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Objectives
Class Preparation & Participation These postings are required if you cannot participate in a scheduled Zoom meeting. I hope the videos gave you different ways of thinking about how to develop a good research question. Post the three most important ideas you got from watching the three videos under Topic 2. Focus on the insights you gained into the process of developing a research question. Your list of statements should be brief -- no more than a three or four sentences for each key idea. Focus on why each idea was important for you. Write down two versions of research questions you could ask about ideas you have for your research. One question must address an experimental (quasi or true) design and one an observational (cross-sectional or longitudinal) design? The two questions should differ because the types of research designs used in a study are determined by the nature of the research question. Give at least one example of the kind of conclusions you could draw for each of your two choices. Topic 1: What are the goals of scientific research? Human knowledge comes in many forms, only one of which is scientific knowledge. Music, art, history, law, mathematics, architecture, sports, philosophy, language and many other areas all produce knowledge. My own view is that the knowledge produced by all of the disciplines we see at UF are critical to human existence. I say this because as far as I can ascertain, every human society that we know about has generated knowledge in all these areas. The goals for research vary from discipline to discipline. The University of Maryland Baltimore County has a highly recognized Department of Music. Here is one of their goals: Develop an analytical, creative, and intuitive understanding of music as a cultural language. Music research is theory-based and requires evidence to reach conclusions. I am ignorant of the research in music -- but I know it exists and that it informs the "practice" of music. If you are curious about this, check out the Journal of Music Theory in JSTOR. You might be surprised to learn about research in mathematics. I have found three concepts that convinced me that research in mathematics remains critical. (1) Continuing math research is important beause incredibly useful concepts like cryptography and calculus and image and signal processing have and continue to come from mathematics and are helping people solve real-world problems. (2) Continuing math research is important because it is beautiful. It is an art form, and more than that, an ancient and collaborative art form, performed by an entire community. Seen in this light it is one of the crowning achievements of our civilization. (3) Continuing math research is important because it trains people to think abstractly and to have a skeptical mindset. Reason 3 relates directly to our course. Scientific research requires thinking abstractly and having a skeptical mindset. These are two of the requirements for thinking like a scientist. Our task in this course is to master the processes in scientific research design, but do not take that focus to mean that other forms of knowledge like music and mathematics are less important or have less value than scientific knowledge. The overall goal of scientific research is to explain why things happen and how things work, but we should not ignore other forms of knowledge or treat scientific approaches to research as the only way to discover new knowledge. Topic 2: Asking a GOOD Question Required Reading in Gorard: The preliminaries of reearch design (pp. 23-24) and Identifying researchable questions (pp. 25-50) Start with Gorard before you watch the videos. He focuses on what makes a questions "researchable", which means something you can address with scientific research and something that is worth addressing. Start by watching this short video: Thick Vs. Thin Questions. It's kind of fun to watch and it makes a key point about what makes a good research question. Then watch Developing a Research Question by Dr. Sam Fiala. Not nearly so much fun as the first video -- but a really good and thoughtful piece that goes from getting a good idea to developing a research question. Fiala's presentation is divided into distinct sections. Now take a look at this TedTalk by Teman Cooke. It offers a distinctly different view of how to get a good research question -- a more critical view. Topic 3: How are research design decisions and the nature of your research question related? There are five major groups of research designs. The nature of your research question dictates in large part the kind of research design for any given project. We will come back to this document for the rest of the semester: Comparative Characteristics of Design Groups. Focus on the first four factors in the table. I will be calling on you to share your ideas in class. Be prepared to answer these questions. How do experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal and case studies differ with regard to the kinds of questions they can "answer"? Give an example of the language you would use for each design in your area of study. For example, we conducted a study in Haiti about the efficacy of different kinds of technology transfer (extension) programs. Our research question was "Which of three commonly used models of technology transfer is more effective in getting farmers to test new innovations and technologis on their own land with their own money?" What kind of design is needed to answer this question? How do the designs differ with regard to the nature of the research objectives? Give examples of the nature of the conclusions that you could draw for at least two of the types of designs. Come prepared to discuss the "trade offs" in terms of direct causality versus association. |