Prepared by Siti Rokiah Siwok for UHS 2062 at UTM, Skudai Malaysia Research in IOP Prepared by Siti Rokiah Siwok for UHS 2062 at UTM, Skudai Malaysia srsiwok@gmail.com

Research helps IO psychologists to: Answer questions Make decisions Save money Save the company /jobs And…..many more

The Research Process Choose an area/topic/idea Focus Design the research Collect data Analyze data Interpret data Report, inform and publish

Choosing an area/topic/ idea Pick something that you are interested, you really want to learn about it. Collect background information by reading articles and journals. Make yourself more familiar with the topic Find out what has been done, what has been researched. You will discover lots of information

Focusing your ideas... Focus on a research idea of your interest Be flexible and have an open mind Discard irrelevant items Convert your focused research idea into a research hypothesis or a research question. A hypothesis is a statement about the relationship between two or more variables.

A variable is ... An aspect or situation that can vary or change; specifically it is a characteristic of a substance, quantity or entity that is measureable ( Kosslynn & Rosenberg,2006, pg 39) Simply an attribute on which cases vary ( Bryman, 2004, pg 29)

Research Design Causal connections between variables Making inferences A research design provides a framework for the collection and analysis of data. A choice of research design reflects decisions about a range of dimensions of the research process such as: Causal connections between variables Making inferences Understanding behaviour and its meanings within a specific context Time-based phenomenon

Examples of research designs Experimental designs Cross-sectional or survey Longitudinal Case study Comparative design

Data Collection Depending on your hypothesis or research questions, data can be collected using various methods such as surveys, interviews or observations.

Analyze and Interpret Data When data is obtained, analyze and interpret the data. This may involve computing or softwares to assist you to analyze the data.

Report, inform and publish An important aspect of a scientific method is that research and results must be made public Reasons for reporting: The result may become part of a general knowledge base so that other people can use to answer questions or to generate new research ideas. So that the research can be replicated or refuted

References Aamodt, M.G. (2010).Industrial/Organizational Psychology. An Applied Approach. CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Gravetter, F. J (2003). Research Methods for the Behavioural Sciences. USA: Thomson Bryman, A ( 2004). Social Research Methods (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press. Neuman, L ( 2003). Social Research Methods (5th ed). Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston: Pearson