# Research Design  ## Metadata - Author: [[John W. Creswell, J. David Creswell]] - Full Title: Research Design - Category: #books ## Highlights - If you aim to test a causal claim about the relationship between two or more variables in your quantitative study, your best choice is to conduct a true experiment, ([Location 1815](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1815)) - Tags: [[pink]] - A variable refers to a characteristic or attribute of an individual or an organization that can be measured or observed and that varies among the people or organization being studied. ([Location 1826](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1826)) - Variables are distinguished by two characteristics: (a) temporal order and (b) their measurement (or observation). ([Location 1830](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1830)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Independent variables are those that influence, or affect outcomes in experimental studies. They are described as “independent” because they are variables that are manipulated in an experiment and thus independent of all other influences. ([Location 1836](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1836)) - Dependent variables are those that depend on the independent variables; they are the outcomes or results of the influence of the independent variables. ([Location 1845](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1845)) - Intervening or mediating variables(Intervening or mediating variables) ([Location 1862](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1862)) - theory as a scientific prediction or explanation for what the researcher expects to find ([Location 1886](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1886)) - Tags: [[pink]] - it helps to explain (or predict) phenomena that occur in the world. ([Location 1893](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1893)) - theoretical perspective because it has been popularly used as a required section for proposals for research when one submits an application to present a paper at the American Educational Research Association conference. ([Location 1898](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1898)) - Limit the number of theories and try to identify one overarching theory that explains the central hypothesis or major research question. ([Location 2032](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=2032)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The researcher may compare groups on an independent variable to see its impact on a dependent variable (this would be an experiment or group comparisons). Alternatively, the investigator may relate one or more independent variables to one or more dependent variables (this would be a survey that correlates variables). Third, the researcher may describe responses to the independent, mediating, or dependent variables (this would be a descriptive study). ([Location 4117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=4117)) - How does critical thinking ability (or critical thinking ability times grades) relate to student achievement, mediating for the effects of the educational attainment of the eighth-graders’ parents? (An inferential question relating the independent and the dependent variables, controlling for the effects of the mediating variable) ([Location 4228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=4228)) - manipulation check measure ([Location 4888](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=4888)) - Note: A manipulation check is defined as a measure used to determined whether an independent variable in a social science study varies in ways researchers expect - Identify the dependent variable or variables (i.e., the outcomes) in the ([Location 4893](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=4893)) - experiment. The dependent variable is the response or the criterion variable presumed to be caused by or influenced by the independent treatment conditions. ([Location 4894](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=4894)) - Internal validity threats are experimental procedures, treatments, or experiences of the participants that threaten the researcher’s ability to draw correct inferences from the data about the population in an experiment. ([Location 5077](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=5077)) - External validity threats ([Location 5123](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=5123)) - statistical conclusion validity that arise when experimenters draw inaccurate inferences from the data because of inadequate statistical power or the violation of statistical assumptions. Threats to construct validity occur when investigators use inadequate definitions and measures of variables. ([Location 5130](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=5130)) ## New highlights added April 29, 2024 at 6:57 AM - Steps in Conducting a Literature Review A literature review means locating and summarizing the studies about a topic. Often these are research studies (since you are conducting a research study), but they may also include conceptual articles or opinion pieces that provide frameworks for thinking about topics. There is no single way to conduct a literature review, but many scholars proceed in a systematic fashion to capture, evaluate, and summarize the literature. Here is the way we recommend: Begin by identifying key words, which is useful in locating materials in an academic library at a college or university. These key words may emerge in identifying a topic or may result from preliminary readings. With these key words in mind, use your home computer to begin searching the databases for holdings (i.e., journals and books). Most major libraries have computerized databases, and we suggest you focus initially on journals and books related to the topic. General databases, including Google Scholar, Web of Science, EBSCO, ProQuest, and JSTOR, cover a broad range of disciplines. Other databases, such as ERIC, Sociofile, or PsycINFO, are based on particular disciplines. Initially, try to locate about 50 reports of research in articles or books related to research on your topic. Set a priority on the search for journal articles and books because they are easy to locate and obtain. Determine whether these articles and books exist in your academic library or whether you need to send for them by interlibrary loan or purchase them through a bookstore. Skim this initial group of articles or chapters, and collect those that are central to your topic. Throughout this process, simply try to obtain a sense as to whether the article or chapter will make a useful contribution to your understanding of the literature. As you identify useful literature, begin designing a literature map (to be discussed more fully later). This is a visual picture (or figure) of groupings of the literature on the topic that illustrates how your particular study will add to the existing literature and position your study within the larger body of research. As you put together the literature map, also begin to draft summaries of the most relevant articles. These summaries are combined into the final literature review that you write for your proposal or research study. Include precise references to the literature using an appropriate style guide, such as the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association [APA], 2010) so that you have a complete reference to use at the end of the proposal or study. After summarizing the literature, assemble the literature review, structuring it thematically or organizing it by important concepts. End the literature review with a summary of the major themes and suggest how your particular study further adds to the literature and addresses a gap in the themes. This summary should also point toward the… ([Location 1320](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07C6LT6CJ&location=1320))