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 Introduction to Research
Dr Andrew Campbell
A.Campbell@usyd.edu.au

Acknowledgments:
Some of the following slides were
prepared by Dr Tatjana Seizova-Cajic and
Dr Rob Heard
Unit Outline
Co-ordinator: Ms Karen Pepper
Room: G213 Phone: 9351 9498
K.Pepper@usyd.edu.au

Two hour lecture and one tute per week

Handbook: reading materials, timetable,

guidelines (see ‘Unit documents’ on WebCT )

Textbook: Research Methods for Health Sciences

E-Learning site (aka WebCT) site

Assessment:
See handbook or e-Learning or contact Unit of Study
Coordinator Ms Karen Pepper

Need notetakers?
Contact Student Welfare 9351-9638
Overview of today’s lecture
(note – this material is not covered by the textbook)
 Why do I need to study research to work in the Health Industry?

 Ways to acquire knowledge

 Logical arguments
 deduction
 Induction

 Two broad types of research

 quantitative research
 qualitative research

 Few interesting stories from history of research

Research is important because…
All practice comes from research

All teaching is research led

Research becomes habit in Allied Health

Examples of Health Research and Application
 Faculty of Health Science Electives I teach in 2nd Semester:

 BACH 3146: Cyberpsychology and e-Health

- Background: Research on computer games and the Internet and how it helps
people of all ages.
- Application: New treatments for ADHD, Depression and Anxiety, Social
Fearfulness; Dementia Care; Pain Management.

 HSBH 1005: Human Development

- Background: Research on how we change physically and psychologically

across every year of our life.
- Application: How to work with people at different stages in their lives who
may need to be treated for different medical and psychiatric disorders.
Ways to acquire knowledge
Tenacity
 Acceptance of a statement
simply because it has been heard
repeatedly .

Authority
 Parental, cultural, professional…

Personal experience, anecdotal evidence

Through educated reading or conduction

of research
‘Educated’ reading – what is that?
Firstly, you need to recognize the LOGIC of
arguments that people use to support their
conclusions so that you can detect ERRORS leading to
invalid conclusions
Logic: Deductive & Inductive
Errors: more than I can name here!

Secondly, you need to know SPECIFIC METHODS

used in research and which one is good for what kind
of problem
Deduction
Begins with a major premise
Contains a minor premise
Draws a conclusion

All crows are black (major premise)

This bird is a crow (minor premise)
Therefore, this bird is black (conclusion)
Deduction
If the major and minor premises are true,
the conclusion MUST be true
If the conclusion is not true, then one or
both of the premises MUST be false

A WHITE crow had been spotted ?!?

Either it is not a crow (minor pr. not true)
Or not all crows are black (major pr. not true)
Deduction and scientific thinking

Reference:
https://www.americanscienti
st.org/template/ProductsList/
catid/685/catname/Sidney+H
arris+Cartoons
 Deductive reasoning is used
to test theories

[As said earlier] If a theory is correct, then the

predictions or conclusions derived from it
must be true.
If we test predictions, and find they are not
true, we must reject or modify the theory.
 An Example from the 16th Century
Theory: The Earth is flat

Prediction: On a flat earth, bodies

in the sky should be visible at the
same time from all parts of the
Surface.
Observation: Prediction incorrect.
For example, stars around the Pole Star are
never visible at low latitudes in the
southern hemisphere.
Conclusion: The Earth is not flat  BUT
check out “Flat Earth” on Google!
If a theory cannot be tested, it is not a scientific theory!
 What does it mean that it ‘cannot be tested’?

 Consider this ‘theory’: Bad things happen when there is ‘bad

energy’ around; the ‘energy’ is not detectable with physical
instruments; there is no other evidence that ‘energy’ is present :
 The only evidence of its existence is the bad event itself
 Impossibleto refute the theory – there is IN PRINCIPLE
nothing observable that would contradict it
 Such statements are not scientific theories but beliefs.
 Sigmund Freud – Famous Un-Falsifiable Scientist.
In other words, a theory must be falsifiable
Falsifiable means that it is possible to prove it wrong
(NOT that it has been proven wrong!!!)

Reference: - http://www.ntskeptics.org/cartoons/weekly.htm
Circular reasoning (Error in reasoning)
Major premise: Bad energy causes bad events
Minor premise: Bad event has occurred
Conclusion: Bad energy caused the event
ERROR: conclusion simply repeats the premise

Bad energy causes Bad event has been

bad events caused by bad energy!
Summary so far
Deductive reasoning is used to test theories because
proper (falsifiable) theories yield testable predictions.

