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Research Development

Where does a researcher start? How does s/he arrive at a feasible

research topic? Three channels exist for developing

preliminary ideas: o replication, o advisor recommendation, and o original idea.

Idea Source: Replication Replication involves finding a research study

and repeating it in exactly the same way. The researcher simply collects new data and

compares new findings with old results. Replication is one way of re-testing the

previous conclusions of a study done a few years earlier.

Replication is convenient in the fact that all the design questions and various statistical parameter issues are already decided upon.

To find a study to replicate, review the literature on a broad subject matter area of interest.

Idea Source: Replication Decide on a specific study whose findings

intrigue you and obtain a copy of the work.

Design new research identical to it. Collect, analyze, and compare findings

and conclusions to the previous work. A variation on the replication theme

involves finding a study that intrigues you that has been done with a different sample population than the one you want to study.

Idea Source: Replication

For example, a study done with profoundly hearing impaired children learning total communication seems a reasonable approach to use with children with moderate mental handicaps.

Your new research would be almost identical to the original study, but instead you would select children who had a moderate mental handicap.

Your treatment approach would be the same, but now with this new population.

Idea Source: Replication You would collect and analyze the data, but

instead of comparing the findings and conclusions to the previous work, you would interpret it with respect to your own review of the literature and your research hypothesis.

A second way of getting a preliminary idea is directly from one’s advisor.

This is a very common approach when deciding upon a master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation.

Idea Source: Advisor Rx Particularly in doctoral programs, your

advisor may already be working on a body of research, and may recommend you do a study on a particular topic.

Obviously, if one designs and completes the research in a way in which the advisor suggests originally, there will be little remaining to be scrutinized by committee members.

However, you should sincerely like the advisor’s suggestion in the first place, because in the final analysis, the research will be attributed to you.

Idea Source: Original Idea Original ideas can be generated in several

ways:o By doing literature reviews on a topic of general

interest;o By doing literature reviews with a replication idea in

mind; o By doing literature review with a specific population in

mind. Before deciding on a final idea, you will want to

consider developing a couple of different ideas by any of the three methods just described.

Take each preliminary idea one at a time and write out possible elements that would make this idea a good one or a bad one to study.

Original Idea: Pros and Cons Try to make the pros and cons as specific

as possible. For example, a pro might be “I think I could

turn this prospectus into a thesis which would be one hurdle already completed on the road to a Ph.D.”

A con might be “I think it would take me more than 6 months to find a large enough sample of subjects with this characteristic.”

Practice explaining your proposed research effort to friends and family to test that your idea is workable.

Original Idea: Pros and Cons

Talk to your advisor and get his/her objective suggestions.

After the discussion with your advisor and/or faculty mentor, the best final workable idea should emerge.

Literature Search and Review

Now that you have your research idea, it is time to begin a more in-depth search for and review of references.

The purpose of the lit review is to set the foundation for the study’s hypotheses.

The lit review allows a reader to better understand the research problem in terms of historical background, theoretical framework, and current research developments or trends.

Literature Search and Review It is critically important that the lit review

include only the most relevant articles. As the first step in reviewing the literature,

obtain titles of journals pertinent to the research topic.

Specific search engines, such as EBSCO Host and the Directory of Open Access Journals, can be helpful in helping you locating relevant journal listings.

I find Google Scholar an invaluable search engine for locating journal articles for consideration.

Literature Search and Review After acquiring the listing of relevant journal

titles proceed to a review of computer generated references, with systems such as Highwire Press, ERIC, PubMed, etc.

Let’s go to Hirewire Press and practice: http://highwire.stanford.edu/lists/freeart.dtl

You can search by major heading, by subheading;

You can restrict by date of publication, type of work, availability of reference.

Once you have found some promising articles, verify that your library has the journal, or that the full-text is accessible.

Literature Search and Review If the full-text is not accessible, except by

subscription, you will want to request a copy of the article by interlibrary loan.

You can do this on-line from Baron-Forness library: http://www.edinboro.edu/cwis/library/illoan/illartcle.htm

Some information, such as that contained in masters’ theses or doctoral dissertations are only available through purchase of microfiche/microfilm.

You will want to make sure to read the abstract carefully before deciding if you will spend the time and/or money to obtain it.

Content and Organization Every literature requires a good

organizational system. With computer application, you can save

information into separate files for historical information, theoretical information, current research (within 10 years), and past research (older than 10 years).

We will also be learning how to use Refworks which will help you manage citation for you paper and create reference pages.

Content and Organization Once you have reviewed the literature

and created an annotated bibliography of all your articles, you want to begin organize the information in the way in which it might unfold in the paper.

It is generally a good idea to review historical background only enough as is needed to set the stage for the current concern.

Hypothesis Formulation In the behavioral sciences, we conduct research

in order to test hypotheses (answer our questions) which we derive from our theories of behavior.

