What's the difference between method and methodology?

Methodology is the overall research strategy and rationale. Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data. Frequentlyaskedquestions Seeall Home Frequentlyaskedquestions What’sthedifferencebetweenmethodandmethodology? What’sthedifferencebetweenmethodandmethodology? Methodologyreferstotheoverarchingstrategyandrationaleofyourresearchproject.Itinvolvesstudyingthemethodsusedinyourfieldandthetheoriesorprinciplesbehindthem,inordertodevelopanapproachthatmatchesyourobjectives. Methodsarethespecifictoolsandproceduresyouusetocollectandanalyzedata(forexample,experiments,surveys,andstatisticaltests). Inshorterscientificpapers,wheretheaimistoreportthefindingsofaspecificstudy,youmightsimplydescribewhatyoudidinamethodssection. Inalongerormorecomplexresearchproject,suchasathesisordissertation,youwillprobablyincludeamethodologysection,whereyouexplainyourapproachtoansweringtheresearchquestionsandciterelevantsourcestosupportyourchoiceofmethods. Frequentlyaskedquestions: Methodology What’sthedifferencebetweenquantitativeandqualitativemethods? Quantitativeresearchdealswithnumbersandstatistics,whilequalitativeresearchdealswithwordsandmeanings. Quantitativemethodsallowyoutosystematicallymeasurevariablesandtesthypotheses.Qualitativemethodsallowyoutoexploreconceptsandexperiencesinmoredetail. Whatissampling? Asampleisasubsetofindividualsfromalargerpopulation.Samplingmeansselectingthegroupthatyouwillactuallycollectdatafrominyourresearch.Forexample,ifyouareresearchingtheopinionsofstudentsinyouruniversity,youcouldsurveyasampleof100students. Instatistics,samplingallowsyoutotestahypothesisaboutthecharacteristicsofapopulation. What’sthedifferencebetweenreliabilityandvalidity? Reliabilityandvalidityarebothabouthowwellamethodmeasuressomething: Reliabilityreferstothe consistencyofameasure(whethertheresultscanbereproducedunderthesameconditions). Validity referstothe accuracyofameasure(whethertheresultsreallydorepresentwhattheyaresupposedtomeasure). Ifyouaredoingexperimentalresearch,youalsohavetoconsidertheinternalandexternalvalidityofyourexperiment. Whatisthedifferencebetweeninternalandexternalvalidity? Internalvalidityisthedegreeofconfidencethatthecausalrelationshipyouaretestingisnotinfluencedbyotherfactorsorvariables. Externalvalidityistheextenttowhichyourresultscanbegeneralizedtoothercontexts. Thevalidityofyourexperimentdependsonyourexperimentaldesign. Whatisexperimentaldesign? Experimentaldesignmeansplanningasetofprocedurestoinvestigatearelationshipbetweenvariables.Todesignacontrolledexperiment,youneed: Atestablehypothesis Atleastoneindependentvariablethatcanbepreciselymanipulated Atleastonedependentvariablethatcanbepreciselymeasured Whendesigningtheexperiment,youdecide: Howyouwillmanipulatethevariable(s) Howyouwillcontrolforanypotentialconfoundingvariables Howmanysubjectsorsampleswillbeincludedinthestudy Howsubjectswillbeassignedtotreatmentlevels Experimentaldesignisessentialtotheinternalandexternalvalidityofyourexperiment.   Whatareindependentanddependentvariables? Youcanthinkofindependentanddependentvariablesintermsofcauseandeffect:anindependentvariableisthevariableyouthinkisthecause,whileadependentvariableistheeffect. Inanexperiment,youmanipulatetheindependentvariableandmeasuretheoutcomeinthedependentvariable.Forexample,inanexperimentabouttheeffectofnutrientsoncropgrowth: The independentvariable istheamountofnutrientsaddedtothecropfield. The dependentvariableisthebiomassofthecropsatharvesttime. Definingyourvariables,anddecidinghowyouwillmanipulateandmeasurethem,isanimportantpartofexperimentaldesign. Whatisthedifferencebetweenquantitativeandcategoricalvariables? Quantitativevariablesareanyvariableswherethedatarepresentamounts(e.g.height,weight,orage). Categoricalvariablesareanyvariableswherethedatarepresentgroups.Thisincludesrankings(e.g.finishingplacesinarace),classifications(e.g.brandsofcereal),andbinaryoutcomes(e.g.coinflips). Youneedtoknowwhattypeofvariablesyouareworkingwithtochoosetherightstatisticaltestforyourdataandinterpretyourresults. Whatisthedifferencebetweendiscreteandcontinuousvariables? Discreteandcontinuousvariablesaretwotypesofquantitativevariables: Discretevariablesrepresentcounts(e.g.thenumberofobjectsinacollection). Continuousvariablesrepresentmeasurableamounts(e.g.watervolumeorweight). Whatisaconfoundingvariable? Aconfoundingvariable,alsocalledaconfounderorconfoundingfactor,isathirdvariableinastudyexaminingapotentialcause-and-effectrelationship. Aconfoundingvariableisrelatedtoboththesupposedcauseandthesupposedeffectofthestudy.Itcanbedifficulttoseparatethetrueeffectoftheindependentvariablefromtheeffectoftheconfoundingvariable. Inyourresearchdesign,it’simportanttoidentifypotentialconfoundingvariablesandplanhowyouwillreducetheirimpact. HowdoIdecidewhichresearchmethodstouse? Theresearchmethodsyouusedependonthetypeofdatayouneedtoansweryourresearchquestion. Ifyouwanttomeasuresomethingortestahypothesis,usequantitativemethods.Ifyouwanttoexploreideas,thoughtsandmeanings,usequalitativemethods. Ifyouwanttoanalyzealargeamountofreadily-availabledata,usesecondarydata.Ifyouwantdataspecifictoyourpurposeswithcontroloverhowitisgenerated,collectprimarydata. Ifyouwanttoestablishcause-and-effectrelationshipsbetweenvariables,useexperimentalmethods.Ifyouwanttounderstandthecharacteristicsofaresearchsubject,usedescriptivemethods. Whatismixedmethodsresearch? Inmixedmethodsresearch,youusebothqualitativeandquantitativedatacollectionandanalysismethodstoansweryourresearchquestion. Whatisinternalvalidity? Internalvalidityistheextenttowhichyoucanbeconfidentthatacause-and-effectrelationshipestablishedinastudycannotbeexplainedbyotherfactors. Whatarethreatstointernalvalidity? Thereareeightthreatstointernalvalidity:history,maturation,instrumentation,testing,selectionbias,regressiontothemean,socialinteractionandattrition. Whatisthedifferencebetweenalongitudinalstudyandacross-sectionalstudy? Longitudinalstudiesandcross-sectionalstudiesaretwodifferenttypesofresearchdesign.Inacross-sectionalstudyyoucollectdatafromapopulationataspecificpointintime;inalongitudinalstudyyourepeatedlycollectdatafromthesamesampleoveranextendedperiodoftime. Longitudinalstudy