Points to remember
The following are the major points introduced in this chapter. Ensure that you are very confident with their meaning, content, context and significance.
1 The
principles of research are precision in measurement, validity, reliability,
objectivity, representativeness, replication and ethics.
2
Some form and degree of measurement is included in all types of research.
3
A variable is a concept that can take two or more values.
4
Variables can be discrete or continuous; they vary in terms of scale continuity.
5
There are four levels of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio
levels.
6
Nominal level measurement involves classification of events into categories.
7
Ordinal-level measurement involves categorising, ordering and ranking according
to magnitude.
8
Interval level measurement displays the values of nominal and ordinal-level
measurement but also contains equal intervals.
9
Ratio level measurement is an interval ratio measurement but also contains an
absolute true zero.
10
Variables are measured at the highest level possible.
11
Validity is the ability to produce accurate results and to measure what is
supposed to be measured.
12
Quantitative research employs many types of validation, for example, empirical,
theoretical, face, content and construct validity.
13
Validity is an attribute of quantitative and qualitative research.
14
In qualitative research validation takes the form of cumulative, communicative,
argumentative or ecological validation.
15
Reliability is the ability to produce consistent results. Therefore, reliability
means consistency.
16
In quantitative research investigators consider many forms of reliability, for
example, external or internal reliability and representative or equivalence
reliability.
17
In quantitative research, reliability is tested by means of methods such as
test-retest method, split-half method, alternate form reliability, and so on.
18
Qualitative researchers consider reliability to be important but achieve this by
using methods that are different from those employed by quantitative
researchers.
19
Objectivity excludes personal values from research; it expects research to be
value free and to study 'what is' and not 'what ought to be'.
20
Objectivity is a controversial issue and is still being debated in the social
sciences. Many consider it unattainable, unnecessary and undesirable.
21
Objectivity has been contested but many researchers still adhere to it.
22
Adherence to ethical standards is expected in quantitative and qualitative
research. Ethics relates to professional practice, the researcher-respondent
relationship, the researcher-researcher relationship, and the
researcher-animal relationship.
23
Representativeness is an important characteristic of social research especially
among quantitative researchers.
24
An index is a measure containing a combination of items, the values of which are
summed up in a numerical score.
25
Scales are used because they offer high coverage, high precision, high
reliability, high comparability and simplicity.
26
Examples of such scales are the Thurstone scale, the Likert scale, the Bogardus
scale, the Guttman scale, and the semantic differential scale.