Research Methodology Overview
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Questions and Answers

Which type of variable represents qualities that can be ranked but not equally measured?

  • Ratio variables
  • Interval variables
  • Ordinal variables (correct)
  • Nominal variables

    • What is the main characteristic of independent variables in a research study?

  • They can be controlled or manipulated. (correct)
  • They vary in response to other variables.
  • They are always the outcome of the study.
  • They are measured without manipulation.

    • What represents a spurious relationship in research?

  • A direct correlation between two variables.
  • An indirect relationship due to another factor. (correct)
  • A relationship that is consistent across all studies.
  • A relationship that cannot be measured.

    • Which measure has the least impact from extreme values in a data set?

    <p>Median</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does a representative sample do in a research study?

    <p>It accurately reflects the characteristics of the population.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    How is variance calculated in a data set?

    <p>By subtracting the mean from each score and averaging the results.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does a sampling frame refer to in research?

    <p>A list of units for selecting a sample.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of statistics specifically summarizes the basic features of a dataset?

    <p>Descriptive statistics</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What would be an example of a constant in research?

    <p>A variable with minimal change.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a primary characteristic of primary research?

    <p>It involves firsthand observation and study by the researcher.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What distinguishes critical discourse analysis from standard discourse analysis?

    <p>It examines power relations and social practices in language.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a disadvantage of structured interviews?

    <p>Increased risk of bias in responses.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What ethical principle mandates that participants must be fully aware of research procedures and risks?

    <p>Informed consent</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a significant challenge of conducting unstructured interviews?

    <p>They are time-consuming and can introduce research bias.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of research design allows for a blend of flexibility and some control over the data collection?

    <p>Semi-structured interviews</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which ethical principle addresses the need to avoid placing participants in potentially harmful situations?

    <p>Risk of harm</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What factor can lead to bias in both semi-structured and unstructured interviews?

    <p>Leading questions</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which term refers to the study of implicit rules that govern social interactions?

    <p>Conversation analysis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following best describes the characteristics of focus groups?

    <p>Participants discuss psychological and socio-cultural characteristics in a group.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary goal of an experiment?

    <p>To demonstrate whether something is true</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following sampling methods ensures that every unit of the population has an equal chance of selection?

    <p>Simple random sampling</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What defines a stratified random sample?

    <p>Stratifying the population by criteria to select from each group</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the effect of increasing the sample size on the margin of error?

    <p>Margin of error decreases</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which sampling method selects subjects based purely on their accessibility?

    <p>Convenience sampling</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a characteristic of a multi-stage cluster sample?

    <p>Clusters are selected first, followed by units from those clusters</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary concern when dealing with non-response in sampling?

    <p>It can introduce bias into results and affect representativeness</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of sampling involves an initial contact with a small group and referrals to more people?

    <p>Snowball sampling</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of a control group in experiments?

    <p>To be compared to the experimental group without receiving treatment</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Confidence intervals are used to estimate what?

    <p>An estimated range likely to include an unknown parameter</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a primary advantage of guided conversations in research?

    <p>They can provide rich qualitative data.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is a disadvantage of guided conversations?

    <p>They may have less control than interviews.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which research method involves observing and participating in a community for an extended period?

    <p>Ethnography</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does ethnomethodology primarily study?

    <p>Codes and belief systems behind everyday actions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one criterion for assessing the credibility of documents in social research?

    <p>Bias and underlying political interest present within it.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which type of study captures a changing population over time?

    <p>Longitudinal study</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main focus of content analysis?

    <p>Identifying patterns in human communication.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does reliability refer to in research?

    <p>The consistency of results across repeated measurements.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What type of survey approach is likely to provide a snapshot of a population at one point in time?

    <p>Cross-sectional study</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following best describes the Access to Information Act in Canada?

    <p>It gives citizens the right to access records held by federal institutions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of the following is true about the flexibility of guided conversations?

    <p>They adapt easily to various research topics.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the focus of a trend study?

    <p>Shifts in demographics over many years.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What aspect does validity pertain to in research methods?

    <p>The accuracy of a study in measuring the intended concepts.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Research Methodology

    • Research Process Overview: Epistemology (study of knowledge), literature review, theorization, hypothesis/questions, research design/ethics, data collection/analysis, findings and theorization are key stages.

    • Scientific Method: Logical, explicit, and inspectable research with a consensus on assumptions and procedures. Popper's hypothetico-deductive scheme is a relevant approach.

    Data Collection & Analysis Methods

    • Primary Research: Researcher's firsthand observation and study, creating original data.

    • Secondary Research: Research conducted by others which leads to conclusions about the topic or making an argument.

    • Conversation Analysis: Study of the taken-for-granted rules that shape social interaction, rooted in ethnomethodology.