Cross-sectionalstudy Repeatedobservations Observationsatasinglepointintime Observesthesamegroupmultipletimes Observesdifferentgroups(a“cross-section”)inthepopulation Followschangesinparticipantsovertime Providessnapshotofsocietyatagivenpoint Whataretheprosandconsofalongitudinalstudy? Longitudinalstudiesarebettertoestablishthecorrectsequenceofevents,identifychangesovertime,andprovideinsightintocause-and-effectrelationships,buttheyalsotendtobemoreexpensiveandtime-consumingthanothertypesofstudies. Whatisanexampleofalongitudinalstudy? The1970BritishCohortStudy,whichhascollecteddataonthelivesof17,000Britssincetheirbirthsin1970,isonewell-knownexampleofalongitudinalstudy. Howlongisalongitudinalstudy? Longitudinalstudiescanlastanywherefromweekstodecades,althoughtheytendtobeatleastayearlong. Whydoacross-sectionalstudy? Cross-sectionalstudiesarelessexpensiveandtime-consumingthanmanyothertypesofstudy.Theycanprovideusefulinsightsintoapopulation’scharacteristicsandidentifycorrelationsforfurtherresearch. Sometimesonlycross-sectionaldataisavailableforanalysis;othertimesyourresearchquestionmayonlyrequireacross-sectionalstudytoanswerit. Whatarethedisadvantagesofacross-sectionalstudy? Cross-sectionalstudiescannotestablishacause-and-effectrelationshiporanalyzebehavioroveraperiodoftime.Toinvestigatecauseandeffect,youneedtodoalongitudinalstudyoranexperimentalstudy. Whatisexternalvalidity? Theexternalvalidityofastudyistheextenttowhichyoucangeneralizeyourfindingstodifferentgroupsofpeople,situations,andmeasures. Whatarethetwotypesofexternalvalidity? Thetwotypesofexternalvalidityarepopulationvalidity(whetheryoucangeneralizetoothergroupsofpeople)andecologicalvalidity(whetheryoucangeneralizetoothersituationsandsettings). Whatarethreatstoexternalvalidity? Thereareseventhreatstoexternalvalidity:selectionbias,history,experimentereffect,Hawthorneeffect,testingeffect,aptitude-treatmentandsituationeffect. Whyaresamplesusedinresearch? Samplesareusedtomakeinferencesaboutpopulations.Samplesareeasiertocollectdatafrombecausetheyarepractical,cost-effective,convenientandmanageable. Whenarepopulationsusedinresearch? Populationsareusedwhenaresearchquestionrequiresdatafromeverymemberofthepopulation.Thisisusuallyonlyfeasiblewhenthepopulationissmallandeasilyaccessible. What’sthedifferencebetweenastatisticandaparameter? Astatisticreferstomeasuresaboutthesample,whileaparameterreferstomeasuresaboutthepopulation. Whatissamplingerror? Asamplingerroristhedifferencebetweenapopulationparameterandasamplestatistic. Whatissamplingbias? Samplingbiasoccurswhensomemembersofapopulationaresystematicallymorelikelytobeselectedinasamplethanothers. Whyissamplingbiasimportant? Samplingbiasisathreattoexternalvalidity–itlimitsthegeneralizabilityofyourfindingstoabroadergroupofpeople. Whataresometypesofsamplingbias? Somecommontypesofsamplingbiasincludeself-selection,non-response,undercoverage,survivorship,pre-screeningoradvertising,andhealthyuserbias. Howdoyouavoidsamplingbias? Usingcarefulresearchdesignandsamplingprocedurescanhelpyouavoidsamplingbias.Oversamplingcanbeusedtocorrectundercoveragebias. Whatisprobabilitysampling? Probabilitysamplingmeansthateverymemberofthetargetpopulationhasaknownchanceofbeingincludedinthesample. Probabilitysamplingmethodsincludesimplerandomsampling,systematicsampling,stratifiedsampling,andclustersampling. Whatisnon-probabilitysampling? Innon-probabilitysampling,thesampleisselectedbasedonnon-randomcriteria,andnoteverymemberofthepopulationhasachanceofbeingincluded. Commonnon-probabilitysamplingmethodsincludeconveniencesampling,voluntaryresponsesampling,purposivesampling,snowballsampling,andquotasampling. Whyareindependentanddependentvariablesimportant? Determiningcauseandeffectisoneofthemostimportantpartsofscientificresearch.It’sessentialtoknowwhichisthecause–theindependentvariable–andwhichistheeffect–thedependentvariable. Whatisanexampleofanindependentandadependentvariable? Youwanttofindouthowbloodsugarlevelsareaffectedbydrinkingdietsodaandregularsoda,soyouconductanexperiment. Thetypeofsoda–dietorregular–istheindependentvariable. Thelevelofbloodsugarthatyoumeasureisthedependentvariable–itchangesdependingonthetypeofsoda. Canavariablebebothindependentanddependent? No.Thevalueofadependentvariabledependsonanindependentvariable,soavariablecannotbebothindependentanddependentatthesametime.Itmustbeeitherthecauseortheeffect,notboth! CanIincludemorethanoneindependentordependentvariableinastudy? Yes,butincludingmorethanoneofeithertyperequiresmultipleresearchquestions. Forexample,ifyouareinterestedintheeffectofadietonhealth,youcanusemultiplemeasuresofhealth:bloodsugar,bloodpressure,weight,pulse,andmanymore.Eachoftheseisitsowndependentvariablewithitsownresearchquestion. Youcouldalsochoosetolookattheeffectofexerciselevelsaswellasdiet,oreventheadditionaleffectofthetwocombined.Eachoftheseisaseparateindependentvariable. Toensuretheinternalvalidityofanexperiment,youshouldonlychangeoneindependentvariableatatime. Whydoconfoundingvariablesmatterformyresearch? Toensuretheinternalvalidityofyourresearch,youmustconsidertheimpactofconfoundingvariables.Ifyoufailtoaccountforthem,youmightover-orunderestimatethecausalrelationshipbetweenyourindependentanddependentvariables,orevenfindacausalrelationshipwherenoneexists. Whatisthedifferencebetweenconfoundingvariables,independentvariablesanddependentvariables? Aconfoundingvariableiscloselyrelatedtoboththeindependentanddependentvariablesinastudy.Anindependentvariablerepresentsthesupposedcause,whilethedependentvariableisthesupposedeffect.Aconfoundingvariableisathirdvariablethatinfluencesboththeindependentanddependentvariables. Failingtoaccountforconfoundingvariablescancauseyoutowronglyestimatetherelationshipbetweenyourindependentanddependentvariables. HowdoIpreventconfoundingvariablesfrominterferingwithmyresearch? Thereareseveralmethodsyoucanusetodecreasetheimpactofconfoundingvariablesonyourresearch:restriction,matching,statisticalcontrolandrandomization. Inrestriction,yourestrictyoursamplebyonlyincludingcertainsubjectsthathavethesamevaluesofpotentialconfoundingvariables. Inmatching,youmatcheachofthesubjectsinyourtreatmentgroupwithacounterpartinthecomparisongroup.Thematchedsubjectshavethesamevaluesonanypotentialconfoundingvariables,andonlydifferintheindependentvariable. Instatisticalcontrol,youincludepotentialconfoundersasvariablesinyourregression. Inrandomization,yourandomlyassignthetreatment(orindependentvariable)inyourstudytoasufficientlylargenumberofsubjects,whichallowsyoutocontrolforallpotentialconfoundingvariables. Whatisdatacollection? Datacollectionisthesystematicprocessbywhichobservationsormeasurementsaregatheredinresearch.Itisusedinmanydifferentcontextsbyacademics,governments,businesses,andotherorganizations. Whatarethebenefitsofcollectingdata? Whenconductingresearch,collectingoriginaldatahassignificantadvantages: Youcantailordatacollectiontoyourspecificresearchaims(e.g.understandingtheneedsofyourconsumersorusertestingyourwebsite) Youcancontrolandstandardizetheprocessforhighreliabilityandvalidity(e.g.choosingappropriatemeasurementsandsamplingmethods) However,therearealsosomedrawbacks:datacollectioncanbetime-consuming,labor-intensiveandexpensive.Insomecases,it’smoreefficienttousesecondarydatathathasalreadybeencollectedbysomeoneelse,butthedatamightbelessreliable. Whatisoperationalization? Operationalizationmeansturningabstractconceptualideasintomeasurableobservations. Forexample,theconceptofsocialanxietyisn’tdirectlyobservable,butitcanbeoperationallydefinedintermsofself-ratingscores,behavioralavoidanceofcrowdedplaces,orphysicalanxietysymptomsinsocialsituations. Beforecollectingdata,it’simportanttoconsiderhowyouwilloperationalizethevariablesthatyouwanttomeasure. Whatishypothesistesting? Hypothesistestingisaformalprocedureforinvestigatingourideasabouttheworldusingstatistics.Itisusedbyscientiststotestspecificpredictions,calledhypotheses,bycalculatinghowlikelyitisthatapatternorrelationshipbetweenvariablescouldhavearisenbychance. Whatarethemainqualitativeresearchapproaches? Therearefivecommonapproachestoqualitativeresearch: Groundedtheoryinvolvescollectingdatainordertodevelopnewtheories. Ethnographyinvolvesimmersingyourselfinagroupororganizationtounderstanditsculture. Narrativeresearchinvolvesinterpretingstoriestounderstandhowpeoplemakesenseoftheirexperiencesandperceptions. Phenomenologicalresearchinvolvesinvestigatingphenomenathroughpeople’slivedexperiences. Actionresearchlinkstheoryandpracticeinseveralcyclestodriveinnovativechanges. Howdoyouanalyzequalitativedata? Therearevariousapproachestoqualitativedataanalysis,buttheyallsharefivestepsincommon: Prepareandorganizeyourdata. Reviewandexploreyourdata. Developadatacodingsystem. Assigncodestothedata. Identifyrecurringthemes. Thespecificsofeachstepdependonthefocusoftheanalysis.Somecommonapproachesincludetextualanalysis,thematicanalysis,anddiscourseanalysis. What’sthedifferencebetweenconcepts,variables,andindicators? Inscientificresearch,conceptsaretheabstractideasorphenomenathatarebeingstudied(e.g.,educationalachievement).Variablesarepropertiesorcharacteristicsoftheconcept(e.g.,performanceatschool),whileindicatorsarewaysofmeasuringorquantifyingvariables(e.g.,yearlygradereports). Theprocessofturningabstractconceptsintomeasurablevariablesandindicatorsiscalledoperationalization. WhatisaLikertscale? ALikertscaleisaratingscalethatquantitativelyassessesopinions,attitudes,orbehaviors.Itismadeupof4ormorequestionsthatmeasureasingleattitudeortraitwhenresponsescoresarecombined. TouseaLikertscaleinasurvey,youpresentparticipantswithLikert-typequestionsorstatements,andacontinuumofitems,usuallywith5or7possibleresponses,tocapturetheirdegreeofagreement. AreLikertscalesordinalorintervalscales? IndividualLikert-typequestionsaregenerallyconsideredordinaldata,becausetheitemshaveclearrankorder,butdon’thaveanevendistribution. OverallLikertscalescoresaresometimestreatedasintervaldata.Thesescoresareconsideredtohavedirectionalityandevenspacingbetweenthem. Thetypeofdatadetermineswhatstatisticaltestsyoushouldusetoanalyzeyourdata. Whatisthedifferencebetweenacontrolgroupandanexperimentalgroup? Anexperimentalgroup,alsoknownasatreatmentgroup,receivesthetreatmentwhoseeffectresearcherswishtostudy,whereasacontrolgroupdoesnot.Theyshouldbeidenticalinallotherways. Doexperimentsalwaysneedacontrolgroup? Atrueexperiment(a.k.a.acontrolledexperiment)alwaysincludesatleastonecontrolgroupthatdoesn’treceivetheexperimentaltreatment. However,someexperimentsuseawithin-subjectsdesigntotesttreatmentswithoutacontrolgroup.Inthesedesigns,youusuallycompareonegroup’soutcomesbeforeandafteratreatment(insteadofcomparingoutcomesbetweendifferentgroups). Forstronginternalvalidity,it’susuallybesttoincludeacontrolgroupifpossible.Withoutacontrolgroup,it’shardertobecertainthattheoutcomewascausedbytheexperimentaltreatmentandnotbyothervariables. Whatisblinding? Blindingmeanshidingwhoisassignedtothetreatmentgroupandwhoisassignedtothecontrolgroupinanexperiment. Whatisthedifferencebetweensingle-blind,double-blindandtriple-blindstudies? Inasingle-blindstudy,onlytheparticipantsareblinded. Inadouble-blindstudy,bothparticipantsandexperimentersareblinded. Inatriple-blindstudy,theassignmentishiddennotonlyfromparticipantsandexperimenters,butalsofromtheresearchersanalyzingthedata. Whyisblindingimportant? Blindingisimportanttoreducebias(e.g.,observerbias,demandcharacteristics)andensureastudy’sinternalvalidity. Ifparticipantsknowwhethertheyareinacontrolortreatmentgroup,theymayadjusttheirbehaviorinwaysthataffecttheoutcomethatresearchersaretryingtomeasure.Ifthepeopleadministeringthetreatmentareawareofgroupassignment,theymaytreatparticipantsdifferentlyandthusdirectlyorindirectlyinfluencethefinalresults. Whatisaquasi-experiment? Aquasi-experimentisatypeofresearchdesignthatattemptstoestablishacause-and-effectrelationship.Themaindifferencewithatrueexperimentisthatthegroupsarenotrandomlyassigned. WhenshouldIuseaquasi-experimentaldesign? Quasi-experimentaldesignismostusefulinsituationswhereitwouldbeunethicalorimpracticaltorunatrueexperiment. Quasi-experimentshavelowerinternalvaliditythantrueexperiments,buttheyoftenhavehigherexternalvalidity