Typology of Research - Assignment Example

Running Head; RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research methodology Name Institution Research Methodology Research is a careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in some field of expertise under taken to discover or verify facts and principles. There are various types of research including experimental, correlation, causal- comparative, survey, content analysis, qualitative analysis and historical research. Research is founded on some philosophical paradigm or underpinnings. Paradigm is a way of looking at the world, in research there are three of them; positivism/ post-positivism, interpretive/ constructivism and emancipatory (Panneerselvam, 2004). A research problem is any issue deemed critical but about which there is either no information available or no conclusive evidence. A hypothesis is researchers anticipated account or opinion regarding the findings of the study. Data is raw information obtained from the study. There are three main research methodologies; qualitative, quantitative and mixed mode. This report covers qualitative research methodology (National Library of Australia, 2000). Qualitative research is an investigative methodology described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research. It emphases the importance of looking at variables in their natural setting. A variable is an empirical property that obtains the form of more than two values. Interaction between variables is essential in qualitative research. The interviewer is a vital component of the investigation (Anderson, 2001). Qualitative research is not an absolute pathway to reality, but it is useful and can reach parts that other forms of research cannot (Kumar, 2005). Reasons for conducting a qualitative research are; topic needs to be explored, whereby variables cannot be clearly identified, and theories need to be developed; need to present a detailed view of the topic; in order to study individuals in their natural settings; interest in writing a literary style; sufficient time and resources to spend on extensive data collection and analysis; graduate committee or advisor, publication outlets with editors receptive to this research method (Nachmias, 2008). All qualitative research methods have the following in common; use of qualitative data, sensitive to the context, emphasis on the researcher’s neutrality and focuses on inductive analysis. In depth open ended interviews, group interviews, participant and direct observation, photographs, video tapes and written documents are the kinds of data collection in qualitative research methods (Anderson, 2001). Interviews' data consist of direct quotations from people about their experiences, opinions, feelings and knowledge while data from observations consist of detailed description of people’s activities, actions, quotations, entire passages from organizational, clinical or program records, official publications/ reports or correspondence, memoranda and personal diaries. This data may also include open ended written responses to a questionnaire and survey (Franken, 2000). Qualitative research method is based on interpretive or constructivist philosophical foundation of research. This paradigm views knowledge as being created within the community that these individuals incorporated by the research are from. Researchers should attempt to understand the way of life as viewed from those who live it. The nature of reality (ontology) is that reality is socially constructed whereby multiple mental constructions can be found, and they may conflict which each other and perceptions of the reality may change throughout the study. The relationship between the knower and would be known (epistemology) is that the researcher and the research itself are interlocked in an interactive process influencing each other. Interviews, observations and document reviews, are predominant as methods of obtaining the knowledge. The limitation of having multiple realities is that the research questions cannot be established before the study begins but evolve and change as the study progresses (Walsh, 2005). The characteristics of qualitative research include naturalistic inquiry, which involves studying, real- world situations as they unfold naturally. It is none manipulative, unobtrusive and none controlling and open to whatever emerges hence does not have predetermined constrains on outcomes. Another characteristic is inductive analysis whereby the researcher focuses on the details and specifics of the data to discover relevant categories, dimensions and interrelationships. The researcher begins by exploring genuinely open questions rather than testing theoretically derived (deductive) hypothesis (Epiet, 2004). It uses a holistic perspective whereby; the entire idea is thought to be a complex relationship which is not ideally deducted to little favorable variables and linear, thus igniting a disturbance in the relationship. It also uses qualitative data, which involves detailed, thick description, inquiry in depth, direct quotation capturing people’s personal perspectives and experiences. It has personal contact and insight where by the researcher gets close to the research society, conditions and phenomenon under the research, the researcher’s personal experience and insight are a vital part of information in understanding the phenomenon (Finn, 2000). It has dynamic systems whereby the researcher assumes that change is constant and ongoing whether the focus is on an individual