lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research - notes

social work (Egerton University)

Scan to open on Studocu

Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])
 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

STANDARD LECTURE NOTES

SOCIAL RESEARCH PROJECT

FOR

CERTIFICATE IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

SOCIAL RESEARCH PROJECT

INTRODUCTION

This module unit is indented to expose the trainee to practical experience in

project planning and execution. The trainee is expected to plan, gather,
review and present project materials and information in accordance with
specifications.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

By the end of this module unit, the trainee should be able to;

a) Understand the scope and challenges in carrying out a given project

b) Understand the various methodologies applied in data collection for
different types of projects
c) Analyze and interpret project data and make conclusion based on the
subject matter
d) Present project report in an organizational manner, taking in
consideration quality of materials, neatness and the standard format(s)

2 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT……………………….…4-14

2. PROJECT PROPOSAL…………………………………………15

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES…………………………..47-77

4. DATA ANALYSIS…………………………………………......78-97

5. PRESENTATION………………………………………………..98-105

6. EMERGING TRENDS………………………………………..106-108

3 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

PROJECT WORK

Specific Objectives

By the end of this topic, the trainee should be able to;

a) Explain the meaning of research project

b) Explain the importance of research project
c) Identify and stating research problem
d) Justify the stated problem

INTRODUCTION

Meaning of Research Project

Research can be defined as the search for knowledge, or as any systematic

investigation, with an open mind, to establish novel facts, usually using a
scientific method. The primary purpose for basic research (as opposed to
applied research) is discovering, interpreting, and the development of
methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide
variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe.

Scientific research relies on the application of the scientific method, a

harnessing of curiosity. This research provides scientific information and
theories for the explanation of the nature and the properties of the world
around us. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is
funded by public authorities, by charitable organizations and by private
groups, including many companies. Scientific research can be subdivided into
different classifications according to their academic and application
disciplines.

Research Project Definition

The Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships seeks out, validates and co-funds

innovative research that may lead to cures for a range of catastrophic
diseases. These projects must be innovative, as defined by other documents
we have produced. In addition, the following variables are evaluated to
determine how the projects rank on the funding scale.

4 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

1) Type of innovative research-The Partnerships explores

groundbreaking research in all disciplines of medicine, and outside
conventional medicine, such as bioengineering, computer science and
mathematic algorithmic solutions, and complementary and alternative
medicine. The greater the researcher pushes the boundaries of
scientific exploration, the higher the reward must be for the risk, the
higher the quality of the researcher/institution, the more targeted the
patient population, the more likely the translational ability, and the
more compelling the underlying story. The type of innovative research
will help identify the type of donor likely to fund the research.

2) Powerful underlying story-The more powerful the story and the

higher the potential reward, the more likely that donors will be
interested in not only funding the research, but also traveling down the
road of scientific discovery with an innovative researcher.

3) Timeline-At the Partnerships, we are most interested in

intermediate length studies (12-36 months), as we believe they are the
most likely to move research towards a cure in a manner likely to help
patients that are alive at the time of the initiation of the research.
They also provide donors with opportunity for significant and repeated
involvement without being so lengthy that the donor loses interest. It
also provides the Partnerships with the opportunity to monitor and
manage the project. Very short projects (<9 months duration) must
have powerful stories and highly likely rewards, be very resource
frugal, or be a proof of concept project. Very long projects are
possible, but must provide an interim opportunity for improvement in
patient care.

4) Funding-The Partnerships are willing to fund projects of any

amount. We fund small proof of concept projects and large multi-
center clinical trials. All projects will have a business plan and a
coordinated and targeted budget, which will be dispersed based on
attainment of project milestones and benchmarks. Ideal projects have
a budget that provides an appropriate return on investment, which will
be determined by the donors’ commitment to fund. Funding will
ordinarily follow the Partnerships “Conditions of Award” guidelines (see
attached), although we can modify those conditions to meet the needs
of our co-funding partners.

5) Partnerships-The the Partnerships usually co-funds a venture with

at least one organizational, institutional, or corporate partner. Ideally,
projects would be co-funded by the Partnerships and at least two other
partners (one organizational and one institutional). Ultimately, the

5 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Partnerships believes that even greater numbers of partners will

participate to assist in the translation of work from one patient
population to another, and in the effort the share knowledge for the
benefit of the patients.

6) Researcher-We tend to fund talented, young researchers in all

disciplines with innovative ideas, although we also fund seasoned
researchers looking to expand into new areas. We have a strong
interest in multiple degreed individuals, especially MD/PhDs. In
addition to being innovative and credentialed, the ideal researcher will
be a powerful and convincing public speaker, or have a collaborator
who has these qualities. Donors want to fund research; they are more
likely to fund research and want to become involved with researchers
who hypothesize innovative research and back it up with charisma.

7) Disease-The Partnerships looks to fund research that will lead to a

cure, regardless of the disease. We have a strong interest in multiple
myeloma and other hematological diseases. We also look for research
that can be translated from one disease to another. We will help
donors fund research into any disease.

8) Demographics-The Partnerships maintains a strong interest in

diseases of children and young adults, although we will fund research
into any patient population where we believe there is a high likelihood
of return on disease prevention, treatment or cure.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to inform action. Thus, your study should seek to
contextualize its findings within the larger body of research. Research must
always be high quality in order to produce knowledge that is applicable
outside of the research setting with implications that go beyond the group
that has participated in the research. Furthermore, the results of your study
should have implications for policy and project implementation.

One problem that often plagues progress in global health is the slow
translation of research into practice. Oftentimes, a disconnect exists between
those who create the evidence base and those who are positioned to
implement the research findings. The underlying problem is in “the way in
which the production of evidence is organized institutionally with highly
centralized mechanisms, whereas the application of that science is highly
decentralized. This social distance prevails because scientists are more
oriented to the international audiences of other scientists for which they
publish than to the needs of practitioners, policy makers, or the local public.”

6 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Thus, as researchers, it is imperative to take steps to overcome this barrier.

Publishing your study may be one initial step to make your research known to
the global community. Other proactive measures can be taken to encourage
the uptake of evidence-based interventions. For example, you can present
your research findings at various venues such as the Unite for Sight
sponsored Global Health and Innovation Conference. Furthermore, you can
send the results of your study to local officials, policy-makers, and community
leaders.

Goals of Research

There are relatively few published studies about eye care in developing
countries, and Unite for Sight encourages all volunteers to consider
developing a research study to contribute important knowledge to the eye
care community on a global scale. Pursuing a research project will be a
challenging and rewarding experience, and this opportunity enables you to
pursue an in-depth original study about a topic of interest.

Well-conducted research is vital to the success of global heath endeavors.

Not only does research form the foundation of program development and
policies all over the world, but it can also be translated into effective global
health programs. Research draws its power from the fact that it is empirical:
rather than merely theorizing about what might be effective or what could
work, researchers go out into the field and design studies that give
policymakers hard data on which they can base their decisions. Furthermore,
good research produces results that are examinable by peers, methodologies
that can be replicated, and knowledge that can be applied to real-world
situations. Researchers work as a team to enhance our knowledge of how to
best address the world’s problems.

The “Iterative” Process of Research

Ultimately, the key to a successful research project lies in iteration: the

process of returning again and again to the research questions, methods, and
data, which leads to new ideas, revisions and improvements. It is easy to
think of research as a step-by-step “1, 2, 3” process, but it is important to be
fluid and open to change. Oftentimes, by discussing the research project with
advisers and peers one will find that new research questions need to be
added, variables need to be omitted, and other changes made. As a
proposed study is examined and reexamined from different perspectives, it
may begin to transform and take a different shape. This is to be expected and
is a component of a good research study. In addition, it is important to
examine study methods and data from different viewpoints to ensure a
comprehensive approach to the research question. In conclusion, there is no

7 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

one formula for developing a successful research study, but it is important to

realize that the research process is cyclical and iterative.

WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROBLEM?

A research problem is the situation that causes the researcher to feel

apprehensive, confused and ill at ease. It is the demarcation of a problem
area within a certain context involving the WHO or WHAT, the WHERE, the
WHEN and the WHY of the problem situation.

There are many problem situations that may give rise to research. Three
sources usually contribute to problem identification. Own experience or the
experience of others may be a source of problem supply. A second source
could be scientific literature. You may read about certain findings and notice
that a certain field was not covered. This could lead to a research problem.
Theories could be a third source. Shortcomings in theories could be
researched.

Research can thus be aimed at clarifying or substantiating an existing theory,

at clarifying contradictory findings, at correcting a faulty methodology, at
correcting the inadequate or unsuitable use of statistical techniques, at
reconciling conflicting opinions, or at solving existing practical problems.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

The prospective researcher should think on what caused the need to do the
research (problem identification). The question that he/she should ask is: Are
there questions about this problem to which answers have not been found up
to the present?

Research originates from a need that arises. A clear distinction between the
PROBLEM and the PURPOSE should be made. The problem is the aspect the
researcher worries about, thinks about, and wants to find a solution for. The
purpose is to solve the problem, ie find answers to the question(s). If there is
no clear problem formulation, the purpose and methods are meaningless.

Keep the following in mind:

 Outline the general context of the problem area.

 Highlight key theories, concepts and ideas current in this area.
 What appear to be some of the underlying assumptions of this area?
 Why are these issues identified important?
 What needs to be solved?

8 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Read round the area (subject) to get to know the background and to
identify unanswered questions or controversies, and/or to identify the
most significant issues for further exploration.

The research problem should be stated in such a way that it would lead to
analytical thinking on the part of the researcher with the aim of possible
concluding solutions to the stated problem. Research problems can be stated
in the form of either questions or statements.

 The research problem should always be formulated grammatically

correct and as completely as possible. You should bear in mind the
wording (expressions) you use. Avoid meaningless words. There
should be no doubt in the mind of the reader what your intentions are.
 Demarcating the research field into manageable parts by dividing the
main problem into sub problems is of the utmost importance.

SUBPROBLEM(S)

Sub problems are problems related to the main problem identified. Sub
problems flow from the main problem and make up the main problem. It is
the means to reach the set goal in a manageable way and contribute to
solving the problem.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The statement of the problem involves the demarcation and formulation of

the problem, i.e. the WHO/WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY. It usually includes the
statement of the hypothesis.

CHECKLIST FOR TESTING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE RESEARCH

PROBLEM

YE
NO
S
Is the problem of current interest? Will the research results have
1
social, educational or scientific value?
2 Will it be possible to apply the results in practice?
3 Does the research contribute to the science of education?
4 Will the research opt new problems and lead to further research?
Is the research problem important? Will you be proud of the
5
result?

9 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Is there enough scope left within the area of research (field of

6
research)?
Can you find an answer to the problem through research? Will
7
you be able to handle the research problem?
8 Will it be practically possible to undertake the research?
9 Will it be possible for another researcher to repeat the research?
1
Is the research free of any ethical problems and limitations?
0
1
Will it have any value?
1
1 Do you have the necessary knowledge and skills to do the
2 research? Are you qualified to undertake the research?
1 Is the problem important to you and are you motivated to
3 undertake the research?
1 Is the research viable in your situation? Do you have enough time
4 and energy to complete the project?
1
Do you have the necessary funds for the research?
5
1
Will you be able to complete the project within the time available?
6
1 Do you have access to the administrative, statistic and computer
7 facilities the research necessitates?
TOTAL:

Justification and Problem Selection:

Research engages in the environ metrics of forest inventory and monitoring.

Environ metrics is the application of statistics to environmental studies, and is
one of the most active frontiers in statistical research.

A national research center within the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
program. FIA produces a baseline and long-term set of scientifically sound
resource data, technology, analysis tools, and information to assess the
extent, health, productivity, and sustainability of the Nation's forest and
range ecosystems. FIA information is critically important at the national,
regional and state scales to address conservation challenges, influence
patterns of capital investment, and meet needs of the forestry profession,
resource managers, forest landowners, and the public.

However, FIA is in a state of crisis. This is the key conclusion by the Second
Blue Ribbon Panel on Forest Inventory and Analysis. The Panel's primary

10 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

concern is FIA information that is increasingly out-of-date. FIA conducts

periodic surveys for each state on an 8- to 15-year cycle, but users of FIA
data have little confidence in data that are more than five years old. The
Panel recommends:

 Change from an 8- to 15-year periodic cycle to an annual FIA system in

each state;
 Increased use of new technologies, such as remote sensing and
geographic information systems;
 Research to improve precision of inventory and monitoring data with
models and imputation techniques;
 Improved analysis of FIA data, including assessments of past trends
and forecasts of future conditions;
 Extension of the FIA program to all lands, especially National Forests;
 Merger of the Forest Health Monitoring Program into FIA as a sub-
sampling approach;
 Partnerships with related surveys, especially the National Resources
Inventory (NRI) within the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service.
 The National Science and Technology Council and the Under Secretary
of Agriculture share many of these same recommendations.

Congress incorporated the Panel's key recommendations into The Agricultural

Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998. For example, the Act
requires conversion of FIA to an annual system, in which 20 percent of all FIA
plots in each State are measured each year. This would require a 5-fold
increase in FIA funding to $98,920,000 per year, which is over half of the
national budget for Forest Service Research and Development.

Since 1991, RM-4802 has been a leader in the Annual Forest Inventory
System (AFIS) for Minnesota, which is designed to improve timeliness of FIA
information. AFIS helped motivate the Southern Annual Forest Inventory
System (SAFIS) in 1996. The Second Blue Ribbon Panel urged aggressive
support for AFIS and SAFIS as steps toward a nationally consistent annual FIA
system.

Our experience with AFIS helped identify critical environ metrics research
needed for an annual FIA system. This experience guided the selection of
three Research Problems. The following is the justification, approach and
budget for each Problem.

11 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Problem 1:

Scientifically credible estimation methods are needed for annual

inventory and monitoring of forest lands
An annual FIA system produces more timely information by sampling 10% to
20% of FIA plots each year in each state, rather than 100% of the plots once
every 5- to 10-years. However, the smaller sample size in a single year does
not produce sufficient accuracy for small areas, such as sub-State regions.
Other information must augment the annual sample to produce acceptable
accuracy.

Remote sensing, prediction models, and improved sampling designs can

increase accuracy. Remotely sensed data are less expensive than data
collected by field crews, although remotely sensed data are incomplete and
less accurate. Models predict the current condition of FIA plots that were
measured in past years, and these old plots can be combined with new plots
measured during the current year. FIA information can be strengthened with
data from other inventory and monitoring programs, such as the NRI.
However, these approaches require more complex statistical techniques that
provide data for calibration of ancillary data, compensate for prediction and
measurement errors, and quantify the resulting accuracy and data quality.

Remotely sensed measurements can be mathematically combined with field

measurements to improve accuracy, but the measurement or classification
errors in remotely sensed data must be calibrated with an empirical model.
However, an annual FIA system has only 10% to 20% of FIA plots with which
to fit models during any single year. The small sample adds uncertainty to the
model predictions, which in turn, reduces gains in accuracy from remote
sensing. Additional field data from previous years could improve models for
remotely sensed data, but this requires methods that predict current
conditions from previous measurements, and account for the associated
prediction errors. Incorporation of data from other programs, such as NRI,
requires methods similar to those used with remotely sensed data.

More complex sampling designs could improve accuracy of annual FIA data.
For example, more frequent sampling of rapidly changing FIA plots might
reduce prediction errors. Adaptations in sampling intensity could improve
accuracy of information for certain types of forests that are important for
policy or management decisions, or provide new insights to anomalous
trends. Statistical research is needed to balance priorities and manage
complexity in an adaptive monitoring system.

Successful research and development must be transferred to the national FIA

database. Practicality must temper complexity. FIA customers need a

12 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

database with which they can readily produce valid results, often with
spreadsheet software over the Internet. Otherwise, credibility and utility of
annual FIA information will suffer in spite of increased FIA funding.

Problem 2:

Scientifically credible analytical methods are needed for annual

inventory and monitoring data

An annual FIA system provides more timely estimates and adaptability to

emerging issues than the traditional periodic system. However, an annual
system involves time-series of data, which can be more difficult to analyze.

FIA data are used to forecast future conditions and test hypotheses for trends
and cause-effect relationships. Such tests help differentiate between actual
and perceived environmental issues, and avoid both unnecessary regulation
and serious environmental problems. Statistical research and development
are needed to accurately accommodate the random errors in model
predictions and imputation, and the complex structure of annual FIA data,
during evaluation of hypotheses. Otherwise, we can misperceive the risk of
accepting an incorrect hypothesis.

Customers of FIA data require analyses for small areas, such as a few
counties or all available no industrial private lands within 50 miles of a site.
Small areas contain few FIA plots, and accuracy of FIA information will be
poor. An annual FIA system will compound this problem because only 10% to
20% of the plots are measured during a single year. Ancillary data, such as
remote sensing and broad-scale thematic maps, can improve estimates for
small-areas. New statistical research and development are needed to use
ancillary data, quantify the uncertainty in the estimates, and avoid
substantial estimation bias.

The Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998

require use of FIA procedures on all National Forests. FIA data will satisfy
certain requirements of National Forests for analyses and strategic planning.
However, new statistical research and development will merge FIA data with
other information gathered by National Forests to improve land management
decisions. This requires spatial detail that is not typical with FIA information.

13 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Problem 3:

Scientifically credible statistical methods are needed for adapting

and enhancing available inventory and monitoring data

Statistical methods are needed to analyze trends, including detection of

unexpected events, "hot-spots" of change and spatial anomalies. This is
necessary to communicate environmental science to the public and serve as
early-warming for disconcerting trends However, the current and past data
needed to detect these trends may not exist or be. inadequate for this task.
Estimation methods are needed to adapt historical data to answer newly
emerging questions.

Methods are needed to monitor status and trends for rare events and sub-
populations, such as outbreaks of exotic pests, and rare or endangered
species. The spatially uniform sampling frame used by FIA grid is not well
suited for detecting and monitoring rarities. Merger of additional data with
FIA data can improve adaptive sampling designs and produce better
information about rare events and small areas.

The FIA program traditionally presents data as complex statistical tables. New
statistical graphics could improve communication of detailed tabular data.

Statistical methods are needed to consistently monitor forests at the global

scale. Many nations have monitoring programs, but results are not
compatible across multiple nations. Other nations have no monitoring
program. A global system to produce compatible data is necessary to assess
conditions across diverse multinational regions, and evaluate outcomes of
international policies.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Explain the meaning of research project

2. Explain the importance of research project
3. Identify and stating research problem
4. Justify the stated problem

14 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

15 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

CHAPTER TWO

RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL

Specific Objectives

By the end of this topic, the trainee should be able to;

a) Describe various types of research projects

b) Explain the main factors to consider when selecting a research project
c) Formulate project objectives
d) Explain the importance of a project proposal
e) Prepare project proposal
f) Describe the bias or prejudice in research

INTRODUCTION

Meaning of research proposal

Most students and beginning researchers do not fully understand what a

research proposal means, nor do they understand its importance. To put it
bluntly, one's research is only as a good as one's proposal. An ill-conceived
proposal dooms the project even if it somehow gets through the Thesis
Supervisory Committee. A high quality proposal, on the other hand, not only
promises success for the project, but also impresses your Thesis Committee
about your potential as a researcher.

A research proposal is intended to convince others that you have a

worthwhile research project and that you have the competence and the work-
plan to complete it. Generally, a research proposal should contain all the key
elements involved in the research process and include sufficient information
for the readers to evaluate the proposed study.

Regardless of your research area and the methodology you choose, all
research proposals must address the following questions: What you plan to
accomplish, why you want to do it and how you are going to do it.

The proposal should have sufficient information to convince your readers that
you have an important research idea, that you have a good grasp of the
relevant literature and the major issues, and that your methodology is sound.

