Research Methodology IV BTech IT Cape Peninsula University (CPUT) Faculty of Informatics & Design (FID) Lecturer: Nhlanhla Mlitwa

Research & Research Process Purpose: You may do research with the purpose, either to: EXPLORE (ALSO TEST) DESCRIBE EXPLAIN EVALUATE PREDICT

Research Purpose We build on the types of questions (previous lecture) A descriptive study - to describe situations and events - researcher observes, then describes the observation, systematically & accurately. Examples: - Census (what is it, how it works) - Product Marketing Survey - etc : may involve a large variety of research, both within a qualitative & quantitative research paradigms

Research Purpose Descriptive contexts may range from: conceptual analysis, historical analysis, case studies, to multivariate statistical studies (contingency tables, correlations, regression, analysis, etc) … Descriptive study It may either be an in-depth – and fully structured description of a phenomenon like an individual, an event, artefact, etc (example: cor- relational statistics) OR A Narrative description: Emphasising the part of a phenomenon. Example: when describing time, you may elect to describe the aspect called “the minute” – perhaps in terms of the frequency of the bits or “seconds”, etc.

Research Purpose Explanation ( explanatory study) The aim / objective is to explain things. Major aim: indicate CAUSALITY of VARIABLES or EVENTS. Reporting what happened: that Thabo Mbeki lost the ANC Presidential election to Jacob Zuma is a description of the voting outcome. This is brief. It is a narrative aspect of the entire process of that fiasco in December An in-depth descriptive study would seek to…? But – Reporting why most people who were present – decided to vote the way they did, is an explanation. A study to find this out is an explanatory study

Research Purpose … Explanation (explanatory study) Causality vs Correlation Correlations – In a statistical study you may find a high co-relationship between POVERTY and the following variables (in most developing countries): -Unemployment -Crime (which one?) -Illiteracy -Political riots That is, in so many countries with high poverty levels – there is always a high rate of all these variables. But since there are other things (some employment, some literacy, some peace, etc) in the same countries, you may not know for sure if these variables cause poverty. Don’t you also find crime, unemployment, illiteracy, political riots, etc where people are wealthy? - so, only a correlation is clear but not causality. If this information is to be useful, then you may still need to find evidence to indicate that poverty LEADS TO (CAUSES): Rape (crime)? Illiteracy? Unemployment? Political riots?

Research Purpose … Explanation (explanatory study) …Causality Let us discuss an example of the most dangerous sport. To come up with such knowledge, you must be clear of : (1) what constitutes the “most dangerous” (2) A clear causal relationship between the sport & the “extreme form of danger A causal relationship should be a correct sequential order – between the sporting activity and the danger effect…

Research Purpose … Explanation (explanatory study): Cause & Effect Principle Your evidence will need to pass the cause – effect principle: -The cause should precede the effect in time. It is illogical in science to have something as a cause of what happened before it, i.e. I must punch you in the eye before you can have a blue-eye, not the blue-eye first before I punch you if my punch is the cause of your blue eye. -The causal variable is either the sole or the major cause of the effect. -Empirical co-relationship between the cause and effect cannot be explained in terms of the third variable that causes both variables. Example: Peak of Ice Cream Sales and Increased Beach Drowning. There is a positive co-relationship, but how do more ice cream sales CAUSE drawnings? The third Variable is Season or Temperature ANY RELATIONSHIP SATISFYING THESE CRITERIA IS CAUSAL Correlation therefore, is not to be confused with a cause of an effect.

Research Purpose … Cause and effect The Necessary and Sufficient Cause Necessary – condition must be present for event to follow (i.e. register & take course in order to get a degree). But simply registering & taking course is not sufficient – you must also pass the courses Sufficient – condition whose presence guarantees an effect So far, what is the deference between a descriptive and an explanatory study (in terms of the aim and objective)? We have electricity problems in RSA – but it depends on what you want to know about this crisis. What would a person want to find out about ESKOM electricity problem/s ?

Units of analysis Knowing the problem, and also the question to enquire is not enough. You also need to know exactly what to study (something specific to be studied – unit of analysis) in order to find your answers. Unit of analysis: The what object, phenomenon, entity, process, or event, etc – you are investigating. You may be studying: –Individuals, groups or human actions (in social studies), –Biological organisms (in biology), –Programmes & systems (in socio-technical interventions), –Institutions (schools, universities, banks, companies) –There are many other examples In studying academic performance for example, what would your unit of analysis be?

Units of Analysis Individuals (what about them?) If your unit of analysis is individual people - it is obviously more than that. You may not start-off by thinking of individuals – but some characteristics of interest, which are about individuals i.e: gender, age, attitudes, etc. Remember: if you want to understand attitudes of pregnant women you cannot get these unless you study pregnant individuals.

Units of Analysis vs Units of Observation Sometimes units of analysis may include more characteristics than what we are interested in studying. Here is a question of study: Do political disagreements cause divorce? What are the Units of Analysis here? Families But who could divorce in a family: –A grand-farther and a six months old baby? No –A brother and a sister? Again, No OK, But are you not studying families, and are these not families? This leads us to the “units of observation”. So within a unit of analysis – the family, you will only focus on appropriate units of observation. That should be a husband and a wife (1 st variable). How many other variables, and what are they? Secondly, what is a dependant and independent variable?

Units of Analysis vs Units of Observation Those aspects of your units of analysis that you are directly observing or studying – are your units of observation. This distinction is important in understanding “Research Populations”, and “Population Sampling” in research. What about studying the correlations between family income and computer ownership? [why look at correlations & not causality?] What is the unit of (1) analysis and of (2) observation? Now - come up with different things that can be studied – and see if we can identify the units of analysis

Units of Analysis vs Units of Observation OK, when studying members of a criminal organization to learn about criminals, what would be the units of analysis? Now, if you study all the gangs to learn of differences between gangs in the city? Let us be more practical – what about investigating the causes of slow networks in an organization, say CPUT? What would be the units of: - analysis, and of - observation ? We will extend this to include research populations and sampling (ch8)...next time, thanks !