Scientific Education Program
(SEP)
Prof. Dr. Vahap Ozan Kotan
Learning Objectives
 To classify the types of scientific articles
 To list the differences between the types of scientific articles
 To learn how to do a literature review
 To explain the concept of a research project
 To explain how to establish a scientific hypothesis
 To establish a scientific hypothesis
 To list the basic tools and methods to test the hypothesis
Designing Scientific Projects
 Research methods
 Determining the research topic and literature review
What is knowledge?
 Knowledge is a complex concept that contains many different meanings
depending on the context and perspective studied.
 Knowledge is the name given to the totality of facts and principles
obtained as a result of learning, research or observation.
Types of knowledge
 Technical Knowledge
 Art Knowledge
 Philosophical Knowledge
 Everyday (Empirical) Knowledge
 Scientific Knowledge
What is the difference between
information and knowledge?
 Knowledge is awareness, understanding, or skill that you get from
experience or education.
 Information is the facts or details of a subject.
 They are related: Knowledge is the knowing of something, and information
is what you can (or can't) know.
Data
 Facts, figures or statistics collected together for reference or analysis.
 An example of data is information collected for a research paper.
Science
 Science is the totality of knowledge that has been proven, validated, objective,
logical, generalizable, organized, or systematic as a result of research.
 Science is an attempt to reconcile sense data (perceptions) that are devoid of
any order and logically orderly thinking.
Albert Einstein
 Science is the activity of using scientific research methods to answer questions
about the natural world and to produce valid and reliable generalizations and
explanations that are open to everyone's examination.
William F. McComas
(Professor at Science Teaching and Education at University of Arkansas)
The basic functions of science
 Understanding
 Explanation
 Control
Büyüköztürk et al.,2013; Karasar,2012
 Understanding
It is the recognition of existing things individually or in relationships, learning their
detailed features. It answers the question “What is it?”
 Explanation
It is the explanation of the reasons related to the situation after defining the current
situation as it is. It answers the question “Why?”
 Control
It aims to transfer the information produced with the functions of understanding
and explanation to applications, and to control natural and social events.
Research
 Research is the process of collecting data in a planned and systematic manner
within the framework of scientific methods,
analyzing and interpreting the obtained data and reporting the results
in order to make improvements on a subject, reveal the unknown or solve
problems.
Scientific knowledge
&
Scientific research
 Scientific knowledge is what we learn from the scientific process, which
involves experimenting and collecting data.
 Scientific research is the collecting of data to investigate and explain a
phenomenon.
Research Approaches
 Quantitative approach
 Qualitative approach
Research Approaches
 Qualitative Research is a type of research in which qualitative data collection
methods such as observation, interview and document analysis are used, and
a process is followed to present perceptions and events in a realistic and
holistic way in a natural environment.
 Quantitative Research is a type of research that objectifies facts and events
and presents them in an observable, measurable and numerically expressible
way.
Types of Research
The classification of Büyüköztürk et al. (2013);
Descriptive
Scanning
Historical
Ethnographic
Relational
Interventional
Correlational
Experimental
Causal comparison
Types of Research
 Descriptive studies
Describe a given situation as completely and carefully as possible.
 Correlational studies
Studies that examine relationships and connections.
 Intervention studies
A specific method or treatment is expected to affect one or more outcomes.
Types of Research
Karasar (2012)'s classification;
 Basic Research
They produce information aimed at theory development. The aim of these
researches is to add new information to existing information. The
understanding of "information for information's sake" is fundamental.
 Applied Research
These are researches that aim to realize the actual solution of the problem
and to realize the function of science to control events by evaluating the
information produced.
Scientific research
 It is the process of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating and
reporting data in a planned and systematic way in order to find reliable
solutions to problems.
Variable
 Characteristics that differ from one situation to another and from
observation to observation are called "variables".
Types of variables
 If a variable's feature can be explained in terms of numbers and quantities,
it is called a quantitative variable. (e.g. height, weight, etc.)
 If a variable's feature can be classified, it is called a qualitative variable.
Qualitative variables are also known as categorical variables. (e.g. gender,
education status, etc.)
Contiuous & Discrete variables
 Continuous variables can take an infinite number of values between two
measurements (e.g. height, exam score, etc.)
 Variables that can take a limited number of values related to the measured
characteristic are called discrete variables. (e.g. gender, education status,
etc.)
Independent & Dependent variables
If variables are in a cause-effect relationship, they are classified as
independent and dependent variables.
 The independent variable is the variable that the researcher wants to test
the effect on the dependent variable.
 The dependent variable is the variable whose effect the independent
variable is examined on.
Example: In a study testing the effectiveness of a
treatment method used in the treatment of cough;
 Independent variable
Treatment method used
 Dependent variable
Recovery status of flu disease
Designing scientific projects
Literature review
 A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic.
 It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify
relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can
later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic.
What are the 4 parts of literature review?
 It helps to deconstruct the literature review into a four-part process,
including:
1) Developing a Topic
2) Searching the Literature
3) Narrowing the Scope
4) Synthesizing Prior Research
 Literature reviews also must contain at least three basic elements: an
introduction or background information section; the body of the review
containing the discussion of sources; and, finally, a conclusion and/or
recommendations section to end the paper.
Literature sources
 Research for your literature review can be categorised as either primary or
secondary in nature.
 The simplest definition of primary sources is either original information (such as
survey data) or a first person account of an event (such as an interview
transcript).
 Whereas secondary sources are any published or unpublished works that
describe, summarise, analyse, evaluate, interpret or review primary source
materials.
 Secondary sources can incorporate primary sources to support their arguments.
Primary and secondary literature sources
 Ideally, good research should use a combination of both primary and secondary
sources.
 For example, if a researcher were to investigate the introduction of a law and the
impacts it had on a community, he/she might look at the transcripts of the
parliamentary debates as well as the parliamentary commentary and news
reporting surrounding the laws at the time.
Plagiarism (İntihal, Eser hırsızlığı)
Types of hypotheses
The seven types of hypotheses are listed below:
1. Simple: Predicts the relationship between a single dependent variable and a single
independent variable.
 Example: Exercising in the morning every day will increase your productivity.
2. Complex: Predicts the relationship between two or more variables.
 Example: Spending three hours or more on social media daily will negatively affect
children’s mental health and productivity, more than that of adults.
3. Directional: Specifies the expected direction to be followed and uses terms like increase,
decrease, positive, negative, more, or less.
 Example: The inclusion of intervention X decreases infant mortality compared to the original
treatment.
Types of hypotheses
4. Non-directional: Does not predict the exact direction, nature, or magnitude of the relationship between two
variables but rather states the existence of a relationship. This hypothesis may be used when there is no
underlying theory or if findings contradict prior research.
 Example: Cats and dogs differ in the amount of affection they express.
5. Associative and causal: An associative hypothesis suggests an interdependency between variables, that is,
how a change in one variable changes the other.
 Example: There is a positive association between physical activity levels and overall health.
A causal hypothesis, on the other hand, expresses a cause-and-effect association between variables.
 Example: Long-term alcohol use causes liver damage.
6. Null: Claims that the original hypothesis is false by showing that there is no relationship between the
variables.
 Example: Sleep duration does not have any effect on productivity.
7. Alternative: States the opposite of the null hypothesis, that is, a relationship exists between two variables.
 Example: Sleep duration affects productivity.
Characteristics of a hypothesis
What makes a good hypothesis? Here are important characteristics of a good hypothesis;

