Identify the steps in the development of research instruments
Understand the role of instrument development in the research cycle
Identify the relationships between key processes in research design and related processes in the data collection process
Class Preparation
Your task for class this week is to take a "tour" of some resources to get a basic undestanding of the process of developing instruments to collect data -- like interview protocols or scales or focus groups and to develop familiarity with the terminology used in data collection. I want you to examine these materials in some detail. They will be critical for the whole course and I am hoping that we can start by getting an understanding of the process of data collection AND the terminology of data collection. Therefore, your basic task before our class meeting on Friday is to prepare your quesions for class. I am expecting questions. In short, silence will NOT be appreciated. I want you to take charge of your learning process and bring your questions to class. These are relatively "simple, easy to read" versions of topics like measurement principles. Your time looking at these will prepare you for next week's work. Thank you in advance for taking the time to look at these documents.
Research Process as a System of Processes.
This is a graphic showing the various process involved in research design. Design is a complex system consisting of multiple processes. Some of the processes in this complex system are part of the process of developing research instruments. These are the decisions we make about how to collect data (for example, interviews or a "survey"), or how to test the instrument before starting data collection to make sure the instrument produces reliable, valid results, or ways of analyzing data to create multi-item scores. See if you can identify at least four components in the research cycle that are linked to data collection and management.
The Processes in Data Collection This is a similar chart showing the various processes in developing a reliable instrument that will produce valid data. There are many components in this process, which can be lengthy.
Steps in Instrument Development This document provides a very abbreviated explanation of the initial processes involved in creating, testing and revising an instrument. This document will help you understand the flow chart for instrument development. I will ask you to complete these steps in an abbreviated fashion in this class. Plese look this over before our class meeting. I will ask you to refer to this document repeatedly during the semester.
Approach to Measurement This document provides an overview of the scientific realist approach to measurement. This is a critical document for our class becuase it defines key terms, many of which are used to mean very different things by different people. I apologize for the "morass" of terminology. However, you need to be careful and precise in your use of terms in this class and when you talk about data collection and analysis. Sloppy use of terminology leads to great confusion and will cause problems on assignments.
Bhattacherjee, A. (2012) Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. Textbooks Colleciton. 3. Available through the University of South Florida Digital Commons at http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3 This is a book (for free thank you to University of South Florida). It is very good and will be a great help to you in this class. I am not asking you to read the entire book, or even to read Chapter 6 (which covers the concepts in my document "Approach to Measurement" linked above). I do strongly encourage you to consult this resource frequently. In many cases I'm sure it is easier to understand than what I write. In some cases, it is better than what our Bernard textbook offers.