GS/PPAL 6200 3.00 Section N
Research Methods and Information
Systems
January 6, 2015
Professor Brenda Spotton Visano
Office: 130 McLaughlin
Voice Mail: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20470
E-mail: spotton@yorku.ca
Agenda
• Introduction to the course
– Prerequisites, Objectives, Delivery, Requirements,
Evaluation
• Introduction to each other
• Introduction to Research Methods
– Language Of Research
• Types of Questions, Time in Research, Types of
Relationships, Variables, Hypotheses, Types of Data, Unit of
Analysis, Two Research Fallacies (to be read on own)
– What do we know?
• Evidence, Data, Perspective: Video clips, Fallacies
Introduction to the course
• Specific Requirements
• Numeracy skills, familiarity with spreadsheet software
• Primary Learning Objective
• to increase basic skills in the collection, analysis,
interpretation and presentation of information that can
inform public sector decisions.
• Principal Modes of Delivery
• Lecture, small group work, individual group work
• Evaluation
• Three assignments with an optional 4th assignment
Introduction to each other
•
•
•
•
Our public sector interests
Our wish list for a “successful” course
Questionnaire
Public sector research problems and research
methods we (hope to) engage in
Learning Outcomes
• Understand the role and process of research in contemporary
public policy development
• Understand key concepts in research
• Apply critical analytical skills to published research
• Understand the application, value and limits of quantitative and
qualitative research methodologies and techniques / tools
• Develop skills in devising and designing research methods suitable
for different policy contexts and for rigorous analysis
• Provide a grounding in ethical issues related to:
– academic research
– the role of the public servant as a custodian of data and information
balancing the public’s right to know against the personal data and
information which an individual citizen has a right to be kept
confidential
Achieving Learning Outcomes
• Basic user familiarity requires familiarity with
–
–
–
–
–
–
research ethics
existing data sets
the collection of qualitative and quantitative data
data measurement
sampling
advantages and disadvantages of different research
methods
– descriptive and inferential statistics
Introductions to Basics
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intres.php
Read Trochim’s “Foundations” (above) to review
the vocabulary and basic concepts of
research…
1. Research Questions: Descriptive, Relations, Causal
2. Relationships: Correlational or Causal? None, Positive, or
Negative?
3. Data: Types, Units of analyses
4. Research Philosophies
5. Structure, Components of Research Studies
Evidence, Data, and Perspective
• http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosl
ing_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_wo
rld
• http://nupge.ca/content/2467/ccpa-videohighlights-growing-gap-incomes
Reasoning
• (1) All men are mortal. (2) Socrates is a man.
Therefore:(3) Socrates is mortal.
• (1) Every day to date the law of gravity has
held. Therefore: (2) The law of gravity will hold
tomorrow.
• Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
Quotes for Class Discussion
• “All quantitative data [are] based on
qualitative judgments; and all qualitative data
can be described and manipulated
numerically.”
• Fallacies...
Fallacies
from http://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logical-fallacies
• if I am skeptical about the existence of alien
visitors, I must also be skeptical of the existence
of the Great Wall of China, since I have not
personally seen either
• I was sick, I took a treatment, and now I am
better, therefore the treatment made me better.
• If I claim that all Scotsman are brave, and you
provide a counter example of a Scotsman who is
clearly a coward, I might respond, “Well, then,
he’s no true Scotsman.”
Fallacies (cont’d)
• 1990’s both religious attendance and illegal drug
use have been on the rise
• evolution must be wrong because if it were true it
would lead to immorality
• Men on average have more years of formal
education than women. I am a woman, therefore
I have less education than the average man.
• I cannot speak a second language. I am a woman.
Therefore all women cannot speak more than
one language.
Parting Questions
• What do we know? How do we know what we
know? How do we discover what we don’t
know?
• Does interpretation play a role in research? Is
the researcher independent of the research
subject or does the background (education,
beliefs, values) of the researcher influence
what is observed?