Having stated a specific hypothesis, we collect data which should enable us to make a decision concerning the hypothesis.

Our decision may lead us to retain, revise, or reject the hypothesis and the theory that was its source.

To reach an objective decision as to whether a particular hypothesis is confirmed by a set of data, we must have an objective procedure for either rejecting or accepting that hypothesis.

Types of Hypotheses

The null hypothesis (H0) is simply the hypothesis of “no difference,” “no relationship,” or “no effect.”

It usually does not represent what the researcher thinks will be found in the research.

It is simply the scientifically stated phrase that can be statistically tested.

It is usually formulated for the express purpose of being rejected.

If it is rejected, the alternative hypothesis (H1) is supported.

Types of Hypotheses The alternative hypothesis (H1) is the

operational form of a research hypothesis. A research hypothesis is a prediction, derived

from the theory under consideration, that groups differ.

If the research hypothesis is upheld, further support is given to the theory from which it was derived.

For example, suppose a certain social-psychological theory would lead us to predict that two specified groups of people differ in the amount of time they spend reading newspapers.

Types of Hypotheses The null hypothesis, that we hope to reject, is

that “there is no statistically significant difference in the mean amount of time spent reading newspapers by members of the two populations.”

However, the prediction that two specified groups of people differ in the amount of time spent reading the newspaper is the research hypothesis.

The nature of the research hypothesis determines how H1 should be stated.

If the research hypothesis simply states that two groups will differ with respect to means, than the H1 would state that the means of the two group populations are unequal.

Directionality of Hypotheses

But if the theory predicts the direction of the differences, that is, that one specified group will have a larger mean than the other, the H1 may be that the mean for group 1 is greater than the mean for group 2.

Research hypotheses can be either directional (one-tailed) or non-directional (two-tailed).

Directionality of Hypotheses In a directional research hypothesis, not

only is a difference or relationships expected, it is expected in a definite direction.

Consider this research hypothesis: Boys will score significantly lower than girls on self-esteem assessment.

Not only is a difference expected, but the direction of the difference is specifically stated.

In a non-directional hypothesis, a difference or relationship is expected, but no direction of difference is established.

Directionality of Hypotheses

The research hypothesis might read: “Boys will score significantly different than girls on self-esteem assessment.”

The null hypothesis is immune from this entire directionality issue since it is always a statement of no difference or no relationship.

Deciding on whether a research hypothesis should be directional or non-directional depends largely on previous research from other studies and the researcher’s own instincts.

Be sure that the directionality or non-directionality of the research hypothesis can be defended later.

Directionality of Hypotheses

There are four critical hypothesis development rules to follow in creating research hypotheses:o The hypothesis should reflect the essence of the

study and not stray from the major issue and thrust of your research topic.

o The hypothesis must be written clearly, without ambiguity; it should not be a compound thought.

o The hypothesis in a scientific research endeavor must be testable by quantitative means.

o The statistical test should assess only one null hypothesis.

Directionality of Hypotheses

There is a link on the course webpage to examples of null and research hypotheses.

You can use these as models when considering the wording for your own.

Design your study so that the appropriate scores or values are available for quantifying the information needed relative to testing each null hypothesis.

And remember, five null hypotheses would require five individual statistical tests.

Probability Value in Hypotheses

All statistical measures yield a probability or significance value.

This value always relates to the hypothesis of no difference or no relationship—the H0.

More specifically, the significance value associated with any statistical test actually represents the odds of the results being due only to chance and not due to any real differences or relationships found in the data.

Probability Value in Hypotheses If in a study of boys’ and girls’ math

scores, a t-test value yields a significance value of .04, you could assume that the boys and girls under study would have different group mean scores due to chance only 4% of the time.

Conversely, 96% of the time, the mean difference in math scores between the boys and the girls must not be due to chance but due to some other factor, such as gender, verbal aptitude, etc.

Probability Value in Hypotheses In other words, the significance value obtained

answers the questions: what are the chances that the null hypothesis is true?

As the significance value goes down, the chances of the null hypothesis being true also goes down; and the chances of a real difference or relationship existing in the data goes up.

At what level is the significance value considered a “significant finding” in testing null hypotheses?

The level selected as the statistical testing criteria or “cut-off” is termed the alpha level ().

Probability Value in Hypotheses

The .05 and .01 are by far the most traditionally accepted in most research work.

The alpha level represents the percentage of chance of being wrong, if null is rejected.

At .05 the researcher is willing to reject the null hypothesis, the idea of no difference or relationship between two groups, if the significance value is found by the appropriate statistical test to be .05 or less.

Probability Value in Hypotheses The alpha level should always be set

before the study begins. It is improper to alter alpha either during

the study, or, even worse, after witnessing the statistical test results.

Remember, finding no statistically significant results can be very “significant,” depending upon the interpretation of the results.