or a group. His main attention is the research process. It has unique case orientation whereby it assumes each case is remarkable and unique. There is an emphasis on context sensitivity whereby findings are grouped in a social, ancient and impermanent context dubious of the possibility or meaningfulness of generalization across time and space. It has emphatic neutrality as it recognizes that complete objectivity is impossible and that pure subjectivity will undermine the credibility. The researcher’s passion understands the world in all its complexity, and his personal experiences, and emphatic insight are inclusive of the relevant information while having a neutral justifiable stance towards whatever content may emerge. It has an open adapting inquiry process hence has designed flexibility whereby the researchers understanding of the phenomenon changes as the situations changes (Hunt, 2001). Steps followed when conducting a qualitative research study often overlap and sometimes even conducted concurrently (Parton, 2002). They are Identification of the phenomenon to be studied, identification of the participants in the study, generalization of hypothesis, data collection, data analysis and finally drawing conclusions. A fundamental concern in qualitative research is the validity and reliability of the data collected. Various techniques can be used by a researcher to check their perception in order to ensure that they are not being misinformed. This include Triangulation-Using a variety of instruments to collect data whereby a conclusion is supported by data collected from a number of different instruments hence its validity enhanced; checking one informant’s description of something against another informant’s description of the same thing; Learning to understand and speak the vocabulary of the group being studied; Writing down the questions being asked and answers received hence reducing distortions owing to forgetting at a later date; Recording personal thoughts while conducting observations and interviews; Documenting the sources of remarks which helps make sense out of comments that might seem misplaced; Documenting the basis of inferences; Describing the way in which questions are inquired together with the situations observed; Using video and audio tapes; Interviewing individuals more than once hence inconsistencies over time in the same individual suggest he might be an unreliable informant; Observing the setting or the situation over a certain period of time; Drawing conclusion based on own understanding of the situation being observed and then acting on this conclusion (Park, 2000). The choice of qualitative strategy (methodology) depends on the focus of the research and desired time frame for the study. The mostly used are Ethnographic studies, case studies, document or content analysis and field study. Others are biography, phenomenology and grounded theory. Case study is a means in which social information is arranged, so as to analyze the reality within the society. It examines a social unit as a whole which may be a person, a family, a social group, a population or a society at large. It probes deeply into a personality situation with the aim of diagnosing the state and recommending better solutions. The main goal is to understand the life cycle or a vital part of the cycle of the unit. It probes deeply and analyses interaction between the issues that describe the present status or that initiate change of growth. It is a longitudinal approach. Its focus is the typicalness rather than the uniqueness of the unit. Its advantage is that the point of attention is seeing the single case and not the entire sample of cases. As much as the focus is not on generalization, it is on understanding the particulars of that case in its complexity and natural conditions hence understood in its own habitat. Several precautions that one should consider when using a case study as a methodology are; that the researcher must be thoroughly familiar with existing theoretical knowledge of the field of inquiry, and skilful in isolating the significant variables from many that are irrelevant; Subject bias is a constant threat to subjective data in gathering and analysis; Effects may also be wrongly attributed to factors that are merely associated rather than cause effect related. Challenges of case study are that the researchers have to find out their cases. They must decide what bounded system to study and must consider whether to study a single or multiple cases. Methods of collecting data in a case study are; observation by the researcher or his assistants of physical characteristics, social qualities or behavior; Interviews with subjects; questionnaires, psychological test and inventories; recorded data from newspapers, schools, courts and other institutions also known as secondary data and the former as primary data. Observation and interviews are the two main techniques of collecting data in qualitative research. Observation consists of detailed notation of behavior, events and the context surrounding them. The detailed descriptions collected can be converted later to numerical data and analyzed quantitatively. Observations can be of the setting or physical environment, physical activities, social interactions, non verbal communications, planned and unplanned activities and unobtrusive indicators. As a method of finding information, listening, reading, smelling and touching are all involved. The observer’s role may vary from full participation to a complete outsider. He