Practical Research: Planning and Design
Twelfth Edition, Global Edition
Chapter 4
Planning Your Research
Project
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Research Design
• When we talk about research design, we are referring to
a general strategy for addressing a research problem or
question. This includes:
– The procedures the researcher follows
– The data the researcher collect
– The data analyses the researcher conducts
• Simply put, research design is planning!
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Planning a General Approach (1 of 2)
• Think broadly about the problem as arising out of a
particular area
• Are you studying
– People
– Things
– Records
– Thoughts & ideas
– Dynamics & energy
▪ Each of these is a potential unit of analysis
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Planning a General Approach (2 of 2)
• Think about the kinds of data you need to address your
problem
– Do you need/can you find participants
– Do you have the right equipment and skills
– Do you know how to interpret the data and draw
conclusions from them
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Research Planning: Selecting a Particular
Research Methodology
• Planning
– Determining the general approach to a study
– May be similar across disciplines
• Methodology
– The techniques one uses to collect and analyze data
– May be specific to a particular academic discipline
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
The Nature and Role of Data in Research (1 of 2)
• Data are pieces of information that help form a bigger
picture
• Data are transient — what is true at any point in time may
not be true at another point in time
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
The Nature and Role of Data in Research (2 of 2)
• Data may be primary or secondary
– Primary data are closest to the truth (the source)
– Secondary data are derived from primary data
▪ Distorted by interpretations and communication
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Planning for Data Collection
1. What data are needed?
2. Where are the data located?
3. How will the data be obtained?
4. What limits will be placed on the nature of acceptable
data?
5. How will the data be interpreted?
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Linking Data and Methodology
• Quantitative methods
– Involve collecting numerical data
• Qualitative methods
– Involve collecting textual or image-based data
• Mixed methods
– Use both quantitative and qualitative methods in the
same study
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
To Determine an Approach, First Ask
Yourself These Questions
• What is my purpose?
• What is the nature of the process?
• What are the data like/how are they collected?
• How are data analyzed?
• How are the findings communicated?
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Also Consider These Issues (1 of 2)
• Your comfort with the assumptions of the qualitative
tradition
• The audience for your study
• The nature of the research question
• The extensiveness of the related literature
• The depth of what you want to discover
• The amount of time you have available for conducting the
study
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Also Consider These Issues (2 of 2)
• The extent to which you are willing to interact with the
people in your study
• The extent to which you feel comfortable working without
much structure
• Your ability to organize and draw inferences from a large
body of information
• Your writing skills
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Quantitative V s. Qualitative (1 of 3)
ersu
• Purpose
– Quant : Pursuit of explanations and predictions that, in
itative
most cases, will generalize to other persons or places
– Qual : Seek to better understand complex situations
itative
and is often exploratory in nature
• Process
– Quant : Methods allow the research to objectively
itative
measure the variable(s) of interest
– Qual : Holistic and emergent, with specific focus,
itative
design, data-collection techniques, and interpretations
developing and possibly changing along the way
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Quantitative V s. Qualitative (2 of 3)
ersu
• Data Collection
– Quant : Identify a few variables to study and then
itative
collect data specifically related to those variables.
– Qual : Qualitative research operate under the
itative
assumption that reality isn’t easily divided into
discrete, measureable variables.
• Data Analysis
– Quant : Rely on deductive reasoning, beginning with
itative
certain premises and then drawing logical conclusions
from them.
– Qual : Make considerable use of inductive reasoning.
itative
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Quantitative V s. Qualitative (3 of 3)
ersu
• Reporting Findings
– Quant : Typically reduce their data to summarizing
itative
statistics.
– Qual : Often construct interpretive narratives from their
itative
data and try to capture the complexity of a particular
phenomenon.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Deciding between Quant and Qual (1 of 2)
1. Consider your own comfort level with the assumptions
of the qualitative tradition.
2. Consider the nature of your research question.
3. Consider the extensiveness of the related literature.
4. Consider the depth of what you wish to discover.
5. Consider the amount of time you have available for
conducting the study.
6. If applicable, consider the extent to which you are willing
to interact with the people in your study.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Deciding between Quant and Qual (2 of 2)
7. Consider the extent to which you feel comfortable
working without much structure.