16 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

The quality of your research proposal depends not only on the quality of your
proposed project, but also on the quality of your proposal writing. A good
research project may run the risk of rejection simply because the proposal is
poorly written. Therefore, it pays if your writing is coherent, clear and
compelling.

Types of Research Methods

The general perspective of research is that some scientists taking part in

laboratory testing or presenting the results in scientific discovery to the
world-actually this was my view of research when I was young.

Simply speaking the purpose of research is to find a solution to a particular

type of problem or showing the problem a direction towards solution or
putting some light in the unknown areas of knowledge for your enlightenment
to that particular area of knowledge-thus research actually help us to
understand our reality more clearly as well as help us to enjoy better living
standard. So, research is kind of a project to find out some answers or
solutions for a particular area-research is kind of project because every
project has its scope of work, time-line and resources, that’s why you may
easily interrelate research work with a project-in fact every research work
works on based on a well-devised project plan. Types of projects include the
following;

Construction Projects

The project produces an artifact. The value generated by the project is

embedded in the artifact. The artifact may be a complex system with human
and mechanical components.

Examples:

 Warship
 Jubilee line extension
 Millennium dome
 Customer call centre
 Method guidebook
 IT system

Research Projects

The project produces knowledge. The knowledge may be formally

represented as models, patterns or patents. Or the knowledge may be
embedded in a working process or artifact.

17 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Examples:

 Business modeling
 Developing a model of the UK economy
 Developing a new species of wheat
 Developing novel approaches to project management.
 Military intelligence/ code breaking.
 The analysis, testing, QA or evaluation portions of a larger project.

Reengineering Projects

The project produces a desired change in some system or process.

Examples:

 Taking sterling into the Euro

 Renumbering the UK telephone system
 Implementing PRINCE project management practices into a large
organization.
 Designing and installing an Intranet.

Procurement Projects

The project produces a business relationship contractually based with a

selected supplier for a defined product or service based on a fixed
specification and/or a defined specification process

Examples:

 Outsourcing a specific construction or research project

 Outsourcing a complete business function (such as IT).
 Imposing new rules and measures on a regulated industry.

Business Implementation Projects

The project produces an operationally effective process. The value generated

by the project is embedded in the process.

Examples:

 Developing a new business process to repackage and exploit existing

assets.
 Installing e-commerce

18 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Some projects are difficult to classify under this scheme.

National symbolic programmes:

 Putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

 Mitterand’s Grandes Projects.
 New Labour

Large medical programmes:

 Creating an artificial heart.

 Mass inoculation programmes.

Other hybrid or interdisciplinary projects

 Pilot projects
 Moving offices

In most cases, this difficulty arises from an ambiguity about the primary
purpose of the project. Are we doing this pilot for its own sake, or merely as
an experiment? Are we doing this drug trial to benefit current patients, or to
create knowledge that will benefit future patients? What’s the real political
agenda? Of course, we must be able to handle hybrid projects - but we may
need to surface the underlying ambiguity.

Where do we start? How do we know when to stop? When can

(should) we evaluate the results?

Each type of project yields different answers to these questions - and this
implies that each type of project needs a somewhat different process and
management style.

start stop evaluate

Construction With a set of When the artefact is On delivery of the

requirements. “complete”. artefact.

When the requirements Over the lifetime of

are satisfied. the artefact.

19 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

With a
defined
solution.

Research With a When the time runs When the

hypothesis. out. knowledge is
confirmed or
With a When we detect disconfirmed by
problem. diminishing returns. later work.

When the
knowledge is used
by later work.

Reengineerin With a When we seem to be At any time.

g problem. ahead of the game.

With an When some higher

opportunity. process changes the
game we’re playing.
With an
(imported)
solution.

Procurement With a set of We construct a tender Over the lifetime of

requirements. document that is the contract.
“complete”.
On completion of
We sign a contract with the contract.
the supplier who seems
to be ahead at the end
of the tender period.
With a
defined
solution.

Business With an When the process is When the process

Implementati opportunity. operational. has been running
on smoothly for a

20 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

defined period.
With a When the process has
business been running smoothly When the business
concept. for a defined period. benefits are
starting to become
When the business visible.
benefits are starting to
become visible. Over the lifetime of
the process.

Importance of technology in project research

The big problem with information technology is that it tries so hard to be

rational. By contrast, humans are happy to be rational only part of the time.
Most other times (apart from the fact that they sleep so much) people
operate in very different modes: of daydreaming and pondering; of joy and
melancholy; of hope and of despair – apart from all the other subliminal
states of which, most of the time, we are not even aware. Now, all of these I
would call the non-rational because all information technology systems have
started out in life with a big ration of the rational, the logical conclusion
seems to be that, indeed, we should work towards a new and perfect world –
a technocracy directed by the empty ethos of machines. Projects under the
[Intelligent Information Interfaces] research initiative – and in particular
Presence – rejected this purely positivistic absurdity, that along with the
development of the computer has been furiously promulgated over the last
50 years.

Background
The primary goal of the Presence project was to develop new ways for
ordinary people – and especially older people – to interact with computers
and communications. For older people, technology is often a means – not an
end in itself. It is a means, in particular, to better communications, which can
reduce their dependency on welfare services. This is the thinking behind
Presence. The project connected a wide range of organizations and was
based on three test sites that have the common objective of supporting the
activities and well-being of older people belonging to local communities. The
sites provided a complementary range of experiences, encompassing three
difference countries (Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands); a range of
technologies, from low- to high- tech, to cutting edge; and three basic
domains: assistance, communications, and accessing mobility.

21 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

This multi-party research project developed interfaces and scenarios about

communications infrastructure. The interfaces which were developed during
the project were designed to have the following qualities: be pleasure able
devices, considering the aesthetics of the interaction as a major element to
be developed in tandem with functionality; incorporate multi-modal devices
to allow parallel channels for use by people of different abilities; incorporate
input and output devices "hidden" in the environment of public spaces or the
home. An important outcome of the project was new methodologies for the
design of information technology products and services for older people and
for social actors with different needs in everyday life.

What we did
The processes of this research project ranged from design-led user studies
('Cultural Probes') which probed older people’s lives and attitudes, to
conceptual proposals for innovative services and systems, to design
experiments and tests of working prototypes in the communities themselves.

Design-led user studies ('Cultural Probes')

The very different characters of the three sites struck us immediately during
the brief visits we made at the beginning of the project. Their physical
settings, cultures, and the personalities of the older people combined to give
each place its own identity, impossible to confuse with the others. Given this,
pursuing generic designs that would be relevant for all three sites seemed
inconceivable to us, as they would inevitably undervalue the particular
situation in any one. Instead, it seemed clear that our designs should respond
to each community separately. It was obvious, however, that short visits
would not allow us to understand the different communities in depth. We had
neither time nor budget to make longer stays, and traditional methods, such
as questionnaire studies or focus groups, seemed too impersonal to give us
the empathic understanding we required. The Cultural Probes grew out of our
feeling that we had to explore new methods in order to approach the sites.

Conceptual proposals
The second main phase of the project involved generating a wide range of
proposals for each of the three sites. Using the returned items from the
Cultural Probes, as well as photographs, anecdotes, and souvenirs from our
visits, we imagined a wide variety of systems that we might develop and
recorded our ideas for discussion with our partners and the groups of older
people at each of the sites.
We made a structured workbook, using a variety of imagery to create
fragmented narratives for the systems we were proposing, while using
descriptive text to provide a framework and organization for the ideas. These
workbooks were presented to the older people in each of the three sites
during visits, to encourage them to imagine the ideas and to elicit their

22 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

feedback and ideas.

Discussing the workbook with the older people and our partners allowed us to
crystallize the design proposals for each site. What had started as loose
constellations of ideas cohered as integrated systems, the result of having
been inhabited by our imaginations for so long. We went on to create an
interactive multimedia presentation of our design proposals where separate
screens described each community to set the context for our proposals,
presented animated diagrams of the systems we suggested, and offered a
‘catalogue of parts’ indicating the kinds of physical artifacts that might
comprise the systems.

Design experiments
At this stage we tested approximate versions of the systems in the three
sites. We were not primarily concerned with technical practicalities at this
stage, as we were satisfied that a number of possible routes existed to realize
each of the proposals. Instead, we focused on using appropriate, often low-
tech; means to simulate and test the experiences the proposals would
engender – their aesthetics, their social effects, and their cultural implications
– with the older people in the three communities. Nonetheless, in the course
of the experiments it became clear that both technical concerns and the
intellectual challenge offered by the systems would play a large role in
deciding which to take forward.

Personnel in research
The purpose of this research was to examine practitioner reactions to a
collaborative
research project that paired university-based researchers with agency-based
personnel. The findings have several important implications for collaborative
research and suggest the need for further investigation of staff response to
collaborative research endeavors. Most importantly for the practice of
collaborative research is the finding that, in the present instance at least,
anxieties, tensions, and conflicts arose that were structurally related to
collaborative project. At a minimum, the findings reported here raise serious
questions about the role and involvement of academic researchers. The
presence of academically oriented researchers, graduate students still
learning their roles, and evaluative features of the research process itself
generated reactions and problems that were unintended.

23 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

While agency staff report that has gone well overall, these problems were
troublesome enough that significant issues emerged over the course of the
project. The findings strongly suggest that academic researchers should be
aware of these issues and the potential impact they may present.
Practitioners of collaborative research should continually monitor projects for
problems that arise and seek collaborative solutions to such problems.
Ideally, steps should be taken to avoid problems before they develop.

Looking toward the future, these findings clearly call attention to the need for
research to be conducted that examines these initiatives. One starting point
in the research agenda would simply be replication of these findings in other
projects and settings. Comparative work that involves multiple collaborative
projects would be especially beneficial. Additionally, work should examine the
extent to which these factors emerge under differing arrangements. For
instance, in SOAR the research team was largely responsible for creating and
advancing the agenda, but only after the project committee had given its
consent to the process that was to be followed. One reasonable question
would be the extent to which the leadership responsibility impacts the
reaction of agency staff to these projects.

It is conceivable that staff reactions may have been different had the project
committee and the agencies possessed more of the leadership function for
the project.
Finally, there is a need to examine how the reactions of agency staff
members to these projects are related to the outcomes of these projects. If
agency members, for instance, react poorly to the researchers during the
course of a research project, does that decrease the likelihood of project
outcomes such as increasing the use of research findings in agency decision-
making? This may very well be the most pressing question facing
collaborative research.

Effective Time Management

A problem in my day-to-day life that I would like to solve is Time

Management. I would like to improve my skills, and create an effective time
management schedule, because no one wants to feel like they didn’t use
their time effectively.

24 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

One thing we all could agree on is that the resource of time is available
equally to each individual. We all have the same 24 hours per day available
to us, and the challenge is to use this time sufficiently on a daily basis.

Working professionals of today are finding it harder to manage their time with
balancing their duties at work, school, and personal lives. It takes a number
of things to do, to be able to manage one’s time effectively.

In my developing a research strategy to finding solutions to my time

management problem I started by researching in the University of Phoenix
Online Library. I used the key words “effective time management skills”
where there were thousands of different articles get better grades to read,
and of course I couldn’t go through all of them, but I did manage to read
quite a few different ones. There was one particular journal that I read, and
what stuck out the most was this sentence. “The underlying theme of time
management is the notion of efficiency that time can be allocated in a way
that optimizes the returns of goal achievement. I had to stop and really think
about what it was that sentence was saying to me, and how it could help me
further with my evaluations. It says’s to me that if you are efficient and
maintain a way to use your time so that you are productive, in return you will
achieve your goals.

The Importance of Project Finance

In the past twenty years there has been a new wave of global interest in
project finance as a tool for economic investment. Project finance helps
finance new investment by structuring the financing around the project's own
operating cash flow and assets, without additional sponsor guarantees. Thus
the technique is able to alleviate investment risk and raise finance at a
relatively low cost, to the benefit of sponsor and investor alike. Though
project finance has been in use for hundreds of years, primarily in mining and
natural resource projects, its other possible applications—especially for
financing large green field projects (new projects without any prior track
record or operating history)—have only recently received serious attention.

25 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

The change in attitude toward project finance can be attributed to a number

of factors, a prime one being that most countries today rely on market
mechanisms to guide their economic activity and on the private sector to
supply investment. Greater focus on the private sector has necessitated
major regulatory reforms, which in turn have created new markets in areas
previously the preserve of government activity. When the United States
passed the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURPA) in 1978 and established a
private market for electric power, for example, it provided a strong model for
the growth of project financing in many other industrial countries. Similarly,
recent large-scale privatizations in developing countries aimed at
strengthening economic growth and stimulating private sector investment
have given further impetus to project finance structuring. Governments were
also willing to provide incentives to encourage private investors into new
sectors.

FORMULATION OF PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS

Introduction to SMART objectives and SMART Goals

Management by Objectives is often credited to Peter Drucker in his 1954 book

“The Practice of Management”, from this claimed history and approach the
use of the acronym Smarter has grown. Having said that, for those that have
bothered to read the book – there is NO DIRECT reference to SMART by
Ducker in this publication. While it is clear that Ducker was the first to write
about management by objectives, the SMART acronym is harder to trace in
terms of documented evidence. Read about our investigation into the history
and origins of the SMART objectives acronym.

The use of the approach to managing known as “Management By Objectives”

or MBO, has reduced in recent years, however increasingly, many
organizations are using the SMART and SMARTER acronym within goal setting
and performance appraisal or management environments. The use of SMART
objective formatting is not limited to business and performance management,
indeed SMART possibly started in the world of personal development.

This page has been written to provide not only an overview of the SMART
objective format, but to help you the manager or developer to write your
own.

Smarter is an acronym to help in the writing of objectives. the objectives can

be for managing performance or for developmental purposes.

26 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

There are a variety of types of objectives that can be written, all can be done
in the Smarter format.

 Process objectives
o lets you know what you are doing and how you will do it;
describes participants, interactions and activities
 Impact objectives
o lets you know what the long term implications of your
program[me]/ activity will be; describes the longer term impact
on your target audience or organization
 Outcome objectives
o lets you know how you will change attitudes, knowledge or
behavior (short term); describe the degree to which you expect
this change
 Personal objectives
o Personal development is an ideal application for smarter
objectives. Often we see smarter objectives written for project
management or business and performance management;
however as individuals in our personal development plans,
smarter objectives are also a valuable formula within which to
set and individual measure performance.

Language in objectives

Objectives are active using strong verbs. Action verbs are observable and
better communicate the intent of what is to be attempted, like plan, write,
conduct, produce, apply, to recite, to revise, to contrast, to install, to select,
to assemble, to compare, to investigate, and to develop. etc.

Avoid generalities in objective statements and infinitives to avoid include to

know, to understand, to enjoy, and to believe. Rather than learn, understand,
feel. The words need to be not only active but measurable.

A goal can be defined as “The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed;

an objective“In personal and organizational development terms, the goal is
set as the main single aim and objectives are the elements which together
achieve the goal. goal may only have one objective.

SMART acronym variations- Smarter

There are many variations on the theme including:

27 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Variations of words commonly used in SMART as an

acronym
S Specific Stimulating Simple

Sincere Stretching

Succinct

Straight forward

Self owned

Self managed

Self controlled

Significant

Strategic

Sensible

M Measurable Motivating Manageable

Meaningful

Magical

Magnetic

Maintainable

Mapped to goals

A Achievable Appropriate Actionable

Audacious *
* Assignable in Attainable
the 1981
document by Ambitious
Doran
Inspirational
* Affirmative
Accepted/
acceptable

28 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Aligned

Accountable

Agreed

Adapted

As-if-now

Adjustable

Adaptable

R Realistic Relevant Results Orientated

Resources are
adequate

Resourced

Rewarding

Recorded

Reviewable

Robust

Relevant to a
mission

T Time-.. Tangible- © Trackable

bound Traceable

limited Timed/ Timely

driven Toward what you

want
constrained
Team-Building
* constricted

29 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

related

phased

sensitive

specific

stamped

lined

Some versions of the acronym add the letters – ER making Smarter

objectives

E Encompassing * Empowering Evaluated

Extending
Exciting Engaging

Energising

Ethical

Enjoyable

R Reviewed* Rewarding Recorded

Realistic

Relevant

Resourced
Research Based

One of the key advantages in using SMARTER in the agreeing and setting of
personal development goals, it helps to recognize the importance of the
engagement of the individual. The more motivated they are by the
development objective the better they appears to perform, often putting
extra time into self development activity.

30 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Some proponents have said that to be really effective objectives should be

SMARTER Where it is the multiplying factor of using all elements that
ensures a powerful and effective objective.

Specific Strategic
Measurable Meaningful
Agreed Attainable
Realistic And… Rewarding
Time-Bound Team-Building
Evaluated Empowering
Reviewed Rewarding

SMART-C

Some also add a C at the beginning or end of SMART or SMARTER making C-

SMART or C-SMARTER, where C is challenging.

SMART-S

Others have started to add an S at the end to make – SMART-S where the last
S is stretching or sustainable.

SMAART

Some add a second A to make SMAART, where the two As are Attainable and
Action-oriented.

One could argue that it does not matter which one you use as long as
everyone in the organization is working to the same model. To some extent it
all depends what you are using the objective for, and in what context. A
business performance objective may have a different format to a
developmental goal, however as long as everyone in the organization is
working to the same version.

SMARTIE

Some working definitions

Using the most common version of the SMART objective here are some
common explanations.

Achievable Realistic
Specific Measurable Time

31 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Objectives You should be Are the Can you When do you

should specify able to objectives you realistically want to
what they need measure set, achieve the achieve the set
to achieve whether you achievable objectives objectives?
are meeting and with the
the objectives attainable? resources you
or not have?
Measurable Attainable Realistic
Specific Tangible - ©

A specific Establish When you To be realistic, Tangible when

objective has a concrete identify it must you can
much greater criteria for objectives represent an experience it
chance of being measuring that are most objective with one of the
accomplished progress important to toward which senses. When
than a general toward the you, you you are both your goal is
goal. attainment of begin to figure willing and tangible, or
each objective out ways you able to work. when you tie a
To set a specific you set. When can make tangible goal
objective you you measure them come An objective to an
need to answer your progress, true. can be both intangible goal,
the six “W” you stay on high and you have a
questions: track, reach The objective realistic; you better chance
your target needs to be are the only of making it
 Who: Who dates, and attainable by one who can specific and
is experience you based on decide just measurable
involved? the feeling of the skills you how high it and thus
 What: achievement have and the should be. attainable.
What do I that drives constraints
want to you on to imposed. Your objective
accomplis continued is probably
h? effort required realistic if you
 Where: to reach your truly believe
Identify a objective. that it can be
location. accomplished.
 When: To determine
Establish a if your Additional
time objective is ways to know
frame. measurable, if your
 Which: ask questions objective is
Identify such as…… realistic is to
requireme How much? determine if
nts and How many? you have
constraint How will I accomplished

32 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

s.
 Why: know when it anything
Specific is similar in the
reasons, accomplished past or ask
purpose or ? yourself what
benefits of conditions
accomplis would have to
hing the exist to
goal accomplish
this objective.

Measurable Achievable Relevant

Specific Time Framed

What exactly are Is it Can we get it Will this When will we

we going to do, measurable & done in the objective lead accomplish/
with or for can WE timeframe/in to the desired complete this
whom? measure it? this results? objective?

political
climate/with
this amount of
money?