astheycanusereal-worldinterventionsinsteadofartificiallaboratorysettings. Whatissimplerandomsampling? Simplerandomsamplingisatypeofprobabilitysamplinginwhichtheresearcherrandomlyselectsasubsetofparticipantsfromapopulation.Eachmemberofthepopulationhasanequalchanceofbeingselected.Dataisthencollectedfromaslargeapercentageaspossibleofthisrandomsubset. Whatisanexampleofsimplerandomsampling? TheAmericanCommunitySurvey isanexampleofsimplerandomsampling.InordertocollectdetaileddataonthepopulationoftheUS,theCensusBureauofficialsrandomlyselect3.5millionhouseholdsperyearanduseavarietyofmethodstoconvincethemtofilloutthesurvey. WhenshouldIusesimplerandomsampling? Ifproperlyimplemented,simplerandomsamplingisusuallythebestsamplingmethodforensuringbothinternalandexternalvalidity.However,itcansometimesbeimpracticalandexpensivetoimplement,dependingonthesizeofthepopulationtobestudied, Ifyouhavealistofeverymemberofthepopulationandtheabilitytoreachwhichevermembersareselected,youcanusesimplerandomsampling. Whatisclustersampling? Clustersamplingisaprobabilitysamplingmethodinwhichyoudivideapopulationintoclusters,suchasdistrictsorschools,andthenrandomlyselectsomeoftheseclustersasyoursample. Theclustersshouldideallyeachbemini-representationsofthepopulationasawhole. Whatarethetypesofclustersampling? Therearethreetypesofclustersampling:single-stage,double-stageandmulti-stageclustering.Inallthreetypes,youfirstdividethepopulationintoclusters,thenrandomlyselectclustersforuseinyoursample. Insingle-stagesampling,youcollectdatafromeveryunitwithintheselectedclusters. Indouble-stagesampling,youselectarandomsampleofunitsfromwithintheclusters. Inmulti-stagesampling,yourepeattheprocedureofrandomlysamplingelementsfromwithintheclustersuntilyouhavereachedamanageablesample. Whataresomeadvantagesanddisadvantagesofclustersampling? Clustersamplingismoretime-andcost-efficientthanotherprobabilitysamplingmethods,particularlywhenitcomestolargesamplesspreadacrossawidegeographicalarea. However,itprovideslessstatisticalcertaintythanothermethods,suchassimplerandomsampling,becauseitisdifficulttoensurethatyourclustersproperlyrepresentthepopulationasawhole. Whatisstratifiedsampling? Instratifiedsampling,researchersdividesubjectsintosubgroupscalledstratabasedoncharacteristicsthattheyshare(e.g.,race,gender,educationalattainment,etc). Oncedivided,eachsubgroupisrandomlysampledusinganotherprobabilitysamplingmethod. WhenshouldIusestratifiedsampling? Youshouldusestratifiedsamplingwhenyoursamplecanbedividedintomutuallyexclusiveandexhaustivesubgroupsthatyoubelievewilltakeondifferentmeanvaluesforthevariablethatyou’restudying. Usingstratifiedsamplingwillallowyoutoobtainmoreprecise(withlowervariance)statisticalestimatesofwhateveryouaretryingtomeasure. Forexample,sayyouwanttoinvestigatehowincomediffersbasedoneducationalattainment,butyouknowthatthisrelationshipcanvarybasedonrace.Usingstratifiedsampling,youcanensureyouobtainalargeenoughsamplefromeachracialgroup,allowingyoutodrawmorepreciseconclusions. CanIstratifybymultiplecharacteristicsatonce? Yes,youcancreateastratifiedsampleusingmultiplecharacteristics,butyoumustensurethateveryparticipantinyourstudybelongstooneandonlyonesubgroup.Inthiscase,youmultiplythenumbersofsubgroupsforeachcharacteristictogetthetotalnumberofgroups. Forexample,ifyouwerestratifyingbylocationwiththreesubgroups(urban,rural,orsuburban)andmaritalstatuswithfivesubgroups(single,divorced,widowed,married,orpartnered),youwouldhave3x5=15subgroups. Whatissystematicsampling? Systematicsamplingisaprobabilitysamplingmethodwhereresearchersselectmembersofthepopulationataregularinterval–forexample,byselectingevery15thpersononalistofthepopulation.Ifthepopulationisinarandomorder,thiscanimitatethebenefitsofsimplerandomsampling. HowdoIperformsystematicsampling? Therearethreekeystepsinsystematicsampling: Defineandlistyourpopulation,ensuringthatitisnotorderedinacyclicalorperiodicorder. Decideonyoursamplesizeandcalculateyourinterval,k,bydividingyourpopulationbyyourtargetsamplesize. Chooseeverykthmemberofthepopulationasyoursample. What’sthedifferencebetweenamediatorandamoderator? Amediatorvariableexplainstheprocessthroughwhichtwovariablesarerelated,whileamoderatorvariableaffectsthestrengthanddirectionofthatrelationship. What’sthedifferencebetweenaconfounderandamediator? Aconfounderisathirdvariablethataffectsvariablesofinterestandmakesthemseemrelatedwhentheyarenot.Incontrast,amediatoristhemechanismofarelationshipbetweentwovariables:itexplainstheprocessbywhichtheyarerelated. Howcanyoutellifsomethingisamediator? Ifsomethingisamediatingvariable: It’scausedbytheindependentvariable. Itinfluencesthedependentvariable