ACS 301 September 11, 2008 Research Design: Theories, Concepts and Ethics

Key themes What is research design? How good is this research? Types of research designs How good are they? It depends… Ethics in research

What is research design?

How good is this research?

Types of research designs

How good are they? It depends…

Ethics in research

The Four Cs of Design Creativity Complexity Compromise Choice Borja De Mozota, Brigitte. 2003. Design Management: Using Design to Build Value. New York: All Worth Press .

Creativity

Complexity

Compromise

Choice

How to choose a design? I want to know what causes something else. I really want to understand the meaning of behaviour. I want to how something changes over time. I want to generalize my results to a larger population.

Reliability Replication Validity Judging research Part I: The Quantitative Edition

Reliability

Replication

Validity

Dependability Confirmability Credibility Transferability Judging research Part II: The Qualitative Edition “ Trustworthiness”

Dependability

Confirmability

Credibility

Transferability

Research Designs Experimental design Cross sectional Longitudinal Case study

Research Designs

Experimental design

Cross sectional

Longitudinal

Case study

A “variable” varies…

What is varying?

Independent vs Dependent Variables Age Height ?

Classic Experimental Design September December Midterm grade Midterm grade Studies Exam grade Exam grade Doesn’t Study The “Will study for the final” Group The “Won’t study for the final” Group

Classic Experimental Design September December Midterm grade Midterm grade Studies Exam grade Exam grade Doesn’t Study The “Will study for the final” Group The “Won’t study for the final” Group Obs 1 Obs 1 Exp No Exp Obs 2 Obs 2

Cross-sectional Design All exam grades Studying “goes with” higher grades “ A” grades Studied for hours or more “ B” and below Studied for less than 2 hours

Longitudinal Design Random group of people Surveyed about drug use All people born in 1960 Surveyed about drug use 1960 1980 Surveyed again about drug use Surveyed again about drug use 1970 Cohort study Panel study

The Case Study Unique! Revelatory! Critical! Interesting and available

Research Designs and Validity Weak Potentially weak Case study Potentially weak Potentially weak Strong Internal validity Strong (if done right) Longitudinal Strong (if done right) Cross-sectional Potentially weak Experiment External validity