may conduct the observation with full knowledge of those being observed or with some of them being aware of the observation. The participants may be given full, partial, no or false explanation of the study. The observation may take place over an entire or brief duration. It may also vary in depth either broad or narrow. Interviews are the most valuable data collection technique a qualitative researcher possesses. It is the careful asking of relevant questions to a respondent. Its purpose is to understand what is on the mind of respondents. It ranges from quiet informal and open ended to highly formal, and questions predetermined which are asked in a standard manner. Structured and semi structured interviews are verbal questionnaires conducted at the end of the study, and oft6en used to obtain information that can be later compared and contrasted. Informal interviews tend to resemble casual conversation, which pursues the interest of both the researcher, and respondent in turn. They rarely involve any type of questioning, be it specific or sequence of questions. Their intent is to find out what people think and the views of one individual compare with one another. Retrospective interviews range from structured, semi structured to informal and involves the researcher trying to get the respondent to recall something that happened in the past. It is the least likely to provide accurate, reliable data for research. Sampling is a crucial consideration in qualitative studies. It is imperative that the researcher gets occasion to answer all the research questions and objectives from the sample taken for research. Theoretical sampling is most highly regarded method in quality research. Research questions have intrinsic purposes in a research paper. Core of these aims are to guide and support other methodological choices and approaches taken by a researcher to assist him in identifying, articulating and ultimately demonstrating the importance and relevance of the research as a specific area of the inquiry being undertaken. In a qualitative study, the research question often starts with how or what so that initial statements into the topic tell us what is going on. Research questions are created in order to understand the thoughts, emotions and perceptions of a society requiring investigations via an interview or focus group. Those research questions created to observe the behaviors of a group of research people who require some type of observational method. Those engineered to understand the traditions of a group of people may require a combination of observation and interviewing methods. Research questions should fit in the theoretical framework. They are derived from objectives of the study. Theoretical framework identifies and names the relevant variables in the situation that are actual to the matters stated. It ideally describes the relationships among them. Its aim is to analyze or ascertain the theory. A researcher must outline the theoretical framework of the study preferably at the introduction or literature review. It will inform the statement of the problem, rationale of the study, questions, hypothesis, and selection of instruments and choice of methods. Findings will be analyzed in terms of how they associate to the theory or line of inquire that undergirds the study. In a qualitative study, the framework will depend on the researcher’s goals, purposes and nature of the investigation. (Cooper, 2003). Case Study One: Selecting Medical Students: An Australian Case Study (Mercer, 2007). There have been new and recent developments as to how medical students are selected in modern times and this has been largely predicated upon the need to adopt to the changing reality trends in the medical field. These changes have come in the fore of the fact that high level of academic acuity and mere academic qualification no longer suffice applicants’ capacity to merit in the medical field. It has been thought relevant to consider such non-academic capacities as applicants’ attitudes, resilience, hard work and concentration as a basis of their qualification. This has in turn made the affair of selecting students into some of the courses considered high-stake in the medical field to be an area of great interest for research and study (). Selection of students into studying medicine is now informed by procedures, rules and guidelines that are mostly contained in foreign as well as local literature from renowned publishers in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, the European Union and Canada among others. The corollary of all these changes and re-alignments has been that the introductory selection procedures into the medicine field has occasioned the considerable change and alteration of the medical curriculum to meet the changes in the offing. These changes have been informed and characterized by a number of things which have been at the heart of these selection procedures and guidelines. Just to mention but a few, some of these changes have involved using such strategies as problem-based and self-directed learning in addition to employing strategies that increase and encourage student-teacher interactions within and without classrooms (Mercer, 2007). The University of Newcastle is the one that is credited with introducing these new changes in selection of medical students in Australia as early as in the early 1990s. The university did this basically by introducing the idea of suscepting these aspiring medical students to some cognitive tests and interviews. This