2. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 1 Introduction to research methods 1: Preface & Foundations 1 2 Click on the speaker to hear the audio for each slide…here first… …and here second.

3. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 2 Guess my rule SequenceFits my rule?What is the rule for the sequence? How sure are you? 2, 4, 6, …, ___ % __, __, __, … When you get to 100% certainty, turn your paper over 1

4. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 3 For this introduction... General goals of the course  Objectives (what do I want to achieve?)  Research and its place within graduate education  Systems of belief – ways of knowing  Authority  Intuition  Confirmation bias  Astrology  Psychic reading  Association  Science  Is science “natural?”  Nope, but it works  We basically spend the semester learning a way of knowing that’s tried and tested and is “good science” 1 2 3 4 5

5. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 4 Foundations of research  Positivism vs. post-positivism  Positivism  Science can only address that which is directly observable  Observation and measurement is the only means to the truth  Post-positivism & critical realism & critical naturalism  Simply put…  all measurements are potentially faulty  Truth, though it exists, is unlikely to ever be known with certainty  The point of science is to maintain the search for the truth despite knowing that one may never reach it  Hence seek reality, while being critical of one’s current estimation of it 2 3 4 1

6. 1 KNR 497 Foundations Slide 5 Foundations of research  Post-positivism & critical realism & c. naturalism  Because we are critical of our grasp on reality, we  Take multiple measures  Critique the measures we have  Engage in hearty arguments about our perspectives and their influence on our thought processes (that we might not be aware of)  It is only through such critique that objectivity can be approximated – an individual cannot be objective, but if a viewpoint is generalizable across many perspectives and cultures it may possess some objectivity 2 3

7. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 6 Foundations of research  Post-positivism & critical realism  The “natural selection theory of knowledge”  That which survives can claim a degree of objectivity or approximation to the truth  Here lies the value of research that we do, and the criticism to which we subject it  It’s pretty much the only way that our (eventual) understanding can claim a degree of objectivity  (according to critical realism, that is…now, if you’re a relativist…)  And so back to graduate education 1 2 3

8. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 7 Figure 2 The Yin and Yang of Research 1 2 3 4

9. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 8 Foundations of research  The language of research  Empiricism, theory, probabilities & causation  Types of studies  Three basic types:  Descriptive  Relational  Causal  Time in research  Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal designs  Repeated measures vs. time series designs 1 2 3

10. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 9 Foundations of research  Variables  Value or attribute = a property of something (may or may not be numeric) examples:  Your age  My age  Your gender  My gender  Variable  How about all our ages?  We all have an age, but they are all different  Age is something we vary by  Age is a variable that describes a property of our group 1

11. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 10 Foundations of research  Variables  Independent variable  What you or nature manipulates in some way  E.g. 1: What happens when you get older?  Age is the independent variable (nature is the manipulator)  E.g. 2: What happens when you drink?  Blood alcohol level is the IV (you are the manipulator)  Critiquing IVs: Exhaustive? Mutually exclusive attributes? See also construct validity (later) 1 2

12. KNR 497 Foundations Slide 11 Foundations of research  Variables  Dependent variable  The thing that is influenced (changed) by your independent variable  E.g. 1 (IV = Age): Skin sag, baldness, frequency of urine expulsion, memory strength  E.g. 2 (IV = Alcohol consumption): Balance, inhibition, frequency of urine expulsion  Critiquing DV’s: see operationalization, reliability, measurement validity (all later) 1 2 3