Research Methodological Designs Carolette R. Norwood, PhD University of Cincinnati Some of the presentation content is taken from Neumann 2003.

Topic: HIV and African American women  Prior research: Barriers to HIV testing (mainly focus on individuals who have not been tested)  This project: Focuses on individual that have been tested.  Research goal: To understand why people (who have been tested) decide to get tested?

 Topic: HIV and African American women  Two studies: 1) Pilot study UC students  I’m evaluating conventional factors such as knowledge, self-efficacy, risk perception, and non-conventional factors such as HIV conspiracy belief and Identity salience on the odds of having had an HIV test.  Does high perception of risk, self-efficacy and knowledge of HIV increase the odds of having had an HIV test? 2) Community wide (Research questions:  I’m interested in understanding why women decide to get tested for HIV and AIDS.  Phase I What was the process like before deciding to get tested; how long did you contemplate getting tested; why did you follow-through; why did you choose a volunteer testing site; and why now?  Phase II Does high perception of risk, self-efficacy and knowledge of HIV increase the odds of having had an HIV test?

Research Methodological Designs The goal and the ubiquity of the scientific approach  Classify/Categorize  Predict/Forecast  Explain Research Question  Research Question  Research Design  Theory/Prior Research   Theory/Prior Research  Research Question  Research Design

Research Methodological Designs Methodological Wars  Qualitative, Quantitative and the Mix-Method Alliance Qualitative Styles  Individual experiences and personal interpretations  Focus on small number of special cases  Inductive approaches to analyzing data  Intimate and interactive  Goal is to explore and gain in-depth understanding

Research Methodological Designs Methodological Wars  Qualitative, Quantitative and the Mix-Method Alliance Quantitative Styles  Assess relationship between two or more variables  Strives for “objectivity”  Detached approach/ Independent of context and setting  Studies many cases  Goal is to generalize

Research Methodological Designs Methodological Wars  Qualitative, Quantitative and the Mix-Method Alliance Mixed-Method Styles  Interested in the whole process  Qualitative helps to understand the process, identify and define variables  Quantitative allows us to determine if a relationship exist (strength and direction), causality and or explained variances  Uses two data sources either sequentially or simultaneously

Research Methodological Designs Why do we do research?  Build on preexisting knowledge  Because we want to learn something new

Research Methodological Designs Approaches to Research  Explore Become familiar with setting Formulate and focus question about setting Generate hypothesis and decide the feasibility of the hypothesis Decide what to measure within a setting  Describe Provide a detailed and accurate picture Locate new data Create a set of categories Document causal processes  Explain Test theory predictions Elaborate or enrich theory Support or refute an explanation Link causes with general principles Determine which explanation work best

Research Methodological Designs Time Dimension in Research  Cross Sectional Data that’s collected at one moment in time period. Commonly referred to as a “snapshot”  Longitudinal Data collected over multiple points in time; looks at change  Time series Data collected via multiple studies over muliple points in time (Example: opinion polls)  Cohort Multiple studies of different samples of similar or like categories or groups (Example: Freshman Medical Students)  Panel Multiple studies of the same sample over extended period of time (Example: Health Survey)

Research Methodological Designs Applied vs Basic Research  Applied Research Activist /Action oriented (interested in having a social impact) or Evaluation research Part of the job and judged by sponsors or outsiders Research problem and research subject narrowly defined Lack of autonomy Research standards depend on results Results are generalized for sponsors  Basic Research Done mostly in the academy Goal is knowledge building and theory testing Judged (blindly) by peers in the profession Research problem and subjects are selected without interference Success is measured by publication

Research Methodological Designs Ethics in Research  Scientific Misconduct Occurs when a researcher falsifies or distorts the data or methods of data collection, or plagiarizes the work of others  Research Fraud Occurs when a researcher fakes or invent data or falsely report how research was conducted.  Plagiarism Is the intentional or unintentional misrepresentation of someone else’s ideas or written work

Research Methodological Designs Protecting Human Subjects  Physical harm Basic safety and protection from injury, special provisions for high- risk individuals  Psychological harm Care not to subject people to stressful, embarrassing, anxiety- producing or unpleasant situations  Legal harm Protecting people from increase risk for arrest; dealing with the discovery of illegal behavior  Deception Being up front about your research intentions; any need to use deception would have to be approved by IRB (Institutional Review Board)

Research Methodological Designs Informed Consent  Basic principle is that participation is voluntary; not forced  A measure that goes beyond permission; it is a written agreement that specifies research purpose, procedures and expectations  It explicitly promises confidentiality, anonymity and data security  Gives notice of any potential side effects and any compensation  Offers to share research findings  Provide researcher’s contact information

Research Methodological Designs How to begin research project  It all starts with the research question Steps in research  Select a topic  Review the literature  Focus the question  Design the study  Collect the data  Analyze and Interpret findings  Inform others

Research Methodological Designs Ways to select and narrow down a topic  Examine the literature  Talk with others  Limit analysis to specific context  Define your research aims and objectives

Research Methodological Designs Methodological Styles: qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods  Qualitative addresses how processes work, how individuals interpret their life experiences, meaning and symbolism  Quantitative research question probes the relationship between X and Y. For example, does “X” cause, lead to, is associate with, or influences “Y”  Mix Method research question attempts to inquire about both dynamics in sequence or concurrently

Research Methodological Designs Next month’s agenda:  Qualitative Research Field research Historical comparative analysis  Quantitative Research Experiments Surveys (attitudes and behaviors) Content Analysis Existing statistics Key terms: theory, variables, validity and reliability  Mixed-Methods Sequential Concurrent/Triangulation