Data Collection 1: From Concepts to Variables
Direct Quote
 Michael Whitworth convincingly argues that the Chief
Inspector’s name in The Secret Agent is indeed a telling name:
it “direct[s] the reader’s attention towards ideas and images
connected with heat”, more particularly with entropy (40).
 Related Works Cited item:
Whitworth, Michael. “Inspector Heat Inspected: The Secret Agent
and the Meanings of Entropy.” The Review of English Studies
49.123 (Feb 1998): 40-59. JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/518002?uid=3738216&
uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101097500583.
Whitworth, Michael. “Inspector Heat Inspected: The Secret Agent
and the Meanings of Entropy.” The Review of English Studies
49.123 (Feb 1998): 40-59. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.
Indirect Quote
 Michael Whitworth convincingly argues that the Chief Inspector’s
name in The Secret Agent is indeed a telling name: it calls the
reader’s attention to the fact that the novel comments on the notion
of entropy as understood in Conrad’s time (40).
 Related Works Cited item:
Whitworth, Michael. “Inspector Heat Inspected: The Secret Agent and
the Meanings of Entropy.” The Review of English Studies 49.123
(Feb 1998): 40-59. JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/518002?uid=3738216&uid=2
&uid=4&sid=21101097500583.
Whitworth, Michael. “Inspector Heat Inspected: The Secret Agent and
the Meanings of Entropy.” The Review of English Studies 49.123
(Feb 1998): 40-59. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.
Revision: the Working Hypothesis
 It is a statement that needs support
 It focuses on the research problem
 It is original
 It clearly identifies the object of the research
 It implies the method of the research
 It is phrased in clear-cut, theoretical concepts
Exercise: Acceptable and
Unacceptable Working Hypothesis
1)
2)
3)
4)
Fyodor Sologub’s The Petty Demon
Fyodor Sologub’s The Petty Demon (1905) is a Russian Symbolist
novel.
In Fyodor Sologub’s The Petty Demon (1905) the main character’s
social and mental status does not correspond to the historical facts
about small-town Russian secondary-school teachers at the turn of
the century.
Thesis: Fyodor Sologub’s The Petty Demon (1905) is a case study
of the Symbolist world-view as a generator of paranoid reading à
la Roland Barthes.
Chapter: In Fyodor Sologub’s The Petty Demon (1905) the main
character’s paranoia is a representation of the reading practice and
epistemology inherent in the Symbolist concept of the world.
Concepts versus Variables
 Concepts
 Subjective
 Hard or impossible to measure
 Not operational
e.g. Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses is a scandalous book.
 Variables
 Can be measured
 Objective
 Operational
e.g. demonstrations against the book, life attempts at Rushdie,
published negative criticism (in all kinds of media)
Handout 1: Converting concepts into variables
Typology of Variables
 According to
 Causal relationships
 The design of the study
 The unit of measurement
Variables and Causation
1) Change/Independent variables
2) Outcome/Dependent variables
3) Extraneous variables: affect the link
4) Connecting/Linking/Intervening variables: provide the
link
Malfunctioning
mother figure
-Malfunctioning
father figure
- Loss of the
father
Narcissistic
personality
disorder
Variables and the Study Plan
1) Active variables – can be controlled, changed,
manipulated
2) Attributive variables – given, cannot be changed or
controlled
e.g. testing different research methods
Variables and the Unit of
Measurement
1) Categorical
a) Constant
b) Dichotomous
c) Polytomous
2) Continuous
e.g. age, income
OR:
1) Qualitative
2) Quantitative
Types of Measurement Scale
Nominal or classificatory
1)
-
Classification into groups
Based on a shared quality/attribute
Ordinal or ranking
- classification into groups
- groups arranged in ascending or descending order
3) Interval
- classification into groups
- groups arranged in ascending or descending order
- equally spaced intervals between the groups
4) Ratio
- classification into groups
- groups arranged in ascending or descending order
- equally spaced intervals between the groups
- fixed zero point, allows for mathematical operations
Handout 2: the four measurement scales
2)
The Research Design
 Conceptualisation of the research problem, hypothesis
 Breaking down the concepts into variables
 Choice of data collection method/technique
 Designing a research tool
Handout 3: Types of study design
Works Consulted
2011. évi CCIV. törvény a nemzeti felsőoktatásról. Magyar Közlöny 165
(2011): 41181-247.
Babbie, Earl. A társadalomtudományi kutatás gyakorlata. Trans. Kende
Gábor and Szaitz Mariann. 5th edition. Budapest: Balassi, 2000.
Eco, Umberto. Hogyan írjunk szakdolgozatot? Trans. Klukon Beatrix.
Budapest: Gondolat, 1992.
Gőcze István. A tudományelmélet és kutatásmódszertan alapjai.
Budapest: ZMNE, 2010.
Gyurgyák János. Szerkesztők és szerzők kézikönyve. Budapest: Osiris,
2003.
Kumar, Ranjit. Research Methodology. London: Sage Publications,
2005.
Majoros Pál. A kutatásmódszertan alapjai. Budapest: Perfekt, 2010.