Elements of research

this topics discuss about various elements of research

1. ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH AFEEFUREHMAN VALIYAT UNIVEFRSITY OF CALICUT

2. . CONCEPTS CONSTRUCT VARIABLES QUALITAVE RSEARCH QUANTITATIVE

3. CONCEPT A concept is a term that expresses an abstract idea formed by generalizing from particulars and summarizing related observations.  Concepts are based on our experiences. Concepts can be based on real phenomena and are a generalized idea of something of meaning. Examples of concepts include common demographic measures: Income, Age, Education Level, Number of Siblings. We can measure concepts through direct and indirect observations.

4. . Direct Observation:  We can measure someone's weight or height. And, we can record the color of their hair or eyes. Indirect Observation:  We can use a questionnaire in which respondents provide answers to our questions about gender, income, age, attitudes, and behaviors .

5. . Concepts are important for at least two reasons. First, they simplify the research process by combining particular characteristics, objects, or people into general categories. For example, a researcher may study families that own computers, modems, MP3 players, cell phones, and DVD or Blue-Ray machines. To make it easier to describe these families, the researcher calls them “Taffies” and categorizes them under the concept of “technologically advanced families.”

6. . Second, concepts simplify communication among those who have a shared understanding of them. Researchers use concepts to organize their observations into meaningful summaries and to transmit this information others. Researchers who use the concept of “agenda setting” to describe a complicated set of audience and media activities find that their colleagues understand what is being discussed. Note that people must share an understanding of a concept for the concept to be useful. For example, when teenagers use the word emo to describe a person, most of their peers understand perfectly what is meant by the concept, although adults may not.

7. CONSTRUCT  Constructs exist at a higher level of abstraction than concepts. A construct is a combination of concepts. Justice , Beauty, Happiness, and Health are all constructs. Constructs are considered latent variable because they cannot be directly observable or measured. Typical constructs in marketing research include Brand Loyalty, Purchase Intent, and Customer Satisfaction. Constructs are the basis of working hypotheses.

8. . For example, the construct “involvement” has been used in many advertising studies (search the Internet for “advertising involvement”). Advertising involvement is a construct that is difficult to see directly, and it includes the concepts of attention, interest, and arousal. Researchers can observe only its likely or presumed manifestations. In some contexts, involvement means a subject’s involvement with the product; in others, it refers to involvement with the message or even with the medium. Its precise meaning depends on the research context.

9. VARIABLE The empirical counterpart of construct and concept is also called as variable. Variables are measurements that are free to vary. Variable can be divided into  Independent Variables  or  Dependent Variables . A dependent variable changes in response to changes in the independent variable or variables.

10. . Variables are important because they link the empirical world with the theoretical; they are the phenomena and events that are measured or manipulated in research. Variables can have more than one value along a continuum. For example, the variable “satisfaction with pay-per-view TV programs” can take on different values—a person can be satisfied a lot, a little, or not at all—reflecting in the empirical world what the concept “satisfaction with pay-per-view TV programs” represents in the theoretical world.

11. INDEPENDENT VARIABLE Independent variables are systematically varied by the researcher. These variables are ones that are more or less controlled. Scientific manipulate these variables as they see fit. They still vary, but the variation is relatively known or taken in to account.

12. . Independent variables are systematically varied by the researcher. An independent variable that represents a quantity that is being manipulated in an experiment.

13. DEPENTENT VARIABLES Dependent variables are observed and their values are presumed to depend on the effects (influence) of the independent variables. In other words, the dependent variable is what the researcher wishes to explain. Dependent variables are not controlled or manipulated in any way, but instead are simply measured and registered. These vary in relation to the Independent variables, and while results can be predicted, the data is always measured.

14. DISCRETE VARIABLE & CONTINUOS VARIABLE Two forms of variables are used in mass media investigation.

15. DISCRETE VARIABLE Discrete variable is a type of statistical variable that can assume only fixed number of distinct values and lacks an inherent order. These are results gathered by counting things in whole numbers.

16. . For example, the number of children in a family is a discrete variable because the unit is a person. It does not make much sense to talk about a family size of 2.24 because it is hard to conceptualize 0.24 of a person. Political affiliation, population, and gender are other discrete variables

17. CONTINUOUS VARIABLE Definition of Continuous variable, as the name suggest is a random variable that assumes all the possible values in a continuum. Simply put, it can take any value within the given range. So, if a variable can take an infinite and uncountable set of values, then the variable is referred as a continuous variable

18. . Continuous random variables are usually measurement. Example :- Height, weight, the amount of sugar in an orange, the time required to run a mile.

19. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative research involves several methods of data collection, such as focus groups, field observation, in-depth interviews, and case studies. In all of these methods, the questioning approach is varied. In other words, although the researcher enters the project with a specific set of questions, follow-up questions are developed as needed. The variables in qualitative research may or may not be measured or quantified.

20. . Collecting data consisting largely words(text)or image. Description and analysis of words. Conduct and inquiry in subjective, biased manner. Collecting info from a small number individuals or sites.

21. . 1. Qualitative research uses smaller samples of subjects or respondents. 2. Because of the small sample size, results from qualitative research could not be generalized to the population from which the samples were drawn.

22. ADVANTAGES The methods allow a researcher to view behavior in a natural setting without the artificiality that sometimes surrounds experimental or survey research. Qualitative techniques can increase a researcher’s depth of understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. Qualitative methods are flexible and allow the researcher to pursue new areas of interest.

23. DISADVANTAGES Sample sizes are sometimes too small (sometimes as small as one) to allow the researcher to generalize the data beyond the sample selected for the particular study. For this reason, qualitative research is often the preliminary step to further investigation rather than the final phase of a project. Data reliability can also be a problem, since single observers are describing unique events. Because a person conducting qualitative research must become closely involved the respondents, it is possible to lose objectivity when collecting data.

24. QUANTITATIVE Quantitative research also involves several methods of data collection, such as telephone surveys, mail surveys, and Internet surveys. In these methods, the questioning is static or standardized—all respondents are asked the same questions and there is no opportunity for follow-up questions. Description of trends or an explanation of variables, relations. Collecting info from a large number of individuals.

25. ADVANTAGES Use of numbers allows greater precision in reporting results. For example, the Violence Index ( Gerbner , Gross, Morgan & Signorielli , 1980), a quantitative measuring device, makes it possible to report the exact increase or decrease in violence from one television season to another, whereas qualitative research could report only whether there was more or less violence.

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