Measurable Achievable Relevant

Specific Time

Specific in the A system, The objectives This means In the objective

context of method or that are set two things; somewhere
developing procedure has with people that the goal there has to be
objectives means to exist which need to be or target a date
that an allows the capable of being set with (Day/Month/Ye
observable tracking and being the individual ar) for when
action, behaviour recording of reached, put is something the task has to
or achievement the behaviour most they can be started (if
is described or action upon basically; actually it’s ongoing)
which is also which the there is a impact upon and/or
linked to a rate, objective is likelihood of or change and completed (if
number, focused. success but secondly it is it’s short term
percentage or that does not also important or project
frequency. This Setting an mean easy or to the related).
latter point is objective that simple. organization Simply: No
extremely requires date = No
important – let phone calls to The objectives Example: good.

33 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

me illustrate.
‘Answer the be answered need to be Telling the Summary: Is
phone quickly’ in four rings is stretching and cleaners that there a finish
can be said to be acceptable, agreed by the they ‘have to and/or a start
a precise provided a parties increase date clearly
description of system exists involved. market share stated or
behaviour, you which over the next defined?
can clearly see measures Setting financial
whether whether this is targets that quarter’ is not
someone actually being are plainly actually
answers the achieved. If ridiculous something
phone or not, but none exists does not they can do
there is no rate, the manager motivate anything
number, must be people; it about – it’s
percentage or prepared to merely not relevant
frequency linked set time aside confirms their to them.
to it. time to opinion of you However,
actually as an idiot. asking them
So, if I state; monitor the to reduce
‘Answer the response They will expenditure
phone within 4 rates to apply no on cleaning
rings’ a rate has incoming energy or materials by
been added and phone calls. enthusiasm to £50 over the
the behaviour is a task that is next three
now much more The only other futile. months is
specific. alternative is entirely
to get the Summary: relevant to
Summary: Is person with With a them. It’s
there a whom the reasonable what they
description of a objectives are amount of spend their
precise or being set to effort and budget on
specific measure their application every day. As
behaviour / own progress; can the to whether it’s
outcome which is in some cases objective be relevant to
linked to a rate, and situations achieved? what the
number, it may be organization is
percentage or acceptable to trying to
frequency? do this, in achieve, the
others maybe manager has
not – use to decide this
common by considering
sense to the wider
decide this. picture.

34 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Remember Summary:
what gets Can the
measures gets people with
done. so be whom the
careful! objective is
set make an
Summary: Is impact on the
there a situation?
reliable
system in Do they have
place to the necessary
measure knowledge,
progress authority and
towards the skill?
achievement
of the
objective?

Measurable Attainable Result-

Specific oriented Time-limited

An objective An objective An objective The objective The objective

must be specific must be must be should be should be
with a single key measurable. attainable central to the traceable.
result. If more Only an with the goals of the Specific
than one result is objective that resources that organization objectives
to be affects are available. The successful enable time
accomplished, behavior in a It must be completion of priorities to be
more than one measurable realistic. the objective set and time to
objective should way can be should make a be used on
be written. Just optimally Many difference. objectives that
knowing what is effective. objectives are really matter.
to be realistic. How will this
accomplished is If possible, However, the objective help Are the time
a big step toward state the time it takes the lines you have
achieving it. objective as a to achieve organization established
quantity. them may be move ahead? realistic? Will
What is Some unrealistic. For Is the other
important to objectives are example, it is objective competing
you? more difficult realistic to aligned with demands
to measure want to lose the mission of cause delay?
Once you clarify than others ten pounds. the Will you be
what you want to are. However, However, it is able to

35 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

achieve, your difficulty does unrealistic to organization? overcome

attention will be not mean that want to lose those demands
focused on the they cannot ten pounds in to accomplish
objective that be measured. one week. the objective
you deliberately you’ve set in
set. You will be How will you What barriers the time frame
doing something know you’ve stand you’ve
important to you. progressed? between you established?
and your
objective?
How will each
barrier be
overcome and
within what
time frame?

Measurable Achievable Relevant

Specific Time Based

Is there a Is there a With a Can the Is there a finish

description of a reliable reasonable person with and/or a start
precise or system in amount of whom the date clearly
specific behavior place to effort and objective is stated or
/ outcome which measure application set make an defined?
is linked to a progress can the impact on the
rate, number, towards the objective be situation?
percentage or achievement achieved?
frequency? of the Do they have
objective? the necessary
knowledge,
authority and
skill and is it
relevant to
the
organizational
goals and
aims?

Additional definitions – smarter goals and objectives

Extending:
The goal should stretch the performer’s capabilities or make a significant

36 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

contribution to the mission and purpose of the organization It’s boring and
can seem purposeless if it doesn’t (and the “A” — acceptance and
accountability – criteria will suffer too).

Exciting:

The goal must be engaging for the individual. When a person is excited by
the goal or the journey they are more likely to apply themselves to the
achievement of the activity being discussed.

Rewarding:
A person should know what it will mean and what will result from a full effort
in completing the goal.

Recorded:

There is a written record of the objective, its constraints and the enablers
required for success. Having the objective written is said to help increase the
likelihood of completion and success, at the very least it ensures that both
parties have a common understanding of what was agreed.

Lets add some more detail…

Acronym Description Diagnostic Questions

element
Specific Specific means that the objective is
concrete, detailed, focused and well  What exactly are we
defined. going to do, with or for
whom?
The objective must be straight  What strategies will be
forwards and emphasize action and used?
the required outcome.  Is the objective well
understood?
Specific also means that it’s results  Is the objective
and action-orientated. described with action
verbs?
Objectives need to be  Is it clear who is
straightforward and to communicate involved?
what you would like to see happen.  Is it clear where this
To help set specific objectives it will happen?
helps to ask:  Is it clear what needs
to happen?
 WHAT am I going to do? This  Is the outcome clear?
are best written using strong,

37 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Will this objective lead

action verbs such as conduct, to the desired results?
develop, build, plan, execute,
etc. This helps your objective
to be action-orientated and
focuses on what’s most
important.
 WHY is this important for me
to do?
 WHO is going to do what?
Who else need to be
involved?
 WHEN do I want this to be
completed?
 HOW am I going to do this?

Measurab If the objective is measurable, it

le means that the measurement  How will I know that
source is identified and we are able the change has
to track the actions as we progress occurred?
towards the objective. Measurement  Can these
is the standard used for measurements be
comparison. obtained?

For example, what financially

independence means to one person,
may be totally different compared
to what is means for another.

If you cannot measure it .. you

cannot manage it

It’s important to have measures

that will encourage and motivate
you on the way as you see the
change occurring, this may require
interim measures.

Measurements (and the visible

progress) go along way to help us to
know when we have achieved our
objective.

38 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Achievabl Objectives need to be achievable, if

e the objective is too far in the future,  Can we get it done in
you’ll find it difficult to keep the proposed
motivated and to strive to attain it. timeframe?
 Do I understand the
Objectives, unlike your aspirations limitations and
and visions, need to be achievable constraints?
to keep you motivated.  Can we do this with
the resources we
Objectives need to stretch you, but have?
not so far that you become  Has anyone else done
frustrated and lose motivation. this successfully?
 Is this possible?

Realistic Objectives that are achievable, may

not be realistic….. however, realistic  Do you have the
does not mean easy. Realistic resources available to
means that you have the resources achieve this objective?
to get it done.  Do I need to revisit
priorities in my life to
The achievement of an objective make this happen?
requires resources, such as, skills,  Is it possible to
money, equipment, etc. to the task achieve this objective?
required to achieve the objective.
Whilst keeping objectives realistic,
ensure that they stretch you.

Most objectives are achievable but,

may require a change in your
priorities to make them happen.

Time Time-bound means setting a

deadlines for the achievement of  When will this
the objective. Deadlines need to be objective be
both achievable and realistic. accomplished?
 Is there a stated
If you don’t set a time you will deadline?
reduce the motivation and urgency
required to execute the tasks.
Agreed Time frames create the
necessary urgency and prompts
action.

39 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

PREPARATION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL

Title:

It should be concise and descriptive. For example, the phrase, "An

investigation of . . ." could be omitted. Often titles are stated in terms of a
functional relationship, because such titles clearly indicate the independent
and dependent variables. However, if possible, think of an informative but
catchy title. An effective title not only pricks the reader's interest, but also
predisposes him/her favorably towards the proposal.

Abstract:

It is a brief summary of approximately 300 words. It should include the

research question, the rationale for the study, the hypothesis (if any), the
method and the main findings. Descriptions of the method may include the
design, procedures, the sample and any instruments that will be used.

Introduction:

The main purpose of the introduction is to provide the necessary background

or context for your research problem. How to frame the research problem is
perhaps the biggest problem in proposal writing.

If the research problem is framed in the context of a general, rambling

literature review, then the research question may appear trivial and
uninteresting. However, if the same question is placed in the context of a
very focused and current research area, its significance will become evident.

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules on how to frame your research
question just as there is no prescription on how to write an interesting and
informative opening paragraph. A lot depends on your creativity, your ability
to think clearly and the depth of your understanding of problem areas.

40 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

However, try to place your research question in the context of either a

current "hot" area, or an older area that remains viable. Secondly, you need
to provide a brief but appropriate historical backdrop. Thirdly, provide the
contemporary context in which your proposed research question occupies the
central stage. Finally, identify "key players" and refer to the most relevant
and representative publications. In short, try to paint your research question
in broad brushes and at the same time bring out its significance.

The introduction typically begins with a general statement of the problem

area, with a focus on a specific research problem, to be followed by the
rational or justification for the proposed study. The introduction generally
covers the following elements:

1. State the research problem, which is often referred to as the purpose

of the study.
2. Provide the context and set the stage for your research question in
such a way as to show its necessity and importance.
3. Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it
is worth doing.
4. Briefly describe the major issues and sub-problems to be addressed by
your research.
5. Identify the key independent and dependent variables of your
experiment. Alternatively, specify the phenomenon you want to study.
6. State your hypothesis or theory, if any. For exploratory or
phenomenological research, you may not have any hypotheses.
(Please do not confuse the hypothesis with the statistical null
hypothesis.)
7. Set the delimitation or boundaries of your proposed research in order
to provide a clear focus.
8. Provide definitions of key concepts. (This is optional.)

Literature Review:

Sometimes the literature review is incorporated into the introduction section.

However, most professors prefer a separate section, which allows a more
thorough review of the literature.

The literature review serves several important functions:

1. Ensures that you are not "reinventing the wheel".

2. Gives credits to those who have laid the groundwork for your research.
3. Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem.
4. Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research
issues related to your research question.

41 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

5. Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information.

6. Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing
literature.
7. Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the
conceptual framework for your research.
8. Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a
significant and substantial contribution to the literature (i.e., resolving
an important theoretical issue or filling a major gap in the literature).

Most students' literature reviews suffer from the following problems:

 Lacking organization and structure

 Lacking focus, unity and coherence
 Being repetitive and verbose
 Failing to cite influential papers
 Failing to keep up with recent developments
 Failing to critically evaluate cited papers
 Citing irrelevant or trivial references
 Depending too much on secondary sources

Your scholarship and research competence will be questioned if any of the

above applies to your proposal.

There are different ways to organize your literature review. Make use of
subheadings to bring order and coherence to your review. For example,
having established the importance of your research area and its current state
of development, you may devote several subsections on related issues as:
theoretical models, measuring instruments, cross-cultural and gender
differences, etc.

It is also helpful to keep in mind that you are telling a story to an audience.
Try to tell it in a stimulating and engaging manner. Do not bore them,
because it may lead to rejection of your worthy proposal. (Remember:
Professors and scientists are human beings too.)

Methods:

The Method section is very important because it tells your Research

Committee how you plan to tackle your research problem. It will provide your
work plan and describe the activities necessary for the completion of your
project.

The guiding principle for writing the Method section is that it should contain
sufficient information for the reader to determine whether methodology is

42 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

sound. Some even argue that a good proposal should contain sufficient
details for another qualified researcher to implement the study.

You need to demonstrate your knowledge of alternative methods and make

the case that your approach is the most appropriate and most valid way to
address your research question.

Please note that your research question may be best answered by qualitative
research. However, since most mainstream psychologists are still biased
against qualitative research, especially the phenomenological variety, you
may need to justify your qualitative method.

Furthermore, since there are no well-established and widely accepted canons

in qualitative analysis, your method section needs to be more elaborate than
what is required for traditional quantitative research. More importantly, the
data collection process in qualitative research has a far greater impact on the
results as compared to quantitative research. That is another reason for
greater care in describing how you will collect and analyze your data. (How to
write the Method section for qualitative research is a topic for another paper.)

For quantitative studies, the method section typically consists of the following
sections:

1. Design -Is it a questionnaire study or a laboratory experiment? What

kind of design do you choose?
2. Subjects or participants - Who will take part in your study ? What kind
of sampling procedure do you use?
3. Instruments - What kind of measuring instruments or questionnaires do
you use? Why do you choose them? Are they valid and reliable?
4. Procedure - How do you plan to carry out your study? What activities
are involved? How long does it take?

Results:

Obviously you do not have results at the proposal stage. However, you need
to have some idea about what kind of data you will be collecting, and what
statistical procedures will be used in order to answer your research question
or test you hypothesis.

Discussion:

It is important to convince your reader of the potential impact of your

proposed research. You need to communicate a sense of enthusiasm and
confidence without exaggerating the merits of your proposal. That is why you

43 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

also need to mention the limitations and weaknesses of the proposed

research, which may be justified by time and financial constraints as well as
by the early developmental stage of your research area.

Common Mistakes in Proposal Writing

1. Failure to provide the proper context to frame the research question.

2. Failure to delimit the boundary conditions for your research.
3. Failure to cite landmark studies.
4. Failure to accurately present the theoretical and empirical
contributions by other researchers.
5. Failure to stay focused on the research question.
6. Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the
proposed research.
7. Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major
issues.
8. Too much rambling -- going "all over the map" without a clear sense of
direction. (The best proposals move forward with ease and grace like a
seamless river.)
9. Too many citation lapses and incorrect references.
10.Too long or too short.
11.Failing to follow the APA style.
12.Slopping writing.

BIAS/ PREJUDICE IN RESEARCH

Some bias in research arises from experimental error and failure to take into
accounts all of the possible variables.

Other research bias arises when researchers select subjects that are more
likely to generate the desired results, a reversal of the normal processes
governing science.

Research bias is the one factor that makes qualitative research much more
dependent upon experience and judgment than quantitative research.

Quantitative Research Bias:

Denial of any Research Bias

Qualitative Research Bias:

Acceptance and Acknowledgment of Research Bias.

For example, when using social research subjects, it is far easier to become
attached to a certain viewpoint, jeopardizing impartiality.

44 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

The main point to remember with research bias is that, in many disciplines, it
is unavoidable. Any experimental design process involves understanding the
inherent biases and minimizing the effects.

In quantitative research, the researcher tries to eliminate bias completely

whereas, in qualitative research, it is all about understanding that it will
happen.

Design Bias
Design bias is introduced when the researcher fails to take into account the
inherent biases liable in most types of experiment.

Some research bias is inevitable, and the researcher must show that they
understand this, and have tried their best to lessen the impact, or take it into
account in the statistics and analysis.

Another type of design bias occurs after the research is finished and the
results analyzed. This is when the original misgivings of the researchers are
not included in the publicity, all too common in these days of press releases
and politically motivated research.

For example, research into the health benefits of Acai berries may neglect the
researcher’s awareness of limitations in the sample group. The group tested
may have been all female, or all over a certain age.

Selection/Sampling Bias
Sampling bias occurs when the process of sampling actually introduces an
inherent bias into the study. There are two types of sampling bias, based
around those samples that you omit, and those that you include:

1. Omission Bias

This research bias occurs when certain groups are omitted from the
sample. An example might be that ethnic minorities are excluded or,
conversely, only ethnic minorities are studied.

For example, a study into heart disease that used only white males,
generally volunteers, cannot be extrapolated to the entire population,
which includes women and other ethnic groups.

Omission bias is often unavoidable, so the researchers have to

incorporate and account for this research bias in the experimental
design.

45 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

2. Inclusive Bias

Inclusive bias occurs when samples are selected for convenience.

This type of bias is often a result of convenience where, for example,

volunteers are the only group available, and they tend to fit a narrow
demographic range.

There is no problem with it, as long as the researchers are aware that
they cannot extrapolate the results to fit the entire population.
Enlisting students outside a bar, for a psychological study, will not give
a fully representative group.

Procedural Bias
Procedural bias is where an unfair amount of pressure is applied to the
subjects, forcing them to complete their responses quickly.
For example, employees asked to fill out a questionnaire during their break
period are likely to rush, rather than reading the questions properly.

Using students forced to volunteer for course credit is another type of

research bias, and they are more than likely to fill the survey in quickly,
leaving plenty of time to visit the bar.

Measurement Bias
Measurement bias arises from an error in the data collection and the process
of measuring.

In a quantitative experiment, a faulty scale would cause an instrument bias

and invalidate the entire experiment. In qualitative research, the scope for
bias is wider and much more subtle, and the researcher must be constantly
aware of the problems.

 Subjects are often extremely reluctant to give socially unacceptable

answers, for fear of being judged. For example, a subject may strive to
avoid appearing homophobic or racist in an interview.

This can skew the results, and is one reason why researchers often use
a combination of interviews, with an anonymous questionnaire, in
order to minimize measurement bias.

 Particularly in participant studies, performing the research will actually

have an effect upon the behavior of the sample groups. This is
unavoidable, and the researcher must attempt to assess the potential
effect.

46 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Instrument bias is one of the most common sources of measurement

bias in quantitative experiments. This is the reason why instruments
should be properly calibrated, and multiple samples taken to eliminate
any obviously flawed or aberrant results.

Interviewer Bias
This is one of the most difficult research biases to avoid in many quantitative
experiments when relying upon interviews.

With interviewer bias, the interviewer may subconsciously give subtle clues in
with body language, or tone of voice, that subtly influence the subject into
giving answers skewed towards the interviewer’s own opinions, prejudices
and values.

Any experimental design must factor this into account, or use some form of
anonymous process to eliminate the worst effects.

See how to avoid this: Double Blind Experiment

Response Bias
Conversely, response bias is a type of research bias where the subject
consciously, or subconsciously, gives response that they think that the
interviewer wants to hear.

The subject may also believe that they understand the experiment and are
aware of the expected findings, so adapt their responses to suit.

Again, this type of bias must be factored into the experiment, or the amount
of information given to the subject must be restricted, to prevent them from
understanding the full extent of the research.

Reporting Bias
Reporting Bias is where an error is made in the way that the results are
disseminated in the literature. With the growth of the internet, this type of
research bias is becoming a greater source of concern.

The main source of this type of bias arises because positive research tends to
be reported much more often than research where the null hypothesis is
upheld. Increasingly, research companies bury some research, trying to
publicize favorable findings. Unfortunately, for many types of study, such as
meta-analysis, the negative results are just as important to the statistics.

REVISION QUESTIONS

47 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

1. Describe various types of research projects

2. Explain the main factors to consider when selecting a research project
3. Formulate project objectives
4. Explain the importance of a project proposal
5. Prepare project proposal
6. Describe the bias or prejudice in research

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

Specific Objectives

At the end of this topic, the trainee should be able to;

a) Explain how to choose a representative sample of a specific population

b) Prepare and use appropriate instrument to collect relevant data
c) Identify appropriate procedure of carrying out a given types of projects

INTRODUCTION

Methodology can be:

1. "the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates

employed by a discipline";
2. "The systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been
applied within a discipline".
3. A documented process for management of projects that contains
procedures, definitions and explanations of techniques used to collect,
store, analyze and present information as part of a research process in
a given discipline.
4. the study or description of methods

Method can be defined as a systematic and orderly procedure or process for

attaining some objective.

Methodology doesn't describe specific methods; nevertheless it does specify

several processes that need to be followed. These processes constitute a
generic framework. They may be broken down in sub-processes, they may be
combined, or their sequence may change. However any task exercise must
carry out these processes in one form or another.

