Research Strategies

Chapter 6
 Research steps
Literature Review
• identify a new idea for research,
• form a hypothesis and a prediction,
Methodology
• define and measure your variables,
• sampling
• how to treat them ethically,
• the next step is to select a research strategy
Strategies, Designs, and
Procedures
 types, srategies, designs, and procedures

• The process of developing a research study

can be broken down into 3-4 distinct stages:
determining a research type, research strategy
(method), determining a research design, and
determining research procedures.
 Definitions of Quantitative and
Qualitative Research(Creswell)
The term quantitative refers to the type of data or variables
that this research examines
Quantitative Research
A type of research in which the
researcher decides what to study;
asks specific, narrow questions;
collects quantifiable data from
participants; analyzes these
numbers using statistics; and
conducts the inquiry in an
unbiased, objective manner.
Qualitative Research
A type of research in which the
researcher relies on the views of
participants; asks broad, general
questions; collects data consisting
largely of words (or text) from
participants; describes and analyzes
these words for themes; and
conducts the inquiry in a subjective,
biased manner.
 Research Strategies (methods)
The 5 basic research strategies are
• the experimental strategy
• the quasi- experimental strategy
• the non-experimental strategy
• the correlational strategy
• the descriptive strategy.
Experimental vs non-experimental
Random vs non-random
assignment
 Research Design,
Research design addresses how to implement the strategy

It is not enough to say the design is experimental or correlational

• Group versus single individual

• Same individuals (within subjects) versus
different individuals (between subjects)
• The number of variables to be included
 Research Procedures
• Exactly how the variables will be manipulated,
regulated, and measured.
• Exactly how many individuals will be involved.
• Exactly how the individual participants or
subjects will proceed through the course of
the study.
 Internal and external validity
• Internal validity of a research study is the
degree to which the study accurately answers
the question it was intended to answer.

• External validity refers to the extent to which

we can generalize the results of a research.
Threats to external validity
 Generalizations
• There are at least three different kinds of
generalization, and each can be a concern for
external validity.

• Generalization from a sample to the general

population.
• Generalization from one research study to
another one.
• Generalization from a research study to a real
world situation.
Threats to external validity
 Category 1: Generalizing Across
Participants or Subjects
Selection bias
1. Local samples
2- College students
3- Volunteer bias
4- Participants characteristics (gender, age)
 Category 2: Generalizing Across
Features of a Study
• Novelty effect
• Multiple treatment interference (extra
treatment)
• Experimenter characteristic (gender, race,
personality, ability)
 Category 3: Generalizing Across
Features of the Measures
• Sensitization ( the treatment works only if subjects are
pre-tested, it is the measurement that works not the
treatment)
• Measurement (the results of the study may be limited to
a specific measurement)
• Time of measurement (how long after treatment it is
measured)
Threats to internal validity
 A. Extraneous Variables
Any variable in a research study other than the
specific variables being studied is an extraneous
variable.
Every research study has thousands of them.

Does it make a difference if ?

• tested in the morning or in the afternoon.
• Study may be conducted on a dark and cloudy Monday or on a sunny
Tuesday.
• Room color, temperature, hungry, tired, sad, excited, …etc.
 B. Confounding variables

is an extraneous variable that changes

systematically along with the two variables
being studied.

• EX Var = Wall color and problem solving performance

• Con Var = One group of students were hungry.
 C. Time- Related Variables
1- History (Value Added-Rich schools)
2- Maturation (Children, can change in a
relatively short time).
3- Instrumentation (the researcher doing the
observing may become more proficient in
making the observations in the posttest)
 Time- Related Variables
4- Testing effects ( practice, fatigue, and carry-
over effects)
• Posttest was better just because they
practiced many times in repeated measures
• Posttest was worse because they were tired
 Time- Related Variables
5- Regression toward the mean: (extreme scores
on one measurement tend to be less extreme on
a second measurement)

Blood pressure
Costco
 D. Other Threats
• Compensa tory equalization
• Diffusion (or imitation) of treatments
• Compensation rivalry
• Resentful demoralization
 Threats
Compensatory equalization;
the comparison group is somehow compensated by
others in order to make up for the fact that they are
not receiving a treatment

Goal: effectiveness of access to science lab

Compensation: the other group uses a simulation
 Diffusion (or imitation) of
treatments
• Knee pain
 Threats
Compensation rivalry
when the comparison group knows what the program
group is getting and therefore, develops a
competitive attitude with them.

John Henry effect--John Henry was a steel-driver who outperformed a machine

(steam-hammer) under an experimental setting because he was aware that his
performance was compared with that of a machine.
 Threats
Resentful demoralization
when the comparison group knows what the program
group is getting and get discouraged or angry and
withdraw from the study.
 Threats to Both Internal and External
Validity
• Experimenter bias (results obtained in a study may be
specific to the experimenter who has the expectations)
• Demand Characteristics and Participant
Reactivity (cues given about the hypothesis & 4 types of
human subjects)
• Exaggerated Variables (70 degrees vs. 120 degrees
classrooms)