Even if an argument appears to have deductive form, it

may be invalid, lead to an incorrect conclusion or just
repeat a premise.
Deductions aren’t always complicated and
this can sometimes make them hard to see!
Identify ( from the joke)
Major premise

Minor premise

Conclusion
What is Induction?
Begins with an observation of specific cases
Leads to a generalization

My brother is a pain (specific case)

All younger siblings are like that… (generalization)
Induction-deduction cycle
Induction: from observations to theories

Deduction: theories yield predictions that guide

research

Research gives results that refutes or supports (not

proves) the theory

Induction-deduction also used in everyday life, but

not systematically and rigorously
‘Educated’ reading – what is that?
Firstly, you need to recognize the LOGIC of
arguments that people use to support their
conclusions so that you can detect ERRORS leading to
invalid conclusions
Logic: Deductive & Inductive
Errors: more than I can name here!

Secondly, you need to know SPECIFIC METHODS

used in research and which one is good for what kind
of problem
Research Methods
Two very broad categories:

QUANTITATIVE research – with goal to explain

QUALITATIVE research – with goal to describe

What Qualitative & Quantitative research
have in common
Both increase understanding of the world

Both seek knowledge through evidence

(rather than through divine inspiration, etc.)

Require that evidence be publicly accessible

Require ethical behaviour and use of knowledge

How Qualitative & Quantitative research differ

Quantitative: Researchers use induction and

deduction to build up and verify theories in a
controlled setting with a focus on the few
variables of interest.

Qualitative: “an inquiry process of

understanding a social or human problem, based
on building a complex, holistic picture, formed
with words, reporting detailed views of
informants, and conducted in a natural setting.”
(Creswell, 1994, p. 7; italics added)
The following are three research stories. Please
identify and distinguish from each other:

a) induction and deduction

b) quantitative and qualitative research

Story 1: Kitty Genovese
Young woman murdered

Number of witnesses, no help

(exaggerated in the press)
‘Bystander’ effect (a person will
receive less help if more people
around!)
Experiments
Story 2: Childbed fever
Semmelweis, mid-19th century

First Maternity Division mortality rate 8 - 11%!

Second Division – ‘only’ 2-3%
WHY?? Childbed fever caused by
Overcrowding?
Rough treatment by students?
Terrifying appearance of a priest?
‘Cadaveric matter’…

http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/mjm/issues/v01n01/fever.html
Story 3: ‘On being sane in insane places’
Healthy research associates (pseudo-patients) briefly
simulated auditory hallucinations and were
admitted to 12 different psychiatric hospitals in the
US (detected by some patients, but not by staff!)

While inside, they observed behaviour, and took

notes.
“Neither anecdotal nor ‘hard’ data can convey the
overwhelming sense of powerlessness which invades the
individual as he is continuously exposed to the
depersonalization of the psychiatric hospital.”
(Rosenhan, 1973, p. 6)
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 The Nature of Qualitative Research
Inductive Reasoning – theory generated out of
research data

Interpretivist Epistemology – understanding the social

world through examination of the interpretations of that
world by its participants (e.g. Indigenous Cultures)

Constructionist Ontology – social properties are outcomes

of the interactions between individuals and not separate
from those involved in their construction (we do not live
in a vacuum!)
The Four Traditions of Qualitative Research
(Gubrium & Holstein, 1997)
        Naturalism – social reality as it really is in its own
terms (most common tradition)

             Ethnomethodology – social order is created through talk and

interaction (naturalistic orientation)

             Emotionalism – subjectivity and gaining access to

‘inside’ experience, inner reality most
important

             Postmodernism – ‘method talk’, sensitive to the

different ways social reality can be
constructed
Main research methods associated with
qualitative research
 Ethnography/participant observation – also called ‘field work’

 Qualitative Interviewing – refers to a wide range of interviewing styles

 Focus Groups – interviewing groups of people in interaction

 Language based approaches – Discourse and Conversation analysis

 Content analysis of texts and documents –

researching recorded human communications
The Main Steps in Qualitative Research
1. General research question
(e.g. How do Aboriginal’s perceive health?)

2. Selecting relevant sites and participants

3. Collection of relevant data

4. Interpretation of data

5. Conceptual and theoretical work

5a tighter specification of the research question(s)
5b collection of further data

6. Writing up findings/conclusions
Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research

Reliability and validity are important criteria for

establishing and assessing the quality of research.
Qualitative researchers tend to employ the terms validity
and reliability in similar ways to quantitative researchers.

Measurement is generally not a major concern or

preoccupation for qualitative researchers because a single
absolute account of social reality is not feasible.
There are no absolute truths about the social world for
qualitative researchers.
Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research
 Adapting reliability & validity for qualitative research:

 External reliability refers to the degree to which a study can be

replicated. It is impossible to ‘freeze’ a social setting and the
circumstances of an initial study. Easier to adopt a similar, (but not
exact) social role of the original researcher.

 Internal reliability or consistency between observers ratings and

recordings. Difficult to achieve with one researcher.

 Internal validity is about finding a good match between the

researcher’s observations and the theoretical ideas they develop.
Prolonged participation in the social life of a group or individual allows
the researcher to ensure a high level of congruence between concepts
and observations.

 External validity refers to the degree to which findings can be

generalised across social settings. Small samples and case studies make
this difficult to achieve in qualitative research.
Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research
 Alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research:

 Trustworthiness
- Credibility (internal validity) if there can be several possible accounts of
a social reality, then it must be credible to be acceptable to others.