Methodology may be a description of process, or may be expanded to include

a philosophically coherent collection of theories, concepts or ideas as they
relate to a particular discipline or field of inquiry.

48 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Methodology may refer to nothing more than a simple set of methods or

procedures, or it may refer to the rationale and the philosophical assumptions
that underlie a particular study relative to the scientific method. For example,
scholarly literature often includes a section on the methodology of the
researchers.

CHOSING REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE

Sampling

Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of a

subset of individual observations within a population of individuals intended
to yield some knowledge about the population of concern, especially for the
purposes of making predictions based on statistical inference.

Researchers rarely survey the entire population for two reasons (Adèr,
Mellenbergh, & Hand, 2008): the cost is too high, and the population is
dynamic in that the individuals making up the population may change over
time. The three main advantages of sampling are that the cost is lower, data
collection is faster, and since the data set is smaller it is possible to ensure
homogeneity and to improve the accuracy and quality of the data.

Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location,

color) of observable bodies distinguished as independent objects or
individuals. In survey sampling, survey weights can be applied to the data to
adjust for the sample design. Results from probability theory and statistical
theory are employed to guide practice. In business and medical research,
sampling is widely used for gathering information about a population.

Meaning of representative Sample

Representative sampling is a type of statistical sampling in which a

researcher attempts to select individuals which are representative of a larger
population. In statistical sampling, people gather data from a small group and
try to extrapolate the results to make generalizations about a larger group.
Truly representative sampling is extremely hard to accomplish, and
researchers may dedicate a great deal of time and funding to getting the
most representative sample possible.

As a research tool, statistical sampling is extremely valuable. It allows people

to study a population without studying every single individual in that
population. Average individuals are quite familiar with statistical sampling,
even though they might not be aware of it; the next time you open a
newspaper, look for an article which talks about the result of a study.

49 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

In order to get a representative sample, the researchers must first identify

the population being sampled. In the example above, the researchers wanted
to collect data on how many Americans slept with their animals, so the
population was American pet owners. The next step for the researchers is
finding a way to randomly select people from this population so that they can
survey these individuals for data.

If the researchers collect too heavily from one segment of the population,
such as all American pet owners going to veterinary clinics in the city of
Chicago, the result is not a representative sample of the population being
studied. Therefore, researchers must think of a multitude of methods for
collecting data to ensure that evenly samples all aspects of the population
being studied.

Surveys Research - Sample Selection

In a perfect world, a survey research project could study all the members of a
target universe. Generally, this is neither practical nor affordable. Instead
samples of the larger population (universe) are generated - the sample is the
base from which assumptions are made about the target universe. Further,
the sample is constructed by using techniques and strategies that contribute
to a valid and reliable study. Traditional market research is based on this idea
that a sample - a representative group of respondents -- can be identified and
accessed.

Representative Samples in Survey Research

In market research, the term representative sample refers to:

 The selection of a few consumers who match members of a target

universe of consumers. An example of a target universe could be
owners/users of Smart Phones, ages 20 to 30.

 The match between the sample and the universe must be strong for
all attributes anticipated to be influential on survey outcomes. One
example of a sample-to-universe match could be the selection of
consumers for a perfume designed by a young, female celebrity. In this
instance, attributes anticipated to be influential in survey outcomes
would be: Female, 18-28 years old, entertainment-savvy. A secondary
set of attributes might be: Urban-dwelling, enrolled in college, residing
on the east coast or west coast, discretionary income (income levels).

 The proportions of members to whom relevant characteristics can be

attributed in a sample must closely approximate the proportions of

50 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

members in the targeted universe of consumers. For example, if the

consumer universe contains business people, college students, and
senior citizens, a representative sample could not be built from
agreeable students in the university bookstore on Wednesdays
afternoons. While this may appear to be an obvious consideration,
various constraints related to access of survey participants can
seriously hamper attempts to achieve a representative sample. This is
one of the primary reasons why professional panels of consumers are
often used in survey initiatives.

Sample Selection in Survey Research

Members of a sample are selected in a number of ways, all of which are

intended to reduce bias, thereby increasing the probability that research
conclusions are valid, and can be extrapolated to the target universe.

Survey samples are preferably selected through a randomizing process. For

instance, if sample members are selected from a database, every third
member in the database listing might be selected. Occasionally, members of
a sample may need to be assigned rather than randomly selected. This is not
a preferred approach as, even under the best conditions, surveys are subject
to sample-based inaccuracies that have everything to do with chance and
nothing to do with research design. Let's look at a list of sources of error,
modified from voter telephone polling issues identified by Experimental
Resources. This list includes possible sources of inaccuracies across survey
design, survey implementation, and analysis of survey data:

 Incomplete information about members of a database result in

important variables being left out of the sample
 Sample members who were selected are unwilling to participate in the
survey.
 Sample members who decline to participate in the study are different
with regard to an important variable in the study, than those sample
members who agree to participate.
 Survey respondents provide false or incomplete responses to survey
questions.

The items in this list, again modified from the telephone polling list by
Experimental Resources, are related to survey design.

 A randomization process was used but - by chance -- it picks up too

many outliers.
 The questions on the survey are worded poorly and confuse the
respondents.

51 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 The order of the questions on the survey unduly influences the

responses of subsequent questions.
 Survey responses are subjected to weighting or grouping that distorts
the data.

Once a market researcher is reasonably comfortable that a sample is

representative of the target population in his survey research, attention can
shift to consideration of sample size and confidence intervals.

It is incumbent on the researcher to clearly define the target population.

There are no strict rules to follow, and the researcher must rely on logic and
judgment. The population is defined in keeping with the objectives of the
study.

Sometimes, the entire population will be sufficiently small, and the researcher
can include the entire population in the study. This type of research is called a
census study because data is gathered on every member of the population.

Usually, the population is too large for the researcher to attempt to survey all
of its members. A small, but carefully chosen sample can be used to
represent the population. The sample reflects the characteristics of the
population from which it is drawn.

Sampling methods are classified as either probability or non probability. In

probability samples, each member of the population has a known non-zero
probability of being selected. Probability methods include random sampling,
systematic sampling, and stratified sampling. In non probability sampling,
members are selected from the population in some nonrandom manner.
These include convenience sampling, judgment sampling, quota sampling,
and snowball sampling. The advantage of probability sampling is that
sampling error can be calculated. Sampling error is the degree to which a
sample might differ from the population. When inferring to the population,
results are reported plus or minus the sampling error. In non probability
sampling, the degree to which the sample differs from the population remains
unknown.

Random sampling is the purest form of probability sampling. Each member

of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected. When
there are very large populations, it is often difficult or impossible to identify
every member of the population, so the pool of available subjects becomes
biased.

Systematic sampling is often used instead of random sampling. It is also

called an Nth name selection technique. After the required sample size has

52 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

been calculated, every Nth record is selected from a list of population

members. As long as the list does not contain any hidden order, this sampling
method is as good as the random sampling method. Its only advantage over
the random sampling technique is simplicity. Systematic sampling is
frequently used to select a specified number of records from a computer file.

Stratified sampling is commonly used probability method that is superior to

random sampling because it reduces sampling error. A stratum is a subset of
the population that share at least one common characteristic. Examples of
stratums might be males and females, or managers and non-managers. The
researcher first identifies the relevant stratums and their actual
representation in the population. Random sampling is then used to select a
sufficient number of subjects from each stratum. "Sufficient" refers to a
sample size large enough for us to be reasonably confident that the stratum
represents the population. Stratified sampling is often used when one or more
of the stratums in the population have a low incidence relative to the other
stratums.

Convenience sampling is used in exploratory research where the

researcher is interested in getting an inexpensive approximation of the truth.
As the name implies, the sample is selected because they are convenient.
This non probability method is often used during preliminary research efforts
to get a gross estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time
required to select a random sample.

Judgment sampling is a common non probability method. The researcher

selects the sample based on judgment. This is usually and extension of
convenience sampling. For example, a researcher may decide to draw the
entire sample from one "representative" city, even though the population
includes all cities. When using this method, the researcher must be confident
that the chosen sample is truly representative of the entire population.

Quota sampling is the non probability equivalent of stratified sampling. Like

stratified sampling, the researcher first identifies the stratums and their
proportions as they are represented in the population. Then convenience or
judgment sampling is used to select the required number of subjects from
each stratum. This differs from stratified sampling, where the stratums are
filled by random sampling.

Snowball sampling is a special non probability method used when the

desired sample characteristic is rare. It may be extremely difficult or cost
prohibitive to locate respondents in these situations. Snowball sampling relies
on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects. While this
technique can dramatically lower search costs, it comes at the expense of

53 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

introducing bias because the technique itself reduces the likelihood that the
sample will represent a good cross section from the population.

INSTRUMENTS FOR COLLECTION OF DATA

SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

Questionnaire construction

A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain

statistically useful information about a given topic. [1] When properly
constructed and responsibly administered, questionnaires become a vital
instrument by which statements can be made about specific groups or people
or entire populations.

Questionnaires are frequently used in quantitative marketing research and

social research. They are a valuable method of collecting a wide range of
information from a large number of individuals, often referred to as
respondents. Adequate questionnaire construction is critical to the
success of a survey. Inappropriate questions, incorrect ordering of questions,
incorrect scaling, or bad questionnaire format can make the survey valueless,
as it may not accurately reflect the views and opinions of the participants. A
useful method for checking a questionnaire and making sure it is accurately
capturing the intended information is to pretest among a smaller subset of
target respondents.

Questionnaire construction issues

 Know how (and whether) you will use the results of your research
before you start. If, for example, the results won't influence your
decision or you can't afford to implement the findings or the cost of the
research outweighs its usefulness, then save your time and money;
don't bother doing the research.
 The research objectives and frame of reference should be defined
beforehand, including the questionnaire's context of time, budget,
manpower, intrusion and privacy.
 How (randomly or not) and from where (your sampling frame) you
select the respondents will determine whether you will be able to
generalize your findings to the larger population.
 The nature of the expected responses should be defined and retained
for interpretation of the responses, be it preferences (of products or
services), facts, beliefs, feelings, descriptions of past behavior, or
standards of action.

54 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Unneeded questions are an expense to the researcher and an

unwelcome imposition on the respondents. All questions should
contribute to the objective(s) of the research.
 If you "research backwards" and determine what you want to say in the
report (i.e., Package A is more/less preferred by X% of the sample vs.
Package B, and y% compared to Package C) then even though you
don't know the exact answers yet, you will be certain to ask all the
questions you need - and only the ones you need - in such a way
(metrics) to write your report.
 The topics should fit the respondents’ frame of reference. Their
background may affect their interpretation of the questions.
Respondents should have enough information or expertise to answer
the questions truthfully.
 The type of scale, index, or typology to be used shall be determined.

 The level of measurement you use will determine what you can do with
and conclude from the data. If the response option is yes/no then you
will only know how many or what percent of your sample answered
yes/no. You cannot, however, conclude what the average respondent
answered.
 The types of questions (closed, multiple-choice, open) should fit the
statistical data analysis techniques available and your goals.

 Questions and prepared responses to choose from should be neutral as

to intended outcome. A biased question or questionnaire encourages
respondents to answer one way rather than another. Even questions
without bias may leave respondents with expectations.
 The order or “natural” grouping of questions is often relevant. Prior
previous questions may bias later questions.
 The wording should be kept simple: no technical or specialized words.
 The meaning should be clear. Ambiguous words, equivocal sentence
structures and negatives may cause misunderstanding, possibly
invalidating questionnaire results. Double negatives should be
reworded as positives.

 If a survey question actually contains more than one issue, the

researcher will not know which one the respondent is answering. Care
should be taken to ask one question at a time.
 The list of possible responses should be collectively exhaustive.
Respondents should not find themselves with no category that fits their
situation. One solution is to use a final category for “other ________”.
 The possible responses should also be mutually exclusive. Categories
should not overlap. Respondents should not find themselves in more
than one category, for example in both the “married” category and the

55 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

“single” category - there may be need for separate questions on

marital status and living situation.

 Writing style should be conversational, yet concise and accurate and

appropriate to the target audience.
 Many people will not answer personal or intimate questions. For this
reason, questions about age, income, marital status, etc. are generally
placed at the end of the survey. This way, even if the respondent
refuses to answer these "personal" questions, he/she will have already
answered the research questions.
 “Loaded” questions evoke emotional responses and may skew results.

 Presentation of the questions on the page (or computer screen) and

use of white space, colors, pictures, charts, or other graphics may
affect respondent's interest or distract from the questions.
 Numbering of questions may be helpful.
 Questionnaires can be administered by research staff, by volunteers or
self-administered by the respondents. Clear, detailed instructions are
needed in either case, matching the needs of each audience.

Methods of collection

Method Benefits/Cautions

 Low cost-per-response.
 Mail is subject to postal delays, which can be substantial
when posting remote areas or unpredictable events such
Postal
as natural disasters.
 Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous.
 It is not labour intensive.

Telephone
 Questionnaires can be conducted swiftly.
 Rapport with respondents
 High response rate
 Be careful that your sampling frame (i.e., where you get
the phone numbers from) doesn't skew your sample, For
example, if you select the phone numbers from a phone
book, you are necessarily excluding people who only
have a mobile phone, those who requested an
unpublished phone number, and individuals who have
recently moved to the area because none of these
people will be in the book.

56 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Are more prone to social desirability biases than other

modes, so telephone interviews are generally not
suitable for sensitive topics

 This method has a low ongoing cost, and on most

surveys costs nothing for the participants and little for
the surveyors. However, Initial set-up costs can be high
for a customized design due to the effort required in
developing the back-end system or programming the
questionnaire itself.
 Questionnaires can be conducted swiftly, without postal
delays.
 Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous,
though risk being tracked through cookies, unique links
and other technology.
Electronic  It is not labour intensive.
 Questions can be more detailed, as opposed to the limits
of paper or telephones.
 This method works well if your survey contains several
branching questions. Help or instructions can be
dynamically displayed with the question as needed, and
automatic sequencing means the computer can
determine the next question, rather than relying on
respondents to correctly follow skip instructions.
 Not all of the sample may be able to access the
electronic form, and therefore results may not be
representative of the target population.

Personally
Administere  Questions can be more detailed, as opposed to the limits
d of paper or telephones. However, respondents are often
limited to their working memory: specially designed
visual cues (such as prompt cards) may help in some
cases.
 Rapport with respondents is generally higher than other
modes
 Typically higher response rate than other modes.
 Can be extremely expensive and time consuming to
train and maintain an interviewer panel. Each interview
also has a marginal cost associated with collecting the
data.
 Usually a convenience (vs. a statistical or
representative) sample so you cannot generalize your

57 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

results. However, use of rigorous selection methods (e.g.

those used by national statistical organizations) can
result in a much more representative sample.

Types of questions

1. Contingency questions - A question that is answered only if the

respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This
avoids asking questions of people that do not apply to them (for
example, asking men if they have ever been pregnant).
2. Matrix questions - Identical response categories are assigned to
multiple questions. The questions are placed one under the other,
forming a matrix with response categories along the top and a list of
questions down the side. This is an efficient use of page space and
respondents’ time.

3. Closed ended questions - Respondents’ answers are limited

to a fixed set of responses. Most scales are closed ended. Other types
of closed ended questions include:
o Yes/no questions - The respondent answers with a “yes” or a
“no”.
o Multiple choice - The respondent has several options from
which to choose.
o Scaled questions - Responses are graded on a continuum
(example: rate the appearance of the product on a scale from 1
to 10, with 10 being the most preferred appearance). Examples
of types of scales include the Likert scale, semantic differential
scale, and rank-order scale (See scale for a complete list of
scaling techniques.).

4. Open ended questions - No options or predefined categories

are suggested. The respondent supplies their own answer without

being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses. Examples of
types of open ended questions include:
o Completely unstructured - For example, “What is your opinion
of questionnaires?”

58 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

o Word association - Words are presented and the respondent

mentions the first word that comes to mind.
o Sentence completion - Respondents complete an incomplete
sentence. For example, “The most important consideration in my
decision to buy a new house is . . .”
o Story completion - Respondents complete an incomplete story.
o Picture completion - Respondents fill in an empty conversation
balloon.
o Thematic apperception test - Respondents explain a picture
or make up a story about what they think is happening in the
picture

] Question sequence

 Questions should flow logically from one to the next.

 The researcher must ensure that the answer to a question is not
influenced by previous questions.
 Questions should flow from the more general to the more specific.
 Questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive.
 Questions should flow from factual and behavioural questions to
attitudinal and opinion questions.
 Questions should flow from unaided to aided questions.
 According to the three stages theory (also called the sandwich theory),
initial questions should be screening and rapport questions. Then in
the second stage you ask all the product specific questions. In the last
stage you ask demographic questions.

Observation Schedule
Aims
The aim of observations is to illuminate any issues connected with or arising
from the actual use of a package. Its purpose is to form a “realistic”
impression of what actually happens in the sessions where it is used. In a
sense, the observer is trying to “tune themselves in” to the reality of the
learning experience the students are having, which will provide useful
contextual details to:
1. Help us understand the contextual factors which might deeply affect the
way in which the package is viewed by staff and students.
2. help us to “customize” the student interview schedule, so that we can ask
more searching questions, use the terminology that the stakeholders use,
and discuss specific events, or critical incidents, about the package and its
relationship to students’ learning.

59 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

The observation schedule is not intended to act as a checklist, but as

guidelines or a reminder to be alert and on the lookout for certain things. Not
all of these will be relevant to any one session.

Recording information
Some of the factual information can be recorded immediately. Some,
however, will be in the form of impressions, based upon what is seen. It is
useful to make brief notes at the time, which could then be “fleshed out” at a
later stage in e.g. a research diary. It is also useful to keep a record of the
time, at 5 minute intervals, in the left-hand margin of the page. It is advisable
to write up your notes, or record your thoughts on a Dictaphone, as soon as
possible.

Introducing/explaining your role in the setting

Evaluators should try to introduce themselves to the student group, and
explain their role i.e. to act as a fly on the wall. It will also be necessary to
outline the reason for their presence i.e. to watch what sort of learning goes
on with the particular package so that the project can form an opinion about
it’s usefulness in different engineering education contexts. Evaluators will
need to explain that they do not want to interrupt the actual teaching session
in any way. The introduction should seek to establish that the evaluator is not
seen as another tutor whom students may turn to for assistance.

During the session

Evaluators should try to be unobtrusive as possible during the observation,
and simply make notes about what they see. They should not interrupt group
discussions, although, in certain situations, it may be possible to judge that it
would be possible to talk to students/staff, for example if a student is waiting
for support, it may be possible to ask what the problem was.

OBSERVATIONAL VISIT
The following headings should be used to guide the field notes kept by
observers.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Context: student profile
• Number of students present
• Working individually, in pairs, groups
• Level of student participation/interaction required by package: Are all
students involved? Are students simply observing others using packages
etc?

Description of session and delivery

60 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Description of the way in which, for example:

• Tutor introduces the use of the package
• Offers reasons to students for learning benefits of the package
• Package is integrated into teaching mode or treated as “stand-alone”
activity
• Clarity of instructions given
• Apparent confidence of tutor in promoting package
• Layout of the room

Technical considerations
• Which platforms are actually used during the sessions?
• What resources are available to learners during the session, inc. hardware
and software?
• What use is being made of the resources?
• Any problems/difficulties due to resource issues?

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

Student activity
• How easily do students seem to be navigating the package?
• Evidence that student’s can/can’t control the package?
• Able to correct errors?
• Any accidental terminations? If so, what happens?
• Can students use input devices e.g. mouse, keyboard, and microphone?
Any variation evident in competence?
• Can students exit/end sessions?

