Basic research terminology

Basic research terminology

• The study investigation or Research project

When researcher addresses a problem or states a question and answers it through a disciplined research called study investigation or project.

• Researcher/Investigator/Scientist

Person who does a project is called as researcher/investigator/scientist.

• Subjects / Study participants

The people who are being studied in a quantitative study called as subjects. When subjects answer questions by the researcher called as respondents. In qualitative study, the individuals cooperating in the study play an active role referred to as informants.

• Phenomena or Concepts

The abstractions of particular aspects of human behavior such as pain, coping and so on called as concepts. In qualitative research, these abstractions are phenomena.

• Constructs

These are abstractions that invented or constructed by researcher, for example, ‘self care’ in Orem’s model or ‘stress adaptation’ in Roy’s model.

• Theory

A theory is systematic, abstract explanation of reality. Here, concepts are arranged together and explains the reality. In quantitative study, the researcher starts with a theory or a conceptual model and makes predictions about how phenomena will behave if the theory were true using deductive reasoning. In qualitative research, information from the participants gathered in which the researcher begins to conceptualize, seeking to explain patterns from the researcher- participant interactions. The goal is to arrive at a theory that explains phenomena as they occur, not as they are preconceived.

• Variables

In a quantitative study, concepts are referred as variables. The researcher attempts to understand how or why things vary and to learn about relationship. For example, a research focuses on lung cancer as a variable and the researcher studies the factors linked to lung cancer and to reach a conclusion that smoking causes lung cancer.
A variable has values continuously (height or weight) called continuous variable. The variable that expressed under category called categorical variables (male/female).

• Dependent and Independent variable

Many researchers focus on determination of cause and effect of phenomena. The presumed cause is independent variable and presumed effect is dependent variable. Variation of dependent variable is presumed to depend on variation in the independent variable. In a study, the researcher experiments the effect of coconut oil (the independent variable) on weight gain in premature infants (the dependent variable). These two variables are used to designate the direction of influence among them.
Example: A study to assess the effect of timing of sponge bath on axillary temperature
Independent variable: Timing of sponge bath
Dependent variable: Axillary temperature

• Conceptual definition and Operational definition

The variable will be defined as concepts universally called conceptual definition. The same variable will be defined by researcher indicating how the variable will be observed and measured in the actual research situation called as operational definition. The operational definition of a concept specifies the operations that the researcher must perform to collect the required information. The variable ‘weight’ can be operationally defined as ‘the amount that an object weighs in terms of pounds’.

• Data

The research datum (data) is the pieces of information obtained in a study. In quantitative study, the researcher identifies variables, develops operational definition of variables and collects the relevant data from the subjects related to variables. The researcher collects information as numerical data. The results show that 36% of study subjects have adequate knowledge regarding mammography and 64% of them are unaware of it.
In qualitative studies, the researcher collects the data as narrative descriptions called qualitative data. It can be obtained through conversations in naturalistic setting or obtaining narrative records such as diaries.
 For example: Question 1- Have you felt depressed in the morning?
           Participant 1- I have had a few ups and downs in the morning.

• Relationships

Researchers study phenomena in relation to other phenomena as they explore or test relationships. A relationship is a bond or connection between phenomena. For example; relationship between smoking and lung cancer. Both quantitative and qualitative researches help to examine the relationships. In a quantitative study, the researcher is interested in relationship between independent and dependent variables. Variation in the dependent variable is presumed to be related to variation in the independent variable. For example:  When education level of study subjects increase, the knowledge regarding prevention of non communicable diseases increases. Most quantitative research is conducted to determine the existence of relationship between the variables and often to quantify the strength of relationship.
Among variables, a variable acts as a cause and it leads to an effect called cause and effect (causal) relationship. Foe example, there is a relationship between calorie intake and weight gain.  An increase of one variable leads to increase in another variable called functional (associative) relationship. When pulmonary artery temperature increases, the tympanic temperature increases, but not in vice versa.
Qualitative researchers seek patterns of association such as meaning and dimensionality of phenomena of interest. Patterns of interconnected themes and processes are identified as a means of understanding the whole.
Major steps in a quantitative study
In quantitative study, researchers find a significant problem with related questions and hypothesis and try to obtain the answers at the end. It has logical sequence of steps that is similar across studies.

