Tool for Research

8/13/2019 Tool for Research

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Are tools used to generate data needed in

the study.

Two kinds of Data

1. Direct or Empirical—is generated throughthe use of research techniques such as

questionnaire, interview and observation. It

is obtained by the researcher.

2. Documentary—refers to the data or recordsobtained from offices, hospitals, agencies

and others. This is not obtained by the

researcher and are called secondary data.



1. Validity—research tools must be valid, speciallyif they are test. Validity is a description givento a research tool, if it measures, what itintends to measure. It deals with therelationship of the data obtained to the nature

of variable being studied. If the instrument isused to determine achievement it shouldmeasure the achievement of the subject of thestudy.

Validity can be estimated through:

1. Content validity—the ability of the instrumentto measure what it intends to measure.Judgement of content validity rest on face orlogical or sampling validity. , usuallyundertaken by expert who knows about the

content.



Example: If the validity of an nursing book is to be

determined, this can be done by lettingexperts make judgements on the necessaryareas of the book, or the terms or items inthe book are comprehensive enough tocover as much area or ground in the

subject matter as possible.a. Criterion-related validity is theestablished after the instrument has beencorrelated with one another standardizedinstrument of the same kind or purpose.

Criterion-Related validity may either bepredictive or concurrent that is if theinstrument is so prepared that it can relateto what is contemporary and current.



b. Construct Validity which refers to thedegree to which an instrument measures thetheoretical construct trait it was designatedto measure. It can also be measured bynoting group differences, change ofcorrelations, processes, multi-traits multi-method ways and throu.gh factorial validity.

2. Reliability—is defined as the consistency ofthe test. Consistency is just one aspect ofreliability precision and accuracy is another.there is a relationship between validity and

reliability. It is said that a valid instrument isreliable but not vice versa. It would seemthen that validity is more important thanreliability but this should not be the case.



For instance in order to test for the validityand reliability of the effects of sublingualsite and type of thermometer on oraltemperature, used an experiment on threesublingual sites with two types of electronicthermometers he compared thethermometers used against a bath of a

known temperature to measure their validity.3. Sensitivity--ability of the instrument to

make the discriminations required for theresearch problem. This is the capacity of the

tool to pick up or label positive those whohave the disease and those who do not have.

4. Specificity refers to the capacity of the toolto exclude or label negative those who donot have the disease.



5. Objectivity defined as the degree to which themeasure is independent of the personal opinions,subjective judgement biases and beliefs of the

individual test user.6. Feasibility is concerned with the aspects of

skills, cost and time. There are certain test thatrequire minimum skills in developing them andminimum training in administration.

Way in determining the reliability1. test-retest reliability attained when the

instrument is administered two or moresuccessive times over a given period of time

produces the same result.2. Parallel form comparing scores of the different

version.

3. Internal consistency using the split halfmethods



CLOSED-ENDED--IF THE QUUESTION IN THEINSTRUMENT HAS ALL THE ANSWERS AND

THE RESPONDENT MERELY CHECKS WHICH ISTHE BEST ANSWER. IT IS BETTER TO USEFOR STATISTICAL CONVINIENCE. THEANSWERS ARE ALL THERE AND IT IS EASY TO

RECOGNIZE.OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONNAIRE—WHEN THE

RESPONDENT IS FREE TO GIVE ANSWERS.THE ANSWERS VARY TO THE EXTENT THATTHEY CANNOT BE ARRANGED WELL. INGENERAL THE RESULT WILL BE MULTIPLERESPONSES, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WILL BEDIFFICULT.



1. Clarity of Language—The languageshould be clear and appropriate and

should lead the respondents to give

specific responses. It should not only

suit the level of the respondents, butgenerate the desired information

needed in the study. One of the thing

the researcher should avoid in

questionnaire preparation is the use oflanguage which tends to embarrass the

respondent because of its personal

implication.