    • Discourse Analysis: Analysis of language and, potentially images, regarding how language creates and affects social reality.

    • Critical Discourse Analysis: Interdisciplinary study of language as social practice, focusing on how social and political power is reproduced in texts and conversations. Power and language are interconnected.

    Producing Ethical Research

    • Voluntary Participation: Participants must not be coerced.

    • Informed Consent: Participants must fully understand procedures and potential risks.

    • Risk of Harm: Researchers cannot put participants in situations that could cause harm, which could include physical & psychological harm.

    • Confidentiality: Information acquired must not be revealed to anyone outside the study.

    • Anonymity: Participants remain anonymous even to researchers.

    • Privacy: Individuals have control over personal information and can consent to or withhold consent for collection, use, and disclosure. Risks relate to identifiability and potential harm to participants.

    Types of Interviews

    • Structured Interviews: Researcher uses a set schedule with specific questions, maximizing reliability and validity. Disadvantages include formality, limited flexibility, and possible response bias (e.g., social desirability bias).

    • Semi-Structured Interviews: Researcher has a list of questions but aims for flexibility, combining structure and casual conversation. This format balances reliability and detailed insights. It includes a high risk of researcher bias as well and can be more difficult to conduct.

    • Unstructured Interviews: Researcher has less control over responses to guide the conversation and collect detailed, rich information, typically driven by the participant. This form is flexible and detailed but lower in reliability and generalizability.

    Focus Groups

    • Overview: Small groups (up to 7 people) discuss topics, allowing for qualitative data and insights. Conversations can be guided or unguided.

    • Characteristics: Involves a moderator to facilitate discussions, and encourage open interaction, a key feature is that of the “synergistic group effect”.

    • Advantages: Rich insights, flexible, quicker and low cost.

    • Disadvantages: Simulated conversational, less control than interviews, and analysis can be challenging. Differences and moderator skills can affect reliability and results.

    Historical/Policy/Case Study Analysis

    • Historical Research: Understanding past individual behaviour and how practices and realities emerged.

    • Policy and Case Analysis: Describing and interpreting contemporary individuals, social groups, or processes.

    Ethnography

    • Overview: Extended immersion in a group to document behaviour, gather information and details relevant to interactions, observe and question.

    • Key aspects: Focuses on a community and uses multiple techniques, including close observation of socio-cultural phenomena. Ethnography is highly reflexive and requires multiple forms of qualitative analysis are essential.

    Ethnomethodology

    • Overview: Exploring the codes and unconscious belief systems behind everyday actions and utterances. This method applies to language, dialogue in films/TV and, for example, TikTok. It facilitates the study of intercultural communication and understanding how people use language and communication in different cultural contexts.

    Content Analysis

    • Overview: A detailed and systematic examination of communication to find patterns, themes, biases, and meanings. Applied to various forms of communication (written documents, pictures, videos).

    Access to Information & Privacy in Canada

    • Access to Information Act: Provides access to federal government records.

    • Privacy Act: Protects personal information held by the government from unauthorized use and disclosure.

    Criteria for Assessing Documents

    • Authenticity: Document's genuineness; is it what it claims to be?

    • Credibility: How distorted is the document's content?

    • Sincerity: Accuracy of the document and its content.

    • Meaning: Importance of documents in context and understanding literal/interpretive meanings.

    Problems with Validating Readings

    • Representativeness: Documents must represent overall pool of documents.

    • Survival: Relevant documents might be lost or unavailable.

    • Availability: Access to and availability of documents for examination.

    Surveys

    • Survey Overview: Gathering data from a larger sample, using closed-ended questions, seeking breadth over depth. (cross-sectional=one point, longitudinal=over time). Trend studies track changes in a population, while panel studies follow the same individuals over time.

    • Key Considerations: Response rate (percentage participating), interviewer effects, respondent error, and questionnaire/instrumentation problems.

    Operationalization

    • Converting concepts to measurable variables.

    Variables

    • Qualities that vary among research subjects: Independent variables (manipulated/controlled) and dependent variables (measured/registered). Variables can be categorized as nominal, ordinal, interval/ratio. Correlation vs causation

    Descriptive Statistics

    • Describing data: Mean, median, mode, as well as range, standard deviation which helps to understand variation around the mean.

    Sampling

    • Types: Probability (simple random, systematic, stratified, multi-stage cluster) and non-probability (convenience, purposive, snowball, quota, maximum variation).

    Experiments

    • Goal: Demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships.

    • Structure: Experimental and control groups, random assignment, pretests, experimental manipulation, and post-tests.

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    Description

    Explore the key stages and approaches in research methodology, including the research process, data collection, and analysis methods. The quiz covers essential concepts such as epistemology, primary and secondary research, and different analytical frameworks. Test your understanding of how these elements come together in scientific inquiry.

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