Testable: You must be able to test the hypothesis using scientific methods to either
accept or reject the prediction.

Falsifiable: It should be possible to collect data that reject rather than support the
hypothesis.

Logical: Hypotheses shouldn’t be a random guess but rather should be based on
previous theories, observations, prior research, and logical reasoning.
Characteristics of a hypothesis

Positive: The hypothesis statement about the existence of an association should be
positive, that is, it should not suggest that an association does not exist. Therefore, the
language used and knowing how to phrase a hypothesis is important.

Clear and accurate: The language used should be easily comprehensible and use
correct terminology.

Relevant: The hypothesis should be relevant and specific to the research question.

Structure: Should include all the elements that make a good hypothesis: variables,
relationship, and outcome.
Research articles
How many types of articles are in research?
 Although it may appear there are a large number of types of articles published due
to the wide variety of names they are published under, most articles published are
one of the following types;
Original Research (Original Article)
Review Article
Short report or Letter
Case Study
Original research article
 Original research articles are the most common type of journal article. They're detailed
studies reporting new work and are classified as primary literature.
 Research articles are highly valued in the scientific community, as these are the
primary source of new knowledge and discoveries.
 Original research is the link between discoveries in the laboratory or other settings and
the scientific community.
 Writing such a paper requires a lot of time and resources, this should be considered
before opting for this type of research.
Review article
 A review article can also be called a literature review, or a review of literature. It is a
survey of previously published research on a topic.
 Review articles are an attempt to summarize the current state of understanding on
a topic.
 A review article re-presents previously published material, rather that reporting new
facts or analysis.
 Literature reviews provide a summary of what the authors believe are the best and
most relevant prior publications.
 Systematic reviews determine an objective list of criteria, and find all previously
published original experimental papers that meet the criteria; they then compare
the results presented in these papers.
Letter or short report
 Letters or short reports (sometimes known as brief communications or rapid
communications) are brief reports of data from original research.
 Editors publish these reports where they believe the data will be interesting
to many researchers and could stimulate further research in the field.
Case study
 A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or
cases) within a real-world context.
 For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or
disease.
 Generally, a case study can highlight nearly any individual, group,
organization, event, belief system, or action.
 A case study does not necessarily have to be one observation (N=1), but may
include many observations (one or multiple individuals and entities across
multiple time periods, all within the same case study).
 Research projects involving numerous cases are frequently called cross-case
research, whereas a study of a single case is called within-case research.