2. Singleness of Purpose—one item in

the questionnaire should be elicitin a single piece of information or

a single response. The item in the

questionnaire should not generate

multiple responses, as this will

confuse the respondent and also

will make the interpretation of

data difficult and may lead toinaccurate information.



3. Correspond with Objectives of the

Study—the questionnaire as a wholeshould bring out information

relevant to the purpose of the study.

Question that do not serve thepurposes should be eliminated, this

should be referred to from time to

time from the duration of thequestionnaire preparation.



4. Correct Grammar—the question should beformed according to the rules of correct

grammar to avoid embarrassment on thepart of the researcher. It is important thatprior to the survey at least two thingsshould be done:

1. Have the questionnaire edited by anEnglish teacher for language andgrammar

2. Float it to a trial sample who shall be

excluded from the final selection ofsample. The questionnaire is not onlyverified from quality but also forvalidity.



The Use of Likert Scale type is regarded asmost useful in behavioural research. Asidefrom the fact that it is easy to develop, itprovides for convenient statistical treatment.

The Likert scale uses the method ofsummated ratings statements of opinions arepresented to respondents who indicate

agreement or disagreement with thestatements. Usually the respondents check ina scale of 1 to 5 whether they strongly agree,undecided, disagree, or strongly disagree

with the statement. Half of the items areworded positively and the other halfnegatively. The score of the respondent isthe sum of all scores for the separate items.



It is observe in the actual practice there is

a responses tendency of many respondents

to cluster their in the middle to play safe.

some researcher remove the middle

response, but this might also lead to the

respondents not answering many items. But

there would be no room for this if the

questionnaire is constructed well and the

items are clear and specific.



Examples of the use of Likert Scale

Direction: Circle the number which best

describes your answer. The options with the

assigned points are as follows:

Strongly Agree—5 Disagree—2

Agree—4 Strongly Disagree—1Not Sure—3

1. AIDS information drive in the country iseffective as it should be-------------5 4 3 2 1

2. AIDS is the most common amonghomosexuals---------------------------5 4 3 2 1

3. Sex should be taught among high schoolstudents---------------------------------5 4 3 2 1



1. It results in expensive mass coverage of

potential respondents. It provides for

better data gathering when the sample is

large, saving time and effort in generating

data.

2. It generates uniform responses which

makes statistical computation and analysis

convenient and easy.3. It covers as much content as possible which

allows more generation of information and

facts



1. Read books, journals, theses, anddissertations and gain insights on howtheir questionnaire were prepared

2. Go over research papers and gain insighton what variables are to be included,measured or manipulated

3. Formulate suitable questions that wouldmeasures the variables. More than one

question may be used for the variables4. Decide on the sequence of the results.

The sequence must be logical and ifpossible should start within an easy one



5. Prepare a draft for a questionnaire andcheck its relevance with the purpose of

the study.6. Protest the questionnaire by using it on

some individuals under conditions asclose as possible to the conditions with

which it shall be used eventually.7. If given to a group of individuals for a

trial run, those who participated shallnot be included in the final sample.

8. All questionnaire should be distributedat the same time to be compatible withthe method of administration and themood of the respondents.



Unlike the questionnaire technique,

interview are more personal and deal withface-to-face contact by the researcher and

the respondents. The researcher can see

the emotions and the reaction of the

respondent. The interview question maycontain an inventory of items to generate

facts or information.

Two kinds of Interview

1. Structured Interview is sometimes called

focus interview and is one where the

question s are asked by an interviewer or

researcher based on the questionnaire



which may be given before. It is one way of

ascertaining or confirming the information given

by the respondents in the questionnairepreviously given. The interview requires at the

end that the necessary information has been

gathered.

This can be exemplified by clinical interviews

that may take place between a doctor and a

patient which is considered a subtype interview

where the doctor asks the patient about the

circumstances of a health care problem.

