REQUIREMENTS

FOR RESEARCH
(SECOND QUARTER)

Submitted by: Crissa Jean S. Abrasaldo

 I. SUMMARY

CAMPBELL AND STANLEY EXPERIMENT DESIGN FOR RESEARCH

1. One shot pre-test / posttest: One group is tested, exposed to a treatment and then tested
again.

Experimental design

T= one test x= a treatment

T₁ X T₂

2. Randomized control group design: This is a standard design for biology projects. Students
compare the pretest ( or initial condition) and the posttest (or final condition) with a control
group.

Experimental design:

T₁ X T₂ Experimental

T₁ T₂ Control

In its simplest form, the design provides data for the student’s 1- test or for chi- square analysis.
The distinction between discrete and continuos data requires a great deal of class time.
Students however, can easily figure out that the reliability of randomized control go\roup test
depends on the number of subjects in the experiment.

3. Variables in Series : The variable is applied in a series of strenght, duration or form. This
strenghtens the experimental design, such as the first two types.

Experimental design:

T₁ Xₐ T₂

T₁ X T₂

T₁ T₂

Varying Varying Varying

Strenghts Treatment Strenghts

Today most microcomputers can perform straight forward statistical technique called analysis of
variance, which can be used for data evaluation of this kind.

4. Observation over time: This design is often more valuable than a signle test.

Experimental design:

T₁ T₂ T₃ T₄ X T₅ T₆ T₇ T₈

At different times At different times

This design may require the use of a computer for curve fitting and extrapolation.

5. Progressive change: This design compares changes in a subject over time to a control.

Experimental design:

T₁ T₂ T₃ T₄ T₅ T₆ T₇ T₈ Expel.
x
T₁ T₂ T₃ T₄ T₅ T₆ T₇ T₈ Control

Not all ideas will fit into one or more of the given designs. You may improvise your own symbols
and designs.

GUIDELINES IN KEEPING NOTES

The guidelines are choose a permanently bound notebook, of sufficient size and numbered
pages, On the fly page, write the notebook number, the title of the research, the initial date,
Assigned several pages for table of contents, State the objective of the entire project as clearly
as possible and record any changes, And for each experiment, it includes Objective Equipments
and Procedures, All New data written directly on the notebook, Calculate with legend for all
symbols, Findings and Conclusions, and Suggestions for Future Work. All original data must be
entered directly into the notebook, Never postpone any necessary calculations, Place Your
Notebook in a good position while doing your experiments, Enter all necessary information, List
decisions that affect the course of the project and the reasons, Include any standard operating
procedures develop for the equipment you are using, Never tear a page from the lab NB, Enter
all data, observations, notes, tables, etc. on the right- hand page and all calculations on the left-
hand page, Take snapshots and set- ups, Do not omit what you might consider a failed
experiment at given moment, Record full reference citation for any book or article used as
source of information, and Sign your name and date of each working day. If your work is Done.

DESIGNING YOUR EXPERIMENTS

An inestigatory project employing the scientific method would require careful and meticulous
planning of every step, recording and analysis of every observation. Conclusions are drawn
based only on reproducible results.

Preplanning: Start with a hypothesis or a working theory and then design experiments based on
this hypothesis. The hypothesis states what the project is expected to discover. It is costumary
to start with a null or negative hypothesis and proceed to prove the opposite. Next analyze the
problem and cast it into its simplest form. The way the problem is stated can set its limits and
points the way to its solutions. If the problem is too complex, it is advisable to approach it in
stages. Start with the most idealized and simplified version possible, before attacking the more
general cases. Before carrying out an experiment, have a clear- cut idea of what you want to
test. Usually evidence, either for or against a theory, come from different sources at one time.
Nevertheless, it is important to design an experiment that as far as possible is crucial with
respect to the hypothesis you want to test.

Variables: Results about similar events may be accepted as scientific truths, if they can be
reproduced under similar circumstances. This rests on the idea that similar events occur under
similar circumstances. One can identify similarities in events by focusing attention on small
number of essential characteristics. These essential conditions which when fixed ensure
occurrence of a given event called variables. There are different kinds of variables , first is the
Independent Variable are what you change, directly during experiment, Dependent Variables are
what you watch to look for any effect of your manipulated variables, and Control Variable that
you keep from changing during an experiment or you assume do not change.