• Phase 1:Identification Phase

This phase includes identify the problem, discuss with experts, understand the relevance of the problem based research in current scenario, review the related literature, identify and formulate a theoretical framework, research objectives, research questions and hypotheses.
Step 1: Formulate and delimit the problem
The first step is to identify a research problem and consider various aspects of conducting research.
For example; Is this research important in the present scenario?
              Is it possible to conduct with in limitations?
              Are adequate resources available to conduct this research?
              Does it harm the study subjects?
Step 2: Review the related literature
The research is to be conducted with in the context of previous knowledge. To build on existing theory or research, the researcher understands about known facts of the topic. A thorough literature review might guide the researcher to conduct the study without any errors.
Step 3: Defining the theoretical framework
The ultimate aim of science is theory; it transcends the specifics of a particular time, place and group of people and aims to identify irregularities in the relationship among the variables. Using a theoretical framework during the study helps to achieve findings with broad significance and utility.
Step 4: Formulating hypothesis
A hypothesis predicts the relationship among the variables by the researcher. For example, is pregnancy induced hypertension in pregnant women related to stress factors present during pregnancy? The hypothesis is; the pregnant women with pregnancy induced hypertension has higher incidence of stressful events during pregnancy then pregnant women who don’t have symptoms.

• Phase II: The design and planning phase

In the second phase of research, the investigator makes decisions regarding the methods to be used to address research question. It consists of selecting a design, population, samples and conducts pilot study. This phase mainly focuses on methodological decisions.
Step 5: Selecting a research design
The research designs are highly structured and reduce the contamination of results. The researcher will select an appropriate design for obtaining answers to the questions being studied. 
Step 6: Identifying the population to be studied
During this phase, the researcher has to identify the population to be studied which meets the inclusion criteria for example; staff nurses, pregnant women and so on.
Step 7: Designing the sampling plan
The sampling plan suggests that the number of samples to be selected and how they are selected. Using a sample is more practical than collecting data from the population.
Step 8: Specifying methods to measure the research variables
Quantitative researchers develop or borrow methods to measure the research variables as accurately as possible. The researcher can use a variety of quantitative data collection approaches such as bio physiological measurements, interviews, formal observations and so on. The task of maintain accuracy during this phase is complex and challenging.
Step 9: Finalizing and reviewing research plan
The research plan has to be reviewed before proceeding to the implementation of the plan. The researcher has to develop a formal research proposal and get the approval from Institution Board Committee to conduct the study. In case of an experimental study, researchers my need approval from Human Subjects Committee to ensure that the research plan does not violate ethical principles.
Step 10: Conducting a pilot study and making revisions
Pilot study is a small scale trial run of the study to obtain information for improving the project or assessing its feasibility. After pilot study, the researcher can asses the feasibility of design, availability of participants, resources and time.

• Phase III: Empirical phase

It involves collecting of data and preparation of data for analysis.
Step 11: Data collection
The phase includes recruiting the sample, explain the study to participants, obtain informed consent, giving training to data collectors and collecting the data.
Step 12: Preparing the data for analysis
This step involves the transferring the data from written documents to compute files for analysis. Coding is the process of translating data into numeric form, for example; male-1 and female-2.

• Phase IV: Analytic phase

The phase consists of analyzing the data and interpreting the results.
Step 13: Analyzing the data
The quantitative data can be analyzed through statistical procedures, covers a broad range of techniques, including some simple procedures as well as complex and sophisticated methods.
Step 14: Interpreting the results
Interpretation is the process of making sense of the results and examining the implications of the findings with in a broader context. Interpretation of the results means researcher’s attempt to explain the findings in the light of what is known about theory and previous findings in the area and in light of adequacy of the methods used in the investigation.

• Phase V: Dissemination phase

The main aim of the phase is communicating and utilizing the findings.
Step 15: Communicating the findings
This is the phase of preparing a manuscript with an abstract and research report and publishes it in indexed journals.
Step 16: Utilizing the findings
The main aim of a high quality study is to plan for its utilization in the real world.
Major steps in a qualitative study
The qualitative researcher has a flexible approach to collect and analyze the data, it is impossible to define the flow of activities precisely, the flow varies from one study to another and researches do not know ahead of time how the study will proceed.

• Phase I: Conceptualizing and planning a qualitative study

The qualitative researchers begin with a topic which is poorly understood and about which is little known, and they do not develop hypotheses before going into the field. During the planning phase, the qualitative researches must also identify a study site that is consistent with the research topic. The researcher has to identify the type of setting such ad homes, clinics or community. The researchers need to gain entrée into the setting to ensure cooperation and access to informants.

• Phase II: Conducting qualitative study

The qualitative researcher begins by talking with or observing people who have first hand experiences with the phenomena under study. The discussions and observations are loosely structured, allowing for the expression of a full range of beliefs, feelings and behaviors.
As analysis and interpretation progress, the researcher begins to identify themes and categories, which are used to build a descriptive theory of the phenomenon. The principles of saturation will be used by the researchers, when themes and categories in the data become repetitive and redundant such that no new information can be gathered by further data collection.
The main highlight of qualitative study is that findings accurately reflect the experiences and view points of the participants, rather than the perception of the researcher in the quantitative study.

• Phase III: Disseminating qualitative findings

Qualitative reports are raw data, filled with rich verbatim passages directly from the participants. Qualitative findings often are used as the basis for the formulation of hypothesis that is tested by quantitative researcher.