Research – week 1
Research question
Ch. 1.1.4
− The question that needs to be answered by the research itself
− Needs to be clear so the client knows what exactly to expect
Ch. 1.2.1
Open / closed research question
Open research question
− Subjects give their own new ideas and insights
− Qualitative research
Closed research questions
− Interviewer poses the same question to the large group of people
− Quantitative research
Ch. 1.2.2
Qualitative / Quantitative analysis
Qualitative research
− Research in which situations, events, and persons are described and interpreted by way of
qualitative data, such as experiences and opinions and descriptions
− primarily about gaining new insights and less about numerical proven facts
− basis for the analysis in qualitative research is written out versions of interviews and
observations
− Why do our customers visit our website? Which blogs are interesting to our readers?
− Verifiability is important - the qualitative researcher still has to indicate what data his
conclusions are based on, these conclusions need to be plausible and your method needs to
be transparent
− PROs: Better insight into the issue, high involvement of the respondent, interviewer can use
follow-up questions to get additional information, high response rate
− CONs: Expensive, analysis and reporting of results is time-intensive, relatively few
respondents, relatively difficult to organize data
Quantitative research
− Research in which numerical data are analysed by means of statistics in order to answer the
research question.
− You already know what answers to expect
− You know prior to the data collection which questions you will ask or what the categories for
observation are
− Data are gathered with the use of questionnaires, or existing data is used
, − Needs to be replicable - written in such a way to enable someone else to reproduce your
research, this implies that it is clear how you found your subjects and which research
instruments you used
− How do our visitors rate our website?
− PROs: Reliable conclusions about large groups, possibility of comparing research results, able
to process data with special software
− CONs: Low involvement of respondents, low response, obtained information is not in-depth,
limited options for answers
Ch. 1.4
What is known about the topic?
- Precedes the research question
- Is the thought process that comes before it
- There are two possibilities for preparing for research:
o Preliminary research
▪ Research around the problem itself
o Literature search
▪ Why should you do lit research?
• To obtain information on:
o The definition and measurement of constructs
▪ it becomes apparent how others have
operationalized the characteristics you want to
research and especially how they are measured
o Developing a research design
▪ how other people have gone about designing and
doing their research study as well as what their
experiences are
▪ In discussions the research methods are often
evaluated, and suggestions are made regarding
future research
o Developing a theory
▪ when trying to find a theory that explains the
phenomena that you will be researching it is
important to research literature sources
▪ finding different explanations for specific occurences
- How to find relevant literature?
o Find good keywords using thesaurus
▪ Use alternative and associative terms
o Search for relevant articles in search engines
▪ Do not use general search engines
▪ Instead use google scholar to find relevant publications
▪ Do a critical review:
• The date of publication
• The authority of the source
• Whether sources contradict or confirm their findings
Research question
Ch. 1.1.4
− The question that needs to be answered by the research itself
− Needs to be clear so the client knows what exactly to expect
Ch. 1.2.1
Open / closed research question
Open research question
− Subjects give their own new ideas and insights
− Qualitative research
Closed research questions
− Interviewer poses the same question to the large group of people
− Quantitative research
Ch. 1.2.2
Qualitative / Quantitative analysis
Qualitative research
− Research in which situations, events, and persons are described and interpreted by way of
qualitative data, such as experiences and opinions and descriptions
− primarily about gaining new insights and less about numerical proven facts
− basis for the analysis in qualitative research is written out versions of interviews and
observations
− Why do our customers visit our website? Which blogs are interesting to our readers?
− Verifiability is important - the qualitative researcher still has to indicate what data his
conclusions are based on, these conclusions need to be plausible and your method needs to
be transparent
− PROs: Better insight into the issue, high involvement of the respondent, interviewer can use
follow-up questions to get additional information, high response rate
− CONs: Expensive, analysis and reporting of results is time-intensive, relatively few
respondents, relatively difficult to organize data
Quantitative research
− Research in which numerical data are analysed by means of statistics in order to answer the
research question.
− You already know what answers to expect
− You know prior to the data collection which questions you will ask or what the categories for
observation are
− Data are gathered with the use of questionnaires, or existing data is used
, − Needs to be replicable - written in such a way to enable someone else to reproduce your
research, this implies that it is clear how you found your subjects and which research
instruments you used
− How do our visitors rate our website?
− PROs: Reliable conclusions about large groups, possibility of comparing research results, able
to process data with special software
− CONs: Low involvement of respondents, low response, obtained information is not in-depth,
limited options for answers
Ch. 1.4
What is known about the topic?
- Precedes the research question
- Is the thought process that comes before it
- There are two possibilities for preparing for research:
o Preliminary research
▪ Research around the problem itself
o Literature search
▪ Why should you do lit research?
• To obtain information on:
o The definition and measurement of constructs
▪ it becomes apparent how others have
operationalized the characteristics you want to
research and especially how they are measured
o Developing a research design
▪ how other people have gone about designing and
doing their research study as well as what their
experiences are
▪ In discussions the research methods are often
evaluated, and suggestions are made regarding
future research
o Developing a theory
▪ when trying to find a theory that explains the
phenomena that you will be researching it is
important to research literature sources
▪ finding different explanations for specific occurences
- How to find relevant literature?
o Find good keywords using thesaurus
▪ Use alternative and associative terms
o Search for relevant articles in search engines
▪ Do not use general search engines
▪ Instead use google scholar to find relevant publications
▪ Do a critical review:
• The date of publication
• The authority of the source
• Whether sources contradict or confirm their findings