set precedence for other Australian undergraduate medical institutions which came up with a selection process that contained three core components: academic performance, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score and scores of a preset selection interview of the applicants (Mercer, 2007). This thesis is informed by the sole purpose and focus of evaluating and determining the effectiveness of this new selection criteria. In doing so, the thesis will use the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) as among its central concepts of discussion seeking to evaluate, investigate and analyze it as to whether it is an appropriate criterion for determining the capacity and suitability of medical students to undertake tertiary studies by giving them a pass into tertiary medical institutions. This is in full realization that current undergraduate medical schools in Australia have been compelled to come up with their own specific strategies, guidelines and unique ways of operationalizing procedures regarding the selection of students for admission. Among these procedures are two common procedures that were initially initiated and suggested by the University of Newcastle and these are: using the Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Tests (UMAT) and using a prepared selection interviews conducted on the applicants during the selection procedure (Mercer, 2007). All these changes notwithstanding, the use and implementation of these changes has not come without incidence and criticism as shall be discussed herein. In a word, this thesis analyzes the three selection components into medical schools and to achieve this uses a case study from the University of Western Australia (UWA) as a basis of reference and inference (Mercer, 2007). The University of Western Australia process of selection of applicants into the medical school involves the applicants passing a given threshold score for each and every given component of the three-tier elements of the selection procedures, scores which are ranked by a mechanism that quantifies them with equal weight. This scheme uses what is called compensatory system where scores in any of the three components can be used to compensate each other in the cases where there are high scores in one component more than in other(s) (Mercer, 2007). To understand the selection of these medical students and to also gauge the effectiveness of the outcome of these processes, data will be collected by both quantitative and qualitative data collection research methods. Respondents for this research were drawn from stakeholders of the respective schools, secondary schools teachers who were responsible for ushering these students to tertiary medical institutions through relevant secondary school training, and administrative and academic staff of both UWA and two other Australian universities. The findings from the research showed that stakeholders’ reactions were generally positive. Also, the impact caused by these new regulations appears not to have largely impacted already practicing practitioners who graduated in earlier years. The findings have further showed contentions that are associated with UMAT as a selection instrument and inasmuch as there have been attempts to settle some of these contentions, questions regarding its predictability and validity still loom in the balance (Mercer, 2007). In addition, preparation courses existing in the commercial world have also been criticized for being discriminatory along socio-economic lines as there are those students who are disadvantaged by not readily having access to them. The Faculty of Medicine Density and Health Sciences at the university conducted a selection interview in 2009 was considered expressive and robust by many observers despite criticism of being too detailed and vigorous. The interview indicated that most of the applicants had good communication skills which effectively indicated that the study was high-levels of reliability and consistency. This Australian case study used a mixed method research approach to explore the views of the main group of stakeholders to the changes and examined issues of reliability and validity in the processes developed to rationalize the changes. This approach allows for both breadth and depth in the consideration of the issues pertinent to the study. The methodology chosen was a case study with the aim of evaluating the new processes, which have developed in the last ten years for selecting school leavers’ applicants into undergraduate medical courses. Quantitative and qualitative data methods were used which included Document review, interviews, reports, personal experience, personal records and literature search. The tools used were questionnaires and semi structured interviews. This skilful use of combination of different techniques reduces the chance of bias and gives a more comprehensive understanding of the topic under study. Limitation of the study, there was no theoretical framework formulated by the researcher. Cases study two: Health inequalities, physician, citizens and professional medical association (Furler, 2006); Background Physicians are constantly challenged by issues of socio-economic inequalities in their access to health facilities and this presents bigger challenges for such persons. According to Gruen et al. the basis of feasibility and evidence in such matters should be informed by proper definition of professional aspirations contrasted from professional obligation which is as important to