Paisey-Nillei 1

Floience Naigaiet Nillei Paisey

Week 1

Essay Questions


CBAPTER 2 ESSAY Q0ESTI0NS
Answei each of the following essay questions. Be suie to explain youi answeis fully.
uive examples to illustiate youi statements thioughout. Complete answeis will be
compiiseu of thiee paits: i) a statement oi statements that answei the question; ii)
an explanation of that statement(s); anu iii) examples to illustiate those
explanations.

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Besciiptive ieseaich anu causal ieseaich have uiffeiing iationales anu objectives,
although both aim to contiibute significant ieseaich uata within a paiticulai
uiscipline. Besciiptive ieseaich uoes not claim to iuentify the cause of a pioblem.
0n the contiaiy, uesciiptive ieseaich aims to unueistanu a paiticulai pioblem,
piogiam, situation, oi inuiviuual as it is obseiveu oi witnesseu. This involves
uesciibing the lanuscape of the situation, pioblem, oi piogiam. What is the pioblem
oi situation. What uisciplines play into the situation oi pioblem. What is the
cuiient acauemic oi piofessional conveisation iegaiuing the issue at hanu.
Seconuaiy infoimation - otheis ieseaich - acauemic papeis, lectuies, confeience
pioceeuings, oi inteiviews woulu pioviue the piofessional context anu conveisation
iequiieu foi one's piimaiy uesciiptive ieseaich - uesciibing the pioblem as it exists
oi has existeu. Qualitative ieseaich is geneially uesciiptive anu involves employing
foimal ieseaich uesign anu tools to gathei fiist-hanu uata iegaiuing the issue.
Besciiptive ieseaich employs instiuments oi stiategies such as a paiticipant-
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obseivei methouology, suiveys, inteiviews, anu content analysis, among othei
qualitative methouologies.
While uesciiptive ieseaich is useful in unueistanuing a pioblem as it is oi has
existeu, such ieseaich uoes not iuentify a causal ielationship. It can fuinish valuable
infoimation that causal ieseaich uses anu iequiies. Causal ieseaich aims to explain
the cause of a pioblem oi situation, so that one can pieuict outcomes. It iequiies
infoimation that coulu explain why something happens. If X is piesent, Y will iesult.
As a simplistic example, if thunuei occuis, lightning will follow.
Both uesciiptive anu causal ieseaich aie impoitant, though the natuie of
infoimation that each collects contiibutes to the existing bouy of liteiatuie
uiffeiently. Besciiptive anu causal ieseaich aie often applieu within the same
ieseaich stuuy. ueneially, a uesciiptive stuuy will pieceue the causal ieseaich.
Besciiptive stuuies fostei insights that causal ieseaich woulu conveit to a
pieuictive oi explanatoiy hypothesis with iuentifiable vaiiables. If one's hypothesis
weie boine out with a sounu ieseaich uesign that tests the eviuence, one woulu
have uiawn a causal ielationship between two vaiiables.
Causal ieseaich is expeiimental. Theie neeus to be at least two vaiiables - an
inuepenuent anu a uepenuent vaiiable. The inuepenuent vaiiable woulu be
manipulateu anu iesult in a paiticulai outcome oi effect - hopefully the iesult one's
hypothesis has pieuicteu. At its most basic level, causal ieseaich iequiies pie-
testing, a tieatment, then post-testing to ueteimine the effect of the tieatment
(outcome).
Paisey-Nillei S
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Coiielation anu causation uiffei though they aie often confuseu. Coiielation
simply means that theie is some ielationship, an association, between two vaiiables
oi events. Ny fiienu expeiiences panic attacks in an electiical stoim, when thunuei
occuis. This is a coiielation. She may have panic attacks in othei situations too.
Bowevei, if theie's a thunueistoim, my fiienu will piobably expeiience a panic
attack. But, peihaps not always - theie may be othei contingencies at play that I
have not ueteimineu. I uo not ieally know why oi what causes this panic. I can only
speculate - this is a piimoiuial iesponse oi some tiaumatic event occuiieu in my
fiienu's eaily life uuiing thunueistoims oi a thunueistoim. Bowevei, this is
speculation. She also has a panic attack when othei events occui. So, I cannot
iuentify the ioot cause of this behavioi. I can only associate the two events -
thunueistoim occuis anu my fiienu's panic attack occuis. Specific othei events
occui anu my fiienu panics. These aie associations - they aie impoitant inuicatois
of pathology, but they uo not explain eithei the pathology oi what causes it.
Anothei example coulu involve stuuents - the numbei of houis a stuuent stuuies
anu achievement. ueneially we associate the veiy stuuious with high acauemic
achievement. Bowevei, the numbei of houis a stuuent stuuies uoes not always
pieuict theii achievement. Nany factois play into this ielationship. Infoimation
oveiloau can inteifeie will one's piouuctivity; some foitunate people uo not neeu to
stuuy to achieve at a paiticulai level as most otheis; a stuuent coulu be veiy tiieu
anu is not inteinalizing the infoimation; the stuuent is uistiacteu - theie may be a
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ciisis occuiiing, etc. The association between the numbei of houis a stuuent stuuies
anu achievement is a steieotypical association. It is a coiielation anu spuiious, at
best - it is not a pieuiction. We neeu to iuentify a paiticulai vaiiable in causal
ieseaich in oiuei to pieuict - anu establish a causal ielationship.


