Week 3

Choosing Research Design

1 .the existing knowledge bases pertaining to the specific research question 2 .the types of research designs used, and inferences made to develop the existing knowledge bases 3. the resources available to the researcher 4. the specific threats to the validity of the particular design being considered 5. the match or fit between previous research knowledge (factors 1 and 2), the design being considered factor 4), and one's resources (factor 3).

Literature review format

1.Introduce the review by telling the reader about the sections included (i.e., organization) 2.Review topic 1 (independent variables) 3. Review topic 2 (dependent variables) 4. Review topic 3 (relating IV to DV) 5.Summary/highlight of important studies that captures the major theme, rationale, and how the proposed study will advance.

MAXMINCON

Max: Maximize the variable variance (e.g., maximize the difference of the condition, maximize the construct) Min: Minimize the error (threats to validity) Con: Control extraneous variable variance (threats to validity)

Literature Map

is a visual picture (or figure) of the research literature on a topic that illustrates how a particular study contributes to the literature.

Descriptive Field Studies

•Descriptive field studies have high external and low internal validity. These studies are characterized by investigations that do not exercise experimental controls (randomization, manipulation of variables) and are conducted in a real-life setting. •A descriptive field study is often high in external validity because a sample of participants can be taken directly from a population of interest. •For a study to be truly high in external validity, the data-gathering procedures must not have sufficient impact on the participants to disrupt their normal set of actions.

Descriptive Laboratory Studies

•Descriptive laboratory studies have low external and low internal validity. These studies are characterized by investigations that do not exercise experimental controls •The descriptive laboratory study involves describing in detail some aspect of counseling, by identifying, labeling, or categorizing data, as well as obtaining basic descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, and correlations among variables

Experimental Field Studies

•Experimental field studies have moderate external and internal validity. These studies are characterized by investigations that manipulate independent variables and are conducted in a real-life setting. •An experimental field study attempts to examine causality through random assignment of treatments and control of independent variables. Such experimental control moves the study away from the examination of naturally occurring counseling. •An experimental field study allows for the best combination of inferences about cause and generalizability that is attainable within a single study.

Experimental Laboratory Studies

•Experimental laboratory studies have low external and high internal validity. These studies are characterized by manipulation of independent variables and are conducted in a laboratory setting. •An experimental laboratory study is low in external validity because instead of using participants directly sampled from a population of interest, the experimenter sets up a situation to resemble a naturally occurring one. •This research is often high in internal validity because the experimenter can randomly assign participants to treatments and manipulate one or more independent variables.

Gelso's (1979) Bubble Hypothesis

•You can never fully control for all threats to validity •Increasing one form of validity (e.g., internal) may decrease another form of validity (e.g., external) •Consider what is most important in your study and prioritize validity issues accordingly •Mixed methods (e.g., sequential)