Motivation
• Any evidence about how students appear to be feeling about using the
package? (Confident?, fun/enjoyment?, anxious?, frustrated?, bored?)
• Are students clear about what they are supposed to do?
• What questions do they ask (about subject content, technical uncertainties,
problems with hardware/software?) and to whom do they address these
questions

Unexpected problems encountered

• Nature of problem
• Experienced by all students?
• Nature of solutions

61 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

PREPARING FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

HAND TOOLS AND AIDS

In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical

investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their
relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ
mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena.
The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it
provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and
mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.

Quantitative research is used widely in social sciences such as psychology,

sociology, anthropology, and political science. Research in mathematical
sciences such as physics is also 'quantitative' by definition, though this use of
the term differs in context. In the social sciences, the term relates to
empirical methods, originating in both philosophical positivism and the
history of statistics, which contrast qualitative research methods.

Qualitative methods produce information only on the particular cases studied,

and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods
can be used to verify, which of such hypotheses are true.

A comprehensive analysis of 1274 articles published in the top two American

sociology journals between 1935 and 2005 found that roughly two thirds of
these articles used quantitative methods. [1]

Overview

Quantitative research is generally made using scientific methods, which can

include:

 The generation of models, theories and hypotheses

 The development of instruments and methods for measurement
 Experimental control and manipulation of variables
 Collection of empirical data
 Modeling and analysis of data
 Evaluation of results

In the social sciences particularly, quantitative research is often contrasted

with qualitative research which is the examination, analysis and
interpretation of observations for the purpose of discovering underlying
meanings and patterns of relationships, including classifications of types of
phenomena and entities, in a manner that does not involve mathematical

62 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

models. Approaches to quantitative psychology were first modelled on

quantitative approaches in the physical sciences by Gustav Fechner in his
work on psychophysics, which built on the work of Ernst Heinrich Weber.
Although a distinction is commonly drawn between qualitative and
quantitative aspects of scientific investigation, it has been argued that the
two go hand in hand. For example, based on analysis of the history of
science, Kuhn (1961, p. 162) concludes that “large amounts of qualitative
work have usually been prerequisite to fruitful quantification in the physical
sciences” Qualitative research is often used to gain a general sense of
phenomena and to form theories that can be tested using further quantitative
research. For instance, in the social sciences qualitative research methods
are often used to gain better understanding of such things as intentionality
(from the speech response of the researchee) and meaning.

Although quantitative investigation of the world has existed since people first
began to record events or objects that had been counted, the modern idea of
quantitative processes have their roots in Auguste Comte's positivist
framework.

Use of statistics

Statistics is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative

research outside of the physical sciences, and also finds applications within
the physical sciences, such as in statistical mechanics. Statistical methods
are used extensively within fields such as economics, social sciences and
biology. Quantitative research using statistical methods starts with the
collection of data, based on the hypothesis or theory. Usually a big sample of
data is collected - this would require verification, validation and recording
before the analysis can take place. Software packages such as SPSS and R
are typically used for this purpose. Causal relationships are studied by
manipulating factors thought to influence the phenomena of interest while
controlling other variables relevant to the experimental outcomes. In the field
of health, for example, researchers might measure and study the relationship
between dietary intake and measurable physiological effects such as weight
loss, controlling for other key variables such as exercise. Quantitatively based
opinion surveys are widely used in the media, with statistics such as the
proportion of respondents in favor of a position commonly reported. In
opinion surveys, respondents are asked a set of structured questions and
their responses are tabulated. In the field of climate science, researchers
compile and compare statistics such as temperature or atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide.

Empirical relationships and associations are also frequently studied by using

some form of General linear model, non-linear model, or by using factor

63 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

analysis. A fundamental principle in quantitative research is that correlation

does not imply causation. This principle follows from the fact that it is always
possible a spurious relationship exists for variables between which covariance
is found in some degree. Associations may be examined between any
combination of continuous and categorical variables using methods of
statistics.

Measurement

Views regarding the role of measurement in quantitative research are

somewhat divergent. Measurement is often regarded as being only a means
by which observations are expressed numerically in order to investigate
causal relations or associations. However, it has been argued that
measurement often plays a more important role in quantitative research. For
example, Kuhn argued that within quantitative research, the results that are
shown can prove to be strange. This is because accepting a theory based on
results of quantitative data could prove to be a natural phenomenon. He
argued that such abnormalities are interesting when done during the process
of obtaining data, as seen below:

When measurement departs from theory, it is likely to yield mere

numbers, and their very neutrality makes them particularly sterile as a
source of remedial suggestions. But numbers register the departure
from theory with an authority and finesse that no qualitative technique
can duplicate, and that departure is often enough to start a search
(Kuhn, 1961, p. 180).

In classical physics, the theory and definitions which underpin measurement

are generally deterministic in nature. In contrast, probabilistic measurement
models known as the Rasch model and Item response theory models are
generally employed in the social sciences. Psychometrics is the field of study
concerned with the theory and technique for measuring social and
psychological attributes and phenomena. This field is central to much
quantitative research that is undertaken within the social sciences.

Quantitative research may involve the use of proxies as stand-ins for other
quantities that cannot be directly measured. Tree-ring width, for example, is
considered a reliable proxy of ambient environmental conditions such as the
warmth of growing seasons or amount of rainfall. Although scientists cannot
directly measure the temperature of past years, tree-ring width and other
climate proxies have been used to provide a semi-quantitative record of
average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere back to 1000 A.D. When
used in this way, the proxy record (tree ring width, say) only reconstructs a
certain amount of the variance of the original record. The proxy may be

64 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

calibrated (for example, during the period of the instrumental record) to

determine how much variation is captured, including whether both short and
long term variation is revealed. In the case of tree-ring width, different
species in different places may show more or less sensitivity to, say, rainfall
or temperature: when reconstructing a temperature record there is
considerable skill in selecting proxies that are well correlated with the desired
variable.

Quantitative methods

Quantitative methods are research techniques that are used to gather

quantitative data — information dealing with numbers and anything that is
measurable. Statistics, tables and graphs, are often used to present the
results of these methods. They are therefore to be distinguished from
qualitative methods.

In most physical and biological sciences, the use of either quantitative or

qualitative methods is uncontroversial, and each is used when appropriate. In
the social sciences, particularly in sociology, social anthropology and
psychology, the use of one or other type of method has become a matter of
controversy and even ideology, with particular schools of thought within each
discipline favouring one type of method and pouring scorn on to the other.
Advocates of quantitative methods argue that only by using such methods
can the social sciences become truly scientific; advocates of qualitative
methods argue that quantitative methods tend to obscure the reality of the
social phenomena under study because they underestimate or neglect the
non-measurable factors, which may be the most important. The modern
tendency (and in reality the majority tendency throughout the history of
social science) is to use eclectic approaches. Quantitative methods might be
used with a global qualitative frame. Qualitative methods might be used to
understand the meaning of the numbers produced by quantitative methods.
Using quantitative methods, it is possible to give precise and testable
expression to qualitative ideas. This combination of quantitative and
qualitative data gathering is often referred to as mixed-methods research.

Examples

 Research that consists of the percentage amounts of all the elements

that make up Earth's atmosphere.
 Survey that concludes that the average patient has to wait two hours
in the waiting room of a certain doctor before being selected.
 An experiment in which group x was given two tablets of Aspirin a day
and Group y was given two tablets of a placebo a day where each
participant is randomly assigned to one or other of the groups. The

65 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

numerical factors such as two tablets, percent of elements and the

time of waiting make the situations and results quantitative.

Selecting research instruments to measure the reliability and

validity of nursing research studies

Research instruments serve as measurement tools and are an integral

component of any nursing research study. Research instruments may include
physiologic or biologic measurements; self-report instruments, scales, or
questionnaires; interviews; diaries; structured or unstructured observations;
Q methodologies; psychological measurements; or other specialized
measures.

If a particular concept has been studied, research instruments to measure

that concept can be identified and selected from clinical practice or from a
literature review. When a concept has not been examined, part of the
research process may include developing and testing new measurement
instruments. A research instrument must be reliable (ie, consistent) and valid
(i.e., measure what it intends to measure) and contribute to the scientific
integrity of a research project.

More Articles of Interest

 Measurement reliability and validity

 Reporting the reliability of research instruments
 The researcher as research instrument in educational research: a
possible...
 Ten questions that will get you through any research report
 Conducting qualitative research: a practical guide for school counselors

Decisions about research measures are made by the researcher and are
based on the research question and the design of the study. The research
instruments for an investigation need to accurately measure the phenomena
under study. Identifying the right research instruments is critical to the
validity of the design and the results. The researcher also must examine die
fit of the research instruments to die methods. For example, interviews often
are employed in qualitative research studies. Physiologic and biologic
measures often are associated with quantitative research studies.

66 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Quantitative measurements

Physiologic or biologic measurements frequently are used in research studies

because nurses are quite familiar with these research instruments.
Measurements of temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration are
among those most commonly used and understood in clinical nursing
practice and research. Other physiologic measures often used in research
studies include laboratory test results and quantified numeric readings from
patient monitoring devices. Such measurements often are described as
objective and accurate for research studies. Even these values, however, can
be subject to measurement error. For example, if a sphygmomanometer is
not calibrated or the researcher has a hearing problem, blood pressure
readings from subjects may not be accurate.

Physiologic data also can be obtained by observing the behavior of research

subjects or having them complete self-reports or questionnaires. These types
of instruments can provide information about physiologic parameters that are
not measured easily by conventional methods. For example, subjective
experiences such as vertigo, nausea, or pain are best measured by the
individual experiencing the phenomenon. Developing consistent
measurements and recording that data provides researchers with a basis to
examine these patient experiences.

Qualitative measurements

Self-reports and questionnaires frequently are used to obtain data about

subjects' feelings, attitudes, or knowledge. Preoperative nurses often ask
questions about their preoperative anxiety or knowledge of preoperative
teaching. There also are a number of well-developed research instruments
that measure anxiety or knowledge level. Common approaches to obtaining
this type of information are through written surveys or interviews.

When using interviews, the researcher decides in advance to use either

structured or unstructured interviews. Structured interviews are designed by
the researcher to direct both the content and focus of the interview. By
developing specifically worded questions and asking them in a predetermined
order, the researcher ensures a certain level of consistency when conducting
the interviews.

Unstructured interviews usually start with a broad open-ended statement

such as "Please tell me more about your experience undergoing emergency
surgery." In this instance, the researcher simply encourages the subject to
describe in detail a specific experience. The interviewer's goal is to obtain as
much information as possible without determining the direction of the

67 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

interview. In this situation, the research subject has an opportunity to control

the direction of the responses. The questions that are asked during interviews
or as part of self-report instruments, scales, or questionnaires must be
phrased in a manner that best asks the question.

Developing a questionnaire is a complex and sophisticated process. The

researcher must first examine the concept or construct being researched. In
the absence of a tested research instrument, the researcher must proceed
with item and tool construction. Each item must be carefully worded and
easily understood by the reader. The researcher also must be sensitive to
factors such as gender, culture, sequence (i.e., usually general to specific),
and language. Many researchers have leaned the hard way that if the right
question is not asked, the desired answers will not be obtained. Most
researchers obtain expert consultation if they are faced with instrument or
interview development.

When a researcher conducts interviews, the responses usually are recorded

and later transcribed. Then the researcher uses qualitative research methods
to analyze the words of the participants. The researcher often is trying to
identify repeating themes or ideas among the responses. Remember that the
level of analysis in qualitative research is words, not numbers.

Diaries are another research instrument that can be used to collect data in a
qualitative format. Research participants may be asked to maintain either
structured or unstructured diaries. Using structured diaries, the researcher
asks participants to write about a particular event or situation for a certain
number of minutes each day. In unstructured diaries, the participants are
asked to write about a more general topic for a designated time period each
day. After a certain period of time, the diaries are collected and analyzed.

When research scales or instruments are used, research subjects are asked to
respond in a way that is quantified. For example, a respondent may be asked
to answer "yes" or "no" or to choose a number on a numeric scale such as 1
to 4. A familiar scale for many nurses is a pain rating scale of 1 (i.e., no pain)
to 10 (i.e., worst pain you can imagine). Likert-type scales are a common
rating technique that is used to rate feelings, opinions, and attitudes. When a
Likert-type scale is used, research participants are asked to rate certain

68 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

statements on a numeric scale that ranges from "strongly disagree" to

"strongly agree."

There are a number of more specialized research methods that may be used.
One such method is the Q-sort, which is a comparative reading process; this
method often is used in instrument development. The Delphi technique is
another specialized method that commonly is used to examine opinions or
determine priorities. By using the Delphi technique, the researcher develops
a questionnaire and then surveys a panel of experts. When those responses
are analyzed, they are provided to the participants along with a second
survey. The researcher continues this process until there is consensus among
participants.

Another common research technique is the use of a visual analog scale. Using
a visual analog scale, the researcher asks the participant to rate feelings,
beliefs, or knowledge on a 100-mm line with bipolar anchors such as "all" and
"none." Each research subject is asked to place a mark on the line to indicate
his or her experience with a particular phenomenon. The line is then
measured and the results can be quantified for analysis.

There are many other research methods that may be used in nursing and
health care research. Regardless of die research instrument, you need to ask,
"Does this research instrument measure what I think it measures, and does it
measure it accurately?" Also ask the question, "Is there anything unusual
about the method or any potential sources of measurement error?"

If you are not familiar with a particular research method, you may need to
review the specifics. Remember that no one is an expert on all aspects of
measurement instrument development. As we have noted before, however,
clinical expertise can go a long way to help you assess the effectiveness and
appropriateness of measurement instruments used to measure clinical
phenomena in research studies that you read.

TYPES OF DATA

We'll talk about data in lots of places in The Knowledge Base, but here I just
want to make a fundamental distinction between two types of data:
qualitative and quantitative. The way we typically define them, we call data
'quantitative' if it is in numerical form and 'qualitative' if it is not. Notice that
qualitative data could be much more than just words or text. Photographs,
videos, sound recordings and so on, can be considered qualitative data.

Personally, while I find the distinction between qualitative and quantitative

data to have some utility, I think most people draw too hard a distinction, and

69 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

that can lead to all sorts of confusion. In some areas of social research, the
qualitative-quantitative distinction has led to protracted arguments with the
proponents of each arguing the superiority of their kind of data over the
other. The quantitative types argue that their data is 'hard', 'rigorous',
'credible', and 'scientific'. The qualitative proponents counter that their data
is 'sensitive', 'nuanced', 'detailed', and 'contextual'.

For many of us in social research, this kind of polarized debate has become
less than productive. And, it obscures the fact that qualitative and
quantitative data are intimately related to each other. All quantitative data is
based upon qualitative judgments; and all qualitative data can be described
and manipulated numerically. For instance, think about a very common
quantitative measure in social research -- a self esteem scale. The
researchers who develop such instruments had to make countless judgments
in constructing them: how to define self esteem; how to distinguish it from
other related concepts; how to word potential scale items; how to make sure
the items would be understandable to the intended respondents; what kinds
of contexts it could be used in; what kinds of cultural and language
constraints might be present; and on and on. The researcher who decides to
use such a scale in their study has to make another set of judgments: how
well does the scale measure the intended concept; how reliable or consistent
is it; how appropriate is it for the research context and intended respondents;
and on and on. Believe it or not, even the respondents make many judgments
when filling out such a scale: what is meant by various terms and phrases;
why is the researcher giving this scale to them; how much energy and effort
do they want to expend to complete it, and so on. Even the consumers and
readers of the research will make lots of judgments about the self esteem
measure and its appropriateness in that research context. What may look like
a simple, straightforward, cut-and-dried quantitative measure is actually
based on lots of qualitative judgments made by lots of different people.

On the other hand, all qualitative information can be easily converted into
quantitative, and there are many times when doing so would add
considerable value to your research. The simplest way to do this is to divide
the qualitative information into units and number them! I know that sounds
trivial, but even that simple nominal enumeration can enable you to organize
and process qualitative information more efficiently. Perhaps more to the
point, we might take text information (say, excerpts from transcripts) and pile
these excerpts into piles of similar statements. When we do something even
as easy as this simple grouping or piling task, we can describe the results
quantitatively. For instance, if we had ten statements and we grouped these
into five piles (as shown in the figure), we could describe the piles using a 10
x 10 table of 0's and 1's. If two statements were placed together in the same
pile, we would put a 1 in their row-column juncture. If two statements were

70 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

placed in different piles, we would use a 0. The resulting matrix or table

describes the grouping of the ten statements in terms of their similarity. Even
though the data in this example consists of qualitative statements (one per
card), the result of our simple qualitative procedure (grouping similar
excerpts into the same piles) is quantitative in nature. "So what?" you ask.
Once we have the data in numerical form, we can manipulate it numerically.
For instance, we could have five different judges sort the 10 excerpts and
obtain a 0-1 matrix like this for each judge. Then we could average the five
matrices into a single one that shows the proportions of judges who grouped
each pair together. This proportion could be considered an estimate of the
similarity (across independent judges) of the excerpts. While this might not
seem too exciting or useful, it is exactly this kind of procedure that I use as
an integral part of the process of developing 'concept maps' of ideas for
groups of people (something that is useful!).

Research and Development of Three Dimensional

Measurement Technique for Shake Table Test Using Image

Processing
As the experimental approaches evaluating the seismic reliability of
structures, shake table tests using scale model or pseudo dynamic tests using
partial structural element are the most popular methods and have been
taken place for long years. However, we sometimes find difficulties in
validating seismic resistant design capabilities of the real structures
especially in the case of clarifying the fracturing process of them because the
limitations regarding the size of test structures and the table capacity exist
definitely.

National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention

constructed the largest three-dimensional shake table in Miki, Hyogo
prefecture to evaluate fracturing mechanism and process of many types of
structures such as bridges, buildings, containment vessels, electric power
facilities, soils, foundations and underground structures of the full scale.

In this study, the research and development of 3-dimensional measurement

method of non-contact type is now being carried out for establishing a
suitable system to measure the structural fracturing process accurately
during the shake table tests using the real scale model. This paper describes
the measurement performance in actual fracturing test. Two types of full
scale wooden house were used for the shake table test.
One is the two-storey house model which is a Japanese conventional model.
The other is the relocated model using the mortar wall from the existing
house which was constructed 26 years ago.

71 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

2. MEASUREMENT METHOD
2.1 Outline of measurement method
The concept of measurement method proposed in this study is a three-
dimensional measurement method of non-contact type using image
processing based on stereo method, which is widely recognised as so-called
motion-capture technique and the schematic image of the shake table test
using this system.
Basic ideas of several methods regarding this technology have already been
established and they are roughly divided into passive and active
measurement method and the proposed system is categorised in passive
one. In addition to the basic functions of the system, the desired
measurement method suitable for seismic testing is being examined to fulfill
the following design requirements.
1) To measure large displacement in excess of elastic deformation in real
scale model
2) To measure 3-dimensional structural deflexion
3) To measure structure without any direct contacts
4) To measure structural motion in at least cm order precision till collapse
5) No special environment for measurement is required
6) To capture data at 5ms resolution for continuous 60 seconds
The measuring procedure of this system is roughly described as follows:
Multiple markers (measuring targets) are utilised on the surfaces of real-scale
structure and the motion of the markers are captured by the several CCD
cameras placed in surrounding area of the shake table. The dynamic
displacements of the markers (structure) are calculated from camera image
data.

Although this method is based on a simple theory of measurement, it is a

very convenient system which only requires installing the markers on the
object structure and it can be considered as the most suitable measurement
system to evaluate the complex 3-dimensional behaviour of real scale
structure.