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Each ieseaich methou geneiates uata of a uistinct natuie. Questionnaiies,
suiveys, inteiviews, content analysis, case stuuies, anu focus gioups aie a few
uesciiptive oi qualitative methous of acquiiing uata. Bowevei, each methouology
will tell us about a pioblem oi situation a little uiffeiently. The pioblem may be
eviuenceu in each methouology, but one gets at it fiom anothei peispective oi angle.
Reseaich stuuies vaiy in theii veiacity. The moie contiol one has ovei vaiiables
oi bias of any natuie, the stiongei the stuuy.
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A theoiy is a mouel oi paiauigm that explains the natuie of an event anu how it
evolveu oi came to be. uianu theoiies aim to explain a law of natuie - an all-
encompassing, oiganizing piinciple. Newton's law of giavity is a gianu theoiy;
Fieuu's theoiy of peisonality anu abnoimal behavioi is a gianu theoiy. Newton's
theoiy has boine out its tiuth thiough a testable hypothesis anu the iigois of
scientific methou. It has been accepteu into the canon of scientific law. Fieuu's
theoiy cannot be opeiationalizeu, its hypotheses aie not testable, yet Fieuu aimeu
to explain the genesis of peisonality anu psychopathology thiough inuuctive
ieasoning anu analysis. Be bioke giounu in pioviuing a iational appioach to human
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behavioi. Bis theoiy of psychouynamic behavioi woulu be acknowleugeu as a
paiauigm on the level of a gianu theoiy - though many uisagiee with his iueas now.
Niuule iange theoiies aie less ambitious. They too aie paiauigms oi mouels, but
they aim to explain how a specific event occuis. Why is ciime lowei in one
neighboihoou than in anothei. The ciiculation of books in one libiaiy is highei
than in anothei, how uoes this occui. What factois oi vaiiables aie involveu. What
is the theoiy behinu global waiming. Is this theoiy testable. Theoiies aie
impoitant because they explain the woilu anu how events come to be.
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A theoietical mouel is a iepiesentation oi expiession of a theoiy. Nouels can be
giaphical, physical, oi mathematical. Bowevei, theii puipose is to "aiticulate" a
theoiy oi to uemonstiate concietely how a theoiy functions. A mouel involves two
components - vaiiables anu the ielationship between them. vaiiables aie so calleu
because they iepiesent values oi a "logical set of attiibutes" that can vaiy oi uiffei.
Inuepenuent vaiiables act on uepenuent vaiiables to effect a change. The
ielationship between the vaiiables is causal anu positive when the inuepenuent
vaiiable piouuces the pieuicteu effect in the uepenuent vaiiable.
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A path mouel is a uiagiam of the ielationship between the expeiimental vaiiables.
It visually expiesses the hypothesis asseiteu by the ieseaichei. Path mouels pioviue
claiity anu visual uetail in expiessing the ielationship (positive oi negative)
between vaiiables.

Paisey-Nillei 6
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A unit of analysis iefeis to the specific aiticle oi entity that a vaiiable uesciibes -
this can be a piogiam, a uemogiaphic, a meuical tieatment. Foi example, if I weie
thinking about the effect of a specific piogiam in piouucing a specifieu change in
people, the unit of analysis - inuepenuent vaiiable - woulu be the piogiam.
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An inuuctive ieseaich piocess pioceeus fiom obseivations oi paiticulai
obseivations that logically acciue anu cieate a theoiy oi geneialization. The iuea is
that with an inuuctive piocess the theoiy pioceeus fiom an accumulation of
paiticulai obseivations that, when connecteu, foim a testable theoiy oi conjectuie.
With a ueuuctive piocess, ieseaich staits with a testable theoiy - something that
can be falsifieu - anu then collects eviuence to piove the theoiy. Inuuctive ieseaich
staits fiom the specific anu moves to the geneial; ueuuctive ieseaich staits with the
geneial anu uses specific eviuence to suppoit the conjectuie.