LESSON 3:

Basic Principles of Research Design

CONTENT •Ontology
Key Discussion •Epistemology
Points •Methodology
REFLEXIVITY
“Start were you are…”
 “How
“What is real would you
for you?” know if something
“Are you existing?”
is really sure that
“How would what
you you perceived
know if a thing is
right now is not a
real?” dream?”
ONTOLOGY
- the study of the nature of reality or being.
“What is reality?”
Schools Of
Ontology
Four Main Schools
Realism,
Internal Realism,
Relativism, and
Nominalism
Source: https://static.tildacdn.com/4c359d81-2a89-41af-91d3-be9871def40f/Diagrams22.jpg
- the study of the origin of knowledge.
 HOW
and
WHAT
can I know?
Two Main Schools
Positivism
Social Constructionism
1. POSITIVISM relies on the objective truth on knowledge and the
world. Knowledge is believed to be hard, tangible and
observable; thus it is consistent and independent of perception.
With this reason, statistics is applied and a large sample of
participants are used for data collection.
2. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM believes that reality is shaped by
human mind and socially constructed meanings; therefore, it
does not exist by itself. This approach highlights the feelings,
beliefs and thoughts of the individual. This values subjective
truth unlike the former.
Epistemology
“The Paradigm Shift”
- Creswell
METHODOLOGY
Methodology:
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Phenomenological Method
Ethnography
Case Study
Grounded Theory
Discursive Psychology
Narrative Psychology
Archival Study
Epidemiological Study
Phenomenological
Research
• Aims to produce knowledge
about the subjective experience
of research participants.
• Interested in the experiential
world of the participant rather
than real structures.
Two Major Approaches
1. Descriptive Phenomenology
Concerned with capturing experience ‘precisely as it
presents itself’ (Giorgi 1992:121).
2. Interpretative Phenomenology
Aims to gain a better understanding of the nature and
quality of phenomena as they present themselves.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
Limitations:
• No generalization can be made
• Samples are generally small
• Difficulties in establishing reliability and validity of
approaches and information
• Difficult to replicate
• Data is often difficult to analyze and summarize
Ethnography
• A method of observing human
interactions in social settings
and activities (Burke & Kirk,
2001).
• a qualitative research
procedures for describing,
analyzing, and interpreting a
culture-sharing group’s shared
patterns of behavior, beliefs,
and language that develop over
time.
Limitations:
• Time consuming and Expensive
• Researcher bias
• Dependent on the researcher’s observations and
interpretations
• Difficult to check the validity of the researcher’s
conclusion
Case Study
• study of a single individual for
the purpose of obtaining a
description of the individual.
• The description is typically
prepared as a report, usually
containing a detailed description
of observations and experiences
during the diagnosis and
treatment of a specific clinical
client, including a detailed
description of the unique
characteristics and responses of
the individual.
Applications:
• A Source of Insights and Ideas
• Describe Rare Phenomena
• Illustrative Anecdotes
• New Therapy Methods
Limitations:
• Failure to Control Extraneous Variables
• Observer Biases
• Not sure if the subjects evaluated are representative of the general
population.
• Subjects might neglect to mention important information.
• Frequently rely on retrospective data.
• Aspects of the situation can trigger particular kinds of recollections.
Grounded Theory
• Designed to open up a space for
the development of new,
contextualized theories.
• Key points in the transcript are
marked with a series of codes,
extracted from the text.
• Codes are then grouped into
similar concepts in order to make
them more workable.
• From these concepts, categories
are formed, which are the basis
for the creation of a theory.
Limitations:
• Time-consuming
• The methodology might be too complex for novice researchers.
• Misunderstanding that researchers should ignore literature
review.
• Risk that theorist fail to develop a solid theory after interpreting
data.
• The generated theory might be contaminated by researcher’s
bias.
Discursive Psychology
• Studies what people do with
language and it emphasizes the
performative qualities of
discourse.
• Emphasizes how knowledge is
created in interactions between
people rather than through direct
perception of a true reality.
• Language is a precondition for
much of what we call ‘social
psychology’.
Limitations:
• Does not address questions about subjectivity.
• Limited to analysis of discourse to the texts that
constitute its data.
Narrative Psychology
• Interested in the ways in which
people organize and thus bring
order to experience.
• Aims to produce knowledge
about how people weave their
experiences into meaningful
stories about some of the
consequences of this.
Limitations:
• Participants may “fake the data.”
• Ownership of the story.
• The researcher’s personal biases and subjectivity may
influence the results.
Archival Research
• uses data that were collected
prior to the time the research
was designed.
• researchers analyze data pulled
from existing records, such as
census data, court records,
personal letters, newspaper
reports, magazine articles,
government documents,
economic data, and so on.
Applications:
• uniquely suited for studying social and psychological
phenomena that occurred in the historical past.
• useful for studying social and behavioral changes over time.
• certain research topics require an archival approach because
they inherently involve existing documents such as newspaper
articles, magazine advertisements, or campaign speeches.
• researchers sometimes use archival sources of data because they
cannot conduct a study that will provide the kinds of data they
desire or because they realize a certain event needs to be
studied after it has already occurred.
• to study certain phenomena, researchers sometimes need a
large amount of data about events that occur in the real world.
Limitations:
• Issue of Confidentiality
• Outdated primary and secondary documents
• Reliability and validity of the data
Epidemiological Study
• used to study the occurrence of
disease and death in different
groups of people.
• Applications to Psychology:
1. many illnesses and injuries are
affected by people’s behavior
and lifestyles
2. some epidemiological research
deals with describing the
prevalence and incidence of
psychological disorders.
Limitations:
• Time consuming and expensive
• Inefficient in evaluating rare diseases
• Loss of follow up affect validity of results
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Survey Research
Correlational Method
Experimental Method
Quasi-Experimental Method
Developmental Method
Survey Research
• Used to gather a relatively
limited data from a large number
of subjects.
• Describes the purpose of
describing current or prevailing
conditions, characteristics of a
group of people or objects,
opinions, attitudes, and
impressions of people.
• features the use of self-report
measures on carefully selected
samples.
Limitations:
• Low response rate
• Assertions may not be true or correct
• Validity of the instrument
Correlational Research
• Designed to determine the
correlation, or degree of
relationship, between two traits,
behaviors, or events.
3 Characteristics
• The direction (positive/negative)
of the relationship
• The form (linear/nonlinear) of
the relationship
• The consistency or strength
(magnitude) of the relationship
Limitations:
• Does not indicate causation
• Low internal validity
Experimental Research
• Manipulation of independent
variable is present wherein
different antecedents are
introduced in the study to
determine if the said variable
caused the change in
experimental research.
• draw a cause-and-effect
relationship
• requires random assignment of
research participants.
Limitations:
• Elimination of extraneous variables is not always
possible
• Experimental situations may not relate t the real world
• Replication may not be possible due to ethical
problems
Quasi-Experimental
Research
• The researcher lacks control
over the assignment of
participants to conditions
and/or does not manipulate
the causal variable of interest.
Limitations:
• Threats to internal validity
• Randomization is not used
• Absence of control group
Developmental Method
• study the ways that individuals change as a function of age.

Longitudinal Study Cross-Sectional Study

- Studies the same group o - Compares individuals from
individuals over a long period of different age groups at one time.
time. - More common.
- Tend to be rare. - Advantages: much more efficient
- Advantages: provide a rich source - Disadvantages: difficult to
of data determine cause and effect and
- Disadvantages: expensive, time- hard to control for differences
consuming, difficult to conduct, between groups.
cohort effect