Example:

An interview between a researcher and a

patient regarding the causes of anxiety and

stress prior to operation



2. Unstructured Interview the

interviewer does not have any

guideline and questions are asked

at random. The purpose of the

unstructured interview is to get the

subject’s views of the meanings inhis world, but the whole of it

would end up getting the necessary

information. The unstructuredinterview is more open and

flexible.



1. It is inexpensive in terms of thenumber of questionnaire to prepared,since the researcher or hisrepresentative has to meet the

respondent himself.2. The researcher has to witness for

himself the reactions or the emotionsportrayed are more open and flexible.

3. More information is generated, whenin doubt the researcher can verify forhimself right away the issue inquestion



4. It is a necessary technique for somerespondents, especially where information

on person’s feeling are needed. Theygather better insight into the opinions,attitudes feeling or perceptions from thesubjects.

5. Interviews are sometimes necessary forsome particular samples, such as patientssuffering from stroke, paralysis, or thosewho are immobilized due to some medicalequipment attached to them

6. Interviews can gather better informationor can clarify some points personally whichare not found in the questionnaire.



1. Respondent’s feeling that they are not

participants of research, result in theirexpectations for some sort of return or directhelp or reward for participating.

2. It is uncomfortable for some person to thepoint of instilling fears of what will be asked

3. Information gathered through interviews aredifficult to quantify

4. Interview are time-consuming and moreexpensive when commuting from one place

to another to meet respondents.5. Interviewers need training to be able to do

the art of questioning. Interviewing can notbe done by any ordinary person but is doneby persons with specialized skills.



As a whole is a process whereby the

researcher or observer watches thesituation, the setting and the respondents orsubjects.

Kinds of Observations1. Direct participant when a researcher

undertakes a research where he is a directparticipants, he becomes a respondents ofthe study. This is exemplified byanthropologist who live with the peoplethey are writing about and they even marry

a member of the group2. Indirect participant when one deicide to be

an indirect participant, he merely observeswhat the subjects or respondents aredoing.



Measurements involve the process ofassigning numerical value to concept underinvestigation or responses that have beenmade or events, characteristic responsesaccording to some scale.

1. Nominal Scale refers to the meaning ofcategories or classifications of things,persons or phenomena arbitrarily by

some number assigned to represent theclassification of categories except thatthey are used as a convenient codeespecially for computerization.



Example of nominal scale:

Assigning numbers to gender

1) male—12) female—2

Assigning numbers to civil status such as:

1) married—1

2) single—23) separated—3

4) widow/er—4

Ordinal Scale it is used to ordinate data andis also called ranking scale a number isassigned to a variable corresponding to theordinality of the number like arranging themfrom largest to smallest and ranking them.



Example of ordinal scale and ranking scale

The frequency and percentage of responses of thegroup in which are the major sources of stress:

Area Number of Percentage Ranking Respondent

Work 87 87.00 2

Environment

Career

Improvement 99 99.00 1

Relationship with

Superior 69 69.00 3

Problem at

Home 50 50.00 4 This responses from 100 subjects. Note that there are

relationship between the size of the category and theuse of ordinal number according to the size of thenumber of respondents.



Example 2: Ranking of the height ofpersons:

1) A-1 the tallest2) A-2 the second tallest (less in height than

the first one, but taller than the thirdone)

3) A-3 the third tallest (less than the second

one or the shortest of the three) Example 3: Ranking of academic

performance of 4 studentsGrades (%) Rank1. 92.34 12. 86.99 33. 89.26 24. 80.73 4



The ratio scale has order, distance,and can be expressed as fractions

Examples:

a. Height

b. Grades

c. Weight

d. Temperature



Data can be described qualitatively or

quantitatively depending on what are

generated. Data can be quantitatively

analyzed through the use of descriptive or

inferential statistic.

When data cannot be expressed in

quantitative form they are qualitative terms

such as “greater than,” “more stable,”“better,” “best” or the use of qualitative

descriptions as “more reliable,” or valued

statements of “good” or “bad.”

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