The Language of Research

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The Language of Research
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Construct

• Abstraction that cannot be observed directly but
  are useful in interpreting empirical data and in
  theory building
• People differ in what they can learn and how
  quickly they can learn. Scientist invented a
  construct called intelligence
• other examples are motivation, reading
  readiness, anxiety, underachievement, creativity,
  self-concept, maturity and many more.

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Specification of meaning

• Constructs may be defined in a way that gives
  general meaning or they may be defined in terms
  of the operation by which they will be measured
  or manipulated
• Constitutive definition
• A dictionary type of definition or formal
  definition
• For example, inteligence may be defined as the
  ability to think abstractly or the capacity to
  acquire knowledge
• Important to define so that readers know what is
  meant by the term and to enable other research to
  duplicate the research

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• Operational definition
• Helps researcher bridge the gap between
  theoretical and observable
• Two types of operational definition
• measured operational definition and
• experimental operational definition

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• Measured operational definition
• Details the operation by which the investigator
  measure the construct
• Example
• Inteligence may be defined operationally as
  scores on Stanford-Binet Intel Scale
• Creativity may operationally refer to
• So, when you define the construct in terms of how
  they are measured, you know precisely what it is
  meant by the term

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• Experimental Operation Definition
• Details the steps taken to produce certain
  experimental conditions
• Example
• Frustration in the study may take the form of
  preventing subjects from reaching the goal

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• Why operationally defined the construct?
• To delimit a term
• To ensure that people understand particular way a
  term is used
• To allow researcher to proceed with investigation
  that might not be possible
• Example
• In practice, the investigation of the
  relationship between construct creativity and the
  construct intelligence refers to scores on an
  intelligence test to scores on a measure of
  creativity

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Variables

• Characteristics by which persons or objects can
  be described
• Characteristics that do vary and can be put on a
  continuum or spectrum
• Characteristics that can change from time to time
  for given persons or objects
• There are variation within the class or subjects
• Must have more than one level

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• Example
• To study the effect of reinforcement on students
  achievement
• Select 9th graders
• Divide into 3 groups
• Teachers give different reinforcement
• (verbal praise, monetary rewards, extra points)

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Types of variables

• Discrete or categorical or qualitative
• Can only take on specific values
• Do not vary in degree, amount, quantity but are
  qualitatively different
• The simplest form of categorical variable gender
  (male-female).
• When there are two categories it is known as
  dichotomous

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Other examples of categorical variables

• Marital status
• Types of occupation
• Location of residence
• Ethnics
• Political pereference
• Hair colour,
• Brand of a car

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Quantitative variable

• Also known as continous variable
• It exist in some degrees along a continuum from
  less to more
• Numbers are assigned to indicate how much of the
  variable they possess
• Can take on any value
• IQ, Age, Height, Weigth, Interest

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Which of the folowing are categorical and
quantitative

• Religion
• Cleaness
• Hair calor
• Race
• Gender
• SES
• Curiosity
• Writing ability
• Efficiency
• CGPA

• Height
• Running Speed
• Teaching Mthods
• Leadership style
• Level of motivation
• Intelligence
• Komitment
• Job Satisfaction
• Level of Education
• Type oh Job
• School Climate
• Type of School

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Classification of variables

• Independent
• Presumed cause
• Antecedent
• Variable predicted from
• Denoted by X
• The thing you think will produce a difference and
  thing the experimenter change somehow
• Treatment
• factors

• Dependent
• Presumed effect
• Consequences
• Variable predicted from
• Denoted by Y
• The thing that is supposed to change
• Thing that shoud be affected
• Criterion

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Types of independent variable

• Attribute
• Variable that cannot be manipulated. gender,
  SES, IQ, Hair Color etc
• Also known as assigned, measured, organismic,
  personological, sociological, psycho-sociological,
  demographic

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• Some variables can be manipulated but are not
  manipulated in a particular investigation
• Type of curriculum
• Section of a course
• Usually subject self-select the level of the
  independent variable or naturally occuring
• Very common in ex post facto research

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• Active independent variable
• Also called experimental variable
• Manipulated variable
• Treatment variable
• Variable can be manipulated and are manipulated
  in a particular investigation
• Method of teaching
• What is manipulation?
• Random assigment of experimental units or
  subjects to levels of the independent variable

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• Intervening variable, extraneous, confounding or
  contaminating variables
• Things affecting dependent variable other than
  the independent variable
• Cause a threat to the validity of the study
• This is a major problem in any study
• Give example

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• Test wiseness affect test performance
• Children who are blocked from reaching their
  goals exhibit more aggressive acts than children
  not so blocked
• Girls who plan to pursue careers in science are
  more aggressive, less conforming, more
  independent and have a greater need for
  achievement than girls who do not plan such
  careers
• Under intangible reinforcement conditiond,
  middle-class children will learn significantly
  better than lower-class children

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• Students who have completed how to study course
  will make a significantly higher grade-point
  average than students who have never taken such a
  course
• Individual who graduate with Doctor of Education
  in educational administration attain better
  paying jobs than those who received a Doctor of
  Philosophy in educational administration
• Perceptions of the characteristics of the good or
  effective teacher are in part determined by the
  perceivers attitude toward education

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Dependent variable

• Variable that the independent variable is
  presumed to affect
• Variable that depends on independent variable
• Outcome variable
• Example
• The amount of uneasiness that applicants for a
  position express in an interview
• How anxious students are before the examination
• Neatness
• Openness of a classroom
• Fluency in a foreign language

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• Research in education may study the relationship
  between either
• (a) two or more quantitative variables,
• (b) one categorical and one quantitative
  variable, or
• (c) two or more categorical variable

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Two quantitative variables

• Age and amount of interest in school
• Reading achievement and mathematics achievement
• Classroom humanism and student motivation
• Amount of time watching television and
  agressiveness of behavior

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One categorical and one quantitative

• Method used to teach reading and reading
  achievement
• Counselling approach and level of anxiety
• Nationality and liking for school
• Student gender and amount of praise given by
  teachers

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Two categorical variables

• Ethnicity and fathers occupation
• Gender of teacher and subject taught
• Administrative style and college major
• Religious affiliation and political party
  membership

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Constant

• A fixed value within the study, that is all
  members of the class are identical
• There is no variation
• No change of characteristics
• Example

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Ugama yang dianuti Kecerdasan
Kebersihan Komitment
Warna mata/rambut Kepuasan bekerja
Bangsa Tahap pendidikan
Jantina Jenis pekerjaan
SES Leadership style
Curiousity Iklim sekolah
Writing ability Kualiti sekolah
Math ability Jenis sekolah
Kecekapan CGPA
Test anxiety Ketinggian
Grade level Kepantasan berlari
Kaedah mengajra Jenis kenderaan
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• Yang manakah independent dan yang manakah
  dependent?
• effects of instructional variables on languange
  ability of preschool children
• the validity of predictors of performance in law
  school
• computer based drill and practice in arithmatics
  widening the gap between high and low achieving
  students
• learning disable children self concept
• sex difference in choice of college science
  majors
• Test wiseness affetct test performance
• Children who are blocked from reaching their
  goals exhibit more aggressive act thath childern
  who are blocked
• Girls who plan to pursue career in science are
  more aggressive than