RESEARCH METHOD CLASS NOTES/HANDOUTS

Research Ethics

In research, ethics has become increasingly important. A student has to carry out a questionnaire assisted
interview and asked the following questions to the respondents. Do you think the questions and actions
are ethical or not? Provide the ethical issues.

i. To encourage participation the student exaggerated the purpose of the study by saying Sir, this
survey is for the government to provide financial assistance to people of this district later.
ii. Indicate that another individual, Ahmad had said that his income is RM5,000 per month to a
respondent.
iii. Nurul, at the beginning of the data collection, had explained the purpose and asked the
respondent to be interviewed.
iv. In another instance, Nurul had asked about the family problems of a participant.
v. Inform that the data collected will not be individually analysed. It will be analysed in
aggregate.

ANSWER

i. This is unethical because the student gave hope to induce participation.

ii. Unethical because researcher reveal confidential information to another person.
iii. Ethical because Nurul asked for consent/permission for an interview and informed about the
purpose.
iv. Unethical because Nurul did not maintain the original purpose of the interview and family
problems are highly confidential.
v. Ethical because by informing such, the confidentiality of personal information and responses will
be preserved.

QUESTION 2
a) What do you understand by research ethics?

b) Below are FIVE situations that are found in a questionnaire survey research. Applying the principles
of ethics in research, comment on each situation whether the actions are ethical or not with reasons.

i. A photograph of the respondent is included in the research report.

ii. At the beginning of the questionnaire, the researcher included the information about the
research and asks permission to interview the respondent.
iii. The respondent wanted to stop the interview half way because he has an urgent matter to
attend to.
iv. The interviewer approached the respondent wearing only T-shirt, jeans and slipper.
v. When analysing the data, a researcher found some undesirable data points and the
researcher changed the values so that it coincides with his desired outcome.

ANSWER

a) Research Ethics is the standard of the researchers behavior in relation to the rights of those who
become the subject of the research project or who are affected by it. The researcher has the right to be
safe and to be respected. The sponsor has the right to be provided with high quality research. The
participants have the right not to be harmed.

b) i. Photographs can identify people. It is unethical because it affects the respondents

privacy.

ii. It is an ethical practice because consent/permission is first asked for before beginning
an interview.

iii. It is unethical to stop the respondent from ending the interview half way. It is their right
to decline the interview even if it has started half way.

iv. The researcher or interviewer should possess credibility and should be properly dressed
for the interview. It is unethical to be dressed in T-shirt and slippers.

v. Changing data to suit the researchers requirement is unethical because it is cheating.

The researcher cheats the reader and sponsors who have the right to a high quality research.

Data Collection and Procedures

Primary Data
Primary data is original research that is obtained through first-hand investigation, while secondary data
is research that is widely available and obtained from another party. Primary data includes information
collected from interviews, experiments, surveys, questionnaires, focus groups and measurements

Secondary data
Secondary data refers to data that was collected by someone other than the user. Common sources
of secondary data for social science include censuses, information collected by government departments,
organisational records and data that was originally collected for other research purposes.

Sample and Population

The main difference between a population and sample has to do with how observations are assigned to the
data set.
A population includes all of the elements from a set of data.

A sample consists of one or more observations from the population.

Depending on the sampling method, a sample can have fewer observations than the population, the same
number of observations, or more observations. More than one sample can be derived from the same
population. Other differences have to do with nomenclature, notation, and computations. For example,
A measurable characteristic of a population, such as a mean or standard deviation, is called
a parameter; but a measurable characteristic of a sample is called a statistic.
We will see in future lessons that the mean of a population is denoted by the symbol ; but the
mean of a sample is denoted by the symbol x.
We will also learn in future lessons that the formula for the standard deviation of a population is
different from the formula for the standard deviation of a sample.

Validity and Reliability

Validity is the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure (Carmines and
Zeller, 1979).

Reliability is the extent to which a measurement instrument or procedure yields the same results on
repeated trials (Carmines and Zeller, 1979). Without reliable measures, scientists cannot build or test
theory and therefore cannot develop productive and efficient procedures for improving human well
being.
Comparison of secondary data over the primary data

BASIS FOR PRIMARY DATA SECONDARY DATA

COMPARISON
Meaning Primary data refers to the first Secondary data means data
hand data gathered by the collected by someone else earlier.
researcher himself.
Data Real time data Past data/permanent data
Process Very involved Quick and easy/can provide
comparative and contextual data
Source Surveys, observations, Government publications,
experiments, questionnaire, websites, books, journal articles,
personal interview, etc. internal records etc.
Cost effectiveness Expensive Economical/longitudinal studies
maybe feasible
Collection time Long Short
Specific Always specific to the May or may not be specific to the
researcher's needs. researcher's need.
Available in Crude form Refined form
Accuracy and More Relatively less/can result in
Reliability foreseen discoveries

Formulating and clarifying the research topic

In selection of the research topic which is the first step of research project the researcher needs to be
aware of what is going to be searched. Without being clear about research it is difficult to plan the process
which needs long time and effort. a. Attributes of a good research topic Research topic can be selected
according to the data collected or the data can be collected according to the topic selected based on the
preferences of the researcher. Alternatively, some topics can be based on an organization-based piece of
applied research, whilst some can be within the subject matter of a course or program. The researcher
must be capable, eager and he must have the enough time and finance to do the research. The reality that
most research projects are undertaken over at least a six-month period shows that deciding the topic needs
careful evaluation. Capability also means researcher must be reasonably certain of gaining access to any
data that might be needed to be collected. For most topics it is important that the issues within the
research are capable of being linked to theory. Most project tutors will argue that one of the attributes of a
good topic is clearly defined research questions and objectives.