Whenit’stakenintoaccount,thestatisticalcorrelationbetweentheindependentanddependentvariablesishigherthanwhenitisn’tconsidered. Whyshouldyouincludemediatorsandmoderatorsinastudy? Includingmediatorsandmoderatorsinyourresearchhelpsyougobeyondstudyingasimplerelationshipbetweentwovariablesforafullerpictureoftherealworld.Theyareimportanttoconsiderwhenstudyingcomplexcorrelationalorcausalrelationships. Mediatorsarepartofthecausalpathwayofaneffect,andtheytellyouhoworwhyaneffecttakesplace.Moderatorsusuallyhelpyoujudgetheexternalvalidityofyourstudybyidentifyingthelimitationsofwhentherelationshipbetweenvariablesholds. Whatisacontrolvariable? Acontrolvariableisanyvariablethat’sheldconstantinaresearchstudy.It’snotavariableofinterestinthestudy,butit’scontrolledbecauseitcouldinfluencetheoutcomes. Whyarecontrolvariablesimportant? Controlvariableshelpyouestablishacorrelationalorcausalrelationshipbetweenvariablesbyenhancinginternalvalidity. Ifyoudon’tcontrolrelevantextraneousvariables,theymayinfluencetheoutcomesofyourstudy,andyoumaynotbeabletodemonstratethatyourresultsarereallyaneffectofyourindependentvariable. Whatdoes“controllingforavariable”mean? “Controllingforavariable”meansmeasuringextraneousvariablesandaccountingforthemstatisticallytoremovetheireffectsonothervariables. ResearchersoftenmodelcontrolvariabledataalongwithindependentanddependentvariabledatainregressionanalysesandANCOVAs.Thatway,youcanisolatethecontrolvariable’seffectsfromtherelationshipbetweenthevariablesofinterest. Whatisrandomassignment? Inexperimentalresearch,randomassignmentisawayofplacingparticipantsfromyoursampleintodifferentgroupsusingrandomization.Withthismethod,everymemberofthesamplehasaknownorequalchanceofbeingplacedinacontrolgrouporanexperimentalgroup. What’sthedifferencebetweenrandomassignmentandrandomselection? Randomselection,orrandomsampling,isawayofselectingmembersofapopulationforyourstudy’ssample. Incontrast,randomassignmentisawayofsortingthesampleintocontrolandexperimentalgroups. Randomsamplingenhancestheexternalvalidityorgeneralizabilityofyourresults,whilerandomassignmentimprovestheinternalvalidityofyourstudy. Howdoyourandomlyassignparticipantstogroups? Toimplementrandomassignment,assignauniquenumbertoeverymemberofyourstudy’ssample. Then,youcanusearandomnumbergeneratororalotterymethodtorandomlyassigneachnumbertoacontrolorexperimentalgroup.Youcanalsodosomanually,byflippingacoinorrollingadicetorandomlyassignparticipantstogroups. Whendoyouuserandomassignment? Randomassignmentisusedinexperimentswithabetween-groupsorindependentmeasuresdesign.Inthisresearchdesign,there’susuallyacontrolgroupandoneormoreexperimentalgroups.Randomassignmenthelpsensurethatthegroupsarecomparable. Ingeneral,youshouldalwaysuserandomassignmentinthistypeofexperimentaldesignwhenitisethicallypossibleandmakessenseforyourstudytopic. What’sthedifferencebetweenwithin-subjectsandbetween-subjectsdesigns? Inabetween-subjectsdesign,everyparticipantexperiencesonlyonecondition,andresearchersassessgroupdifferencesbetweenparticipantsinvariousconditions. Inawithin-subjectsdesign,eachparticipantexperiencesallconditions,andresearcherstestthesameparticipantsrepeatedlyfordifferencesbetweenconditions. Theword“between”meansthatyou’recomparingdifferentconditionsbetweengroups,whiletheword“within”meansyou’recomparingdifferentconditionswithinthesamegroup. Canyouuseabetween-andwithin-subjectsdesigninthesamestudy? Yes.Between-subjectsandwithin-subjectsdesignscanbecombinedinasinglestudywhenyouhavetwoormoreindependentvariables(afactorialdesign).Inamixedfactorialdesign,onevariableisalteredbetweensubjectsandanotherisalteredwithinsubjects. Whataretheprosandconsofabetween-subjectsdesign? Whileabetween-subjectsdesignhasfewerthreatstointernalvalidity,italsorequiresmoreparticipantsforhighstatisticalpowerthanawithin-subjectsdesign. Advantages: Preventscarryovereffectsoflearningandfatigue. Shorterstudyduration. Disadvantages: Needslargersamplesforhighpower. Usesmoreresourcestorecruitparticipants,administersessions,covercosts,etc. Individualdifferencesmaybeanalternativeexplanationforresults. Whataretheprosandconsofawithin-subjectsdesign? Within-subjectsdesignshavemanypotentialthreatstointernalvalidity,buttheyarealsoverystatisticallypowerful. Advantages: Onlyrequiressmallsamples, Statisticallypowerful, Removestheeffectsofindividualdifferencesontheoutcomes. Disadvantages: Internalvaliditythreatsreducethelikelihoodofestablishingadirectrelationshipbetweenvariables, Time-relatedeffects,suchasgrowth,caninfluencetheoutcomes, Carryovereffectsmeanthatthespecificorderofdifferenttreatmentsaffecttheoutcomes. Whatisafactorialdesign? Inafactorialdesign,multipleindependentvariablesaretested. Ifyoutesttwovariables,eachlevelofoneindependentvariableiscombinedwitheachleveloftheotherindependentvariabletocreatedifferentconditions. What’sthedifferencebetweenextraneousandconfoundingvariables? Anextraneousvariableisanyvariablethatyou’renotinvestigatingthatcanpotentiallyaffectthedependentvariableofyourresearchstudy. Aconfoundingvariableisatypeofextraneousvariablethatnotonlyaffectsthedependentvariable,butisalsorelatedtotheindependentvariable. Whatarethetypesofextraneousvariables? Thereare4maintypesofextraneousvariables: Demandcharacteristics:environmentalcuesthatencourageparticipantstoconformtoresearchers’expectations. Experimentereffects:unintentionalactionsbyresearchersthatinfluencestudyoutcomes. Situationalvariables:environmentalvariablesthatalterparticipants’behaviors. Participantvariables:anycharacteristicoraspectofaparticipant’sbackgroundthatcouldaffectstudyresults. Whataretherequirementsforacontrolledexperiment? Inacontrolledexperiment,allextraneousvariablesareheldconstantsothattheycan’tinfluencetheresults.Controlledexperimentsrequire: Acontrolgroupthatreceivesastandardtreatment,afaketreatment,ornotreatment. Randomassignmentofparticipantstoensurethegroupsareequivalent. Dependingonyourstudytopic,therearevariousothermethodsofcontrollingvariables. Whatareexplanatoryandresponsevariables? Thedifferencebetweenexplanatoryandresponsevariablesissimple: