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Researchers use instruments to measure data. Instruments must be both reliable, producing consistent results under the same conditions, and valid, measuring what they are intended to measure accurately. When conducting laboratory work, researchers must plan their experiments, keep full and accurate records, consider sources of error, estimate remaining inaccuracies, try alternative methods, and work safely. Experiments should be repeated under different conditions to ensure results are reproducible. Researchers also use tests, interviews and questionnaires to measure human subjects, but must consider ethical concerns like avoiding harm and respecting privacy.

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Aniket Patil
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42 views13 pages

Presentation 1

Researchers use instruments to measure data. Instruments must be both reliable, producing consistent results under the same conditions, and valid, measuring what they are intended to measure accurately. When conducting laboratory work, researchers must plan their experiments, keep full and accurate records, consider sources of error, estimate remaining inaccuracies, try alternative methods, and work safely. Experiments should be repeated under different conditions to ensure results are reproducible. Researchers also use tests, interviews and questionnaires to measure human subjects, but must consider ethical concerns like avoiding harm and respecting privacy.

Uploaded by

Aniket Patil
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Research Methods

• “If we knew what it was we were doing, it


would not be called research, would it?”
– Albert Einstein

• To do successful research, you don't need to


know everything, you just need to know of
one thing that isn't known.”
Data Collection
• Researchers have to measure data somehow.
Any device they use for this measurement is
called an instrument

• (e.g. a thermometer to measure


temperature, a voltmeter to measure
potential difference, an I.Q. test to measure
intelligence, etc.).
• There are two fundamental criteria for
instruments:
• reliability; and
• validity.
• The term reliability means that
measurements made are consistent, i.e. if the
same experiment is performed under the
same conditions, the same measurements will
be obtained.
• The term validity means that the
measurements are correct, i.e. the instrument
measures what it is intended to measure, and
that it measures this correctly.
LABORATORY WORK
• When you were an undergraduate, you
probably did some practical work. There were
(we hope) three goals to this activity:
• learning about practical work;
• becoming familiar with a certain instrument,
apparatus or technique; and
• demonstrating theory by specific experiments.
• In postgraduate study, you are likely to have to
deal with apparatus you have never seen
before, while performing experiments where
nobody knows what is supposed to happen.
• You may also be called upon to design and
build apparatus yourself. Nonetheless, all the
principles of undergraduate experiments still
apply
• Plan your work. Before you do anything, decide what you are going to do, how you
are going to do it, and how you will measure what has occurred.

• Keep full records. You must record all data accurately in a notebook. State the
date, the conditions, the experimental steps and the results. Diagrams can be
useful!

• Avoid obvious errors. Most errors can be avoided by good technique, i.e. by being
careful and methodical. Look for places where errors can occur. One problem is
conditions changing while you are performing a series of comparative experiments.
For example, in measuring the elasticity of a spring by using a series of weights,
successive weights might stretch the spring and so actually alter its elasticity. Use
theoretical calculations to check that various outcomes during the experiment
make sense.
• Estimate remaining inaccuracy. You must treat data circumspectly
Often data has noise, i.e. inaccurate measurements amongst the
accurate ones. If you cannot completely eliminate noise, then you must
try to estimate the error in your results.

• Try various alternatives. Try alternative measuring devices or doing


things in alternative orders. Apart from providing a check of the
reliability of your results, differences amongst such alternatives could
suggest new research problems.

• Work safely. Always take appropriate safety precautions, and use your
common sense.
• Where possible, an experiment should be
repeated several times under several
conditions. This is particularly true of
laboratory experiments.
• For results to be accepted, they must be
reproducible, i.e. other researchers in the field
should be able to read your report and from
that perform similar experiments that yield
similar results.
• Just as you would use a barometer to measure
air pressure or a stopwatch to measure time,
so researchers need some instrument to
measure whatever it is about people they are
studying.
• The most common instruments they use for
this purpose are tests, interviews and
questionnaires
• Apart from instrumentation and procedural
concerns, collecting data from people raises
ethical concerns. These include taking care to
avoid harming people, having due regard for
their privacy, respecting them as individuals
and not subjecting them to unnecessary
research.

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