8. Consider your ability to organize and draw inferences
from a large body of information.
9. Consider your writing skills.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Select a Research Methodology
• Action research • Ex post facto research
• Case study • Grounded theory research
• Content analysis • Historical research
• Correlational research • Observation study
• Design-based research • Phenomenological research
• Developmental research • Quasi-experimental research
• Ethnography • Survey research
• Experimental research
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Enhancing the Credibility of Your Findings (1 of 2)
• A research study has credibility to the extent that other
people:
– agree that its design and methods are being
appropriate for the research problem or question
– judge its results as being reasonably accurate and
trustworthy
– find the researcher’s interpretations of the dat to be
plausible.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Enhancing the Credibility of Your Findings (2 of 2)
• Quantitative researchers often use the term internal
validity when evaluating credibility.
• Qualitative researchers use a variety of terms such as:
– trustworthiness
– confirmability
– interpretative rigor
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Strategies to Enhance Confirmability (1 of 2)
• Triangulation
– Multiple sources of data are collected with the hope
that they will all converge to support a particular
assertion, hypothesis, theory, or conclusion
• A controlled laboratory study
• Extensive time in the field
• Unobtrusive measures
– Gathering data about people’s behaviors when those
people don’t know their actions are being recorded
• Thick description
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Strategies to Enhance Confirmability (2 of 2)
• Respondent validation
– Confirming conclusions with participants
• Analysis of contradictory data, such as discrepant
perspectives or quantitative outliers
• Follow-up studies specifically designed to eliminate
alternative explanations for findings
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Enhancing the Generalizability of Your
Findings
• Generalizability is the extent to which results obtained
and conclusions drawn can be applied to other people,
situations, or contexts
• Quantitative researchers usually use the term external
validity
• Qualitative researchers use terms such as:
– transferabilty
– particularizability
– replicability
– confirmability
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Strategies for Enhancing Generalizability
• A naturalistic, real-world setting
• Obtaining a representative sample
• Replication in a different context
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Choosing Appropriate Assessment
Strategies
• Many methodologies require one or more assessment
strategies.
– Researchers must in some way capture and evaluate
the nature of important characteristics, behaviors, or
other variables under investigation.
• Assessment often involves measurement, in other words,
it imposes a range of numbers on an entity being
assessed.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Measurement (1 of 3)
• Limiting the data of any phenomenon—substantial or
intangible— so that those data may be interpreted and,
ultimately, compared to a particular qualitative or
quantitative standard
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Measurement (2 of 3)
• Limiting the data of any phenomenon—substantial or
intangible—so that those data may be interpreted and
ultimately, compared to a particular qualitative or
quantitative standard
– Substantial = have physical substance.
– Intangible = exist only as concepts, ideas,
opinions, feelings, or other intangible entities.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Measurement (3 of 3)
• Limiting the data of any phenomenon—substantial or
intangible—so that those data may be interpreted and,
ultimately, compared to a particular qualitative or
quantitative standard
– transformed into new discoveries, revelations,
and enlightenments.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Assessing Intangible Phenomena: An Example
Measuring interpersonal dynamics in a small group
• Ask each person: Who do you like most, who do you like
least, and who evokes neutral feelings
• Allow the researcher to identify patterns and draw
conclusions
• Create a sociogram, or a chart of interpersonal reactions
(see Figure 4.3 in the text)
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Scales of Measurement
• A scale specifies the categories of measurement
• Scales ultimately dictate the statistical procedures (if any)
that can be used in processing numerical data
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Nominal Scale
• Measures data by assigning names or dividing into
discrete categories
– Boys, girls
– North of Main Street, South of Main Street
• Statistical procedures
– Mode
– Percentage
– Chi-square test
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ordinal Scale
• Rank-order data as more/higher or less/lower
• Think in terms of greater or less than
• Elementary, high school, college, or graduate education
• Unskilled, semiskilled, or skilled labor
• Statistical procedures = median, percentile rank,
Spearman’s rank-order correlation
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Interval Scale
• Equal units of measurement
• Zero point established arbitrarily
• Fahrenheit (F) and Celsius (C) scales
• Rating scales, such as surveys, assumed to fall on
interval scales
• Statistical procedures = means, standard deviations,
Pearson product moment correlations
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ratio Scale
