Week 3--Developing the Study

Key Concepts in Research—Week 3

Developing the Study

Topic 14—Patten

Strict replication—repetition of an original study with the expectation of the same results.

Modified replication—conducting a study similar to the original study while making some major modifications such as a different population or using some other type of testing instrument.

Topic 15—Patten

What are the three major sources for locating literature electronically for the purpose of a literature review of previous research? 1) Sociofile for Sociological Abstracts and Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts; 2) PsycLIT for Psychological Abstracts; and 3)ERIC for education related abstracts.

What are some helpful tips for conducting a search? Use a Thesaurus to find proper descriptors of your topic, and use Boolean search operators, such as, AND, OR, and NOT.

Topic16—Patten

Conceptual definitions—defining the study in terms of the discipline and the theory. Words can mean different things in different settings and need to be clearly defined in relation to the research you will be conducting.

How do you show the importance of your topic? By conducting a literature review and showing that other researchers also found the topic important and conducted research on the topic.

Appendix D—Pryczak

Stratified random sampling—a method in which the population is divided into sub-populations and then randomly sampled. The method is used to produce more exact replication of the population as a whole.

Temporal stability—in research, temporal stability refers to consistent results using a certain testing instrument over time and across multiple forms.

Chapter 2—Wildemuth

Symmetry of potential outcomes—whether the results of your study confirm or disprove your hypotheses, the study will be useful.

Problem statement—A narrowly drafted research statement or question upon which your research will be based. It should be clear, specific, answerable, connected to significant concepts and phenomena and be relevant to the field.

Chapter 3—Wildemuth

Practice-based question—(In relation to librarians)Stepping outside your own personal experience, possibly teaming up with professionals from other libraries or other fields, such as education or psychology, to expand the knowledge within the field of library and information science.

Evidence-based information practice—the current standard of most information professionals to base decision making for their institution by identifying and using the assumptions of previous studies.

Chapter 5—Wildemuth

Null hypothesis—when in a hypothesis(… there is no relationship between the variables or no difference between one thing or another” (34).

Information foraging theory—suggests that people will use the nearest point of reference to decide whether to pursue the information they are seeking.

Chapter 3—Williamson

Research hypothesis—a more specific statement of the problem, but still too general for an operational hypothesis.

Operational hypothesis—a concise statement of the research hypothesis, developed to specifically guide the research study.

References

Patten, (2000). Topics in Educational Research. Pyczak Publishing.

Pryczak, F. (2008). Title Unknown. 4th ed. CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

Wildemuth, B. M. (2009) Applications of Social Methods to Question in Information and Library Science. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Williamson, K. (2000). Research methods for students and professionals: Information management and systems. Wagga Wagga, NSW.