Understanding the Basics

of

Research
Methods

What is Research?
The

main motivation of
research is to answer
questions, solve problems
or to expand mans
knowledge.

It

involves the gathering of

data, facts and other

Informal Research
Reading a book of any sort, surfing
the internet or watching the news is
a kind of research. Even just
watching the way someone acts is
research.
This research just reviews the facts,
though. It cant prove anything.
It is not scientific.

Informal research is a review of

information and does not use the

Scientific Research
True research always involves
the scientific method.
Scientific research answers
specifically designed
questions.
Research is driven by a
researchers curiosity or
interest in answering that
specific question in a way

Scientific
Research
Research

is an
ORGANIZED and
SYSTEMATIC way
of FINDING
ANSWERS to

THE QUESTION
Research

is focused on
relevant, useful, and
important questions.
The question gives a study ;
focus, drive, and purpose.
If there is no defined question,
then the research will lack
direction and it would be difficult
to find answers.

ORGANIZED
A study is a planned
procedure. It is focused
and limited to a specific
scope.
There

must be a structure
or method in going about
doing research.

SYSTEMATIC A

Definite set of
procedures and steps
must be followed.
There are certain things
in the research process
which are always done
in order to get the most
accurate results.

FINDING ANSWERS
The

goal, the end of all

research is to find answers.
Research is successful
when we find answers.
Whether it is the answer to a
hypothesis or even a simple
question, Sometimes the
answer is no, but it is still
an answer.

Understandin
g
Research
Design

Research Design
Study

QuestionStudy Hypothesis The

Why behind the
question. It includes the
reasoning that guides the
study parameters (design).
Study
Design/Parameters how,
what, where,when, whom

Research Design
Type

of study-

How the data is being

gathered Experimental, Corelational, Survey, Case study,
Observation, etc? (more on this later)
Subjects-

Who is being studied.

What is the population? How big is
the sample? Is it representative? How
did you choose the subjects?

Research
Terms

Hypothesis/Study
Reasoning
An

explanation of why this study

is being done.
A Hypothesis is formed on how to
test or answer the study
question.
Should explain the scientific
reasoning for the study design.
Will include background
information behind the
hypothesis.

The Population (study

subjects)
The

group being
studied.

Cells,

rats, teens, elderly,

nurses, women, etc.
It could be people in a certain
city, or people with a specific
disease.
In Nutrition, it could be people
who take or dont take a certain

The Sample

A subset of the
population whom you
are studying.
* You must choose a sample
because it would be next to
impossible to study every single
subject.
* The method for choosing a

Examples of Samples
Longitudinal

StudyObserving subjects over

time
Cross sectional StudyObserving subjects from
different locations and
backgrounds
Cohort Study Observing the same age

Examples of Samples
Representative

SampleA sample that closely

resembles the population.
Random Sample- A sample
chosen according to a
random procedure in which
every element in the
population has an equal
chance of being selected.

Sampling Concerns
How

big is the sample? 6 vs. 50,000

(for example)

How

was the sample selected?

Did they volunteer?
Were they randomly selected?
Are they representative of the
population?
Are there any confounders? (things
that can sway your sample).
Do you have a control group?

Sampling

Validity

When the study findings

reflect the true
relationship between
variables vs. the findings
are just coincidental, or
was the study flawed,
manipulated or biased in
any way?

Reliability
The

extent to which the same

result will be achieved when
repeating the same
measure/study ...
A study is considered reliable
if it is done again and again
and it gets the same results
repeatedly.

Significance
Measure

of confidence that can be

placed in a result of a study.
The resulting measure is beyond a
matter of chance and is most likely
related to the independent variable.
The statistical probability that a
given finding may have occurred by
chance alone.
In order for results to be considered
significant it has to meet a standard
of statistical probability.

Study
Conclusions/Findings
The results of the study
What

did the study show?

Based on the researchers
interpretation of the results?
Is there a need for more
research?
Did the findings of this study lead
to the need for more studies to
narrow down causality?

Researcher Affiliation
The

credentials of the
researchers (degrees, specialties,
etc)
Who do the researchers work
for?
Is it a reputable research
institution?
What is their stake?
Is there $ involved?
Do they use the peer review

Peer Review
Peer

Review-The process
of subjecting research to the
scrutiny of others who are
experts in the same field.
Peer PublicationsAcademic Journals and
newsletters read, scrutinized
and reviewed by experts in
the field.
*** This leads to quality

Peer Review

A well designed study

can stand up to peer
review and many times
the findings lead to
more studies.
This is how many new
discoveries, new medicines, cures
for diseases, etc have been
found.