Anexplanatoryvariableistheexpectedcause,anditexplainstheresults. Aresponsevariableistheexpectedeffect,anditrespondstoothervariables. Howdoexplanatoryvariablesdifferfromindependentvariables? Theterm“explanatoryvariable”issometimespreferredover“independentvariable”because,inrealworldcontexts,independentvariablesareofteninfluencedbyothervariables.Thismeanstheyaren’ttotallyindependent. Multipleindependentvariablesmayalsobecorrelatedwitheachother,so“explanatoryvariables”isamoreappropriateterm. Howdoyouplotexplanatoryandresponsevariablesonagraph? Ongraphs,theexplanatoryvariableisconventionallyplacedonthex-axis,whiletheresponsevariableisplacedonthey-axis. Ifyouhavequantitativevariables,useascatterplotoralinegraph. Ifyourresponsevariableiscategorical,useascatterplotoralinegraph. Ifyourexplanatoryvariableiscategorical,useabargraph. What’sthedifferencebetweenrandomandsystematicerror? Randomandsystematicerroraretwotypesofmeasurementerror. Randomerrorisachancedifferencebetweentheobservedandtruevaluesofsomething(e.g.,aresearchermisreadingaweighingscalerecordsanincorrectmeasurement). Systematicerrorisaconsistentorproportionaldifferencebetweentheobservedandtruevaluesofsomething(e.g.,amiscalibratedscaleconsistentlyrecordsweightsashigherthantheyactuallyare). Israndomerrororsystematicerrorworse? Systematicerrorisgenerallyabiggerprobleminresearch. Withrandomerror,multiplemeasurementswilltendtoclusteraroundthetruevalue.Whenyou’recollectingdatafromalargesample,theerrorsindifferentdirectionswillcanceleachotherout. Systematicerrorsaremuchmoreproblematicbecausetheycanskewyourdataawayfromthetruevalue.Thiscanleadyoutofalseconclusions(TypeIandIIerrors)abouttherelationshipbetweenthevariablesyou’restudying. Howdoyouavoidmeasurementerrors? Randomerror isalmostalwayspresentinscientificstudies,eveninhighlycontrolledsettings.Whileyoucan’teradicateitcompletely,youcanreducerandomerrorbytakingrepeatedmeasurements,usingalargesample,andcontrollingextraneousvariables. Youcanavoidsystematicerrorthroughcarefuldesignofyoursampling,datacollection,andanalysisprocedures.Forexample,usetriangulationtomeasureyourvariablesusingmultiplemethods;regularlycalibrateinstrumentsorprocedures;userandomsamplingandrandomassignment;andapplymasking(blinding)wherepossible. Whatisacorrelation? Acorrelationreflectsthestrengthand/ordirectionoftheassociationbetweentwoormorevariables. Apositivecorrelationmeansthatbothvariableschangeinthesamedirection. Anegativecorrelationmeansthatthevariableschangeinoppositedirections. Azerocorrelationmeansthere’snorelationshipbetweenthevariables. Whatiscorrelationalresearch? Acorrelationalresearchdesigninvestigatesrelationshipsbetweentwovariables(ormore)withouttheresearchercontrollingormanipulatinganyofthem.It’sanon-experimentaltypeofquantitativeresearch. Whatisacorrelationcoefficient? Acorrelationcoefficientisasinglenumberthatdescribesthestrengthanddirectionoftherelationshipbetweenyourvariables. Differenttypesofcorrelationcoefficientsmightbeappropriateforyourdatabasedontheirlevelsofmeasurementanddistributions.ThePearsonproduct-momentcorrelationcoefficient(Pearson’sr)iscommonlyusedtoassessalinearrelationshipbetweentwoquantitativevariables. Howmanyvariablesareinacorrelation? Acorrelationisusuallytestedfortwovariablesatatime,butyoucantestcorrelationsbetweenthreeormorevariables. What’sthedifferencebetweencorrelationalandexperimentalresearch? Controlledexperimentsestablishcausality,whereascorrelationalstudiesonlyshowassociationsbetweenvariables. Inanexperimentaldesign,youmanipulateanindependentvariableandmeasureitseffectonadependentvariable.Othervariablesarecontrolledsotheycan’timpacttheresults. Inacorrelationaldesign,youmeasurevariableswithoutmanipulatinganyofthem.Youcantestwhetheryourvariableschangetogether,butyoucan’tbesurethatonevariablecausedachangeinanother. Ingeneral,correlationalresearchishighinexternalvaliditywhileexperimentalresearchishighininternalvalidity. What’sthedifferencebetweencorrelationandcausation? Correlationdescribesanassociationbetweenvariables:whenonevariablechanges,sodoestheother.Acorrelationisastatisticalindicatoroftherelationshipbetweenvariables. Causationmeansthatchangesinonevariablebringsaboutchangesintheother;thereisacause-and-effectrelationshipbetweenvariables.Thetwovariablesarecorrelatedwitheachother,andthere’salsoacausallinkbetweenthem. Whydoesn’tcorrelationimplycausation? Thethirdvariableanddirectionalityproblemsaretwomainreasonswhycorrelationisn’tcausation. Thethirdvariableproblemmeansthataconfoundingvariableaffectsbothvariablestomakethemseemcausallyrelatedwhentheyarenot. Thedirectionalityproblemiswhentwovariablescorrelateandmightactuallyhaveacausalrelationship,butit’simpossibletoconcludewhichvariablecauseschangesintheother. What’sthedifferencebetweenquestionnairesandsurveys? Aquestionnaireisadatacollectiontoolorinstrument,whileasurveyisanoverarchingresearchmethodthatinvolvescollectingandanalyzingdatafrompeopleusingquestionnaires. What’sthedifferencebetweenclosed-endedandopen-endedquestions? Closed-ended,orrestricted-choice,questionsofferrespondentsafixedsetofchoicestoselectfrom.Thesequestionsareeasiertoanswerquickly. Open-endedorlong-formquestionsallowrespondentstoanswerintheirownwords.Becausetherearenorestrictionsontheirchoices,respondentscananswerinwaysthatresearchersmaynothaveotherwiseconsidered. Howdoyouorderaquestionnaire? Youcanorganizethequestionslogically,withaclearprogressionfromsimpletocomplex,orrandomlybetweenrespondents.Alogicalflowhelpsrespondentsprocessthequestionnaireeasierandquicker,butitmayleadtobias.Randomizationcanminimizethebiasfromordereffects. Howdoyouadministerquestionnaires? Questionnairescanbeself-administeredorresearcher-administered. Self-administeredquestionnairescanbedeliveredonlineorinpaper-and-penformats,inpersonorthroughmail.Allquestionsarestandardizedsothatallrespondentsreceivethesamequestionswithidenticalwording. Researcher-administeredquestionnairesareinterviewsthattakeplacebyphone,in-person,oronlinebetweenresearchersandrespondents.Youcangaindeeperinsightsbyclarifyingquestionsforrespondentsoraskingfollow-upquestions. Whatisaresearchdesign? Aresearchdesignisastrategyforansweringyour researchquestion.Itdefinesyouroverallapproachanddetermineshowyouwillcollectandanalyzedata. WhatdoIneedtoincludeinmyresearchdesign? Theprioritiesofaresearchdesigncanvarydependingonthefield,butyouusuallyhavetospecify: Yourresearchquestionsand/orhypotheses