Research Methodology and Statistical Methods Research Methodology and Statistical Methods Morgan Shields www.edtechpress.co.uk Published by ED-Tech Press, 54 Sun Street, Waltham Abbey Essex, United Kingdom, EN9 1EJ © 2019 by ED-Tech Press Reprinted2020 Research Methodology and Statistical Methods Morgan Shields Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-78882-100-1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd., Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Trademark Notice: All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. 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For more information regarding ED-Tech Press and its products, please visit the publisher’s website www.edtechpress.co.uk TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface xi Chapter 1 Concepts of Research ......................................................................... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Determining a Theory ............................................................................ 3 Defining Variables ................................................................................. 3 Extraneous Variables .............................................................................. 4 Intervening Variables ............................................................................. 4 Developing the Hypothesis .................................................................... 5 Standardization ...................................................................................... 5 Selecting Subjects .................................................................................. 6 Simple Random Sample ......................................................................... 6 Systematic Sample ................................................................................. 7 Stratified Random Sample ..................................................................... 7 Cluster Sample....................................................................................... 8 Non-probability Sample ......................................................................... 8 Testing Subjects ..................................................................................... 8 Analyzing Results .................................................................................. 9 Determining Significance......................................................................10 Communicating Results ........................................................................10 Replication ........................................................................................... 11 Putting it All Together ........................................................................... 11 Determining a Theory ........................................................................... 11 Determining Hypothesis .......................................................................12 Standardization .....................................................................................12 Selecting Subjects .................................................................................12 vi Testing Subjects ....................................................................................13 Analyzing Results .................................................................................13 Determination of Significance...............................................................13 Communicating Results. .......................................................................13 Replication ........................................................................................... 14 Scope of Research.................................................................................14 National Innovative Capacity: Modeling, Measuring and Comparing National Capacities ...............................................................................14 Designing Efficient Incentive Systems for Invention and Innovation: Intellectual Property Rights, Prizes, Public Subsidies .........15 Research in EPFL Labs: New Economics of Science.............................15 New R&D Methods and the Production of Reliable Knowledge in Sectors which Lagged Behind ...............................................................16 New Models of Innovation: Open, Distributed Systems and the Role of Users ................................................................................................ 17 Other Issues to be Developed ................................................................18 Limitations of Research ........................................................................18 Purposes of Research ............................................................................18 Data Management .................................................................................18 Data Analysis ........................................................................................ 19 Types of Research .................................................................................21 Historical Research in Physical Activity................................................21 Meta-analysis........................................................................................ 24 Descriptive Research ............................................................................46 Physical Activity Epidemiology Research .............................................51 Experimental Research .........................................................................51 Quasi-Experiment Research ..................................................................57 Chapter 2 Quantitative and Qualitative Research .......................................... 59 Quantitative Research ...........................................................................59 Statistics in Quantitative Research ........................................................60 Measurement in Quantitative Research .................................................61 Quantitative Methods ............................................................................62 Quantitative Research Design ...............................................................62 Quantitative Data Analysis ....................................................................67 Qualitative Research .............................................................................74 Primary Data: Qualitative versus Quantitative Research ........................77 The Nature of Qualitative Research.......................................................78 Rationale for Using Qualitative Research ..............................................79 Philosophy and Qualitative Research ....................................................81 Ethnographic Research .........................................................................88 Grounded Theory ..................................................................................94 vii Action Research....................................................................................98 Chapter 3 Research Process ............................................................................. 103 The Process of Social Research ........................................................... 103 Formulating the Research Problem...................................................... 105 Conceptualizing the Problem .............................................................. 105 The Logic of Research ........................................................................ 107 The Nature of Argumentation.............................................................. 108 Some Comments ................................................................................. 110 Inductive and Deductive Reasoning .................................................... 110 The JFK Example ............................................................................... 111 Some Definitions ................................................................................ 113 Inductive Generalization and Retroductive Inference .......................... 114 Concluding Remarks........................................................................... 114 Types of Reasoning in Social Research ............................................... 115 Example: Giorgi’s Study on Religious Involvement in Secularised