Variables
Most

studies analyze the

relationship between
variables. Its important to
identify the variables that the
researcher is studying.

Usually

the variables are

closely related to the study
question.

Variables

A study usually
tests or observes
if one variable
changes in
response to
another variable.

Independent Variable:
The

variable(s), that
the researcher
manipulates is
called the
independent
variable(s)

Dependent Variable:

While

the second
variable, the
variable
measured for
change, is called
the dependent

Experiments and variables

In

an experiment, the
independent
variable(s) are
manipulated to see if
any change is
produced(caused) in
the dependent

Practice Identifying Variable

types
Case One
A researcher wanted to study
the effects of sleep
deprivation on physical
coordination. The researcher
selected 25 year-old male
college students and
deprived some of the
subjects to either 24, 36, or
45 hours of sleep.

Types of Variables

The independent
variable is???
Hint: What did the
researcher manipulate (allow
to vary) in this study?

The Independent Variable is???

a) the length of time the
subjects were deprived of
sleep.
b) the age of the subjects.
c) the gender of the subjects.
d) the physical coordination
skills of the subjects.
Write out the answer, not
just the letter in the correct
box.

Types of Variables

The
dependent
variable is???

Hint: What was the measure

of the research subjects'
responses?

The Dependent Variable is???

a) the length of time the
subjects were deprived of
sleep.
b) the age of the subjects.
c) the gender of the subjects.
d) the physical coordination
skills of the subjects.
Write out the answer, not
just the letter in the correct
box.

Identifying Variables
Case Two:
Dr. Imanut wants to examine
whether a new drug increases
the maze running
performance of older rats.
Just like aging humans, older
rats show signs of poorer
memory for new things. Dr.
Imanut teaches two groups of
older rats to find a piece of
tasty rat chow in the maze.

Case two (continued)

One

group of rats is given the

new drug while they are
learning the maze. The
second group is not given the
drug. One week after having
learned the maze he retests
the rats and records how long
it takes them to find the rat
chow.

Which is the Independent

Variable?
What did the researcher
manipulate (allow to vary) in
this study?
a) age of the rats.
b) type of maze.
c) length of time it took the
rats to run the maze.
d) presence or absence of the
new drug.
Write out the answer, not just the

Which is the Dependent

Variable?
Hint: What was the measure
of the research subjects'
responses?
a) age of the rats.
b) type of maze.
c) length of time it took the
rats to run the maze.
d) presence or absence of the
new drug.
Write out the answer, not just the
letter in the correct box.

Confounding Variables
An

unforeseen and
unaccounted-for
variable that
jeopardizes the
reliability and validity
of the outcome of a
study.

Confounding Variables
The

researcher might fail to take

into account variables that could
change the outcome of a study.
These variables might have more
to do with the change in the
Dependent variable than the
Independent variable the
researcher is examining.
The results then may be
interpreted incorrectly. (invalid

Confounding Variable
Example
A

soccer coach wanted to

improve the team's playing
ability, so he had them run two
miles a day. At the same time the
players decided to take vitamins.
In two weeks the team was
playing noticeably better, but the
coach and players did not know
whether it was from the running
or the vitamins.
This is confounding

Confounding Variable
Example
When I'm stressed, I get muscle
cramps. However, when I'm
stressed, I also drink lots of
coffee and lose sleep. So it's hard
to tell whether my cramps are
actually caused by coffee, lack of
sleep, stress, or some
combination of the above.
These are all possible

Study Confounders/Flaws
Any

Problem with the

study design that can
change the results. An
unaccounted for
variable that can
change the outcome of
a study or bias that was
built into the study.

Bias
Any

partiality in a study that

interfere with fair results.
Bias in research misleads us
into believing in a false
relationship between
variables .
Bias can be intentional
(purposely misleading),
unintentional,
unacknowledged, and even

Bias
Bias

is so pervasive
because we want to
confirm our beliefs.
The goal of research is to
understand the true
relationship between
variables, not what we
want or think the
relationship should be.