- Transferability (external validity) the contextual uniqueness and local

significance of a social world is more important then if that context can
be transferred.

- Dependability (reliability) complete records are kept of all phases of the

research process and are made accessible. This ensures dependability.

- Confirmability (objectivity) the researcher can be shown to have not

overtly allowed personal values or theoretical inclinations to sway the
conduct of their research.

 Authenticity refers to the wider political impact of research such as it fairness

and it’s capacity to empower the participants.
The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers

 Seeing through the eyes of the participants being studied.

 People, not atoms or chemicals, attribute meaning to events and

the environment. Qualitative methods reflect this empathy by
attempting to grasp the meaning people attach to their actions.

 Practical problems with researcher “going native” and loosing sight

of what they are studying.

 Example: Taylor’s (1993) study of intravenous female drug users

showed the participants she studied were not pathetic, inadequate,
individuals but rational, active people making decisions based on
the contingencies of both their drug using careers and their roles
and status in society.
The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers
 Description and emphasis on context:

 Qualitative researchers provide a great deal of descriptive detail as well as

explanations of why social phenomena occur. This detail emphasises the
importance of the contextual understanding of social behaviour.
 We cannot understand the behaviour of members of a social group
divorced from the specific environment in which they operate.

 Practical problems with the researcher becoming embroiled and lost in

excessive, descriptive detail that inhibits analysis.

 Example: Geertz (1973) argued for the provision of thick descriptions of

social settings, events and individuals. Some of his detail may initially
even appear irrelevant, but remains useful for a complete study of a social
event or phenomenon.
The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers

 Emphasis on process:

 Qualitative researchers are often concerned with how events and

social patterns unfold over time, to convey a sense of change and flux.
Ethnographers are frequently immersed in a social setting for years.

 Example: Waddington (1994) observed a strike at the Ansells brewery

in Birmingham in the 1980s. Using observation, informal interviews
and other data sources such as newspapers, archives, company and
trade union documents and minutes of trade union-management
meetings showed ‘how the contemporary beliefs, values and attitudes
of the workforce, and the mutual feelings of animosity and distrust
between employees and management, were shaped by a sequence of
historical events stretching back over 20 years’ (p. 115).
The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers
 Flexibility and lack of structure:

 Qualitative researchers prefer not to impose any predetermined

formats on the social worlds they research or contaminate them as
little as possible.

 Structure is kept to a minimum so that those studied are given the

chance to genuinely reveal those aspects of their social worlds that
may not have even been thought of by the researcher.

 Areas of enquiry are then not limited to specific research questions

but are more general. This allows the researcher to change the
direction of the research as the project proceeds. (e.g. Participatory
Action Research).
The Main Preoccupations of Qualitative Researchers
 Concepts and theories grounded in data:

 Once qualitative researchers are emerged in the field, they build their
concepts and theories out of what their participants say and do in
social contexts, not what the researcher predicts should occur.

 Researchers try to have no preconceptions about how their ideas are

going to play out in the field.

 Example: Van Loon (1995) investigated what constitutes caring for

the human spirit in nursing practice. Observation and interviews with
patients revealed three main ways in which nurses could be with/for
patients – using dialogue, having a compassionate presence and
connecting with the patient.
The Critique of Qualitative Research
 It is too subjective
 Findings rely too much on the researchers unsystematic views about what
is significant and important and upon close, personal relationships with
those being studied.

 Difficult to replicate
 Most qualitative research is so contextually specific that it is impossible to
conduct a exact replication, as no standard procedures are followed in
conducting the research.

 Problems of generalization
 The specific context researched means that it is usually impossible to
know how the findings can be generalised to other settings. Can one or
two cases be representative of all cases?

 Lack of transparency
 Because of the thick description, it is sometimes difficult to establish what
the researcher actually did and how she or he arrived at the study’s
conclusions.
 Contrasts between Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
(Bryman, 2001)

Quantitative                              Qualitative

Numbers                                   Words

Researcher Point of view          Participants point of view
Theory Testing                          Theory emergent
Static                                        Process
Structured                                 Unstructured
Generalisation                          Contextual Understanding
Hard, reliable data                    Rich, deep data
Macro                                       Micro
Behaviour                                  Meaning
Artificial settings                       Natural settings
 References
Bryman, A. (2001). Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press.

Davis, C. A. (1999). Reflexive ethnography: A guide to researching selves and others.

Routledge: London.

Gertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In C. Geertz,

The Interpretation of Cultures, Basic Books: New York.

Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (1997). The new language of qualitative method. Oxford
University Press: New York.

Taylor, A. (1993). Women drug users: An ethnography of an injecting community. Clarendon

Press: Oxford.

Van Loon, A. (1995). What constitutes caring for the human spirit in nursing, Masters thesis,
School of Nursing, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide.

Waddington, D. (1994). Participant observation. In C. Cassell & G. Symon (Eds.).,

Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. Sage: London.
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