The Research Problem

Source of Problem: Ideas from EXRERIENCE  Your intuitions are unscientific until empirically tested.  Psychological biases can lead to distorted beliefs.  INDUCTION

What is a THEORY?  Based on hypothesis  Backed by evidence  Is testable Psychology: theories are used to provide a model for understanding human thoughts, emotions and behaviors.

Source of Problem: Deductions from Theory  What relationship between variables will appear if I use ____________ Theory?

How to use a THEORY as a source in research  Test a theory : do implicit theories of intelligence have a relationship with imposter feelings?  Compare theories : Which best explains imposter feelings: implicit theories of intelligence, theories of personality or social cognitive theory? ALL?  Extend an established theory to a new outcome or phenomenon: can implicit theories of intelligence help us explain imposter feelings ?  Apply a theory to change behavior: can I create instructions that relieve imposter feelings for women during statistics?

Source of Problem: Related Literature  Building on literature  Agree or disagree  Answer questions  Gap in the literature

Evaluating the Problem  Who cares?  Is it researchable?  Is it ethically appropriate?

Qualitative Research Problem  General purpose-focus of inquiry.  Qualitative researchers may formulate problems after collecting the some data.

Quantitative Research Problem  Clarifies exactly what is to be investigated.  Asks about a relationship between two or more variables.

Identifying Populations  Be specific  Italians are not all the same

Identifying Variables to test a hypothesis  Cause: Independent Variable (IV)  Effect: Dependent Variable (DP) The researcher manipulates the IV and measures the DV to test the hypothesis.

Question:  What factors are related to greater persistence through the BS degree for underrepresented minority students studying engineering at a minority serving institution?

Literature tells us  Variables that predict student persistence in undergraduate education include academic and social integration in the institution of higher education, generally, and the academic program, specifically (Tinto, 1993; Braxton, 1999)

A group of first year psychology college students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. Independent Variable: Dependent Variable: EXERCISE

Operationalizing a variable  Some variables are easy to operationalize; e.g., the effect of a drug dose on hypertension.  IV = drug dose  DV = blood pressure, serum measure, etc.  Some constructs have diverging operational definitions.  How do you operationally define “stress”?  …motivation?  Some domains may not be operationalizable.  “Spirituality”? “Happiness”?

Variable Classifications  Discrete = one specific value.  Continuous = can fall within a nearly infinite set of numbers within some limits.  Nominal = simply a category name so it can not be given any quantitative properties.  Ordinal (ranked) = the numeric value indicates the relationships among the data (first, fifth, etc.)

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The Italians drink lots of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

Conclusion: Eat & drink what you like. It's speaking English that kills you!

ORGANIZING THE LITERATURE

Commercial Tools Available  Endnote – Research Manager – ProCite  Advantages Store references for later use Direct access to or import from electronic searches Interact with Microsoft Word Store electronic abstracts or link to full PDFs  Disadvantages Expensive Difficult to learn Time consuming in the short-term

Database Alternatives  Create a review document or chart Track important information Quick summary of articles Show article characteristics  Use Microsoft Excel Readily available Convenient format for review Easy to sort & prioritize

ERIC o Determine keywords  Population  Variables o Check ERIC thesaurus for descriptors