Social Scientific Research Methods PDF

-------... ---- - --- -- ------:-~-----:---.. II I...

-------... ---- - --- -- ------:-~-----:---.. II I Social Scier1l(/lc Researr:b 371 es (iv) Adoption of consistent procedu.. prn actu~lly works and is strong. In addi£i,o n to all th~e, the pilot study~lso ex of allo--:s th_e researc~er to detect any bugs in the eq~ip,rient or procedure. In ·t~is way, pilot study n the provides the expenmer.ter a good background for providing consistency of pro·cedurE!.. (d). Group testi~~ Tes!ing subje_cts in -~ group-is more·common and the advantage of group ential testing 1s greater eff1c1ency in collecting ;data. Apart from this, in- group testing all subjects are oiling tested in the same condition at a time, all su_bie1.1,s,.y,_ar~~ may be said with a ll s c~ a tfiat theexpe~~mental chang_e , is.due ,tos--q,gly..;.L,~.JP,?_l}!P a1i,,o~ f the ~xp~rimental ,f fnDia pter a o efaile a iscussion of the differe nt types of research designs has ::l ~ ~ ~ ,r_ e nted. 0 Constructing Devices fo~ Observation and Measurement W he n the research design has been formulated, the next.step is to construct or collect the tools of research for scientific observation and measurement. ~uestionnaires, pfj?inion,:,ai,!esG _and y ihte rviews are the most common tools whicb...baye..Jiee (\..,de.\lelo e.d. for s ,cal ociological a~d ed~ c-;tig_nal res~ ch. Ail these tools of re~earc h are ways through wb icb data..are collected by 0 askia1t°for 'information from persons rather than observing them. These (;'\ techniques have been discussed separately-in Chapter 12.. j l...!:_J Summarizing Results The next ste in scie nti fic research is to summarize the resu s so that ·a suitable anal sis can be r'nade. T re a re tw oas for summarizin res.ults- th~ ab~ '!'e! hod and th! ·gra phic met o. n he a ula~r method the obtained data are- red~cecfto so me conv~nient. tables, 1 :i'iaFPXlh e use of a 1iF "m"1'1""'1~ci1' ro riate statisti cal tests In.the graphi c method the obtained aata are shown through gra ph s and pictures. In gene ral, the graphic method has a n ad~antage over the tabu la r.method in the sense lnat It p ro vides qu ick del ibe ration and understanding t~ t~ose who examine it. But the general limitatio n of the graphic method is that s,omp lex data ace d ifficult to tM:. ::l. isplayed w he rea~ the same can be easily sh~":"~ through the ta bul a r method. A good researcher, 9therefore,. sho uld summarize the results by util121ng both the methods. t I. @) Carrying out Statistical Analysis Whe n the data have been reduced to the ta b u Ia r fo nn, the ext te 1s o.. t. t ropria e _ ·stical ana lysis. There ar ~ rwo l)lpei, of sta.tistical test~ th.. h s ta t 1 , fd d t experiment, e1t er a.- rno tro r Uct De pend:ng upon the nature o · ata a n purpose o e. I th ~ a!- -♦ I f. 1· I analysis In gene ra , e par ; me tric statistic or a non-parametric statistic 1s c ,osen or stat1s ,ca ·  d Research Methods in Rehauioural SciencS 374 Tests, Measurements a n I , ·. 0 t the statistical analysis is to re ject the null hypothe sis that the alternative so purpose ~f carry,bng acucepted Commonly there are two levels of significance at which the null h · thesis may e · ' ypo h.. cted-0 os \eve \ (or 5% level) and 0.01 level (or 1 % level). These levels are also hypct es1s ,s reie ·.. known as the alpha \eve \. A separate c hapter (Chapter 22) has be en d~voted to stat1st1c:al analysis. J. ~ Drawing Conclusions.. ~. The investigator, ·afte r analyzing the result, draws some concl.~s1ons. In fact, the investigato_r wants to make some statement about the research problem, which he could not make wit~out ~onducting his researc~ hatever conclusion is arriv · at, he. ~neralizes rt to t~e whole ~opulatio11,-~t this sta e e invest, ator a so makes some pred1ct1ons about certain relat events or behaviour in n ew situations... TYPES OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH · / It is very difficult to classify the type-5 of educational_research. This fact is further c~mplicated due to the ob~rvation that almost every textbook suggests a different system of classification. However, the attempt made by Best & Kahri (1992) in this direction is a very scientific one and their classification is so wide and compr_e hensive that all researches. fall under one of the. follow ing thre.e types or a combination thereof: · 1. ~~!~~rr~~~~~~~¢.