Bias
There

are many ways a study can

be biased. including funding
sources, who is doing the study,
political motives, core personal
beliefs of researchers,
measurement and/or design
flaws, subject selection, etc.
A study can be designed to
control for these and other
biases.

Case One: Study Bias or Study

Flaw (poor design)?

Take

a poll in a hunting
magazine about gun
rights and then use it to
say something like 97%
of people polled believe
everyone has a right to
own an assault rifle.

Case two: Study Bias or Study

Flaw (poor design)?
Polling

only people who are

listed in the white pages.
Ending up excluding people
too poor to have a phone,
people who have enough $ to
have an unlisted #, and
young people who pretty
much use mostly cell phones.
(This happened during the last presidential election
with the telephone polling Mc Cain was predicted
to win by a small margin)

Controlling for Bias

(just a few

examples)

Random Sampling
Placebo and control Groups
Double blind studies
Peer review
Govt. funded studies (no stake)

Controlling for Bias

Control

Group- The
group of subjects in a
controlled study that
received no treatment, a
standard treatment or a
placebo.
A control group helps to
validate the findings of a

Placebos
Placebo=

fake

treatment
(placebos are meant to control
for the placebo effect)
Placebo

Effect= When a
person experiences effects
of a treatment during a
study when not receiving
the actual treatment

Placebo Effect
If someone thinks a
certain compound or food
will make them feel better,
usually they do feel better,
because they expect to.
* Nutritional studies are
especially at risk for the
placebo effect.
*

Hawthorne Effect
Changes that occur in
peoples behavior because
they know they are being
studied. They act
differently than they
normally do, due to the study
itself.
This contaminates the results.

The Internet and Research

Flaws
The

Internet is widely used as a

research tool.
Unfortunately it is easily
manipulated as well.
The Internet is useful for informal
research if it is used with skepticism.
Be wary of the source. Check your
sources.
Doing a search and reading what is
found is not research. As a matter of

Research from the

Internet
Plagiarism

abounds
Search engine manipulation=
big $$$
Exaggeration & Lying
False Testimonials
Unregulated
Many unsubstantiated claims
Poor peer review

Helpful websites to detect

fraud

Quackwatch.org

Bad Research?
When

bias is built into the

study.
When study subjects are
harmed.
The study is poorly designed
or designed to come out a
certain way.
The purpose of the study is
questionable (profits, political,

Ethical Considerations????
All

research is not ethical. Care needs to

be taken especially when it comes to
experiments.
Keep in mind.
- Is there a possibility that this experiment
will harm the subjects?
- Who is doing or funding the study (will
they benefit in anyway from this study?)
- What is the true purpose of this study?

Ethical Considerations
David

Reimer
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.
cgi?page=gr&GRid=20309661

http://www.altereddimensions.ne

t/people/BoyRaisedAsAGirlDavidR
eimer.aspx
Discuss the many ways this case
was misleading and harmful.

Ethics & The Tuskegee Experiment

For

forty years between 1932 and

1972, the U.S. Public Health Service
conducted an experiment on 399
black men in the late stages of
syphilis. These men, mostly poor and
illiterate, were never told what
disease they were suffering from or of
its seriousness. Informed that they
were being treated for bad blood,1
their doctors had no intention of
curing them of syphilis at all.

The Tuskegee Experiment

Tuskegee Experiment
The

data for the experiment was

to be collected from autopsies of
the men, who were deliberately
left to degenerate under the
ravages of tertiary syphilis
which can include tumors, heart
disease, paralysis, blindness,
insanity, and death. As I see it,
one of the doctors involved
explained, we have no further
interest in these patients until

Tuskegee Experiment
The

sharecroppers' grossly
disadvantaged lot in life made them
easy to manipulate. Pleased at the
prospect of free medical carealmost
none of them had ever seen a doctor.
The study was meant to discover how
syphilis affected blacks as opposed to
whitesthe theory being that whites
experienced more neurological
complications from syphilis whereas
blacks were more susceptible to
cardiovascular damage.

Tuskegee Experiment
How

this knowledge would

have changed clinical
treatment of syphilis is
uncertain. Although the PHS
touted the study as one of
great scientific merit, from
the outset its actual
benefits were hazy.,
nothing learned prevented or

Tuskegee

million
settlement was
divided among
Experiment
the study's
participants.
On behalf of the
country,
President Clinton
apologized in
1997 to Charlie
Pollard, pictured
here, and other
Tuskegee
survivors.