Updated Blog Index

2015, Current to 6/29

Topic	Dates of Posts
Dissertation, general	1/7, 3/6
Dissertation calculator	3/9
Selecting a Topic
Committee Members
URR
Center for Research Quality
Overview of Process
Premise
Prospectus
Proposal
Research questions	6/19
Research design	6/15, 6/22, 6/26
Theory	6/15, 6/17
C. 1	3/11, 3/13, 3/16, 3/18, 3/20
C. 2 (literature related)	1/9, 3/23, 3/25, 3/27, 4/3, 4/8
C. 3	4/10, 4/13, 4/15, 4/17, 4/20, 4/22, 4/24, 4/27, 4/29, 5/4, 5/6, 5/8, 5/11, 5/13, 5/15, 5/18
Defense
IRB	6/24
Data Collection	6/24
Quantitative	5/4, 5/8, 5/11, 5/13, 5/15
Qualitative	1/5, 1/12
Mixed Methods	4/10, 5/6, 5/8, 5/11, 5/13, 5/15
C. 4	5/20, 5/22, 5/25, 5/27, 6/3, 6/5
C. 5	6/5, 6/8, 6/10, 6/12
Appendixes
Final Defense
Career
Goal Form
Motivation	1/21, 3/2
Organizing
Secondary Data
Support, Getting	1/26
Resilience	2/6, 2/16, 2/18, 2/20, 2/23, 2/25, 3/4
Writing	1/14, 1/23, 2/9
Other	1/16, 1/19, 1/28, 1/30, 2/4, 2/11, 2/13, 4/1, 4/6, 6/1

 Previous Years

Topic	Dates of Posts - 2013	Dates of Posts - 2014
Dissertation, general	7/5, 8/16, 8/19, 9/27, 10/2	6/25, 12/5
Dissertation calculator		9/5
Selecting a Topic	4/23, 7/8, 7/10	4/28, 5/9, 8/25
Committee Members	4/17, 5/3, 6/10, 7/19, 8/21	5/7, 10/8, 12/22
URR	5/8, 5/27
Center for Research Quality	12/9
Overview of Process	4/19, 9/18, 12/13
Premise (no longer used)	4/17, 9/6
Prospectus		4/4, 4/7, 4/9, 4/11, 4/14, 4/18, 4/21, 4/23, 4/25, 4/28, 5/2, 5/5, 8/27
Proposal	4/22, 9/9	9/8, 11/3, 11/5
Research questions	10/9	4/18
C. 1	5/6, 10/21, 10/23, 10/25, 10/28, 11/1	11/7
C. 2 (literature related)	4/26, 5/29, 6/3, 6/12, 6/17, 6/28, 9/16, 10/11, 11/4, 11/6, 11/9, 11/15	6/9, 6/11, 6/16, 9/10, 9/15, 9/17, 9/19, 9/26, 9/29, 11/10, 12/26
C. 3	5/1, 10/16, 10/28, 11/18, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/2, 12/4, 12/6, 12/11, 12/16, 12/18, 12/20, 12/23, 12/27	1/3, 1/6, 1/13, 11/12
Defense	4/23, 5/8
IRB	5/10, 10/14	1/10, 1/15, 1/17, 1/20, 1/22, 1/24, 1/27, 1/29, 2/3, 2/5, 2/7, 2/10, 2/12, 2/17, 2/19, 2/21, 2/24, 10/13, 10/15, 10/17, 10/20, 10/22, 10/24, 10/27
Data Collection	5/13, 5/15, 10/16
Quantitative	5/17, 7/24, 7/26, 7/29, 7/31, 8/2, 8/5, 10/4, 10/7, 11/20, 12/2, 12/4, 12/6, 12/18, 12/23, 12/27	1/3, 2/26, 3/12, 7/9, 7/14, 7/16, 7/18, 7/21, 7/23, 7/25, 7/28
Qualitative	5/20, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/11, 12/16	1/6, 3/14, 10/29, 12/12, 12/15, 12/17, 12/19
Mixed Methods	5/22, 11/18, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/11, 12/20, 12/23, 12/27	1/3, 1/6
C. 4	5/17, 5/20, 5/22, 7/17	3/5, 3/10, 3/12, 3/14, 3/17, 3/19, 3/21, 11/14
C. 5	5/24, 9/20, 10/11	3/21, 3/24, 3/26, 3/28, 11/19
Final Defense	4/23, 5/27/ 9/11
Career	7/12	8/18, 8/20
Goal Form	8/12	5/23, 5/26, 6/2, 8/15, 11/24
Motivation	6/5, 6/26, 7/1, 8/16, 8/23, 9/2, 9/18, 10/18, 11/8, 11/27	1/1, 6/4, 6/6, 7/4, 7/11, 9/22, 10/10, 12/3
Organizing	4/22, 10/2	8/1, 8/4, 8/6, 8/8, 8/11, 8/13, 12/8
Secondary Data	5/31	2/24
Support, Getting	4/26, 6/5, 6/24, 8/16	5/21
Writing	4/26, 4/29, 6/12, 6/21, 7/3, 8/9, 8/14, 9/4, 9/23,9/25	5/16, 5/19, 6/16, 6/18, 6/20, 7/2, 7/7, 8/27, 12/10
Other	4/18, 6/7, 6/14, 6/19, 6/24, 6/26, 7/1, 7/8, 7/15, 7/19, 7/22, 8/7, 8/16, 8/19, 8/26, 8/28, 8/30, 9/2, 9/13, 9/18, 10/18, 11/27, 12/13, 12/25	2/14, 3/3, 3/7, 4/16, 5/12, 5/14, 5/28, 6/2, 6/13, 6/23, 6/27, 8/22, 9/1, 9/3, 9/12, 10/3, 10/6, 11/17, 11/26, 12/1, 12/24, 12/29, 12/31

