The Research
Problem
Source of Problem: Ideas from
EXRERIENCE
 Your
intuitions are unscientific until
empirically tested.
 Psychological biases can lead to distorted
beliefs.
 INDUCTION
What is a THEORY?
 Based
on hypothesis
 Backed by evidence
 Is testable
Psychology: theories are used to provide a
model for understanding human thoughts,
emotions and behaviors.
Source of Problem:
Deductions from Theory
 What
relationship between variables will
appear if I use ____________ Theory?
How to use a THEORY as a source
in research

Test a theory: do implicit theories of intelligence
have a relationship with imposter feelings?

Compare theories: Which best explains imposter
feelings: implicit theories of intelligence, theories of
personality or social cognitive theory? ALL?

Extend an established theory to a new outcome
or phenomenon: can implicit theories of
intelligence help us explain imposter feelings ?

Apply a theory to change behavior: can I create
instructions that relieve imposter feelings for
women during statistics?
Source of Problem: Related
Literature
 Building
on literature
 Agree or disagree
 Answer questions
 Gap in the literature
Evaluating the Problem
 Who
cares?
 Is it researchable?
 Is it ethically appropriate?
Qualitative Research Problem
 General
purpose-focus of inquiry.
 Qualitative researchers may formulate
problems after collecting the some data.
Quantitative Research
Problem
 Clarifies
exactly what is to be
investigated.
 Asks about a relationship between two or
more variables.
Identifying Populations
 Be
specific
 Italians are not all the same
Identifying Variables to test a
hypothesis
 Cause:
Independent Variable (IV)
 Effect: Dependent Variable (DP)
The researcher manipulates the IV and
measures the DV to test the hypothesis.
Question:
 What
factors are related to greater
persistence through the BS degree for
underrepresented minority students
studying engineering at a minority serving
institution?
Literature tells us
 Variables
that predict student persistence
in undergraduate education include
academic and social integration in the
institution of higher education, generally,
and the academic program, specifically
(Tinto, 1993; Braxton, 1999)
EXERCISE
A group of first year psychology college students
were given a short course in speed-reading. The
instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would
influence performance on a reading test taken at
the end of the course. Half the students were
offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of
performance on the test, the other half were not
offered money.
Independent Variable:
Dependent Variable:
Operationalizing a variable



Some variables are easy to operationalize; e.g., the
effect of a drug dose on hypertension.

IV = drug dose

DV = blood pressure, serum measure, etc.
Some constructs have diverging operational definitions.

How do you operationally define “stress”?

…motivation?
Some domains may not be operationalizable.

“Spirituality”? “Happiness”?
Variable Classifications
 Discrete
= one specific value.
 Continuous = can fall within a nearly
infinite set of numbers within some limits.
 Nominal = simply a category name so it
can not be given any quantitative
properties.
 Ordinal (ranked)= the numeric value
indicates the relationships among the
data (first, fifth, etc.)
The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer
heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer
heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer
fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.
The Italians drink lots of red wine and suffer fewer
heart attacks than the British or Americans.
Conclusion: Eat & drink
what you like.
It's speaking English that
kills you!
ORGANIZING THE LITERATURE
Commercial Tools
Available

• Endnote – Research Manager – ProCite
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Advantages
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Store references for later use
Direct access to or import from electronic
searches
Interact with Microsoft Word
Store electronic abstracts or link to full PDFs
Disadvantages
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Expensive
Difficult to learn
Time consuming in the short-term
Database Alternatives
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Create a review document or chart
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Track important information
Quick summary of articles
Show article characteristics
Use Microsoft Excel
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Readily available
Convenient format for review
Easy to sort & prioritize
ERIC
o
Determine keywords
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o
Population
Variables
Check ERIC thesaurus for descriptors