5. Inter-relationships Research is like a plant or flower that grows and grows When it is grown it throws off seeds which in turn sprout and create more research projects The process continues until there is a wide body of research projects related to a similar topic
6. Kinds of research The ‘best’ type depends on your research question and situation The two main approaches are: Qualitative Quantitative
7. Qualitative research Qualitative research examines individual aspects of the human experience and there are several approaches: Ethnography Narrative research – conversation analysis Evaluation research Grounded theory
10. Evaluation Evaluation research is research with a purpose…. It is inherently political with the different stakeholders having different power positions. It is important to get to know your programme /intervention to be evaluated Variety of approaches can be used Engage all the stakeholders at the outset Be clear about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the evaluation Be prepared for positive and negative findings.
11. Grounded Theory Popular approach General methodology for generating theory Grounded in data Joint data collection and analysis Theoretical saturation Constant comparison method Emerging themes and trends
13. Developing a research question Specific statement Identifies phenomenon to be studied “ So what” test - can my study fill a gap? Conclusions should answer the question
15. Difference between research and audit Research is: Finding out what you ought to be doing – methodology, generating new knowledge Audit is: Whether you are doing what you ought to be doing – measurable against standards (Hill and Small 2006)
17. Conclusion “ A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (attributed to Lao-tzu – Larry the O) Linda Dobrzanska Douglas Mill Bowling Old Lane Bradford BD5 7JR 01274 237418 / 07908787419 l [email_address]
18. References Atkinson, J.M. and Heritage, J. (Eds) (1987) Structures of social action. Studies in conversation analysis. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Culyer, A. (1994) Hammersley, M & Atkinson, P. 1997) Ethnography. Principles in Practice. Second Edition . Routledge. London Hill, S and Small, N,A. (2006) Differentiating between research, audit and quality improvement: governance implications. Clinical Governance. An International Journal Vol 11 (2) pp 98 – 107 Larry the O (2002) All Roads Lead to Home: http://emuscian.com/mag/emusic_roads_lead_home/ Polit, D.F & Hungler, B.P. (1993) Essentials of Nursing Research. Methods, Appraisal and Utilization. 3 rd Ed. J.B. Lippincott Company. Philadelphia Thorne, S. (2000) Data analysis in qualitative research. Evidence Based Nursing Vol 3. pp 68 – 70. Taylor, D and Balloch, S. (2005) The Politics of evaluatoin. Bristol. Policy Press Thorne, S. (2000) Data analysis in qualitative research. Evidence Based Nursing. Vol 3: pp 68 - 70 http://www.theresearchassistant.co./tutorial http://linguistics.byu.edu/
Notas do Editor
Research is an organised activity. There has to be a structure or method in going about doing research. It is a planned procedure, not a spontaneous one and is focused and limited to a specific topic. It is systematic because there is a definite set of procedures and steps which you will follow, and there are certain things in the research process which are always done in order to get the most accurate results. Finding answers is the end of all research. Whether it is the answer to a hypothesis or even a simple question, research is successful when we find answers. Sometimes the answer is ‘no’, but it is still an answer. Questions are central to research. If there is no question then the answer is of no use. Without a question, research has no focus, drive or purpose.
Ask what they know about ethnography? Ask if anyone has undertaken a ethnographic study Ethnography is an approach for developing understandings of the everyday activities of people in local settings. More closely associated with anthropology and also sociology. Sometimes it can be difficult for people to articulate tacit knowledge and understandings, sow e observe them as well as talk to them. According to Hammersley and Atkinson (Ref at end) Ethnography is a term referring primarily to a particular method or set of methods, and involves the researcher either overtly or covertly in peoples daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is being said, asking questions Give example of my participant observation in city centre. Some of the principles of ethnography are on holism, it focuses on relationships and how everything is connected. It is studying people in their own environment and how they see things with their own words. Some of the methods employed are in-depth interviews, observations and participant observations. It is keeping of field notes. An example of how a study using an ethnographic framework would look - Breast cancer research - and I will be giving you the same study but using different approaches in the next few slides - How is breast cancer understood and managed in different social contexts?..Looking for interpretations, relations and variations within breast cancer experiences.
About communication… Putting experiences into words. Looking for narrative themes within the accounts people give about their lives, so we can discover how they understand and make sense of their lives. Stories. Conversation analysis – can anyone tell me what they think this is?? It is concerned with language, it examines tacit understandings that underpin behaviours, eg, smiles, nods, etc.It has cetain rules: Turn taking / management of overlapping talk / organisation of language, for example, pairings, such as, greetings, questions and answers. Etc.Nothing that occurs in interaction is ruled out…every pause is timed, Very time consuming but a very rich method for analysiying talk.
Can anyone tell me about grounded theory?? Has anyone used a grounded theory approach?? Taking one piece of date, one interview, or one statement and comparing it with all the others that may be similar or different in order to develop conceptualisations of the possible relations between the various pieces of data. For example, comparing the accounts of 2 different people who had a similar experience, a researcher might pose a question like: why is this different from that and how are these 2 related? Compare each new interview until all have been compared with each other. So going to the breast cancer example, a grounded theory study would be ‘How do women with breast cancer cope with changes to body image’…would be using constant comparative analysis, and come up with a theory or framework looking at the processes involved in coping with breast cancer and factors that might account for the variations.
What are descriptive stats? Has anyone used them in a research study? Descriptive stats are used to describe data. It is about averages and percentages, frequencies Mean: a measure of central tendency, a sum of all the scores and then divided by the number of subjects. - average Mode: Measure of central tendency, and is the score that most frequently occurs in a distribution of scores. Median: Represents the exact middle score or value in a distribution of scores Statistical test: not an expert – give examples of a few Statistical databases: Has anyone used one or can anyone tell me the name of the most commonly used one? SPSS – Statistical Package for Social Science
So now we have discussed some approaches we will just go over how to develop a research question?? I think this is the most difficult part of the research. Has anyone else found that? Focus your search. Research questions beginning with ‘how’ or ‘why’ are usually broad and typically lead to more substantial research projects than those beginning with ‘who’ or ‘where’ or ‘when’ Must be something you are interested in. Good way to start is to choose a topic then list all the questions you’d like answered yourself. Choose the best one.Don’t have anything too broad or too narrow. What would be the benefit of your research, who will it help and how will it help?
Always examine the literature to ensure your topic has not been research before. Focus is like a funnel, start wide, then befgin to focus in and then end up with very speciifc lit Literature to back up your research question.
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