 Next time we will complete the discussion on surveys. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Surveys: Structure and Truth

Surveys work best when asking structured questions. Structure refers to the degree of control you want to exercise over the answers you will get. The questions may be either completely unstructured and vague or highly structured. The more structured the questions, the more participants are constrained to your predetermined answers. Therefore, you may be limiting their responses; they may have other things to say. On the other hand, having broad and exploratory questions as in interviews, may not be the best choice for surveys, as the data may unable to be summarized.  

Sometimes surveys are an unwise choice because respondents may find it difficult to answer accurately or truthfully. Perhaps the information you seek is hard to remember or too sensitive for people to be willing to reveal it to a stranger. It is often assumed that social desirability biases much survey research, meaning that respondents may answer questions to reflect what they think is socially appropriate rather than what they really believe or do. Racial beliefs and attitudes provide an example of this. In the second half of the 20^th century, the number of people answering national surveys in ways indicating they held a racial prejudice dropped rapidly compared to earlier surveys. Whether people were less prejudiced in the 1990s than in the 1950s is uncertain. However, it is clear that the behavior of respondents on the same survey questions dramatically changed.  

Next time I will post an updated blog index. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Resisting Temptation

You have started your study, but you are not getting many participants. A small little voice in your head suggests that it would be so easy to make up the data… no one would know… When that voice starts whispering to you, hear my voice shouting, "DON'T DO IT!" There are so many ramifications of falsifying data, let us begin with a recent story in the news. Donald Green, a researcher at Columbia University and Michael LaCour, published a study last December in Science magazine. In the study, Green and LaCour reported results that suggested that voters’ support for same-sex marriage increases following a 20-minute conversation with a gay advocate for same-sex marriage. 

Intriguing results are they not? Other researchers attempted to replicate the results. When they were unable to do so, they contacted the original researchers and the journal and wanted to know more about the original data. Green could not produce his data, as more questions were asked; it was found that he lied about funding sources also. 

What are the implications of your making up data? You can have your Ph.D. revoked, be dismissed from the university (with no ability to return), if you received any grant funding you could face criminal charges for fraud. In addition, your professional career is finished before you started. You would never be able to use anyone from your institution as a reference, as a result getting a job or entering another program would be difficult to impossible. 

Recently IRBs have begun randomly auditing data (particularly collected from students). Falsifying data is not worth it. As a professional, you have a responsibility to be ethical in all aspects of your study. If you are having problems getting enough participants, talk to your committee. If your data is not coming out as expected, talk to your committee. There are ethical solutions, let the experienced researchers guide you to them.  

Next time we will consider more aspects of surveys. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

When to use surveys?

Surveys are popular, because they are efficient; researchers can gather a great deal of information for a small cost and generally in a short amount of time. To consider whether surveys are a good idea for your study consider these issues (from Vogt, Gardner & Haeffele, 2012): 

1. The data are best obtained directly from the respondents

2. Your data can be obtained by brief answers to structured questions.

3. You can expect respondents to give you a reliable information.

4. You know how you will use the answers.

5. You can expect  an adequate response rate. 

Over the next few posts, I will be examining these criteria. Today we will address the first issue whether the data are best obtained directly from the respondents. 

Often the only way to obtain information about people is by asking them. This is especially true of subjective data, i.e., the inner states of the subjects being studied, such as attitudes, beliefs, or values. You can also use surveys to collect objective data, such as respondents' age, income, or years of work experience, which could be obtained in other ways, but it is usually easier simply to ask. However, if you have access to records, such as educational and medical records, these may be more accurate and possibly more efficient than asking individuals. People's memories are notoriously poor on such questions, as "how often have you visited your doctor in the past year." Having access to their records would make it much more accurate. Keep in mind that asking unimportant or needless questions tends to annoy participants and they may quit your study because of it. 

Next time we will consider resisting temptation. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Vogt, W. P., Gardner, D. C., & Haeffele, L. M. (2012). When to use what research design. NY: The Guilford Press.