Theory of measurement method

In this measurement method, 3-dimensional dynamic displacements induced
in the test structure are obtained from 2-dimensional camera image data.
Therefore, the coordinate transformation from 2-dimensional camera image
coordinate system to 3-dimensional object coordinate system is required in
the procedure. The coordinate transformation is carried out by using the
transformation matrix which is called 'camera parameter'. It is fundamentally
possible to express the 2-dimensional camera image in 3-dimensional object
information by using 3-dimensional affine transformation in the case that the
object is captured in an optional camera direction and from an optional
position. When the test object is measured by using one camera unit, the

72 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

relation between the object coordinate system (x,y,z) and the camera image
coordinate system (XC,YC) is obtained from affine transformation equation
including the transfer and the rotation, and from the direct view conversion
formula in the homogeneous coordinate style as follows.

Statistics

Statistics is the science of the collection, organization, and interpretation of

data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection
in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.

A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of

thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such
people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide
number of fields. There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics,
which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject.

The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in

"Statistics is an art."[3] This should not be confused with the word statistic,
referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of
data, whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these
statistics are misleading").

More probability density will be found the closer one gets to the expected
(mean) value in a normal distribution. Statistics used in standardized testing
assessment are shown. The scales include standard deviations, cumulative
percentages, percentile equivalents, Z-scores, T-scores, standard nines, and
percentages in standard nines.

Scope

Some consider statistics to be a mathematical science pertaining to the

collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data,
while others consider it a branch of mathematics[6] concerned with collecting
and interpreting data. Because of its empirical roots and its focus on
applications, statistics is usually considered to be a distinct mathematical
science rather than a branch of mathematics.

Statisticians improve the quality of data with the design of experiments and
survey sampling. Statistics also provides tools for prediction and forecasting
using data and statistical models. Statistics is applicable to a wide variety of

73 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

academic disciplines, including natural and social sciences, government, and

business. Statistical consultants are available to provide help for
organizations and companies without direct access to expertise relevant to
their particular problems.

Statistical methods can be used to summarize or describe a collection of

data; this is called descriptive statistics. This is useful in research, when
communicating the results of experiments. In addition, patterns in the data
may be modeled in a way that accounts for randomness and uncertainty in
the observations, and are then used to draw inferences about the process or
population being studied; this is called inferential statistics. Inference is a
vital element of scientific advance, since it provides a prediction (based in
data) for where a theory logically leads.

To prove the guiding theory further, these predictions are tested as well, as
part of the scientific method. If the inference holds true, then the descriptive
statistics of the new data increase the soundness of that hypothesis.
Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (a.k.a., predictive statistics)
together comprise applied statistics.

Statistics is closely related to probability theory, with which it is often

grouped; the difference is roughly that in probability theory, one starts from
the given parameters of a total population to deduce probabilities pertaining
to samples, but statistical inference moves in the opposite direction,
inductive inference from samples to the parameters of a larger or total
population.

History

Some scholars pinpoint the origin of statistics to 1663, with the publication of
Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality by John Graunt.
Early applications of statistical thinking revolved around the needs of states
to base policy on demographic and economic data, hence its stat- etymology.
The scope of the discipline of statistics broadened in the early 19th century to
include the collection and analysis of data in general. Today, statistics is
widely employed in government, business, and the natural and social
sciences.

Its mathematical foundations were laid in the 17th century with the
development of probability theory by Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat.
Probability theory arose from the study of games of chance. The method of
least squares was first described by Carl Friedrich Gauss around 1794. The
use of modern computers has expedited large-scale statistical computation,

74 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

and has also made possible new methods that are impractical to perform
manually.

Overview

In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or societal problem, it is

necessary to begin with a population or process to be studied. Populations
can be diverse topics such as "all persons living in a country" or "every atom
composing a crystal". A population can also be composed of observations of a
process at various times, with the data from each observation serving as a
different member of the overall group. Data collected about this kind of
"population" constitutes what is called a time series.

For practical reasons, a chosen subset of the population called a sample is

studied — as opposed to compiling data about the entire group (an operation
called census). Once a sample that is representative of the population is
determined, data are collected for the sample members in an observational
or experimental setting. These data can then be subjected to statistical
analysis, serving two related purposes: description and inference.

 Descriptive statistics summarize the population data by describing

what was observed in the sample numerically or graphically. Numerical
descriptors include mean and standard deviation for continuous data
types (like heights or weights), while frequency and percentage are
more useful in terms of describing categorical data (like race).
 Inferential statistics uses patterns in the sample data to draw
inferences about the population represented, accounting for
randomness. These inferences may take the form of: answering yes/no
questions about the data (hypothesis testing), estimating numerical
characteristics of the data (estimation), describing associations within
the data (correlation) and modeling relationships within the data (for
example, using regression analysis). Inference can extend to
forecasting, prediction and estimation of unobserved values either in or
associated with the population being studied; it can include
extrapolation and interpolation of time series or spatial data, and can
also include data mining.

The concept of correlation is particularly noteworthy for the potential

confusion it can cause. Statistical analysis of a data set often reveals that two
variables (properties) of the population under consideration tend to vary
together, as if they were connected. For example, a study of annual income
that also looks at age of death might find that poor people tend to have
shorter lives than affluent people. The two variables are said to be correlated;
however, they may or may not be the cause of one another. The correlation

75 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

phenomena could be caused by a third, previously unconsidered

phenomenon, called a lurking variable or confounding variable. For this
reason, there is no way to immediately infer the existence of a causal
relationship between the two variables. (See Correlation does not imply
causation.)

For a sample to be used as a guide to an entire population, it is important

that it is truly a representative of that overall population. Representative
sampling assures that the inferences and conclusions can be safely extended
from the sample to the population as a whole. A major problem lies in
determining the extent to which the sample chosen is actually representative.
Statistics offers methods to estimate and correct for any random trending
within the sample and data collection procedures. There are also methods of
experimental design for experiments that can lessen these issues at the
outset of a study, strengthening its capability to discern truths about the
population. Statisticians describe stronger methods as more "robust".

Randomness is studied using the mathematical discipline of probability

theory. Probability is used in "mathematical statistics" (alternatively,
"statistical theory") to study the sampling distributions of sample statistics
and, more generally, the properties of statistical procedures. The use of any
statistical method is valid when the system or population under consideration
satisfies the assumptions of the method.

Misuse of statistics can produce subtle, but serious errors in description and
interpretation — subtle in the sense that even experienced professionals
make such errors, and serious in the sense that they can lead to devastating
decision errors. For instance, social policy, medical practice, and the reliability
of structures like bridges all rely on the proper use of statistics. Further
discussion will occur later.

Even when statistical techniques are correctly applied, the results can be
difficult to interpret for those lacking expertise. The statistical significance of
a trend in the data — which measures the extent to which a trend could be
caused by random variation in the sample — may or may not agree with an
intuitive sense of its significance. The set of basic statistical skills (and
skepticism) that people need to deal with information in their everyday lives
properly is referred to as statistical literacy.

Statistical methods

Experimental and observational studies

76 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

A common goal for a statistical research project is to investigate causality,

and in particular to draw a conclusion on the effect of changes in the values
of predictors or independent variables on dependent variables or response.
There are two major types of causal statistical studies: experimental studies
and observational studies. In both types of studies, the effect of differences of
an independent variable (or variables) on the behavior of the dependent
variable are observed. The difference between the two types lies in how the
study is actually conducted. Each can be very effective. An experimental
study involves taking measurements of the system under study, manipulating
the system, and then taking additional measurements using the same
procedure to determine if the manipulation has modified the values of the
measurements. In contrast, an observational study does not involve
experimental manipulation. Instead, data are gathered and correlations
between predictors and response are investigated.

Experiments

The basic steps of a statistical experiment are:

1. Planning the research, including finding the number of replicates

of the study, using the following information: preliminary estimates

regarding the size of treatment effects, alternative hypotheses, and the
estimated experimental variability. Consideration of the selection of
experimental subjects and the ethics of research is necessary.
Statisticians recommend that experiments compare (at least) one new
treatment with a standard treatment or control, to allow an unbiased
estimate of the difference in treatment effects.

2. Design of experiments, using blocking to reduce the influence of

confounding variables, and randomized assignment of treatments to

subjects to allow unbiased estimates of treatment effects and
experimental error. At this stage, the experimenters and statisticians
write the experimental protocol that shall guide the performance of the
experiment and that specifies the primary analysis of the experimental
data.

77 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

3. Performing the experiment following the experimental protocol

and analyzing the data following the experimental protocol.

4. Further examining the data set in secondary analyses, to suggest new
hypotheses for future study.
5. Documenting and presenting the results of the study.

Experiments on human behavior have special concerns. The famous

Hawthorne study examined changes to the working environment at the
Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company. The researchers were
interested in determining whether increased illumination would increase the
productivity of the assembly line workers. The researchers first measured the
productivity in the plant, then modified the illumination in an area of the plant
and checked if the changes in illumination affected productivity. It turned out
that productivity indeed improved (under the experimental conditions).
However, the study is heavily criticized today for errors in experimental
procedures, specifically for the lack of a control group and blindness. The
Hawthorne effect refers to finding that an outcome (in this case, worker
productivity) changed due to observation itself. Those in the Hawthorne study
became more productive not because the lighting was changed but because
they were being observed.

Observational study

An example of an observational study is one that explores the correlation

between smoking and lung cancer. This type of study typically uses a survey
to collect observations about the area of interest and then performs
statistical analysis. In this case, the researchers would collect observations of
both smokers and non-smokers, perhaps through a case-control study, and
then look for the number of cases of lung cancer in each group.

Levels of measurement

There are four main levels of measurement used in statistics: nominal,

ordinal, interval, and ratio. Each of these has different degrees of usefulness
in statistical research. Ratio measurements have both a meaningful zero
value and the distances between different measurements defined; they
provide the greatest flexibility in statistical methods that can be used for
analyzing the data. Interval measurements have meaningful distances
between measurements defined, but the zero value is arbitrary (as in the
case with longitude and temperature measurements in Celsius or Fahrenheit).
Ordinal measurements have imprecise differences between consecutive

78 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

values, but have a meaningful order to those values. Nominal measurements

have no meaningful rank order among values.

Because variables conforming only to nominal or ordinal measurements

cannot be reasonably measured numerically, sometimes they are grouped
together as categorical variables, whereas ratio and interval measurements
are grouped together as quantitative or continuous variables due to their
numerical nature.

Key terms used in statistics

Null hypothesis

Interpretation of statistical information can often involve the development of

a null hypothesis in that the assumption is that whatever is proposed as a
cause has no effect on the variable being measured.

The best illustration for a novice is the predicament encountered by a jury

trial. The null hypothesis, H0, asserts that the defendant is innocent, whereas
the alternative hypothesis, H1, asserts that the defendant is guilty. The
indictment comes because of suspicion of the guilt. The H 0 (status quo)
stands in opposition to H1 and is maintained unless H1 is supported by
evidence“beyond a reasonable doubt”. However,“failure to reject H 0” in this
case does not imply innocence, but merely that the evidence was insufficient
to convict. So the jury does not necessarily accept H0 but fails to reject H0.
While one can not“prove” a null hypothesis one can test how close it is to
being true with a power test, which tests for type II errors.

Error

Working from a null hypothesis two basic forms of error are recognized:

 Type I errors where the null hypothesis is falsely rejected giving a "false
positive".
 Type II errors where the null hypothesis fails to be rejected and an
actual difference between populations is missed.

Error also refers to the extent to which individual observations in a sample

differ from a central value, such as the sample or population mean. Many
statistical methods seek to minimize the mean-squared error, and these are
called "methods of least squares."

Measurement processes that generate statistical data are also subject to

error. Many of these errors are classified as random (noise) or systematic

79 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

(bias), but other important types of errors (e.g., blunder, such as when an
analyst reports incorrect units) can also be important.

Confidence intervals

Most studies will only sample part of a population and then the result is used
to interpret the null hypothesis in the context of the whole population. Any
estimates obtained from the sample only approximate the population value.
Confidence intervals allow statisticians to express how closely the sample
estimate matches the true value in the whole population. Often they are
expressed as 95% confidence intervals. Formally, a 95% confidence interval
of a procedure is a range where, if the sampling and analysis were repeated
under the same conditions, the interval would include the true (population)
value 95% of the time. This does not imply that the probability that the true
value is in the confidence interval is 95%. (From the frequentist perspective,
such a claim does not even make sense, as the true value is not a random
variable. Either the true value is or is not within the given interval.) One
quantity that is in fact a probability for an estimated value is the credible
interval from Bayesian statistics.

Significance

Statistics rarely give a simple Yes/No type answer to the question asked of
them. Interpretation often comes down to the level of statistical significance
applied to the numbers and often refers to the probability of a value
accurately rejecting the null hypothesis (sometimes referred to as the p-
value).

Referring to statistical significance does not necessarily mean that the overall
result is significant in real world terms. For example, in a large study of a drug
it may be shown that the drug has a statistically significant but very small
beneficial effect, such that the drug will be unlikely to help the patient in a
noticeable way.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Explain how to choose a representative sample of a specific population

2. Prepare and use appropriate instrument to collect relevant data
3. Identify appropriate procedure of carrying out a given types of projects

80 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS

Specific Objectives

By the end of this topic, the trainee should be ale to;

a) Collect the data in appropriate manner

b) Analyze the data

INTRODUCTION

DATA ANALYSIS

Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and

modeling data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting
conclusions, and supporting decision making. Data analysis has multiple
facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of
names, in different business, science, and social science domains.

Data mining is a particular data analysis technique that focuses on modeling

and knowledge discovery for predictive rather than purely descriptive
purposes. Business intelligence covers data analysis that relies heavily on
aggregation, focusing on business information. In statistical applications,
some people divide data analysis into descriptive statistics, exploratory data
analysis, and confirmatory data analysis. EDA focuses on discovering new
features in the data and CDA on confirming or falsifying existing hypotheses.
Predictive analytics focuses on application of statistical or structural models
for predictive forecasting or classification, while text analytics applies
statistical, linguistic, and structural techniques to extract and classify
information from textual sources, a species of unstructured data. All are
varieties of data analysis.

Data integration is a precursor to data analysis, and data analysis is closely

linked to data visualization and data dissemination. The term data analysis is
sometimes used as a synonym for data modeling.

Type of data

Data can be of several types

 Quantitative data data is a number

81 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Categorical data data one of several categories

 Qualitative data data is a pass/fail or the presense of a characteristic

The process of data analysis

Data analysis is a process, within which several phases can be distinguished:

[1]

Data cleaning

Data cleaning is an important procedure during which the data are inspected,
and erroneous data are—if necessary, preferable, and possible—corrected.
Data cleaning can be done during the stage of data entry. If this is done, it is
important that no subjective decisions are made. The guiding principle
provided by Adèr (ref) is: during subsequent manipulations of the data,
information should always be cumulatively retrievable. In other words, it
should always be possible to undo any data set alterations. Therefore, it is
important not to throw information away at any stage in the data cleaning
phase. All information should be saved (i.e., when altering variables, both the
original values and the new values should be kept, either in a duplicate
dataset or under a different variable name), and all alterations to the data set
should carefully and clearly documented, for instance in a syntax or a log.

Initial data analysis

The most important distinction between the initial data analysis phase and
the main analysis phase, is that during initial data analysis one refrains from
any analysis that are aimed at answering the original research question. The
initial data analysis phase is guided by the following four questions:

Quality of data

The quality of the data should be checked as early as possible. Data quality
can be assessed in several ways, using different types of analyses: frequency
counts, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, median), normality
(skewness, kurtosis, frequency histograms, normal probability plots),
associations (correlations, scatter plots).
Other initial data quality checks are:

 Checks on data cleaning: have decisions influenced the distribution of

the variables? The distribution of the variables before data cleaning is
compared to the distribution of the variables after data cleaning to see
whether data cleaning has had unwanted effects on the data.

82 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Analysis of missing observations: are there many missing values, and

are the values missing at random? The missing observations in the
data are analyzed to see whether more than 25% of the values are
missing, whether they are missing at random (MAR), and whether
some form of imputation (statistics) is needed.
 Analysis of extreme observations: outlying observations in the data are
analyzed to see if they seem to disturb the distribution.
 Comparison and correction of differences in coding schemes: variables
are compared with coding schemes of variables external to the data
set, and possibly corrected if coding schemes are not comparable.

The choice of analyses to assess the data quality during the initial data
analysis phase depends on the analyses that will be conducted in the main
analysis phase.[4] by philip kotler

Quality of measurements

The quality of the measurement instruments should only be checked during

the initial data analysis phase when this is not the focus or research question
of the study. One should check whether structure of measurement
instruments corresponds to structure reported in the literature.
There are two ways to assess measurement quality:

 Confirmatory factor analysis

 Analysis of homogeneity (internal consistency), which gives an
indication of the reliability of a measurement instrument. During this
analysis, one inspects the variances of the items and the scales, the
Cronbach's α of the scales, and the change in the Cronbach's alpha
when an item would be deleted from a scale. [5]

Initial transformations

After assessing the quality of the data and of the measurements, one might
decide to impute missing data, or to perform initial transformations of one or
more variables, although this can also be done during the main analysis
phase.[6]
Possible transformations of variables are:[7]

 Square root transformation (if the distribution differs moderately from

normal)
 Log-transformation (if the distribution differs substantially from normal)
 Inverse transformation (if the distribution differs severely from normal)
 Make categorical (ordinal / dichotomous) (if the distribution differs
severely from normal, and no transformations help)

83 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Did the implementation of the study fulfill the intentions of the

research design?

One should check the success of the randomization procedure, for instance
by checking whether background and substantive variables are equally
distributed within and across groups.
If the study did not need and/or use a randomization procedure, one should
check the success of the non-random sampling, for instance by checking
whether all subgroups of the population of interest are represented in
sample.
Other possible data distortions that should be checked are:

 dropout (this should be identified during the initial data analysis phase)
 Item nonresponse (whether this is random or not should be assessed
during the initial data analysis phase)
 Treatment quality (using manipulation checks).[8]

Characteristics of data sample

In any report or article, the structure of the sample must be accurately

described. It is especially important to exactly determine the structure of the
sample (and specifically the size of the subgroups) when subgroup analyses
will be performed during the main analysis phase.
The characteristics of the data sample can be assessed by looking at:

 Basic statistics of important variables

 Scatter plots
 Correlations
 Cross-tabulations

Final stage of the initial data analysis

During the final stage, the findings of the initial data analysis are
documented, and necessary, preferable, and possible corrective actions are
taken.
Also, the original plan for the main data analyses can and should be specified
in more detail and/or rewritten.
In order to do this, several decisions about the main data analyses can and
should be made:

 In the case of non-normals: should one transform variables; make

variables categorical; adapt the analysis method?
 In the case of missing data: should one neglect or impute the missing
data; which imputation technique should be used?

84 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 In the case of outliers: should one use robust analysis techniques?

 In case items do not fit the scale: should one adapt the measurement
instrument by omitting items, or rather ensure comparability with
other (uses of the) measurement instrument(s)?
 In the case of (too) small subgroups: should one drop the hypothesis
about inter-group differences, or use small sample techniques, like
exact tests or bootstrapping?
 In case the randomization procedure seems to be defective: can and
should one calculate propensity scores and include them as covariates
in the main analyses?

DATA COLLECTION

Statistical Analysis: the fundamentals.

Whether or not you realise it, you will almost certainly have performed some
kind of statistical analysis at some time or another. Statistics is about making
sense of and bringing order to collections of data observations. So, your
monthly bank statement, end of semester test marks, or quarterly phone bill
are all examples of data observations that can be collected together, over
different time periods, and form what we call data sets. These can be looked
at as the 'currency' or basic unit of statistics.