Youroverallapproach(e.g.qualitativeorquantitative) Thetypeofdesignyou’reusing(e.g.asurvey,experiment,orcasestudy) Yoursamplingmethodsorcriteriaforselectingsubjects Yourdatacollectionmethods(e.g.questionnaires,observations) Yourdatacollectionprocedures(e.g.operationalization,timinganddatamanagement) Yourdataanalysismethods(e.g.statisticaltests orthematicanalysis) Whyisresearchdesignimportant? Awell-plannedresearchdesignhelpsensurethatyourmethodsmatchyourresearchaims,thatyoucollecthigh-qualitydata,andthatyouusetherightkindofanalysistoansweryourquestions,utilizingcrediblesources.Thisallowsyoutodrawvalid,trustworthyconclusions. Whatarethemaintypesofresearchdesign? Quantitativeresearchdesignscanbedividedintotwomaincategories: Correlationalanddescriptivedesignsareusedtoinvestigatecharacteristics,averages,trends,andassociationsbetweenvariables. Experimentalandquasi-experimentaldesignsareusedtotestcausalrelationships. Qualitativeresearchdesignstendtobemoreflexible.Commontypesofqualitativedesignincludecasestudy,ethnography,andgroundedtheorydesigns. WhataretheassumptionsofthePearsoncorrelationcoefficient? ThesearetheassumptionsyourdatamustmeetifyouwanttousePearson’sr: Bothvariablesareonanintervalorratiolevelofmeasurement Datafrombothvariablesfollownormaldistributions Yourdatahavenooutliers Yourdataisfromarandomorrepresentativesample Youexpectalinearrelationshipbetweenthetwovariables Whatdothesignandvalueofthecorrelationcoefficienttellyou? Correlationcoefficientsalwaysrangebetween-1and1. Thesignofthecoefficienttellsyouthedirectionoftherelationship:apositivevaluemeansthevariableschangetogetherinthesamedirection,whileanegativevaluemeanstheychangetogetherinoppositedirections. Theabsolutevalueofanumberisequaltothenumberwithoutitssign.Theabsolutevalueofacorrelationcoefficienttellsyouthemagnitudeofthecorrelation:thegreatertheabsolutevalue,thestrongerthecorrelation. Isthecorrelationcoefficientthesameastheslopeoftheline? No,thesteepnessorslopeofthelineisn’trelatedtothecorrelationcoefficientvalue.Thecorrelationcoefficientonlytellsyouhowcloselyyourdatafitonaline,sotwodatasetswiththesamecorrelationcoefficientcanhaveverydifferentslopes. Tofindtheslopeoftheline,you’llneedtoperformaregressionanalysis. Whatismultistagesampling? Inmultistagesampling,ormultistageclustersampling,youdrawasamplefromapopulationusingsmallerandsmallergroupsateachstage. Thismethodisoftenusedtocollectdatafromalarge,geographicallyspreadgroupofpeopleinnationalsurveys,forexample.Youtakeadvantageofhierarchicalgroupings(e.g.,fromstatetocitytoneighborhood)tocreateasamplethat’slessexpensiveandtime-consumingtocollectdatafrom. Whatistriangulationinresearch? Triangulationmeansusingmultiplemethodstocollectandanalyzedataonthesamesubject.Bycombiningdifferenttypesorsourcesofdata,youcanstrengthenthevalidityofyourfindings. Whatarethemaintypesofmixedmethodsresearchdesigns? Thesearefourofthemostcommonmixedmethodsdesigns: Convergentparallel:Quantitativeandqualitativedataarecollectedatthesametimeandanalyzedseparately.Afterbothanalysesarecomplete,compareyourresultstodrawoverallconclusions.  Embedded:Quantitativeandqualitativedataarecollectedatthesametime,butwithinalargerquantitativeorqualitativedesign.Onetypeofdataissecondarytotheother. Explanatorysequential:Quantitativedataiscollectedandanalyzedfirst,followedbyqualitativedata.Youcanusethisdesignifyouthinkyourqualitativedatawillexplainandcontextualizeyourquantitativefindings. Exploratorysequential:Qualitativedataiscollectedandanalyzedfirst,followedbyquantitativedata.Youcanusethisdesignifyouthinkthequantitativedatawillconfirmorvalidateyourqualitativefindings. Whataretheprosandconsofmultistagesampling? Multistagesamplingcansimplifydatacollectionwhenyouhavelarge,geographicallyspreadsamples,andyoucanobtainaprobabilitysamplewithoutacompletesamplingframe. Butmultistagesamplingmaynotleadtoarepresentativesample,andlargersamplesareneededformultistagesamplestoachievethestatisticalpropertiesofsimplerandomsamples. Ismultistagesamplingaprobabilitysamplingmethod? Inmultistagesampling,youcanuseprobabilityornon-probabilitysamplingmethods. Foraprobabilitysample,youhavetoprobabilitysamplingateverystage.Youcanmixitupbyusingsimplerandomsampling,systematicsampling,orstratifiedsamplingtoselectunitsatdifferentstages,dependingonwhatisapplicableandrelevanttoyourstudy. Whatareethicalconsiderationsinresearch? Ethicalconsiderationsinresearchareasetofprinciplesthatguideyourresearchdesignsandpractices.Theseprinciplesincludevoluntaryparticipation,informedconsent,anonymity,confidentiality,potentialforharm,andresultscommunication. Scientistsandresearchersmustalwaysadheretoacertaincodeofconductwhencollectingdatafromothers. Theseconsiderationsprotecttherightsofresearchparticipants,enhanceresearchvalidity,andmaintainscientificintegrity. Whydoresearchethicsmatter? Researchethicsmatterforscientificintegrity,humanrightsanddignity,andcollaborationbetweenscienceandsociety.Theseprinciplesmakesurethatparticipationinstudiesisvoluntary,informed,andsafe. What’sthedifferencebetweenanonymityandconfidentiality? Anonymitymeansyoudon’tknowwhotheparticipantsare,whileconfidentialitymeansyouknowwhotheyarebutremoveidentifyinginformationfromyourresearchreport.Bothareimportantethicalconsiderations. Youcanonlyguaranteeanonymitybynotcollectinganypersonallyidentifyinginformation—forexample,names,phonenumbers,emailaddresses,IPaddresses,physicalcharacteristics,photos,orvideos. Youcankeepdataconfidentialbyusingaggregateinformationinyourresearchreport,sothatyouonlyrefertogroupsofparticipantsratherthanindividuals. Whatisresearchmisconduct? Researchmisconductmeansmakinguporfalsifyingdata,manipulatingdataanalyses,ormisrepresentingresultsinresearchreports.It’saformofacademicfraud. Theseactionsarecommittedintentionallyandcanhaveseriousconsequences;researchmisconductisnotasimplemistakeorapointofdisagreementbutaseriousethicalfailure. Whatisdatacleaning? Datacleaninginvolvesspottingandresolvingpotentialdatainconsistenciesorerrorstoimproveyourdataquality.Anerrorisanyvalue(e.g.,recordedweight)thatdoesn’treflectthetruevalue(e.g.,actualweight)ofsomethingthat’sbeingmeasured. Inthisprocess,youreview,analyze,detect,modify,orremove“dirty”datatomakeyourdataset“clean.”Datacleaningisalsocalleddatacleansingordatascrubbing. Whydoesdatacleaningmatter? Datacleaningisnecessaryforvalidandappropriateanalyses.Dirtydatacontaininconsistenciesorerrors,butcleaningyourdatahelpsyouminimizeorresolvethese. Withoutdatacleaning,youcouldendupwithaTypeIorIIerrorinyourconclusion.Thesetypesoferroneousconclusionscanbepracticallysignificantwithimportantconsequences,becausetheyleadtomisplacedinvestmentsormissedopportunities. Howdoyoucleandata? Everydatasetrequiresdifferenttechniquestocleandirtydata,butyouneedtoaddresstheseissuesinasystematicway.Youfocusonfindingandresolvingdatapointsthatdon’tagreeorfitwiththerestofyourdataset. Thesedatamightbemissingvalues,outliers,duplicatevalues,incorrectlyformatted,orirrelevant.You’llstartwithscreeninganddiagnosingyourdata.Then,you’lloftenstandardizeandacceptorremovedatatomakeyourdatasetconsistentandvalid. Whenyoudoyoucleandata? Datacleaningtakesplacebetweendatacollectionanddataanalyses.Butyoucanusesomemethodsevenbeforecollectingdata. Forcleandata,youshouldstartbydesigningmeasuresthatcollectvaliddata.Datavalidationatthetimeofdataentryorcollectionhelpsyouminimizetheamountofdatacleaningyou’llneedtodo. Afterdatacollection,youcanusedatastandardizationanddatatransformationtocleanyourdata.You’llalsodealwithanymissingvalues,outliers,andduplicatevalues. What’sthedifferencebetweencleananddirtydata? Cleandataarevalid,accurate,complete,consistent,unique,anduniform.Dirtydataincludeinconsistenciesanderrors. Dirtydatacancomefromanypartoftheresearchprocess,includingpoorresearchdesign,inappropriatemeasurementmaterials,orflaweddataentry. Whatisexplanatoryresearch? Explanatoryresearchisaresearchmethodusedtoinvestigatehoworwhysomethingoccurswhenonlyasmallamountofinformationisavailablepertainingtothattopic.Itcanhelpyouincreaseyourunderstandingofagiventopic. What’sthedifferencebetweenexploratoryandexplanatoryresearch? Exploratoryresearchaimstoexplorethemainaspectsofanunder-researchedproblem,whileexplanatoryresearchaimstoexplainthecausesandconsequencesofawell-definedproblem. WhenshouldIuseexplanatoryresearch? Explanatoryresearchisusedtoinvestigatehoworwhyaphenomenonoccurs.Therefore,thistypeofresearchisoftenoneofthefirststagesintheresearchprocess,servingasajumping-offpointforfutureresearch. Whatisexploratoryresearch? Exploratoryresearchisamethodologyapproachthatexploresresearchquestionsthathavenotpreviouslybeenstudiedindepth.Itisoftenusedwhentheissueyou’restudyingisnew,orthedatacollectionprocessischallenginginsomeway. WhenshouldIuseexploratoryresearch? Exploratoryresearchisoftenusedwhentheissueyou’restudyingisneworwhenthedatacollectionprocessischallengingforsomereason. Youcanuseexploratoryresearchifyouhaveageneralideaoraspecificquestionthatyouwanttostudybutthereisnopreexistingknowledgeorparadigmwithwhichtostudyit. Howdoesthepeerreviewprocesswork? Ingeneral,thepeerreviewprocessfollowsthefollowingsteps:  First,theauthorsubmitsthemanuscripttotheeditor. Theeditorcaneither:  Rejectthemanuscriptandsenditbacktoauthor,or  Senditonwardtotheselectedpeerreviewer(s)  Next,thepeerreviewprocessoccurs.Thereviewerprovidesfeedback,addressinganymajororminorissueswiththemanuscript,andgivestheiradviceregardingwhateditsshouldbemade.  Lastly,theeditedmanuscriptissentbacktotheauthor.Theyinputtheedits,andresubmitittotheeditorforpublication. Whyispeerreviewimportant? Peerreviewcanstopobviouslyproblematic,falsified,orotherwiseuntrustworthyresearchfrombeingpublished.Italsorepresentsanexcellentopportunitytogetfeedbackfromrenownedexpertsinyourfield.Itactsasafirstdefense,helpingyouensureyourargumentisclearandthattherearenogaps,vagueterms,orunansweredquestionsforreaderswhoweren’tinvolvedintheresearchprocess. Peer-reviewedarticlesareconsideredahighlycrediblesourceduetothisstringentprocesstheygothroughbeforepublication. Whattypesofdocumentsareusuallypeer-reviewed? Manyacademicfieldsusepeerreview,largelytodeterminewhetheramanuscriptissuitableforpublication.Peerreviewenhancesthecredibilityofthepublishedmanuscript. However,peerreviewisalsocommoninnon-academicsettings.TheUnitedNations,theEuropeanUnion,andmanyindividualnationsusepeerreviewtoevaluategrantapplications.Itisalsowidelyusedinmedicalandhealth-relatedfieldsasateachingorquality-of-caremeasure.  Peerassessmentisoftenusedintheclassroomasapedagogicaltool.Bothreceivingfeedbackandprovidingitarethoughttoenhancethelearningprocess,helpingstudentsthinkcriticallyandcollaboratively. Questions? Askourteam Wanttocontactusdirectly?Noproblem. We arealwayshereforyou. [email protected] Startlivechat Call+1(510)822-8066 Frequentlyaskedquestions Seeall HowdoesScribbrhelpstudentsgraduate? Ourteamhelpsstudentsgraduatebyoffering: Freecitationgenerators ScribbrPlagiarismChecker InnovativeCitationCheckersoftware Professionalproofreading&editingservices Over300helpfularticlesaboutacademicwriting,citingsources,plagiarism,andmore WhattypeofdocumentsdoesScribbrproofread? Scribbrspecializesineditingstudy-relateddocuments.Weproofread: Essays Papers Theses PhDdissertations Researchproposals Personalstatements Admissionessays Motivationletters Reports Reflectionpapers Journalarticles Capstoneprojects WhattechnologydoestheScribbrPlagiarismCheckeruse? TheScribbrPlagiarismCheckerispoweredbyelementsofTurnitin’sSimilarityChecker,namelytheplagiarismdetectionsoftwareandtheInternetArchiveandPremiumScholarlyPublicationscontentdatabases. WhichcitationsoftwaredoesScribbruse? TheScribbrCitationGeneratorisdevelopedusingtheopen-sourceCitationStyleLanguage(CSL)project.It’sthesametechnologyusedbydozensofotherpopularcitationtools,includingMendeleyandZotero. 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