academic institutions associate medical colleges as it is to other interest groups. The aim of the thesis was predicated on the determining the importance of Gruen’s Model of Physical Responsibility as used to define the approaches medical associate colleges should take in addressing challenges of inequality in socio-economic terms (Furler, 2006). Methods For this case study, details about the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners responded the issues of health inequalities form the basis of the study. To realize this broad objective, the researcher administered 80 interviews to respondents drawn from stakeholders, external and internal personnel of the college and two interest groups. The research sought to study and gather information about details of the core programs offered by the college, the approaches used to set standards and training programs regarding public advocacy (Furler, 2006). Results There were a number of strategies from the different college programs that were considered after careful study to be legitimate professional programs that were squarely steered towards responding the research problem which was addressing the challenge of inequality in health issues based on socio-economic grounds. This notwithstanding, there were programs that were also considered ineffective and their capacity to address the research objective were questioned as they did not portray intrinsic capacity to handle discriminatory challenges based on accessibility to healthcare due to socio-economic differences. The main differences of these two findings were found to be predicated upon their respective moral orientation. As for instances where actions had some sort of agreements, the finding was attributed to congruency in ethos of compassion and care whereas actions that had differential contentment among themselves, it was attributed to ethos of human rights and justice (Furler, 2006). Conclusion In conclusion, the role of leading discussions and debate about procedures, values and virtues of medical scholarly nature squarely lies in the hands of Colleges and professional medical associations. In doing so, there is need to engage both stakeholders and member constituencies so as to encompass the needs of all interest groups. This is important for addressing issues of health inequalities that is devoid of prejudice, skepticism and insufficient consultation of all stakeholders (Furler, 2006). The theoretical framework was based on Gruen’s model of duty in terms of health rendered to a physician. The main focus of the study was to define the potential role of Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in highlighting the health inequalities within regions researched that were really part of its center. The researchers reviewed policy and program documents, undertook 80 semi structured interviews. They also conducted to focus groups based in a metropolitan and rural setting respectively. Interviews comprised both semi structured open –ended and questions that have specific answers. Data sources were program documents, policy documents, internal college respondents, external college respondents and focus group participants. Reliability was assessed by undertaking careful re-reading of information collected from within the interviews and focus groups within all of the researched places. Validity was checked through presentations of thematic analysis findings to staff and general practitioners members at the national office and staff faculties of the college. Data was reviewed by way of open coding and thematic analysis. The case study did not focus on a bounded system as the respondents were external and internal stakeholders to the college and two focus groups of general practitioners. The researchers did not disclose the research approach or philosophical paradigm used. References Anderson, B. (2001). An Introduction to the Scientific Method. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishers. Cooper, C. (2003). Processing tourism research. Berlin: Genoa Publishers. Epiet. (2004). Introductory Course. Menoca: Lazereto de Mahon Publishers. Finn, M. (2000). Tourism and Leisure Research Methods: Data Collection Analysis and Interpretation. Harlow: Longman Publishers. Franken, R. (2000). How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education. Boston: Longman Publishers. Furler, J. (2006). Royal Australian College of General Practitioners: Annual Report. Melbourne: RACGP printers. Retrieved from http://www.racgp.org.au/Content/NavigationMenu/About/Governance/Annualreport/2006RACGPAnnualReport.pdf. Hunt, N. (2001). Probability Sampling Techniques. Coventry: Coventry university press. Kumar, R. (2005). Research methodology: a step-by-step guide for beginners. Melbourne: Sage publishers. Mercer, A. (2007). PhD Thesis. Murdoch. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/748. Nachmias, D. (2008). Research Methods in Social Sciences. London: St Martin’s Press inc. National Library of Australia. (2000). The Aged in Australia: A Research Guide and Select Bibliography of Australian Publications. Sydney: National Library Australia publishers. Park, C. (2000). Fundamental Application of Statistics. California: Sage Publications. Parton, M. (2002). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Illinois: Newbury printers. Walsh, A. (2005). Statistics for the Social Sciences. San Francisco: Harper and Row Publishers. Panneerselvam, R. (2004). Research Methodology. London: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Read More