Research Data Mon Wed January 14th 16th Qualitative Data o What does this mean Subjective aspect of data Rich source of info Understand meaning Don t get numbers to analyze Can only go so far o What types of studies Case studies Abstract Cant generalize Interviews Asking a set of prior thought of questions record responses Can be basic or diagnostic Ethnography Form of observational study Naturalistic May gather behaviors Focus groups Group of people that represent general population Get them to generate ideas Not necessarily a bunch of questions asked Quantitative Data o What does this mean Data is in the form of numbers Abstracts look like a mini research paper Observations turned into numbers Descriptive studies vs Experimental What do we see Descriptive study Causal factors Experimental study When can t we do an experiment o What types of studies Things to Consider Advantages and disadvantages o Quantitative Survey Advantages Surveys Correlation Experiments Ex post facto quasi experiment The chief difference is that both the experimental and control groups are selected after the experimental variable is introduced rather than before This approach eliminates the possibility that participants will be influenced by an awareness that they are being tested Easy cheap lots of data something s cant be observed or it would be too intrusive big sample size comfort of participants Limitations Easy to lie don t know answers social desirability self report limitations unclear interpretation very little detail cant actually see ambivalence Correlational Advantages Start looking at patterns hypotheses about cause and effect less restrictive in methodology get to see more effects better understanding of relationships Limitations No cause effect correlation does not exclude other variables Experiment Advantages Cause effect conclusions real world applicability replicable internal validity rule out variables higher degree of control Limitations Expensive difficult set up time consuming could have a false theoretical stance ethical considerations o Qualitative Case Study Advantages Rare phenomenon large amount of detail rich narrative could be unethical to do other qualitative designs e g child abuse Limitations Generalizability very little structure leads to biases time consuming expensive Interview similar to case study Advantages Structured interviews more control Ethnography Advantages External validity can study less known culture actual observations within environment where they occur Limitations Cultural bias Hawthorne Effect being observed changes my behavior language nuances confirmation bias Focus Group Advantages Generation of ideas participation interaction more in depth on one subject Limitations Participant interaction social conformity confidentiality ethical concerns Practical vs Statistical Significance o Practical Significance is this difference helpful meaningful o Statistical Significance if it is unlikely to have occurred by chance Doesn t always mean there is a huge difference Sources of Bias Table 2 3 in Chapter 2 o Potential Sources of Bias Research question society picks topic Selecting variables incomplete definitions Hypothesis selection ignore null Strong bias toward gender differences than gender similarities Interpreting results no effect sizes Publication bias similarities overlooked Go straight to p value tend to ignore effect sizes