Using Research Instruments


Book Description

Clear, accessible and practical, this guide introduces the first-time researcher to the various instruments used in social research. It assesses a broad range of research instruments - from the well-established to the innovative - enabling readers to decide which are particularly well suited to their research. The book covers: questionnaires interviews content analysis focus groups observation researching the things people say and do. This book is particularly suitable for work-based and undergraduate researchers in education, social policy and social work, nursing and business administration. It draws numerous examples from actual research projects, which readers can adapt for their own purposes. Written in a fresh and jargon-free style, the book assumes no prior knowledge and is firmly rooted in the authors' own extensive research experience. Using Research Instruments is the ideal companion volume to The Researcher's Toolkit. Together they offer a superb practical introduction to conducting a social research project.




Selecting and Describing Your Research Instruments


Book Description

Series foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Identifying and defining the constructs and variables to measure -- Types of instruments and their properties: Methods to measure variables and constructs -- Identifying available instruments -- Gathering and organizing information about instruments -- Permissions and feasibility -- Using the evidence to guide your instrument selection -- Following ethical principles and guidelines -- Describing instruments effectively for different audiences -- Troubleshooting -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Glossary -- References -- Index -- About the author -- About the series editor.




Using Research Instruments


Book Description

This practical, jargon-free, user-friendly guide to the most appropriate use of research instruments provides 'real' examples used in actual projects by practitioners of social and educational research.




The Researcher's Toolkit


Book Description

The Researcher's Toolkit is a practical rather than an academic text for all those undertaking, perhaps for the first time, small-scale research. Written by an experienced team of practising researchers, it covers the entire research process - from designing and submitting a research proposal through to its completion. This book is suitable for all researchers, but is particularly designed for those practitioner-based researchers from the fields of education, social work, nursing, criminal justice and community work. This fresh new idea for those conducting small-scale research comes from a team of practising researchers who possess a broad range of experiences and knowledge of research design, execution and completion. They write in a user-friendly style that those researchers new to the subject will find easy to follow and understand. It will act both as a roadmap to planning, execution and completing research and also as a dip-in reference guide. Using features such as activity boxes to highlight key concepts and short summary boxes to indicate fundamental elements of the research area under discussion, this accessible book will be of great value to all who read it.




Management Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility


Book Description

This monograph focuses on the level of management culture development in organizations attempting to disclose it not only with the help of theoretical insights but also by the approach based on employees and managers. Why was the term "management culture" that is rarely found in literature selected for the analysis? We are quite often faced with problems of terminology. Especially, it often happens in the translation from one language to another. While preparing this monograph, the authors had a number of questions on how to decouple the management culture from organization's culture and from organizational culture, how to separate management culture from managerial culture, etc. However, having analysed a variety of scientific research, it appeared that there is no need to break down the mentioned cultures because they still overlap. Therefore, it is impossible to completely separate the management culture from the formal or informal part of organizational culture. Management culture inevitably exists in every organization, only its level of development may vary.




Patient-Reported Outcomes in Performance Measurement


Book Description

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are measures of how patients feel or what they are able to do in the context of their health status; PROs are reports, usually on questionnaires, about a patient's health conditions, health behaviors, or experiences with health care that individuals report directly, without modification of responses by clinicians or others; thus, they directly reflect the voice of the patient. PROs cover domains such as physical health, mental and emotional health, functioning, symptoms and symptom burden, and health behaviors. They are relevant for many activities: helping patients and their clinicians make informed decisions about health care, monitoring the progress of care, setting policies for coverage and reimbursement of health services, improving the quality of health care services, and tracking or reporting on the performance of health care delivery organizations. We address the major methodological issues related to choosing, administering, and using PROs for these purposes, particularly in clinical practice settings. We include a framework for best practices in selecting PROs, focusing on choosing appropriate methods and modes for administering PRO measures to accommodate patients with diverse linguistic, cultural, educational, and functional skills, understanding measures developed through both classic and modern test theory, and addressing complex issues relating to scoring and analyzing PRO data.




Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction


Book Description

Research Methods in Human-Computer Interaction is a comprehensive guide to performing research and is essential reading for both quantitative and qualitative methods. Since the first edition was published in 2009, the book has been adopted for use at leading universities around the world, including Harvard University, Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Washington, the University of Toronto, HiOA (Norway), KTH (Sweden), Tel Aviv University (Israel), and many others. Chapters cover a broad range of topics relevant to the collection and analysis of HCI data, going beyond experimental design and surveys, to cover ethnography, diaries, physiological measurements, case studies, crowdsourcing, and other essential elements in the well-informed HCI researcher's toolkit. Continual technological evolution has led to an explosion of new techniques and a need for this updated 2nd edition, to reflect the most recent research in the field and newer trends in research methodology. This Research Methods in HCI revision contains updates throughout, including more detail on statistical tests, coding qualitative data, and data collection via mobile devices and sensors. Other new material covers performing research with children, older adults, and people with cognitive impairments. - Comprehensive and updated guide to the latest research methodologies and approaches, and now available in EPUB3 format (choose any of the ePub or Mobi formats after purchase of the eBook) - Expanded discussions of online datasets, crowdsourcing, statistical tests, coding qualitative data, laws and regulations relating to the use of human participants, and data collection via mobile devices and sensors - New material on performing research with children, older adults, and people with cognitive impairments, two new case studies from Google and Yahoo!, and techniques for expanding the influence of your research to reach non-researcher audiences, including software developers and policymakers




Basic Elements of Survey Research in Education


Book Description

In this first book of the series Survey Methods in Educational Research, we have brought together leading authors and scholars in the field to discuss key introductory concepts in the creation, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of survey instruments and their resultant findings. While there are other textbooks that might introduce these concepts adequately well, the authors here have focused on the pragmatic issues that inevitably arise in the development and administration process of survey instruments. Drawing from their rich experiences, the authors present these potential speed bumps or road blocks a survey researcher in education or the social sciences might encounter. Referencing their own work and practice, the authors provide valuable suggestions for dealing with these issues “your advisor never told you about.” And all of the recommendations are aligned with standard protocols and current research on best practices in the field of research methodology. This book is broken into four broad units on creating survey items and instruments, administering surveys, analyzing the data from surveys, and stories of successful administrations modeling the entire research cycle. Each chapter focuses on a different concept in the survey research process, and the authors share their approaches to addressing the issues. These topics include survey item construction, scale development, cognitive interviewing, measuring change with self-report data, translation issues with surveys administered in multiple languages, working with school and program administrators when implementing surveys, a review of current software used in survey research, the use of weights, response styles, assessing validity of results, and effectively communicating your results and findings … and much more. The intended audience of the volume will be practitioners, administrators, teachers as researchers, graduate students, social science and education researchers not experienced in survey research, and students learning program evaluation. In brief, if you are considering doing survey research, this book is meant for you.




Designing and Conducting Research in Education


Book Description

"The authors did an excellent job of engaging students by being empathetic to their anxieties while taking a research design course. The authors also present a convincing case of the relevancies of research in daily life by showing how information was used or misused to affect our personal and professional decisions." —Cherng-Jyh Yen, George Washington University A practice-oriented, non-mathematical approach to understanding, planning, conducting, and interpreting research in education Practical and applied, Designing and Conducting Research in Education is the perfect first step for students who will be consuming research as well as for those who will be actively involved in conducting research. Readers will find up-to-date examinations of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research approaches which have emerged as important components in the toolbox of educational research. Real-world situations are presented in each chapter taking the reader through various challenges often encountered in the world of educational research. Key Features: Examines quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research approaches, which have emerged as important components in the toolbox of educational research Explains each step of the research process very practically to help students plan and conduct a research project in education Applies research in real-world situations by taking the reader through various challenges often encountered in field settings Includes a chapter on ethical issues in conducting research Provides a Student study site that offers the opportunity to interact with contemporary research articles in education Instructor Resources on CD provide a Computerized test bank, Sample Syllabi, General Teaching Tips and more Intended audience: This book provides an introduction to research that emphasizes the fundamental concepts of planning and design. The book is designed to be a core text for the very first course on research methods. In some fields the first course is offered at an undergraduate level whereas in others it is a beginning graduate class. "The book is perfect for introductory students. The language is top notch, the examples are helpful, and the graphic features (tables, figures) are uncomplicated and contain important information in an easy-to-understand format. Excellent text!" —John Huss, Northern Kentucky University "Designing and Conducting Research in Education is written in a style that is conducive to learning for the type of graduate students we teach here in the College of Education. I appreciate the 'friendly' tone and concise writing that the authors utilize." —Steven Harris, Tarleton State University "A hands on, truly accessible text on how to design and conduct research" —Joan P. Sebastian, National University




Research Instruments in Social Gerontology


Book Description

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