~~~~t~~histo~ical research is~ whic_b investigates, records, anal)'.zes and inter rets the events of the past for the.. · ·. g.sgund.g~~ralizations tM.t.~r~1'-~..E~1'.!!..,..~~e u ~ u ~ ~ e..pasr and Jh~ pr.ese,oUJJ,d,Jo.il.!!01L~~-extent,_. the ~!;}!~~t~c! !.':J~~r-~~-lb.~,_J:wJg_rj,C.s.~,S.~~J.dH.t~_~ wb.aLw.as, 2. ~~e.-~~r1p~ fi,~~\iif.es' , · - J. ¢a! ii.9(i:...... , t"(__ A descri tive resear h ' ·.. , ,.. I. i rds an e and inter rets the con I ions a exist. n s.u c..,.a.J:g_search an attempt is ma·de to discover relations · bet _e~1sf n.g. no:.-ma;;ip~l~ted vari~b'!e~ apart from some comparison or contrast among those vari9 b,ws. Thus descriptive research basically describes what is. !Lis also known as non-eispeciroevtal oLJ;QILefationaf research. 3. Experimental ·research: An experimental research is one in which the primary focus is upon the variable relationship. Here certain varia~les are controlled or manipulated and thier effect is examined upon some other variables. Thus experimental r.esearch basically describes what will happen when certain variables are tarefully controlled or manipulate d. We shall djscuss in detail the descriptive ~r non-experimental research and experimental research in this chapter, whereas hi5torical research will be discussed in Chapter 1 7. TYPES OF RESEARCH: EXPERIMENTAL AND.NON-EXPERIMENTAL Any anempt to classify behavioural rese.:irch presents a difficult problem because there is no universally acceptable classification of research. Almost every textbook suggests a different system of classification of research and this fac\ in itself is a convincing evidence for the non-availability of a universal system of classification. Despite these differences, an attempt is made here to present a near-common classification of research. The most general way of classifying research is to divide it into fundamental or pure or basic research and applied research. A fundamental research is the formal and systematic process wh~re the r~searcher's aim is to develop a theory or a mod.el by identifying all the impcrtant v'ariables in a situation and by di,covering broad generalizations and principles about those variables. It utilizes a careful sample so thilt its conclusion can be generalized beyond the immediate situation. However, a fundamental research has little concern with the actual pplication of its principles or generaliza1ions. Applied research,.is its name implies, applies the :heory or model deve\qped through the fundamental research to the actual solution of the  l l I- I i'- 20 /'VARIABLES 1 CHAPTER PREVIEW I Meaning And Types of Variables Dependent Variables And Independent Variables Qualitative Variables And_Quantitative Variables Continuous Variables And Discrete Variables Moderator Variables And Intervening Variables Active Variables And Attribute Variables. l'.1 ethods of Measuring Qependent Variables I mporcant Considerntions in Sele~~ion of Variables Important Approaches to Manipulating Inde pendent Variables Techniqw::s of Controlling Exu-.ineous Variables Technique of Elimination Constancy of Conditions Balancing Counterbalancing Randomization Concrolling Demand Chm;;ctcristics MEANING AND TYPES OF VARIABLES - A variab le, as the name im lies, is somethin wl · ries. This is the simplest and the broadest way O e in,ng a variable. However, a behavioural scientist attempts to define a variable more precisely and specifically. From his point of view, variables may be defined as u:,ase attributes of ~bjecls. events, things and ·b~ings, which can be measured. In other words, _variables are the cha racte ristics er conditio.ns tliat are manipulated, controlled or observed b the ex erimenler. I T Intell igence, a nx iety, ap , u e, income, e uczt,on, authoritarianism, ac 1i~vement, etc., are examp les of variab!es commonly employed in psychology, sociology and education. Variab les can be classified in several ways. Some of the commonly accepted c lassificat ions are presented below. Dependent Variables And Independent Variables iI I fhe terms 'dependent variable' and 'independent variable'. have been borrowed from the field o f ~ thematics in behavioural researc hes. The classification of ·variables into dependent and independent is f · · · · · defi~~~.!.!:'...!~~W:'-u.u.w.i~~~~~~~~iU,Jiii~w.!,1~:,.:,.,.;,:~~~----,;;;;;.;.;._.., ~;;;:z~ttt~~~~~gtt~~~~~i~;~;~~i~;~:t~~i;;~~;~;:t:-., T!2!: occas ion_a l ~ynfu~~9( IV J:..S~yj.!J,u>J£1,,'t(hishJJ..!~~L~d ~;~~-s:.~!~ts.c.~~~-in_~-"·· n~re with_