Research design – formulating the research problem

1. Research design – formulating the research problem • Chapter 4 in Babbie & Mouton (2001) • How to pose proper scientific questions • The logic of the research process • The research process • O/head p. 98 Formulating the research question

2. Research design and research methodology • Design – a plan or structured framework of how you intend to conduct the research • "A strategic framework for action that serves as a bridge between research questions and the execution or implementation of the research" • Methodology – refers to the methods, techniques, and procedures that are employed in implementing your research plan (design) Formulating the research question

3. Purposes of research • Exploration • Description • Explanation Formulating the research question

4. Exploration • To develop an initial, rough understanding of a phenomenon • Methods: • literature reviews • Interviews • case studies • key informants Formulating the research question

5. Description • Precise measurement and reporting of the characteristics of the population or phenomenon • What is the case? • What is the nature of the relationship? • Methods: census, surveys, qualitative studies • NOTE: a sidestep to correlational studies Formulating the research question

6. Correlation • See Chapter 2 in Weiten, for a quick review • Correlation: the degree of relationship between two variables, A and B Formulating the research question

7. Direction of correlation: • When A has a high value, B has a high value; when A has a low value, B has a low value = a positive correlation. • E.g. the relationship between the amount smoked and the probability of heart disease • When A has a high value, B has a low value; when A has a low value, B has a high value = a negative correlation. • E.g.: Durkheim: the more socially integrated a society is, the lower the incidence of suicide in that society (p. 23 in Babbie and Mouton). Or: amount of daily exercise and probability of heart disease. • Also NO correlation = when two variables do not co-occur (see causation). E.g. studying Psychology and the probability of heart disease. Formulating the research question

8. Explanation • Why “Is x the case?” or “Is x the relationship?” • Methods • experimental • NOTE: a sidestep to causation Formulating the research question

9. Cause • Three requirements: • Cause precedes effect • A cause co-occurs with the effect • The third variable problem Formulating the research question

10. Cause and correlation • Cause precedes effect • p. 83, Babbie and Mouton, smoking marijuana and academic performance • Co-occurrence • Correlational research only tells you two if variables happen together • A cause always co-occurs with an effect (Drinking a lot of alcohol) and (feeling light-headed and throwing up) co-occur because drinking alcohol causes drunkenness Formulating the research question

11. Cause and correlation • BUT: • non-causally related events can also co-occur! • (The ANC wins the 2004 election) and (Dave obtains distinctions in his first semester courses in 2004) • ALSO: Very few perfect correlations in “the probabilistic world of social explanations” • Two non-causally related events/variables can co-occur because they are both related to something else – the “third variable” • p. 83, Babbie and Mouton, smoking marijuana, academic performance, and emotional problems • Does watching a lot of violent programmes on TV, or playing violent video games, cause children to behave more aggressively in preschool? Formulating the research question

12. Causality: • A causes B if and only if • A exists then B exists • A does not exist, then B does not exist • Correlational studies test only “If A exists then B exists” • To test for causality, it is generally considered that we need a different type of design: an experimental design. To be discussed under “Types of design”. Formulating the research question

13. Some decisions about designs • The purpose of your study (exploration, description, explanation) • This will impact on your decision about the type of design you will need • The unit of analysis • What are you talking about? • Individuals? Groups? Organizations? Social actions? • The time dimension • Is the study longitudinal (follow people over a long period of time) or cross-sectional (a snapshot in time)? Formulating the research question

14. Some decisions about designs • Examples • See Weiten p. 434, on the long-term stability of temperament and personality: is a child's temperament at ten a predictor of his/her temperament at ten? • Those of you doing Developmental Psychology (PSY209F), look at Chapter 1 in Sigelman & Rider • Also distinguish between trend, cohort and panel studies • Trend studies: changes in a population over time • Cohort studies: changes in relatively specific sub-populations (cohorts) as they change over time • Panel studies: examine the same set of people over time. Formulating the research question

15. Conclusion • These decisions affect the conclusions that can be drawn. Hence careful consideration of them – PRIOR to the study’s commencement. • We want our research to be VALID: truth, rationality, objectivity. A study has validity when it has the capacity to study what it aims to study – e.g. one that claims to study intelligence must have some measure of intelligence in it. • A study with poor validity is powerless. • Different types of research design have different threats to validity. Formulating the research question