• Equal measurement units (similar to interval scale)
• Absolute zero point (0 = total absence of the quality being
measured)
• Distance
• Ratio = can express values in terms of multiples and
fractional parts
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Summary & Comparison
• Nominal scale: One object is different from another
• Ordinal scale: One object is bigger or better or more of
anything than another
• Interval scale: One object is so many units (e.g., degrees,
inches) more than another
• Ratio scale: One object is so many times as big or bright
or tall or heavy as another
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Validity & Reliability of Measurement
• Validity
– the extent to which a measurement instrument
measures what it is intended to measure
• Reliability
– the consistency with which a measurement
instrument yields a certain result when the entity
being measured hasn’t changed
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Validity of Measurement Instruments (1 of 2)
• Face Validity
– Is extent to which an instrument looks like it measures
a characteristic
– Relies on subjective judgment
• Content Validity
– Is extent to which a measurement instrument is a
representative sample of the content area being
measured
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Validity of Measurement Instruments (2 of 2)
• Criterion Validity
– The extent to which the results of an assessment
correlate with another, related measure
• Construct Validity
– The extent to which an instrument measures a
characteristic that cannot be directly observed but is
assumed to exist (such as intelligence)
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Determining Validity (1 of 2)
• Table of specifications
– The researcher constructs a two-dimensional grid
listing the specific topics and behaviors that reflect
achievement in the domain.
• Multitrait-multimethod approach
– Two or more different characteristics are each
measured using two or more different approaches.
The two measures of the same characteristic should
be highly related.
• Strive for consistency with a particular conceptual
framework
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Determining Validity (2 of 2)
• Conduct one or more pilot tests of your assessment
strategy
• Judgment by a panel of experts
– Several experts in a particular area are asked to
scrutinize an instrument to ascertain its validity for
measuring the characteristic in question
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Reliability
• Reliability is the consistency with which a measuring
instrument yields a certain result when the entity being
measured hasn’t changed.
• Instruments designed to measure social and
psychological characteristics (insubstantial phenomena)
tend to be even less reliable than those designed to
measure physical (substantial) phenomena.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Determining the Reliability of a Measurement
Instrument (1 of 2)
• Interrater reliability
– the extent to which two or more individuals evaluating
the same product or performance give identical
judgments
• Test-retest reliability
– the extent to which a single instrument yields the
same results for the same people on two different
occasions
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Determining the Reliability of a Measurement
Instrument (2 of 2)
• Equivalent forms reliability
– The extent to which two different versions of the same
instrument yield similar results
• Internal consistency reliability
– The extent to which all of the items within a single
instrument yield similar results
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Enhancing Reliability
• Identify specific, concrete criteria to be used in
categorizing or rating a characteristic, behavior, or other
variable.
• When an assessment involves a structured paper-and-
pencil or performance-based instrument, use the
instrument in a consistent manner for all participants or
other entities under investigation.
– Quantitative researchers call this strategy
standardization.
• Explicitly train raters to apply criteria in a similar manner.
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (1 of 6)
• Participants must be protected from harm
– Benefits to participants must outweigh risks
– Participants should be debriefed
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (2 of 6)
• Participation must be voluntary and informed
– Individuals know what they are being asked to do
– Individuals can decline without penalty
– Individuals know they can withdraw at any time
without penalty
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (3 of 6)
• Participants have a right to privacy
– Data and information about participants are
confidential
▪ Identifiable data should not be shared (even in
class) without written consent
– Names should be coded to ensure anonymity
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (4 of 6)
• Researchers must be honest
– Data should be trustworthy
– Reports should be complete and accurate
– Contributors should be credited
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (5 of 6)
• Research must be reviewed before data collection begins
– Institutions maintain an IRB (review board) and
sometimes IACUC
▪ Scholars and researchers across disciplines
▪ Review proposals to assess risks and ensure that
participants’ rights are honored
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
Ethical Issues (6 of 6)
• Researchers are expected to adhere to professional code
of conduct within their field
• Visit the homepage of your own professional organization
to learn more
Copyright © 2021 Pearson Education Ltd.
