Research Methods

Lecture: 9 Using Secondary Data

Some Important dates

Assignment 7 + 8 5% Assignment 1 (SD) 5% Assignment 2 (IQ) Assignment 9 Assignment 10 Module 3 Final Research Proposal Presentations Final Exam
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Dates Week th Saturday (26 Oct) 1 29 Oct- 9 Nov

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Wish to research

Formulate and clarify your Research topic

The research Process

Critically review the literature Choose your research approach and strategy Negotiate access and address ethical issues

Plan your data collection and collect the data using one or more of :
Sampling Secondary data Observation Semi-structured and in-depth interviews Questionnaires

Analyse your data using one or both of:

Quantitative methods Write your project report Qualitative methods

Submit your report

Main reading
Saunders et al - ch. 7

Differing approaches to research

The research process onion
Research philosophy Research approaches

Research strategies

Data collection methods

Time horizons

Definitions
Secondary data: data already collected for some other reason Document: the medium on which the message is stored Text: the message that is conveyed
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Documentary sources
Life Histories The Diary Newspapers and magazines Letters Official documents and records Research reports

Documentary sources
Acts of Parliament Government reports and inquiries Public records Surveys/censuses Advertisements Pamphlets

Sources include Annual reports Business journals Investment analystsreports Market research studies News releases News services Newsletters Newspapers Trade journals
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Using official statistics: Pros

Readily available cost nothing to use Sample sizes often large Well planned with detailed interview schedules
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Using official statistics: Pros

Conducted regularly allows for comparisons over time Sometimes the only major source

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Using official statistics: Cons

Validity: do official statistics measure what they claim to measure? Can be deliberately biased in favour of officialdom Classification e.g. unemployment
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Analysis

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Types of Analysis
Content Analysis Thematic Analysis Textual Analysis

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CONTENT ANALYSIS Examples  political speeches  themes in popular songs  trends in newspapers  ideological tone of editorials  answers to open-ended survey qs  themes in advertising messages  enemy propaganda etc
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Stages in Content Analysis

1. Question formulation. 2. Choose Units of analysis 3. Sampling 3. Construct coding categories 4. Make inferences.
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CONTENT ANALYSIS Units of analysis a word a phrase a theme or series of related themes a plot a character
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Measuring the importance of a unit of analysis number of times mentioned (frequency) number of column inches devoted to it

number of times it appears in the index

number of readers letters.

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A CODING SYSTEM
- a set of instructions on how to systematically observe and record content from text.

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An example
Nicola Morant Social representations of gender in the media: quantitative and qualitative content analysis in Miell, D and Wetherell, M (eds) (1998). Doing Social Psychology. London: Sage.
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Visual images
Colour Body posture Background context Clothes Positioning of people in relation to each other General feel of the image
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Textual images
Choice of headline message Relative emphasis of themes within the topic Positive or negative associations
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Textual images
Value judgements Metaphors Feel of the writing e.g. Factual, humorous, dramatic?
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Textual images
Perspective of the writing
v Who is the subject? v From whose perspective is the article written? v With whom the reader is intended to identify?

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Apply this to websites

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Contrasts

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Developing a Codebook

Source: Journal articles Article topic: Decision making Number: 370 Coder: Students Date of coding: 1 weeks later

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Developing a Codebook
Subcategory........... column inches.......... THEMES chosen ....... ...... Notes....... references frequency (incl. page ref.) (number) ....... .... ....... ....
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Thank you!

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Assignment (5%)
5-6 articles Analyze data from the articles Each category is assigned numerical The numerical are entered into the software ie Excel, SPSS Analysis conducted for the data
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Data entry is divided into five groups:

Relevance Publication Themes Research Methodology Statistical Analysis
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RELEVANCE
A1: Is the article conceptual or empirical? Coding: C= Conceptual E= Empirical A2: Is the article quantitative or qualitative? Coding: QN= Quantitative QL= Qualitative MM= Mixed Methods
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