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| Types of Research Methods and Sources of Information |
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"It's not clear whether I should get all my information out of the published literature or else conduct an opinion survey or maybe do an experiment." The two activities inspected in this chapter are those of identifying (a) popular research methods and (b) ways of gathering information for answering research questions. The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section introduces guide questions for four hypothetical studies that graduate students might plan. The second section--by far the longest--describes diverse methods of collecting information to answer research questions. The final section tells which of those methods we think might be suitable for answering the guide questions posed for the four studies in Section 1.The chapter's structure, in effect, offers you the same experience researchers may have when they are deciding which methods of data collection are best suited for answering their focal questions. Therefore, you may wish to read the chapter in this manner: (a) in Section 1, note the guide questions for the four envisioned studies, (b) keep those questions in mind as you survey the methods in Section 2, so as to estimate which approach would likely produce convincing answers to which question, and (c) in Section 3 compare your decisions about suitable methods with the ones we suggest for the four studies. SPECIFYING THE DESIRED DATA As already noted, the key to the information you need is the set of questions your research is designed to answer. In way of illustration, consider the questions posed in four envisioned projects. As already noted, the key to the information you need is the set of questions your research is designed to answer. In way of illustration, consider the questions posed in four envisioned projects. Project title 1: One Size Fits All: State and Federal Legislators' Solutions for Students' Unsatisfactory School Achievement Guide questions: • How do educational experts (teachers, school psychologists, researchers) diagnose and treat students' problems of unsatisfactory achievement? • How do legislators, as reflected in laws they pass, propose that students' unsatisfactory achievement be diagnosed and treated? • How well do the solutions recommended by educational experts match the solutions proposed by legislators? Project title 2: Destined to Preach the Gospel: A Social-psychological Study Guide questions: • What factors in the life of the Reverend Delevon Johnson determined that he would become a lifelong missionary in Africa? • How did the causal factors in the Reverend Johnson's life compare with those in other African missionaries' lives? Project title 3: The Comparative Effectiveness of Same-Sex Therapists Versus Opposite-Sex Therapists with Teenage Drug Users Guide question: • In counseling teenage drug users to stop using illicit drugs, is greater success achieved when the counselor is of the same sex as the client than when the counselor is of the opposite sex? Project title 4: The Dynamics of Choosing Candidates to Run for Political Office in Adams County Guide questions: • Who were the candidates that ran for political office in Adams County over the past 12 years? • What other individuals were potential candidates but were not selected to run? • By what processes were candidates selected to run for different offices? • What inferences can be drawn about those processes' effect on the quality of political office holders in Adams County? |
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