research (structured process) organised - there is a structure or method to do research systematic - a definite set of procedures and steps finding

answers is the end of research without questions research has no focus or purpose research process - assigning the questions (need to be inquisitorial, potential of being answered, deal with topic, are these researchable, sources, scope of info reasonable) - identifying the important factors - formulating a hypothesis (answer to questions, expectations about events, abstract statements reflect the design of research) - connecting relevant info - testing hypothesis (H0 - null hypothesis, H1 our alternative) answer is given with respect to H0 - working with hypothesis - reconstructing theory - answering questions hypothesis - difference between type and research questions factors that make up research: concept - represent an idea, cannot be observed directly, exist only as mental images, building blocks of research problem, used at all stages indicators - the phenomena which point to the existence of concepts variables - components of indicators which can be measured ( dependent, independent, control) example: concept - professional development indicators - development of new skills variables - no of work placements, no of training sessions inductive approach - observation -> pattern -> tentative hypothesis -> theory deductive approach - theory -> hypothesis -> observation -> confirmation scientific method - make conclusive statements about studies with a minimum bias grounded theory - begins with a research situation. mostly done through observation, conversation and interview

qualitative method - social or behavioral studies without the numbers, leads to the analysis of unstructured data, used to gain insight into behaviors, value systems, attitudes. essentially descriptive and inferential in character.looks for evidence and theory case studies - (anthropology) investigates in real life context especially when there is little info about, can be an individual, group or institution, very flexible, how or why frequently used, multi method approach single-case design (holistic or embedded) multiple case design (holistic or embedded) Qualitative content analyses - analyses not only the manifest content of material but looks at differentiated levels of content, a good method for making specific inferences from texts to other states or properties of its source, sometimes really data sources primary - (original) interviews, speeches, survey research, records of organisations & govt agencies secondary - (written after the fact) commentaries, histories tertiary - (collection of primary data and secondary sources) indexes, abstracts focus groups (anthropology) - a gathering of people moderated by a member of a research team and perhaps observed, either openly or secretly, by other members of the research team, rely on interaction between group members different from group interviewing - interviewing a group of people focusing on questions and answers moderator in focus groups: encourage open communication, does not force his ideas, ensure participation by all) aims: gather info, generate insight, determine how decisions were concluded used: exploratory stages of study, during a study, after a prog has been concluded complimentary method - can help to explore or generate a method, develop questions or concepts for questioners and interview guides Interviewing - understand the world from subject point of view, a way of discovering experiences thoughts and feelings, gathering info, should have a structure and a purpose Types: informal conversation interview - open for ideas interview guide approach - set of questions only standardized open ended interview Format: Unstructured format - few specific questions

informant interview - the opinion of the subject on particular situation semi structured format - introduces the topic and asks questions Respondent interview - interviewer remains in control Coding - allows you to transform your data and reduce them to build categories Categorising - categorise the coded data types of sampling: probability sampling - simple random sampling, systematic sampling, cluster/multi-cluster sampling Non-probability sampling - convenience, availability or opportunity sampling, quata sampling, snowball sampling Quantitative method - attention on measurements and amounts, number and statistical methods, aims to produce generalizable results questioners and surveys - questions are fixed, no geographical limitations, economic method rules: establish the variables, clear language, simple questions, professional presentation, consider how info will be processed Nominal scale - explain in numbers what isnt, application of categories, no real numeric properties, connect to proper names (religion, country) Ordinal Variable - particular order to categories, categories are assigned no, e example: using scale from 0-4 to describe whether one agrees or not Metric measurement - numbers are used as a unit of measurement, 0 as a natural measurement and is a real number example: size of group of students distribution & summary statistics: frequency tables, arithmetic mean, median and mode Variance - measure of dispersion from the mean 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. calculate the mean subtract the mean from each observation square each of results add the answers divide by the no of observations

standard deviation - squared root of variance influenced by outliners ( non normal observations) useful measure of spread t-test - assesses whether the means of two groups are statistically different from each other, we have one independent variable and one dependent t = x-0 / Sx/rootn-1 the top part is just the difference between the two means the bottom part is the dispersion of the scores x= mean Sx = standard deviation n = number of cases then we look at the: degrees of freedom = n-1 significance level - ex: 95% = 0.05 and 0.025 with two tailed then look at the t-table to get t compare the computed t with the one in the table (ours need to be smaller) restriction of t statistics - (i think the assumptions) - samples are randomly drawn from populations - scores are normally distributed - scores have same variances chi squared - a parametric test that involves comparing the observed values with the expected values to check if there is association x2 = summation (0-E)2 / E if value is big then there is a large difference between observed and expected counts determine degrees of freedom - df = n-1 check distribution table R squared - a measure of goodness of fit, between 0 and 1, a ratio of the data variation explained by the regression variables Triangulation - uses a combination of more than one strategy in a single investigation, to assure completeness of findings, strengths offset the weaknesses, comprehensive evidence Data triangulation - involving time, space and persons

Investigator triangulation - multiple observers Theory triangulation - interpret the phenomena in more than one theory methodological triangulation - using more than one method multiple triangulation - combination of the above strengths of qualitative: useful for limited no of cases, cases in depth describing complex phenomena allows dynamic processes responsive to local situations, conditions and stakeholders needs weaknesses of qualitative: may not generalize difficult to make quantitive predictions lower credibility time consuming may have researcher biases strengths of quantitative: can generalize when sufficient sample size or different populations can make quantitive predictions precise quantitive data less time consuming independent of researcher useful for large populations weaknesses of quantitative: researchers categories may be inappropriate may miss hypothesis generation due to only testing knowledge may be to abstract and general purpose of research proposal - present a problem to be researched, discuss with others who had worked on it, to suggest data necessary and how to use it, to present a work plan of a research project Reasons why research proposals Fail unclear objectives mismatch between approach and issues

problem is of insufficient importance insufficient information resources had not been carefully thought topic had been done too many times