Effective Research Methods for Any Project

Description

We live in a world of information. The sheer wealth of data available to us is exciting but also overwhelming. How do we separate truth from fiction? Where do we look for reliable sources? What products are best and what studies are accurate? Which headlines can be trusted? Professor Biography......Page 3 Table of Contents......Page 5 Course Scope......Page 7 Lecture 1—Why Research Methods Matter......Page 9 Types of Research......Page 11 The Scientific Method of Research......Page 14 Lecture 2—Characteristics of Good Research......Page 18 Key Characteristics of Good Research......Page 19 Determining Whether Good Research Has Been Done......Page 23 Lecture 3—Doing Research Ethically......Page 26 The Nuremberg Code......Page 27 The Belmont Report......Page 29 Ethical Behavior of Researchers......Page 32 Institutional Review Boards......Page 33 Lecture 4—From Topic of Interest to Research Question......Page 36 Selecting a Topic......Page 37 Characteristics of Good Research Questions......Page 38 Tips on Writing a Good Research Question......Page 42 Lecture 5—What’s Already Known? The Literature Review......Page 44 What to Look For......Page 45 How to Find the Sources You Need......Page 47 Where to Look for Sources......Page 48 What to Do with Your Sources......Page 50 How to Draw and Present Your Conclusions......Page 52 Lecture 6—Generating Hypotheses and Theories......Page 54 Theories......Page 55 Hypotheses......Page 56 How to Write a Strong Hypothesis......Page 58 Lecture 7—Selecting a Research Design......Page 63 Quantitative Approaches to Research......Page 64 Qualitative Approaches to Research......Page 66 Choosing the Best Research Design for Your Project......Page 69 Lecture 8—Measuring Concepts and Phenomena......Page 73 Measurement......Page 74 Lecture 9—Choosing Populations, Samples, and Cases......Page 81 Samples, Populations, and Cases......Page 82 Sampling Problems......Page 84 Sample Size......Page 85 Sampling Methods......Page 86 Lecture 10—The Classic Experiment......Page 90 Features of True Experiments......Page 91 Validity......Page 94 Designs for True Experiments......Page 97 Lecture 11—The Value of Quasi Experiments......Page 100 True Experiments versus Quasi Experiments......Page 101 Types of Quasi-Experimental Designs......Page 102 Lecture 12—Designing and Conducting a Survey......Page 108 Types of Surveys......Page 109 Writing Survey Questions......Page 113 Lecture 13—Understanding Election Polls......Page 118 Unscientific Polls......Page 119 The 5 Rules of Good Polling......Page 121 Transparency in Poll Reporting......Page 124 Lecture 14—Research by Case Study......Page 127 The Single Case Study......Page 128 When a Case Study Is Useful for Your Research......Page 130 Type of Data to Use in a Case Study......Page 131 Categories of Cases......Page 133 Lecture 15—Interpretivism and Field Research......Page 136 Field Research......Page 138 Interviews......Page 140 Observation......Page 144 Lecture 16—Applied, Evaluative, and Action Research......Page 147 Evaluation Research......Page 148 Action Research......Page 151 Market and Product Research......Page 155 Lecture 17—Gathering and Preparing Data......Page 157 Assessing Your Data......Page 158 Preparing and Coding Your Data......Page 162 Statistical Data Analysis......Page 165 Lecture 18—Using Statistics to Interpret Data......Page 168 Central Tendency......Page 169 Variation......Page 171 Frequency......Page 172 Distributions and Z-Scores......Page 173 Lecture 19—Statistical Inferences from Data......Page 176 Z-Tests......Page 179 ANOVA......Page 183 Lecture 20—Assessing Correlation and Causation......Page 186 Correlation versus Causation......Page 187 Scatterplots......Page 189 Correlation Coefficients......Page 192 Lecture 21—From Bivariate to Multivariate Analysis......Page 194 Cross-Tabulation Tables......Page 195 Chi-Squared Tests......Page 196 Linear Regression......Page 197 Lecture 22—Foundations of Qualitative Analysis......Page 203 Qualitative versus Quantitative Analysis......Page 204 When to Use Qualitative Methods of Analysis......Page 207 A Basic Approach to Qualitative Analysis......Page 208 Lecture 23—Qualitative Analysis Variations......Page 211 Grounded Theory......Page 212 Other Qualitative Approaches......Page 215 Lecture 24—The Art of Presenting Your Findings......Page 219 How to Craft a Formal Research Report......Page 220 Front Matter......Page 221 Introduction......Page 222 Literature Review......Page 223 Theory......Page 224 Discussion of Results......Page 225 References......Page 226 Sharing Your Findings......Page 227 Quiz......Page 229 Answers and Explanations......Page 238 Bibliography......Page 250 Image Credits......Page 261