Bearing this in mind, basic statistical analysis has a number of main

objectives:

 Data collection
 Visual description of the data's properties
 Summary measures of the data
 Conclusions based on the above

1. Data collection

Often the problem that you are investigating is such that there are no
original data available. In this case, you would have to use collection
techniques such as interviews or questionnaires to extract the data
from a group of respondents.

At other times, though, you may be able to use data that has already
been collected. It may be useful to you in its original form, or you may
have to change its format to fit your needs. Access to this kind of

85 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

secondary data is increasingly becoming available in electronic form.

The TimeWeb data and sample data is an example of this data
availability.

With data that is available in electronic form, you have the opportunity
to download the raw material directly into an Excel (or other
spreadsheet or statistical package) workbook. Once you have collected
the data from whatever source you selected, you will then have to
bring the data together and present it in a manageable form.

In order to enable easy interpretation and analysis, collation will

usually involve summarising and tabulating the information.

Have a look at the Illustration section in 'Crunching' for more on data

collection.

2. Visual description

Soon after collecting the data, it is often useful to think of ways to

display effectively the main characteristics of the information. It is
quite possible to make use of your spreadsheet package to produce
graphs to help you at this stage. The important point is to select the
most appropriate chart that will present the data's properties clearly.

Have a look at the picturing data section for more on this aspect of
data description.

3. Summary measures

When dealing with your dataset you will normally have to produce
summary statistics that provide a measure of the data. What these
measures are is outlined below:

o measurement of the data's average value, often referred to as

measures of central tendency.
o measurement of the degree to which the data is dispersed
around its central value

Arriving at conclusions

86 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Having carried out all the above stages, you should now be ready to
put the data to use. What this means is using data to make decisions.
These will have to be based on the information that the data provides.

Summations of Data:

This explanation of the process is based on the following information:

Suppose it's your turn to buy drinks and snacks in your student canteen for
your friends. You buy 6 hot chocolates at 70p each, 4 vegetable rolls at 90p
each, 8 pieces of toast at 20p each and 2 packs of strong mints at 30p each.
OK, so you're popular and wealthy!

How do you show this information in a Table?

The first decision to make is to create a key for your data. In the table that
follows, 'price' is represented by the letter 'p' and the quantity bought is
shown by the letter 'q'. Any other letter or symbol could be chosen, it just
seems to make more sense to use 'p' and 'q' here.

The number of items bought is the total or sum of the values shown in the 'q'
column: 6 + 4 + 8 + 2 = 20. This total is labelled as q.

is the Greek letter 'sigma' and is an instruction to sum all the values of the

variable concerned. q means 'sum of the q - values'.

We calculate the total amount spent on this visit to the canteen by

multiplying each price or p - value, by the amount of that item bought, or q -
value. These results are shown in the third column of the table. The amounts
in column three are summed to show how much you have spent on being
generous to your friends.

Notice that the correct sequence for this calculation is firstly, to multiply each
p - value by the corresponding q - value, and secondly, to sum the results.
Remember the BEDMAS rule from earlier. Mistakes are often made in trying to
calculate pq by multiplying p ( equal to 210 in this example) with q
( which equals 20 here). Note that this does not give pq, but p q (which
equals 210 x 20 = 4200).

Price (pence) Quantity Price x Quantity q2 pq2

87 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

(p) (q) (pq)

70 6 420 36 2520
90 4 360 16 1440
20 8 160 64 1280
30 2 60 4 120
q = 20 pq = 1000 q2 = pq2

120 =5360

Let's now complicate things by assuming that your school/college/faculty

decides that as a gesture to student poverty, all items bought at the canteen
mid-morning by your year group will be free. If the total number of items
bought is assumed to be calculated by squaring the q - values in the table,
then the total number of items provided free is 120 as shown in column 4.
Note that calculating q2 is not the same as ( q)2 which would equal 20 x 20
= 400.

To find out how much this act of generosity would affect

school/college/faculty finances, we must calculate pq2 as shown in column
5. The pq2 - values can be found either by multiplying the p - values by the q 2,
or by multiplying the q - values by the pq - values. Remember, again, that it
would be incorrect to calculate pq2 by squaring the total in column 3. This
would give ( pq)2 = 100 x 100 = 10 000. You may agree that whilst the
school/college/faculty could cope with spending £ 53.60 as a gesture to
students, expecting them to manage £ 100 may be stretching things too far!

Summarising Data:
Remember that a separate TimeWeb section exists that covers the skills in
Excel that are necessary to carry out many of the 'processing' tasks here.
Learners who may not already be confident with using Excel are advised to
visit this reference area of the site, whilst working within the current section.

Whilst we can use tables and charts to make sense of a collection of data, we
often need to use mathematical summaries, if we are to carry out detailed
statistical analysis. The aim of these summarising processes is to allow us to
find one or two numbers that sum up the main characteristics of large
collections of data. This section contains the following concepts: central
tendency (averages), dispersion (spread), and skewness (bunching).

88 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Central tendency: any measure of the central tendency is an

average. In practice, three different types of average exist: The 'mode'
is the most frequently occurring value in a set of data.

The 'median' is the middle value in a set of data, when the data is
arranged in ascending order.

The 'mean' is the measure of central tendency that takes into

account all of the values in a set of data. There are different versions of
the mean, but the most commonly used is the 'arithmetic' mean which
is calculated by summing the values in a dataset and dividing the
result by the number of values that the dataset contains. The
arithmetic mean is the most frequently used measure of central
tendency. It is the most easily understood 'average' and is relatively
simple to calculate. It is a very useful statistic to compare countries,
time periods and so on. It is perhaps at its weakest when there are
within the dataset a few outliers at one end of the range of data. The
effect of this will be to 'pull' the mean towards them, thus making the
mean unrepresentative of the dataset as a whole.

The formula used to calculate the mean is:

X-bar = XI / n
where X-bar = the mean of the observations
XI = the sum of the observations
N = the number of observations
= the sum of

The mean average is often used to help interpret data if it is grouped.

This use of the so-called 'weighted average' is illustrated elsewhere.

There is an illustration of central tendency available in the 'Digging'

section.

The formula for calculating an index is:

Index = value / base value x 100

Notice that all indices are constructed using a base year. This is the
starting point for any index, because it provides the foundation for
comparing what is happening now, with what happened in the base
year. This base will change from time to time and part of the task in
the worksheet on indices will require you to carry out the re-basing of
an index.

89 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

An illustration of working with indices

 The 'dispersion' of a set of values is also the spread of the data. One
measure of dispersion is the 'range' - simply the difference between
the highest and lowest values in the dataset - but this only takes
account of the two extremes of the dataset. Sometimes the highest
and lowest figures are stated, alternatively the difference between the
two is quoted.

Another measure of dispersion is the 'quartile range' which is half the

range of the middle 50% of values. The quartile range is unaffected by
extremes in values in the dataset and is useful when values are
'skewed'. However, as suggested above, the quartile range does not
take account of all values in a dataset. The Mean Absolute
Deviation: When looking at how items within a dataset differ from the
mean of that dataset, some observations will be below and some
above the arithmetic mean. These differences must sum to zero. The
mean absolute deviation takes account of this difference by ignoring
the sign. It measures the absolute deviation from the mean over all the
observations.

Examples of these measures of dispersion.

Finally, the Standard Deviation. This measure of dispersion avoids

the disadvantages associated with the two earlier measures in that it
takes account of all the values in the dataset. The negative and
positive differences from the mean are taken account of by squaring
the differences. The size of the standard deviation relative to the mean
tells us how dispersed the items in the population are from the average
for the sample. The variance measures the average squared
deviations from the mean. The standard deviation is the square root of
this. Although it is complicated to work out and may seem hard to
visualise what it means, the standard deviation (S.D.) is most valuable
to us when we are working with sample data. See the Illustration
section for examples of these difficult concepts.

There is also an example of standard deviation and the variance.

 The 'Coefficient of variation' gives us a measure of the amount of

variability present in a dataset. It is worked out by expressing the
standard deviation as a percentage of the mean.

Coefficient of variation = S.D./mean x 100

90 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 The 'Coefficient of Skewness' shows the tendency of the dataset

values to 'bunch' at one end of its distribution, with the values at the
other end being relatively dispersed. The mode is the measure
indicating the value where most bunching happens. Skewness is
measured by working out the extent to which the mode departs from
the mean. If the mode is towards the lower values in the dataset, then
the skewness is said to be positive; if it occurs towards the higher
values, the skewness is negative.

Sk = mean - mode/ S.D.

You will find that there are often difficulties involved in calculating the
mode. Because of this, an alternative formula for the coefficient of
skewness is often used. (This is based on the knowledge that the
difference between the mean and the mode is generally about three
times the difference between the mean and the median):

Sk = 3 (mean - median) / S.D.

 Moving Averages
A moving average removes from data the short-run fluctuations that
often occur in time series statistics, leaving a smooth pattern which
helps analyse the general long-run trend of the time series.

There is an illustration available of moving averages.

The Normal Distribution Curve

One of the most important concepts in statistics is the normal distribution
curve. Once you have gained a good understanding of the properties of the
normal distribution curve you are well-equipped to carry out tests and
experiments on data that you gather during your studies and, perhaps, at
work.

 Properties of the Normal Distribution Curve

We have already looked at the concepts of the mean and the standard
deviation. These are vital to the use we can make of the normal
distribution. The mean and the standard deviation define the shape of
the normal distribution curve.

For different standard deviations there are different shapes, but all
shapes of normal distributions have in common the fact that the curve

91 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

of the distribution is symmetrical about the vertical axis. This means

that there are as many items in a population that deviate from the
mean to the right, as there are to the left of the axis.

As we have already seen, the standard deviation is worked out by

finding the square root of the sum of the squares of the deviations of
each item in a population from the mean of the population.The size of
the standard deviation relative to the mean, tells us how dispersed the
items in the population are from the average for the sample. The larger
the standard deviation relative to the mean, the wider the dispersion is
of the values of the items in the population.

The mean of a normal distribution is given the symbol ' ' (called after
the Greek letter 'mu') and the standard deviation is expressed as ' '
(the letter 'sigma'). The points on a normal distribution curve
represented by one standard deviation plus or minus the mean are
known as the 'points of inflexion'.

There is an illustration available of the normal curve

So, if the items in a population are symmetrically distributed above

and below the mean value, then 50% of the population have values
greater than the mean and 50% less than the mean.

Ask yourself the question: 'What are the chances of an item being
above the mean?' The answer is clearly 50:50. This is the starting point
for our examination of the power of the normal distribution curve. In
any measurement of a normally distributed characteristic, 50% of the
population will be below the arithmetic mean and 50% above it. The
work of de Moivre was the original attempt to state the properties of
the normal distribution curve. Because of this work we can state
exactly what proportion of the population will have values between one
standard deviation above and one standard deviation below the mean.
In fact we can do this for any number of standard deviations above or
below the mean.

 34% of a normally distributed population can be found within the range

of the mean plus one standard deviation.

 Another 34% can be found within the range of the mean minus one
standard deviation.

 It follows that 68% of a population lies within plus or minus one

standard deviation of the mean.

92 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

So what?

Normal distributions are important for a number of reasons. One of the

main ones is that many of the important characteristics that you will
want to study are normally distributed. Characteristics that are
'heritable' include things such as height, intelligence, weight and many
others. If we gather a large sample of a particular measurement, like
height, and construct a frequency distribution, we can predict many
things about that data.

If we are asked what the chances are that a member of the population
is no more or less than the mean value plus or minus the standard
deviation of the population, we should be able to answer precisely. This
means that when we are looking at a whole mass of data, we can
organise it so that it helps us to predict the probability that particular
values of the data can be found within certain ranges of the mean
value of the population.

This knowledge can be rolled out so that we can take distances,

measured in standard deviations from the mean and predict the
proportion of the population that would fall within the mean value and
the multiple of the standard deviation. So for instance:

 for a range of two standard deviations above and below the mean,
approximately 95% of the items in the population are contained within
these points.

 a range of three standard deviations above and below the mean,

covers approximately 99% of the population.

Note that the ranges given for the 95 and 99% confidence levels are
approximations. This is because the actual range for the proportion is
1.96 standard deviations at a 95% confidence level and 2.58 standard
deviations at the 99% level.

The next chart illustrates the 68/95/99% probabilities

93 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 For most of your work in economics and the social sciences, you will be
interested in the range of a population that lies within plus or minus
two standard deviations of the mean value - in other words, the area
covering 95% of the population. As you will see, we can make all kinds
of judgements about the data we gather, assuming that it is distributed
normally.

 Are all characteristics normally distributed?

No. But what makes the concept of normal distribution so useful is that
so many things in the world are: - population heights, mortality rates,
stock market movements, annual average temperatures, all repeated
human measurements of a single natural phenomenon, heritable (see
earlier) characteristics and so on.

 Summary of normal distribution

When we say that a particular population is normally distributed, we
mean the following:

1. The normal frequency curve shows that the highest frequency

falls in the centre of the chart, at the mean of the values in the
distribution, with an equal and exactly similar curve on either
side of that centre. So, the most frequent value in a normal
distribution is the average, with half the values falling below the
average and half above it.

2. The normal curve, which is often called a bell curve, is perfectly

symmetrical. So the mean (arithmetic average), the mode (most
frequent value), and the median (the middle value) all coincide
at the centre of the curve - which is the high point of the curve.

3. The further away any particular value is from the average, the
less frequent that value will be.

94 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

4. Because the two halves either side of the centre of the curve are
symmetrical, the frequency of values above and below the mean
will match exactly, provided that the distances between the
values and the mean are identical.

5. The total frequency of all values in the population will be

contained by the area under the curve. In other words, the total
area under the curve represents all the possible occurrences of
that characteristic.

6. Certain areas under the curve therefore indicate the percentage

of the total frequency. For instance, 50% of the area under the
curve lies to the left of the mean, and 50% lies to the right. This
means that 50% of all scores lie to the left and 50% to the right.
Equal areas under the curve represent equal numbers in the
frequency.

7. 68% of a population lies within plus or minus one standard

deviation of the mean.

8. Approximately 95% of the items in a population are contained

within two standard deviations above and below the mean.

9. Approximately 99% of the population is contained within three

standard deviations above and below the mean.

10.Normal curves may have different shapes. What determines the

overall shape of the curve is the value of the mean and the
standard deviation in the population. But whatever the shape,
these general characteristics remain the same.

 Confidence Intervals
The three percentage levels, (68, 95 and 99), discussed above are
known as 'Confidence Intervals'. So far, we have only used these three
levels because they correspond to the ranges defined by 1, 2, and 3
standard deviations away from the mean of any normally distributed
population. In practice, we are not limited to just these three levels. We
can establish any level of confidence we want. But we will need to
know the connection between the confidence level we want to aim for
and the precise z-score at that level.

There is an illustration of confidence intervals available

95 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Z-scores and Confidence Intervals

The Z-score is the standard normal unit of measurement. Tables have
been created from which we can read off particular distances from the
mean and their corresponding areas under the normal curve. So we
can easily determine the level of confidence that we want and find the
distance appropriate to it.

z 0.00 0.05
0.0 0.0000 0.0199
0.1 0.0398 0.0596
0.2 0.0793 0.0987
0.3 0.1179 0.1368
0.4 0.1554 0.1736
0.5 0.1915 0.2088
0.6 0.2257 0.2422
0.7 0.2580 0.2734
0.8 0.2881 0.3023
0.9 0.3159 0.3289
1.0 0.3413 0.3531
1.1 0.3643 0.3749
1.2 0.3849 0.3944
1.3 0.4032 0.4115
1.4 0.4192 0.4265
1.5 0.4332 0.4394
1.6 0.4452 0.4505
1.7 0.4554 0.4599
1.8 0.4641 0.4678
1.9 0.4713 0.4744
2.0 0.4772 0.4798
2.1 0.4821 0.4842
2.2 0.4861 0.4878
2.3 0.4893 0.4906

96 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

2.4 0.4918 0.4929

2.5 0.4938 0.4946
2.6 0.4953 0.4960
2.7 0.4965 0.4970
2.8 0.4974 0.4978
2.9 0.4981 0.4984
3.0 0.4987 0.4989

This table indicates in the left hand-side column the distance from the mean
in standard deviation units up to one decimal place. This distance is the same
as the z-score. The columns across the top of the table indicate the values for
the third decimal place for that Z-score. The figure in each cell of the table
indicates the area under the curve at that particular Z-score. Note that this is
only for one half of the normal curve.

So in the first line, the area under the curve at a Z-score of 0.00 is 0.0000.
This means that when we are exactly on the mean, the area under the curve
is 0, because there is no distance between the mean and itself. If we move
one column to the right, to a Z-score of 0.05, the corresponding area under
the curve between the mean and this distance away from it is 0.0199.

Now check the area figure for a z-score of 1.00. Notice that it reads .3413.
This means that of all the scores under the curve, 34.13% of them will fall
between the mean and a Z-score of 1 on either side of the mean. To include
all the scores within 1 standard deviation of the mean on both sides, we
double that figure to 68.26%. Notice that we have been using the figure 68%
as an approximation of that value.

The decimal numbers in the cells of the table also indicate the probability
that any value in a normal distribution will fall between the mean and the
particular Z-score that corresponds to that value. So if we wanted to know the
Z-score that gives us a confidence level of .75 (or 75%), we could find this out
easily.

Half of 75 percent is 37.5, which is expressed as a decimal as .375. Looking

at the table, we can find the number closest to that value in the cell that
corresponds to a Z-score of 1.15. The value in the table is .3749. This means
that in a normal distribution, we can be 75% certain that any value will fall
within the range of 1.15 standard deviations from the mean.

METHODS OF DATA ANALYSES

97 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Several analyses can be used during the initial data analysis phase;

 Univariate statistics
 Bivariate associations (correlations)
 Graphical techniques (scatter plots)

It is important to take the measurement levels of the variables into account

for the analyses, as special statistical techniques are available for each level:
[12]

 Nominal and ordinal variables

o Frequency counts (numbers and percentages)
o Associations
 circumambulations (crosstabulations)
 hierarchical loglinear analysis (restricted to a maximum of
8 variables)
 loglinear analysis (to identify relevant/important variables
and possible confounders)
o Exact tests or bootstrapping (in case subgroups are small)
o Computation of new variables

 Continuous variables
o Distribution
 Statistics (M, SD, variance, skewness, kurtosis)
 Stem-and-leaf displays
 Box plots

Main data analysis

In the main analysis phase analyses aimed at answering the research

question are performed as well as any other relevant analysis needed to write
the first draft of the research report.

Exploratory and confirmatory approaches

In the main analysis phase either an exploratory or confirmatory approach

can be adopted. Usually the approach is decided before data is collected. In
an exploratory analysis no clear hypothesis is stated before analysing the
data, and the data is searched for models that describe the data well. In a
confirmatory analysis clear hypotheses about the data are tested.

Exploratory data analysis should be interpretative carefully. When testing

multiple models at once there is a high chance on finding at least one of
them to be significant, but this can be due to a type 1 error. It is important to

98 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

always adjust the significance level when testing multiple models with, for
example, a bonferroni correction. Also, one should not follow up an
exploratory analysis with a confirmatory analysis in the same dataset. An
exploratory analysis is used to find ideas for a theory, but not to test that
theory as well. When a model is found exploratory in a dataset, then following
up that analysis with a comfirmatory analysis in the same dataset could
simply mean that the results of the comfirmatory analysis are due to the
same type 1 error that resulted in the exploratory model in the first place.
The comfirmatory analysis therefore will not be more informative than the
original exploratory analysis.[14]

Stability of results

It is important to obtain some indication about how generalizable the results

are[15]. While this is hard to check, one can look at the stability of the results.
Are the results reliable and reproducible? There are two main ways of doing
this:

 Crossvalidation: By splitting the data in multiple parts we can check if

analyzes (like a fitted model) based on one part of the data generalize
to another part of the data as well.
 Sensitivity analysis: A procedure to study the behavior of a system or
model when global parameters are (systematically) varied. One way to
do this is with bootstrapping (statistics).

