Week 5 Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is scientific research important for communication?
To identify what communication skills are important, when they should be used, how they should be taught etc
What are the six key steps involved in conducting scientific research?
- Identify your research question
- Formulate your hypothesis
- Fine-tune using research and reason
- Design and conduct your research
- Analyse and interpret your results
- Disseminate your results
What is a research question?
A type of question that asks about tentative relationship between variables and is the driving force of your research project
What are the four types of research questions?
- Question of fact
- Question of variable relations
- Question of value
- Questions of policy
What are questions of fact?
Attempt to identify definitions for things or taking abstract concepts and defining them to make them testable. Eg. What does workplace bullying look like?
What are questions of variable relations?
These questions seek to ask if and how two or more variables are relation to each and under that conditions these relationships become obvious. Eg. How one group of people may differ in a case in relation to another group of people and if so, why is this different?
What are questions of value?
Attempt to identify a person’s values and beliefs by asking them evaluate issues of phenomena. Eg. Do you believe pornography leads to greater objectification of women?
What are questions of policy?
Questions who’s answers may lead to new or altered recommendations or policies. Eg. What is the best way to communication sad news to children?
Research questions must be written in a way that are?
Testable and measurable
What is operational definitions?
Indicate how something is going to be measured or observed
What is a hypothesis?
A tentative propositional statement that articulates a prediction that will be tested in the research project
What are the two research designs?
Within-subject designs and between-subject designs
What are within-subject designs?
Those where the same group of people are used to explore a certain characteristic or experience across more than one conditions or where multiple variables are assessed within the same group of people - sometimes referred to as repeated measured design
What are between-subject designs?
Where different groups of people are used to test a number of different conditions or variables
What are the three research methods?
Qualitative, quantitative and mixed method
What is quantitative research?
Uses survey, interviews and experiments to collect numerical data for statistical analysis
What is qualitative research?
Uses narrative accounts, conversation or discourse analysis or case studies to collect information about the qualities, themes or characteristics of participants, their experience and their behaviour
What is mixed method?
Uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches within one research project
What are the two types of data?
Self-report and observational
What is self-report data?
Data that is collected from research participants directly, typically in the form of questionnaires
What is observational data?
Laboratory based or naturalistic observation of participants while they perform a task of relevance to your hypotheses
What is significance?
The probability that your result occurred by change verses the probability it occurred because your hypothesis is actually predicting something that really exists
What are important characteristics of scientific research?
Scientific research must be evidence based, is testable, researchers must explore all possible explanations in an effort to demonstrate that their proposition cannot be disproved, the results of a research study are replicable and repeatable, research must be part of public record, must be self-correcting, relies on measurement and observation, recognises the possibility of error and attempts to control it, scientific objectivity requires researchers to minimise personal bias and distortion, science by its nature rests on an attitude of skepticism, has an interest in the generalisability of findings, is heuristic in nature (leads to more questions)
