New Trends in Industrial Engineering: Research
New Trends in Industrial Engineering: Research
New Trends in
Industrial Engineering
Research
2. Individual Interviews
= The purpose of the research interview is to explore the views,
experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of individuals on specific matters
(factors that influence their attendance at the dentist). Qualitative
methods, such as interviews, are believed to provide a 'deeper'
understanding of social phenomena than would be obtained from purely
quantitative methods, such as questionnaires. 1Interviews are, therefore,
most appropriate where little is already known about the study
phenomenon or where detailed insights are required from individual
participants. They are also particularly appropriate for exploring sensitive
topics, where participants may not want to talk about such issues in a
group environment.
3. Participations/Observations
participant observation is also one of the most demanding. It requires that
the researcher become a participant in the culture or context being
observed. The literature on participant observation discusses how to enter
the context, the role of the researcher as a participant, the collection and
storage of field notes, and the analysis of field data. Participant
observation often requires months or years of intensive work because the
researcher needs to become accepted as a natural part of the culture in
order to assure that the observations are of the natural phenomenon.
The sample analysis of Qualitative Research is about the writings by John Dewey
(2000 (1938]), another influential author. In his book Logic, the Theory of
Inquiry he very clearly outlines the process of research. Very reassuring for
beginning researchers, he states that research follows a uniform structure, which
applies to our everyday life as well as to science. In other words, there are
familiar elements in conducting research and we can draw on knowledge that we
already have gained in our everyday life. Dewey describes the research process
as follows:
After having come across an uncertain situation, the next step is to clearly
identify and formulate the problem. This is very important as the problem
statement is like a lens through which you look at reality, it reduces the
complexity of reality and structures the research field. Further, you derive more
detailed research questions and hypothesis from it and this can only work
successfully when the point of departure, the stated problem, is comprehensible
and unambiguously spelled out. See also the chapter on research design for
computer-assisted analysis in di Gregorio and Davidson (2008).
D. Steps in Solving Qualitative Research
Snap Surveys provides survey software and web based survey services to a
wide variety of organizations worldwide. We have offices in the UK in central
London and Bristol, and in the US in Portsmouth, NH.
Quantitative Research
F. What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and the statistical,
mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls,
questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data
using computational techniques. Quantitative research focuses on gathering
numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a
particular phenomenon.
These are the following methods that can be used in Qualitative Research:
4. Survey research
= Survey research is a quantitative method whereby a researcher poses
some set of predetermined questions to an entire group, or sample, of
individuals. Survey research is an especially useful approach when a
researcher aims to describe or explain features of a very large group or
groups. This method may also be used as a way of quickly gaining some
general details about ones population of interest to help prepare for a
more focused, in-depth study using time-intensive methods such as in-
depth interviews or field research. In this case, a survey may help a
researcher identify specific individuals or locations from which to collect
additional data.
5. Correlational research
= is a quantitative method of research in which you have 2 or more
quantitative variables from the same group of subjects, & you are trying
to determine if there is a relationship (or covariation) between the 2
variables (a similarity between them, not a difference between their
means). Theoretically, any 2 quantitative variables can be correlated (for
example, midterm scores & number of body piercings!) as long as you
have scores on these variables from the same participants; however, it is
probably a waste of time to collect & analyze data when there is little
reason to think these two variables would be related to each other.
6. Experimental research
= is based on a methodology that meets three criteria: (a) random
assignmentthe subjects (or other entities) are randomly assigned to
treatment groups, (b) experimental controlall features of the treatments
are identical except for the independent variable (i.e., the feature being
tested), and (c) appropriate measuresthe dependent measures are
appropriate for testing the research hypothesis. For example, in the class
size example, random assignment involves finding a group of students
and randomly choosing some to be in small classes (i.e, consisting of 15
students) and some to be in large classes (i.e., consisting of 30 students).
The researcher cannot use pre-existing small or large classes because
doing so would violate the criterion of random assignment. The problem
with violating random assignment is that the groups may systemically
differ; for example, students in the smaller classes may be at more
wealthy schools that also have more resources, better teachers, and
better-prepared students. This violation of the random assignment
criterion, sometimes called self-selection, is a serious methodological flaw
in experimental research.
7. Causal-comparative research
= is a research design that seeks to find relationships between
independent and dependent variables after an action or event has already
occurred. The researcher's goal is to determine whether the independent
variable affected the outcome, or dependent variable, by comparing two
or more groups of individuals. There are similarities and differences
between causal-comparative research, also referred to as ex post facto
research, and both correlational and experimental research. This entry
discusses these differences, as well as the benefits, process, limitations,
and criticism of this type of research design. To demonstrate how to use
causal-comparative research, examples in education are presented.
Example:
Question: How old are you? (this question has the quality, of acquiring
different values)
Value 10-20
Value 21-40
Value 41-60
Value 61+
Before you start creating a questionnaire, you should know that there
are different categories of variables that are not the same. Variables
can be classed into three main categories according to their acquired
values:
Stata Software
This is an interactive program that can also be used for both simple
and complex analyses. It will also generate charts, graphs and plots of your
data and results. This program may seem a bit more complicated to some
researchers. It uses four different windows including the command window,
the review window, the result window and the variable window. While it is a
very useful program, the organization of this software may seem daunting.
You can combine and reshape datasets, manage variables, and collect
statistics across groups or replicates. You can work with byte, integer, long,
float, double, and string variables (including BLOBs and strings up to 2 billion
characters). Stata also has advanced tools for managing specialized data
such as survival/duration data, time-series data, panel/longitudinal data,
categorical data, multiple-imputation data, and survey data.
Stata are programs which are used for the statistical analysis of the
collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. SAS
University Edition, GNU Octave, ADaMSoft, BV4.1, PSPP, R, pbdR, Shogun,
CSPro, CumFreq, Gretl.
Meta-analyses can play a key role in planning new studies. The meta-analysis
can help identify which questions have already been answered and which
remain to be answered, which outcome measures or populations are most
likely to yield significant results, and which variants of the planned intervention
are likely to be most powerful.
3. Grant applications
Meta-analyses are used in grant applications to justify the need for a new
study. The meta-analysis serves to put the available data in context and to
show the potential utility of the planned study. The graphical elements of the
meta-analysis, such as the forest plot, provide a mechanism for presenting the
data clearly, and for capturing the attention of the reviewers. Some funding
agencies now require a meta-analysis of existing research as part of the grant
application to fund new research.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
METHODS:
RESULTS:
CONCLUSIONS:
This meta-analysis indicates that both the prevalence and incidence of CHD
are significantly increased in PD. Therefore, PD may be a risk factor for
CHD. Prospective studies are required to prove this assumption and
evaluate risk reduction with the treatment of PD.
Is the world's most widely used program for meta-analysis. This software was
developed with funding from NIH, in collaboration with experts from around the
world.
Persons attending the workshop will be given a free license for CMA that starts
when you register for the workshop, and expires one month after the
workshop. We will offer a discounted rate for anyone who wants to obtain
license beyond the 30 days.
Quasi-Research/Quasi-Experimental Design