments (randomly assigned individuals to conditions) and quasi-experiments (individuals cannot be randomly assigned)
  • Individuals in quasi-experiments are already in a condition or group such as gender, socioeconomic status, or classroom
• Historical Research:

  • Employed by researchers interested in reporting past events or conditions
  • Establishes facts to arrive at conclusions concerning past events or predict future events
• Market Research:

  • Organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers
  • Provides information to identify and analyze customer satisfaction, market need, market size, and competition
• Feasibility Study:

  • Analysis of the ability to complete a project successfully, considering legal, economic, technical, scheduling, marketing, environmental, and other factors
  • Allows project managers to investigate possible negative and positive outcomes before investing time and money
• Qualitative Research is used in:

  • Natural sciences: life science (biological science) and physical science (physics, space science, chemistry, Earth science)
  • Mathematical sciences: includes mathematics, statistics, some areas of physics, computer science, and more
  • Social sciences: psychology, economics, demography, sociology, marketing, community health, gender, political science
• Advantages/Strengths of Qualitative Research:

  • Naturalistic approach to subject matter
  • Promotes understanding of human behavior
  • Instrumental for positive societal change
  • Revives the value of respecting people's individuality
  • Interprets social interactions
  • Increases researcher's interest and attachment to the subject
  • Offers multiple ways or methods to conduct a study
• Disadvantages/Weaknesses of Qualitative Research:

  • Involves researcher's subjectivity
  • Hard to know validity or reliability of data
  • Open-ended questions yield "data overload" requiring long-term analysis
  • Time-consuming
  • Results greatly depend on researcher's interpretation
• Types of Qualitative Research:

  1. Positive or Scientific Approach:

  • Focuses on measurable and observable facts rather than personal views
  • Data collected through questionnaires or structured interviews in numerical or statistical forms
  • Used in hard sciences or STEM and natural sciences
• 2. Naturalistic Approach:

  • Data collected reflect personal views, attitudes, thoughts, emotions in natural settings
  • Pays attention to discovering the real concept or meaning behind people's lifestyles and social relations
  • Uses verbal language in presenting and analyzing things
  • Uses unstructured interviews and participant observations
  • Used in soft sciences like Anthropology, Business, Education, Economics, Law, Politics, and helping professions
• 3. Triangulation/Mixed Method:

  • Combination of quantitative and qualitative research
  • Allows mixture of research designs, data collection, and data analysis techniques used in the first two methods
• Main Methods of Data Collection:

  1. Interactive Interviewing: People share experiences through words

  2. Written descriptions by participants: People write descriptions of their experiences

  3. Observation: Descriptive observations of verbal and non-verbal behaviors
• Humanistic Categories:

  1. Literature And Art Criticism: Uses well-chosen language and organizational patterns to evaluate critically

  2. Philosophical Research: Focuses on knowledge, principles of being, and human conduct

  3. Historical Research: Focuses on events and ideas that took place in man's life at a particular period