Research methodology

Practical Research
Planning and Design

Tenth Edition

Paul D. Leedy
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

© 2013, 2010, 2005, 2001, 1997
Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Chapter 4
Planning Your Research Project

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-3

Research Design






Is a general strategy for solving a research problem
Provides the overall structure for the procedures the researcher follows, the data the researcher collects, and the data analyses the researcher conducts
Research Design – Research planning

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-4

Categories of Research Problems
• People: problems related to children, adults, families, communities, cultural groups, employees, etc.

• Things: problems related to animal and vegetable life, viruses and bacteria, inanimate objects, matter, stars, galaxies, etc.
• Records: problems related to newspapers, journals, letters, minutes, legal documents, census reports, etc.
• Thoughts & Ideas: problems related to concepts, theories, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, issues, etc.

• Dynamics & Energy: problems related to human interactions, metabolism, quantum mechanics, wave mechanics, etc.

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-5

Research Planning v. Research Methodology
• Research Planning: the general approach to planning a research study; may be similar across disciplines.
• Research Methodology: the techniques one uses to collect and analyze data; may be specific to a particular academic discipline.

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-6

General Criteria for a Research Project
• Universality: the research project should be one that might be carried out by any competent person. The researcher is a catalyst who collects, organizes, and reports what the collected data seem to indicate. • Replication: the research should be repeatable; any other competent person should be able to take the problem and, collecting data under the same circumstances and within the same parameters you have used, achieve results comparable to yours.
• Control: the researcher must isolate, or control, factors that are central to the research problem; control is important for replication and consistency within the research design.
• Measurement: the data should be able to be measured in some way.
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-7

The Nature and Role of Data in Research
• Data are not absolute reality but manifestations of reality.
(see table 4.2)
• Data are transient and ever changing.

• Data is primary or secondary. (see example page 78)
▪ Primary data is the layer closest to the truth.
▪ Secondary data are derived, not from the truth, but from primary data.

• Data must meet certain criteria to be admitted to study; any data not meeting the criteria are excluded from the study.

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-8

Planning for Data Collection
Answers to the following questions will bring the process into focus.
1.
2.

3.
4.

What data are needed?
Where are the data located?
How will the data be obtained?
How will the data be interpreted?

Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-9

Identifying Appropriate Measurement
Instruments
• We pin down data by measuring it in some way.
• Measurement instruments provide a basis on which the entire research effort rests.

• A research effort employing faulty measurement tools is of little value in solving the problem under investigation.
• In planning the research project, the nature of the measurement instruments should be clearly identified.
• Instrumentation should be described in explicit, concrete terms.

• Instruments should have a reasonable degree of validity and reliability.
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-10

Measurement as a Tool of Research
Measurement: limiting the data of any phenomenon—substantial or insubstantial— so that those data may be interpreted and, ultimately, compared to a particular qualitative or quantitative standard.
* Substantial measurements = those things being measured that have physical substance.
* Insubstantial measurements = exist only as concepts, ideas, opinions, feelings, or other intangible entities.
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-11

Four Scales of Measurement:
• Nominal
• Ordinal
• Interval
• Ratio
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-12

Nominal Scale of Measurement
• Measures data by assigning names

• Things can be measured nominally in an infinite number of ways
• Simplistic
• Divides data into discrete categories
• Statistical procedures = mode, percentage, chi-square test
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4-13

Ordinal Scale of Measurement
• Think in terms of symbols (> or