Steps in Planning an Experiment: No two scientists will follow exactly the same pattern of
steps to arrive at the same conclusions. This is where a scientific project vis- a- vis structured
experiments differ. The first will give you freedom of thought and action, while the latter gives
you no choice. The ff. Guides are Decide on the kind of event you want to study and the nature
of the variables, Depending on your aim, choose the mode of measurements, Quantify the
experiments whenever possible, Choose the sampling material, Introduce control standards.
Matching of Controls: Subject- control pair must be carefully matched. They must be nearly alike
in all permanent features as much as possible. Randomization: It must be used in choosing
which member of the pair is the subject and which is the control. It is done to ensure the
inevitable prejudices and preference of the investigator. It also provides for a mathematically
sound basis for the calculations of the approximate probability of error.

Decide on the number of experiments to be performed. The other things consider in

experimental design are: materials, method, time for experiment and evaluation, frequency of
observations, and cost in terms of manpower, time and equipment.

ANALYZING YOUR DATA

The ultimate goal of an investigation is to express the magnitude of the variables in the
experiments in meaningful quantitative terms. The investigator may not be satisfied with the
expression that one variable is larger or smaller than another , but rather he/she may want to
express precisely how much larger or smaller it is. If two variables are functionally related,
merely describing that they are positively or negatively related may not be sufficient. The
specific degree of relationship in terms of some numerical values may be sought. Statistics
provide the tools for the investigator to quantitatively analyse experimental data. The mean or
arithmetic or arithmetic average is used to represent a set of data by using a single numeral.
The mean (X) is the summation ( ) of the individual observation (X₁,X₂,X₃X₄….X ) divided by
the number of observations (n).

X= (X₁, X₂, X₃, X₄…. +Xn)

n
Or in a mathematical shorthand, ∑ Xi n
i=1

X=
Variance (s²) is a measure of the individual values from the mean. A large variance indicates
that the individual values deviate considerably from the mean, whereas a small variance
indicates that the individual values deviate little from the mean.
The variance can be calculated from the formula:

∑ ( Xi−X ) ²
I−1

S²=
n-1

Similar to variance, Standard deviation of a group of scores is a number which tells the
investigator whether most of the individual readings cluster closely around their mean or are
spread out along the scale. The standard deviation is also useful not only for describing
distributions, but also for comparing group of samples.

II. IMPLICATION

ANALYZING YOUR DATA

Data analysis is a process used to transform, remodel and revise certain information ( data) with
a view to reach to a certain conclusions for a given situation or problem. Data analysis can be
done by different methods as according to the needs and requirements of different domains like
science, business, social science dissertation etc. Data analysis, in a research supports the
researcher to reach to a conclusions. Therefore, simply stating that data analysis is important
for a research will be an understatement rather no research can survive without data analysis.

There are many benefits of data analysis however, the most important ones as follows data
analysis help in structuring the findings from different sources of data collection like survey
research. It is again very helpful in breaking a macro problem into micro parts. Data analysis
acts like a filter when it comes to acquiring meaningful insights out of a huge data- set. Every
researcher has sort out huge pile of data that he/she has collected, before reaching to a
conclusion of the research question. Mere data collection is of no use to the researcher. Data
analysis proves to be crucial in this process. It provides a meaningful base to critical decisions.
It helps to create a complete dissertation proposal.

One of the most important uses of data analysis is that it helps in keeping human bias away
from research conclusion with the help of proper statistical treatment. With the help of data
analysis a researcher can filter both qualitative and quantitative data for an assignment writing
projects. Thus, it can be said that data analysis is utmost importance for both the research and
the researcher. Or to put it in another words data analysis is as important to a researcher as it is
important for a doctor to diagnose the problem of the patient before giving him any treatment.

GUIDELINES IN KEEPING NOTES

Proposal writing is important to your pursuit of a graduate degree. The proposal is, in effect, an
intellectual scholastic (not legal) contract between you and your committee. It specifies what you
will do, how you will do it, and how you will interpret the results. In specifying what will be done it
also gives criteria for determining whether it is done. In approving the proposal, your committee
gives their best judgment that the approach to the research is reasonable and likely to yield the
anticipated results. They are implicitly agreeing that they will accept the result as adequate for
the purpose of granting a degree. (Of course you will have to write the thesis in acceptable form,
and you probably will discover things in the course of your research that were not anticipated
but which should be addressed in your thesis, but the minimum core intellectual contribution of
your thesis will be set by the proposal.) Both parties benefit from an agreed upon plan.

The objective in writing a proposal is to describe what you will do, why it should be done, how
you will do it and what you expect will result. Being clear about these things from the beginning
will help you complete your thesis in a timely fashion. A vague, weak or fuzzy proposal can lead
to a long, painful, and often unsuccessful thesis writing exercise. A clean, well thought-out,
proposal forms the backbone for the thesis itself. The structures are identical and through the
miracle of word-processing, your proposal will probably become your thesis.

