Lecture 2 DHX_MET1 Methodology 1 Stanislav Ježek Faculty of Social Studies MU •Maxwell, Loomis, 2003:246 PURPOSE OBJECTIVES CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK (PARADIGM) RESEARCH QUESTION HYPOTHESIS METHOD (DESIGN, MEASURES, SAMPLE VALIDITY • From a topic to hypothesis • Identification of a problem - topic •From previous research •From real life (e.g. business) •„Big Questions“ – novel, creative questions starting a research program •In school – looking for a research problem • •Emerges from research or mimicking research Preliminary research •Get a better understanding of the problem to be able to narrow it into a researchable topic •Identify what is there to be known about the phenomenon of interest •Learn about the context in which you want to study the phenomenon • •Asking WHY as a way to identify what social-science theory is needed. • • • Problem statement •…unambiguous, specific, and focused, and addressed from a specific academic perspective. •Research purpose - motivation •Research objectives - goals •Research questions – information needed to meet the goals Qualities of a problem statement •Relevance •Nothing known •Fragmented knowledge in need of integration •Contradictory findings •Findings differ or do not hold in different settings •Feasibility •Interest(ingness) •Worth knowing not only for you RESEARCH QUESTION •HANDLE OF YOUR STUDY •Provides focus •Invites hypothese •Justifies the costs • •An answer must be believed to be found •It really must be a question •Is as narrow as necessary for feasibility •intersubjectively meaningful Types of research questions •Exploratory •Descriptive •Correlational •Causal • • Research proposal •1. A working title. •2. Background of the study. •3. The problem statement: •a. The purpose of the study •b. Research questions. •4. The scope of the study. •5. The relevance of the study. •6. The research design, offering details on: •a. Type of study – exploratory and descriptive •b. Data collection methods •c. The sampling design •d. Data analysis. •7. Time frame of the study, including information on when the written report will be handed over to the sponsors. •8. The budget, detailing the costs with reference to specific items of expenditure. •9. References • • Critical literature review •Purposes 1.Build on knowledge you will contribute to 2.Improve your thinking about the problem 3.Avoid “reinventing the wheel” 4.Conceptual framework: relevant terminology, concepts & their relationships 5.Knowledge of the research methods 6.The research effort can be contextualized in a wider academic debate. In other words, it allows you to relate your findings to the findings of others. 7. •Ultimate purpose: propose plausible and testable hypotheses within the conceptual framework 6. Data sources •Textbooks •Journals – which are the main ones? •Theses •Conference proceedings •Unpublished manuscripts •Reports •Newspapers •The Internet •DATABASES Evaluating the literature •The purpose of abstract is to assess relevance, nothing else. •Social-science journal articles tend to have narrative-review-study-like introductions •Number of citations is just a hint (correlated with age) • The critical literature review needs to be written •As a part of the argumentation for the purpose of your study in a proposal •As a part of the introductory section of any form of report of your findings • •Academic writing and citing… • • Theoretical framework – concepts & relationships between them •Concepts - generalisations of particular characteristics of the phenomena of interest allowing us to think about them without drowning in their endlessly varying instances •Variables as measured, observed concepts •Competing definitions •Theory of the phenomenon •Conceps/variables used to describe the phenomenon •Ideas about how the concepts/variables are related (description) and why (explanation). •IVs, DVs, moderators & mediators • • •A very condensed summary of what we know allowing us to propose hypotheses • Hypotheses •Expected answers to our research question inferred from theory. •Expectations about what will be observed (what will be found in our data) • •Statements about the world that we provisionally believe in. • Checklist questions – ask yourself •What exactly do I want to find out? •Can it be found by any means other than research? •What kind of an answer will satisfy me? What can I use the answer for? And others? •For what set of phenomena will the answer apply? And for how long? •Why me? Who else wants to know? •Can I imagine how to get the answer? Will I be able to manage it (by myself)? What next? •Now we have a good idea about what the research questions are and what answers we expect. • •Next we need to think about how to get the answers. •Since there is a huge number of possibilities we generally start our thinking from prototypical templates – research designs.