Statistical methods

A lot of statistical methods have been used for statistical analyses. A very
brief list of four of the more popular methods is:

 General linear model: A widely used model on which various statistical

methods are based. Usable for assessing the effect of several
predictors on one or more continuous dependent variables.
 Generalized linear model: An extension of the general linear model for
discrete dependent variables.
 Structural equation modelling: Usable for assessing latent structures
from measured manifest variables.
 Item response theory: Models for (mostly) assessing one latent
variable from several binary measured variables.

Computer data processing

Computer data processing is any process that a computer program does

to enter data and summarise, analyse or otherwise convert data into usable

99 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

information. The process may be automated and run on a computer. It

involves recording, analysing, sorting, summarising, calculating,
disseminating and storing data. Because data is most useful when well-
presented and actually informative, data-processing systems are often
referred to as information systems. Nevertheless, the terms are roughly
synonymous, performing similar conversions; data-processing systems
typically manipulate raw data into information, and likewise information
systems typically take raw data as input to produce information as output.

Data processing may or may not be distinguished from data conversion,

when the process is merely to convert data to another format, and does not
involve any data manipulation.

Data analysis

It is the domain from which the data are harvested is a science or an

engineering field, data processing and information systems are considered
terms that are too broad and the more specialized term data analysis is
typically used. This is a focus on the highly-specialized and highly-accurate
algorithmic derivations and statistical calculations that are less often
observed in the typical general business environment. In these contexts data
analysis packages like DAP, gretl or PSPP are often used. This divergence of
culture is exhibited in the typical numerical representations used in data
processing versus numerical; data processing's measurements are typically
represented by integers or by fixed-point or binary-coded decimal
representations of numbers whereas the majority of data analysis's
measurements are often represented by floating-point representation of
rational numbers.

Processing

Basically, data is nothing but unorganised facts and which can be converted
into useful information. This process of converting facts to information is
Processing. Practically all naturally occurring processes can be viewed as
examples of data processing systems where "observable" information in the
form of pressure, light, etc. are converted by human observers into electrical
signals in the nervous system as the senses we recognize as touch, sound,
and vision. Even the interaction of non-living systems may be viewed in this
way as rudimentary information processing systems. Conventional usage of
the terms data processing and information systems restricts their use to refer
to the algorithmic derivations, logical deductions, and statistical calculations
that recur perennially in general business environments, rather than in the
more expansive sense of all conversions of real-world measurements into

100 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

real-world information in, say, an organic biological system or even a

scientific or engineering system.

Elements of data processing

In order to be processed by a computer, data needs first be converted into a

machine readable format. Once data is in digital format, various procedures
can be applied on the data to get useful information. Data processing may
involve various processes, including:

 Data summarization
 Data aggregation
 Data validation
 Data tabulation
 Statistical analysis

REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Collect the data in appropriate manner

2. Analyze the data

CHAPTER FIVE

DATA PRESENTATION
Specific Objectives
By the end of this topic the trainee should be able to;
a) Write the final report of a project
b) Make a presentation of project work

INTRODUCTION

DATA PRESENTATION
The purpose of putting results of experiments into graphs, charts and tables
is two-fold. First, it is a visual way to look at the data and see what happened
and make interpretations. Second, it is usually the best way to show the data
to others. Reading lots of numbers in the text puts people to sleep and does

101 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

little to convey information. From an educational standpoint, students at most

levels are required to learn various data presentation methods, and learning
to graph data one has collected oneself from oneís own experiments is
considerably more engaging and motivating than learning to graph using
data that is given by the teacher.

PROJECT REPORT WRITING

A report is a form of writing that aims to communicate the audience. There

are several purposes of different reports. They can be written with the
purpose to describe some situation and analyze it. The other purpose is to
evaluate the state of particular situation and forecast its development.

The format of report writing depends upon the purpose of a report. But there
is a common report writing template which you can follow to organize your
report appropriately.

A report writing template contains the following sections

1. Title page. It is the very first page of your report. A report writing
template admits different formats of the title page. You should follow
the requirements of the format style that is noted in your assignment.
For sure, the title page of any report writing template contains the title
of your report, your name, your instructor’s name, course, and date.
2. Contents. There are two ways of contents presentation in report writing
templates. You can form them as a table, or as a plan. List the sections
of your report with the numbers of pages.
3. Introduction. It provides the first sight at your theme. Report writing
templates require stating the purpose of your report, actuality, and the
main points of your investigation.
4. The body. It is the core of a report writing template. Divide the body on
subsections in accordance with the points which you are going to
describe.
5. Conclusions. This section restates the problem of your report.
According to this report writing template, it contains the results of the
theme investigation and your recommendations for the further
development of the topic.
6. Appendix. Report writing templates do not include this section as
obligatory. It lists additional materials like diagrams or schemes, if
appropriate.

5. Format of reports.
Whilst not mandatory, there are good reasons for the usual format of a
report.

102 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

Sections that you need to include are,

• Title
• Authors
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Experimental techniques and methods
• Results and discussion
• Summary/conclusions
• References
• Appendices (if used)

In more detail,
First Page
This should contain the title, the author(s) and the date.
Title
This should convey the area and scope of the project.
For example, “Rainbows” is poor – is this an investigation of the occurrence of
rainbows in medieval illuminated manuscripts? or their use as metaphors in
popular art? Or what?
A better choice might be “Rainbows: the deflection of light by liquid droplets
and the determination of droplet refractive index from measurements of
rainbow phenomena”

Second Page
The Abstract
The second page should consist only of the abstract. The idea of the abstract
is to provide a brief summary of the report. The reader should be able to pick
up from the abstract what the abstract entailed, how it was undertaken and
an indication of what was found out. An abstract should not review the report,
but should rather act as a sampler of the contents of the report. Typically the
abstract should be less than 200 words.
A poor example of title and abstract might be, “The length of a piece
of wood.”
The length of the piece of wood was found to be shorter than it should have
been. We had problems with our measuring device and could not obtain good
results. With better equipment we could have got better results.

It is poor because, the length of the piece of wood was found (how was it
measured?) to be shorter (by how much?) than it should (should? – say’s
who?). We had problems (what sort of problems?) with our measuring device
and could not obtain good (what is meant by good?) results. With better
equipment we could have got better results (a cop out!).

103 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

A better title and abstract might be, “Interferometer measurements of the

length of a piece of wood and discrepancies with previous spectroscopic
measurements”
The length of a piece of wood was measured using an interferometer
technique. Our results gave a length shorter by 1.5% than that found by
Hamel et al who used a spectroscopic technique. However, our
measurements suffered from a large random error (2%), which we attribute
to the use of a lamp as the source of light. An alternative interferometer
measurement strategy employing a laser is suggested that should overcome
this problem.

Third page
This should comprise a table of contents, indicating the page numbers of the
different sections.
Fourth page and onwards
Introduction
This is where you need to outline the underlying concepts (and if required a
brief version of a any theory) needed to discuss the project.
Results and discussion
Present your results in a logical sequence, highlighting what is important and
how the data you obtained have been analysed to provide the results you
discuss. You should discuss what you infer from the data. You need to adopt a
critical approach. For example, discuss the relative confidence you have in
different aspects of the measurements. A poor example “the straight line fit
between dog type and owner size gave a slope of 0.3” Better would be”the
data show a linear dependence between dog type and size of dog owner, with
a slope of 0.3+/- 0.03. However, there is a noticeable divergence from this
linear dependence for small dog types, as can be seen in the left hand side.
Make sure that all diagrams, graphs etc. are properly labeled and have a
caption. A neat hand drawn diagram is preferable to a poorly made computer
diagram.
Summary and conclusion
This is the section in which you need to put it all together. It differs from the
abstract in that, It should be more informative, something that can easily be
accomplished because you may devote more words to it. You should include a
concise version of your discussion, highlighting what you found out, what
problems you had, and what might be done in the future to remedy them. You
should also indicate how the investigation could usefully be continued.

Project writing elements

1. Letter of Transmittal

104 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

The components of a report are not written in the same order in which they
appear e.g. the letter of transmittal is the first thing the reader sees, but it is
probably the last to be created.

It introduces the purpose and content of the report to the principle reader. It
gives you an opportunity to emphasize whatever you think, your reader will
find particularly in the attached material. It enables you to point out any
errors or omission in the material.

Transmittal letter contains the following element.

 A statement of title and purpose of report.

 A statement of who authorized the project and when
 A statement of method used in the project or of the principal results,
conclusion and recommendations.
 An acknowledgement of any assistance you received in preparing the
material.

2. The title page

Usual elements are

 Title
 Name and position of writer
 Name and position of principle reader
 Date of submission

A good title must be informative. It. answers two basic questions

1. What is the subject of the report

2. What type of report is it? E.g. sea pollution - control devices

Define the type of report by using a generic term such as analysis,

recommendations e.g summary, review etc. For a simple title page, centre
the title (typed in full capital letter) about a third of the way down the page,
then add the readers and writer's position, the organization’s name and date.

3. The abstract

It’s like a brief technical summary, usually not more than 200 words of the
report. Its directed to readers who are familiar with the technical subject and
need to know whether to read the full report or not. This can use technical
terminology and refer to advanced concepts. Basic types of abstract are
descriptive and informative abstracts. The descriptive abstract sometime

105 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

called topical or table of contents abstract. It does not provide the import
results, conclusion or recommendations. It lists the topic covered giving equal
coverage to each. The informative abstract states the problems the scope
and methods, and the major results, conclusion or recommendations.

4. The table of contents

It enables different readers to turn to specific pages to find the information

they want. Well organized report becomes ineffective if table of contents, is
not clear. T.O.C provide only guide to report's structure, coverage and
pagination. The headings that appear in the report are listed in T.O.C

5. The list of illustrations

It is a T.O.C for the figures and tables of a report. If the report contains figures
but not tables, it is called the list of figures

But if the report contains tables but not figures so is called the list of tables
only

List of illustrations may be on the same page as the table of contents, or may
be on the separate page. If it begins on a separate page, it should be listed in
the table of contents.

6. The executive summary

Sometimes called executive overview or the management summary. It is a

one page condensation of a report. Managers don’t need a detailed and deep
understanding of various projects undertaken in their organization because of
limitations in time and specialization. The background of the project is also
discussed clearly herein. The specific problem that is to be solved through the
project is clearly discussed; also the conclusion and recommendations are
discussed in a full separate paragraph.

7. The glossary and list of symbols

a gloss is an alphabetic list of definitions. It is useful if you are addressing a

multiple audience that includes readers who will not be familiar with the
technical vocabulary used in the report. An asterisk or any other notation can
be used along the word to tell the audience that the word is defined in
glossary. It is generally placed at the end of the report just before the
appendix. A list of symbols is structured like glossary, but rather than
defining words and phrases, it defines the symbols and abbreviations used in
the report.

106 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

8. The appendix

An appendix is any section that follows the body of the report (and the list of
references or bibliography, glossary or list of symbols). Appendices provide
information that is too bulky to be presented in the body or that will interest
only a small number of readers. For conciseness in the report, this
information is separated from the body. Examples of the kind of material that
are usually found in the appendix include maps, large technical diagrams or
charts, computations, test data and texts of supporting documents.
Appendices are usually lettered, rather than numbered and are listed in the
table of contents

ORDER OF PRESENTATION OF DATA

Presentations are very important to prove a certain point to the audience, be

it a school presentation or a presentation in the office. The audience will only
understand what you want to say, if the presentation gives a clear insight of
the matter involved. If you want to add creativity to your presentations and
make them more clear and easy to understand, you need to consider some
creative presentation ideas. By adding creativity to your presentations, the
attendees are more likely to listen more attentively and with interest, and
respond back after understanding the complete topic. There are nearly over a
100 creative presentation ideas, which you may choose from. However, let us
see some of the basic and most effective ones.

Most Effective Creative Presentation Ideas

Booklets

The presentations would certainly be more explanatory, if you implement the

use of booklets in your project presentation plan. Along with your oral
presentation, the booklets would attract more attention from the audience
and add up to the interest in the topic of discussion. The booklet should be
designed in a manner as if it would look like it has been designed only for the
purpose of that specific presentation seminar. Ensure that you do not make it
too wordy, and also make it a point to leave sufficient white space to make
the message clear.

Slide-show Presentation
There is much software that can be utilized to make attractive slide-shows,
which would add creativity to the presentation. Some of these software
applications are freely available for download on the Internet. The most
commonly used application is PowerPoint, which has different features and
functions to make the presentation more informative. Similarly, there are

107 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

many other computer applications which have different features to be availed

for making the presentation effective.

Newscast
If you want to conduct a presentation in your office, in front of the clients and
the management committee, a newscast is probably one of the best creative
presentation ideas. If there is a variety of data from different fields that you
want to present, you need to film yourself or a volunteer in the locations and
environments related to their respective data sections in the presentation.
This would certainly set a good impression in the minds of both, the
management as well as the prospective clients. Moreover, it would also make
the presentation more real.

Drawing Images as you explain

This is surely one of the best creative presentation ideas for school, as the
audience or children are likely to act more responsively to the pictures and
images related to the topic of discussion. For making drawings, as you
conduct the presentation, you need to take help from a caricaturist assistant
or anyone who is good at drawing. These drawings would set a pictorial
presentation, in addition to what you are trying to explain to the audience.

Adding a Bit of Humor

It is definite that in most creative presentation ideas, there is a touch of
humor. Ensure that you make some fun in between the presentations,
especially, if they are to be given in schools and universities. This would
enable the audience to maintain their interest in the matter of discussion,
without getting bored of the topic. Jokes and funny short stories are some
ways to add humor in the session. Read more on effective presentation
techniques.

The aforementioned are just a few of the many creative presentation ideas.
However, there are many other ways which you can come up with, to make
your presentations more efficient for the audience to grasp the information
easily.

COMMUNICATION STYLE ON PRESENTATION OF DATA

Computer and other technologies provide powerful options, while basic

communication tools remain key for presentation success.

Visual presentations have come to life. The integration of the PC as a

graphics engine with traditional 35mm slide projectors and overhead
projectors has changed the way business people communicate and persuade.
Or has it? The core of a presentation is still the information, not the tools used

108 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

to illustrate it. The purpose of a visual presentation remains to persuade and

communicate.

In the 1992 Presidential campaign, Ross Perot showed how effective a few
simple line graphs and pie charts could be to illustrate a message about the
Federal deficit, despite the topic's complexities.

Mr. Perot's reasons for success are the same as any successful speaker or
presenter: He developed a clear message and used visual tools to back it up.
He has also defined his target audience and communication style to attract
and retain listeners.

Tools that make visual images accessible for audiences include flip charts,
slide projectors, overhead projectors, video screens, and others. The
important contribution PCs have made to visual presentation is primarily in
new ways

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Write the final report of a project
2. Make a presentation of project work

CHAPTER SIX

EMERGING TRENDS IN PROJECT WORK

Specific Objectives
By the end of this topic the trainee should be able to;
a) Identify the emerging trends in project work
b) Identify challenges faced in the emerging trends in project work
c) Explain the various ways of coping with the challenges in the project
work

COMMON PROJECT WORK CHALLENGES

When it comes to managing projects, there are many challenges faced by
project managers, directors of operations, vice presidents of professional
services, chief financial offers, and other project team members.

The five most common project management challenges are:

109 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

 Geographically dispersed project teams

 Using the wrong tool for the job
 Over booked or mismanaged resources
 Wasting time looking for project documents or assets
 Spending too much time in status meetings

1. Geographically-dispersed project teams

Sometimes the entire project team belongs to the same company or

organization, yet they often work from different offices either within the U.S.
or globally. Even if the project team is in the same office, in today's fast-
paced economy, information needs to pass as rapidly as possible, making a
centralized project management software solution imperative.

As the rise in outsourcing work and offshore development continues, project

managers and executive management need to synchronize their work across
multiple time zones. So, when the U.S. based team goes to sleep, and the
team in Asia goes to work, they may login to the web-based project
management solution to view their project, resource and task status.
Companies that manage this asynchronous process well are excelling
compared to their competitors.

2. Using the wrong tool for the job

Many companies attempt to manage projects using desktop software

applications like Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel. The main challenge
with using desktop software to manage projects is that these applications
were not designed for collaboration among several parties. At worst, the file
is shared by emailing the file to all parties on the team. At best, the file may
be posted on a network or on an extranet and shared from there.

One typical scenario that arises from using desktop software for project
management is file ‘version control.' For example, a project manager may
email a Microsoft Project file to share project information to the team. If the
file is updated frequently, then it can often be confusing as to which version
of the project is the most recent one. Many times, the project manager will be
conversing with an executive about a project and twenty minutes into the
conversation find that they are both viewing two different versions of the
project.

3. Over-booked and mismanaged resources

Project teams often complain that they do not have accurate or up-to-date
information about their resources and what they are working on. Many project

110 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

teams have more demand for projects than they have team members to
execute the projects. Many project teams solve this challenge with a
combination of meetings and either Excel or Microsoft Project.

However, project managers utilizing desktop software may have a

challenging time understanding how much work each resource has been
allocated across all projects. A commonly stated problem is that the projects'
timelines are extended beyond an acceptable timeframe, so many project
managers abandon using the resource leveling functionality. If resource
allocation is an issue, then a decent mid-market or high end solution may be
the only options.

4. Wasting time looking for project documents and assets

Project assets can include project scope documents, risk lists, issues lists,
files, emails, and deliverables, to name a few. Most project teams are sharing
files on networks. The challenge with even the best file storage systems on
the internal network is that team members still complain that they cannot
find critical documents. It is simply too easy to forget where those assets and
files are unless they are frequently used.

Another issue with file storage is that many of the people involved in a
project exist outside the network and cannot access these files. Many
organizations do not permit third parties to VPN into their network for security
reasons. This means that the project manager must resort to emailing those
assets to these outside team members, which again can result in the version
control problem stated earlier.

5. Spending too much time in status meetings

Many project team members complain about spending too much time in
meetings to update project status. No solution is ever going to replace the
need for human communication and meetings. However, many teams talk
about wasting too much time in meetings where everyone goes around the
room and updates the project manager on his/her tasks. This is a very
traditional way to getting status updates.

Another common model for updating project status is the project manager
asks each team member individually where their tasks stand. The problem
with this model is that the project manager becomes a ‘glorified
administrator,' and spends time updating the Microsoft Project file or Excel
file. Instead, project managers could be managing more projects or thinking
about higher level project concerns.

111 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])

 lOMoARcPSD|51574358

Social Research

You Need a Web-Based Solution

Naturally, there are many more project management challenges than stated
here. However, these are the most frequently voiced by teams from a myriad
of industries. If you are experiencing one or more of these challenges, then
your team may benefit from implementing a project management software
system.

A project management solution that is 100% web-based solves these issues

by allowing project managers and their team members to access project
information from any browser in the world, at any time of the day or night.
The project information is centralized in one database and posted in real-
time, assuring that all project members and executive management can view
the most recent information about the project.

All of the aforementioned challenges above, and some not even noted, can
be handled quickly and easily by implementing web-based project
management software. Make these issues a thing of the past and start
working smarter toward the future.

REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Identify the emerging trends in project work
2. Identify challenges faced in the emerging trends in project work

3. Explain the various ways of coping with the challenges in the

project work

112 Downloaded by caro jebet ([email protected])