There are two principle of selecting research topics

1) The Goldilocks test
Clough and Nutbrown (2002) use what they call the Goldilocks test to decide if research questions are
either too big, too small, too hot or just right. Those that are too big probably need significant
research funding because they demand too many resources. Questions that are too small are likely to be of
insufficient substance, while those that are too hot may be so because of sensitivities that may be
aroused as a result of doing the research.

2) The Russian doll principle.

In order to clarify the research question Clough and Nutbrown (2002) talk of the Russian doll principle.
This means taking the research idea and breaking down the research questions from the original
statement to something which strips away the complication of layers and obscurities until the very
essence the heart of the question can be expressed.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
A probability sampling method is any method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection.
In order to have a random selection method, you must set up some process or procedure that assures that
the different units in your population have equal probabilities of being chosen.
A core characteristic of non-probability sampling techniques is that samples are selected based on the
subjective judgement of the researcher, rather than random selection (i.e., probabilistic methods), which
is the cornerstone of probability sampling techniques.

Simple Random sampling is the purest form of probability sampling. Each member of the population
has an equal and known chance of being selected. When there are very large populations, it is often
difficult or impossible to identify every member of the population, so the pool of available subjects
becomes biased.

Systematic sampling is often used instead of random sampling. It is also called an Nth name selection
technique. After the required sample size has been calculated, every Nth record is selected from a list of
population members. As long as the list does not contain any hidden order, this sampling method is as
good as the random sampling method. Its only advantage over the random sampling technique is
simplicity. Systematic sampling is frequently used to select a specified number of records from a
computer file.

Stratified sampling is commonly used probability method that is superior to random sampling because it
reduces sampling error. A stratum is a subset of the population that share at least one common
characteristic. Examples of stratums might be males and females, or managers and non-managers. The
researcher first identifies the relevant stratums and their actual representation in the population. Random
sampling is then used to select a sufficient number of subjects from each stratum. "Sufficient" refers to a
sample size large enough for us to be reasonably confident that the stratum represents the population.
Stratified sampling is often used when one or more of the stratums in the population have a low incidence
relative to the other stratums.

Convenience sampling is used in exploratory research where the researcher is interested in getting an
inexpensive approximation of the truth. As the name implies, the sample is selected because they are
convenient. This nonprobability method is often used during preliminary research efforts to get a gross
estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time required to select a random sample.

Judgment sampling is a common nonprobability method. The researcher selects the sample based on
judgment. This is usually and extension of convenience sampling. For example, a researcher may decide
to draw the entire sample from one "representative" city, even though the population includes all cities.
When using this method, the researcher must be confident that the chosen sample is truly representative
of the entire population.

Quota sampling is the nonprobability equivalent of stratified sampling. Like stratified sampling, the
researcher first identifies the stratums and their proportions as they are represented in the population.
Then convenience or judgment sampling is used to select the required number of subjects from each
stratum. This differs from stratified sampling, where the stratums are filled by random sampling.

Snowball sampling is a special nonprobability method used when the desired sample characteristic is
rare. It may be extremely difficult or cost prohibitive to locate respondents in these situations. Snowball
sampling relies on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects. While this technique can
dramatically lower search costs, it comes at the expense of introducing bias because the technique itself
reduces the likelihood that the sample will represent a good cross section from the population.

Parametric and Non-Parametric Data Analysis

Parametric tests (means) Nonparametric tests (medians)

1-sample t test 1-sample Sign, 1-sample Wilcoxon

2-sample t test Mann-Whitney test

One-Way ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis, Moods median test

Factorial DOE with one factor and one blocking

Friedman test
variable

Testing of Assumptions
In statistical analysis, all parametric tests assume some certain characteristic about the data, also known as
assumptions. Violation of these assumptions changes the conclusion of the research and interpretation of
the results. Therefore all research, whether for a journal article, thesis, or dissertation, must follow these
assumptions for accurate interpretation. Depending on the parametric analysis, the assumptions vary.

The following are the data assumptions commonly found in parametric statistical research:
1) Assumptions of normality: Most of the parametric tests require that the assumption of normality be
met. Normality means that the distribution of the test is normally distributed (or bell-shaped) with 0
mean, with 1 standard deviation and a symmetric bell shaped curve.
2) The measurement is at least the internal level.

If the data is not normally distributed, all parametric statistical test will not be valid. In this case, we
should use of non-parametric statistics.

Thanks

Puan Nora