A good thesis proposal hinges on a good idea. Once you have a good idea, you can draft the
proposal in an evening. Getting a good idea hinges on familiarity with the topic. This assumes a
longer preparatory period of reading, observation, discussion, and incubation. Read everything
that you can in your area of interest. Figure out what are the important and missing parts of our
understanding. Figure out how to build/discover those pieces. Live and breathe the topic. Talk
about it with anyone who is interested. Then just write the important parts as the proposal.
Filling in the things that we do not know and that will help us know more: that is what research is
all about.

Proposals help you estimate the size of a project. Don't make the project too big. Our MA
program statement used to say that a thesis is equivalent to a published paper in scope. These
days, sixty double spaced pages, with figures, tables and bibliography, would be a long paper.
Your proposal will be shorter, perhaps five pages and certainly no more than fifteen pages. (For
perspective, the NSF limits the length of proposal narratives to 15 pages, even when the
request might be for multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.) The merit of the proposal
counts, not the weight. Shoot for five pithy pages that indicate to a relatively well-informed
audience that you know the topic and how its logic hangs together, rather than fifteen or twenty
pages that indicate that you have read a lot of things but not yet boiled it down to a set of
prioritized linked questions.

DESIGNING YOUR EXPERIMENT

We are concerned with the analysis of data generated from an experiment. It is wise to take
time and effort to organize the experiment properly to ensure that the right type of data, and
enough of it, is available to answer the questions of interest as clearly and efficiently as
possible. This process is called experimental design.
The specific questions that the experiment is intended to answer must be clearly identified
before carrying out the experiment. We should also attempt to identify known or expected
sources of variability in the experimental units since one of the main aims of a designed
experiment is to reduce the effect of these sources of variability on the answers to questions of
interest. That is, we design the experiment in order to improve the precision of our answers. In
control , for ex. suppose a farmer wishes to evaluate a new fertilizer. She uses the new fertilizer
on one field of crops (A), while using her current fertilizer on another field of crops (B). The
irrigation system on field A has recently been repaired and provides adequate water to all of the
crops, while the system on field B will not be repaired until next season. She concludes that the
new fertilizer is far superior. The problem with this experiment is that the farmer has neglected
to control for the effect of the differences in irrigation. This leads to experimental bias, the
favoring of certain outcomes over others. To avoid this bias, the farmer should have tested the
new fertilizer in identical conditions to the control group, which did not receive the treatment.
Without controlling for outside variables, the farmer cannot conclude that it was the effect of the
fertilizer, and not the irrigation system, that produced a better yield of crops. In Randomization,
because it is generally extremely difficult for experimenters to eliminate bias using only their
expert judgment, the use of randomization in experiments is common practice. In a
randomized experimental design, objects or individuals are randomly assigned (by chance) to
an experimental group. Using randomization is the most reliable method of creating
homogeneous treatment groups, without involving any potential biases or judgments. There are
several variations of randomized experimental designs, two of which are briefly discussed
below.

CAMPBELL AND STANLEY EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN FOR RESEARCH

Randomization and Control. The hallmarks of an experiment to Campbell and Stanley, among
others are (a) random assignment of cases to comparison groups, (b) control of the
implementation of a manipulated treatment variable, and (c) measurement of the outcome with
relevant, reliable instruments. Controlled experimentation allows for replication of the conditions
of the experiment so that independent researchers can attempt to repeat the results of the
experiment. In contrast, non- experimental studies may use convenience samples, comparison
groups formed by post-hoc matching and similar procedures.
Campbell and Stanley (1963) provide a framework for evaluating the limitations that various
types of research studies pose with respect to inferring a causal link between independent
(treatment) and dependent (outcome) variables. They posit a necessary relationship between
the validity of an individual research study and the generalization of results from this study to
wider populations. They argue that: Internal validity is the basic minimum without which any
experiment is uninterpretable. Did in fact the experimental treatments make a difference in this
specific experimental instance? ( 5). Typical of potential threats to internal validity are: (1)
uncontrolled, extraneous events occurring during the study (called a "history" threat); (2) failure
to randomize interviewers or raters across comparison groups (called an "instrumentation"
threat); (3) biased or differential selection of cases as occurs when groups are self-selected in a
case-control study (call a "selection" threat); and (4) differential loss of cases from comparison
groups when there is no pretest to assess the impact of the loss (called an "experimental
mortality" threat). Additional threats are discussed in Campbell and Stanley (1963). Note that, in
general, control of threats to internal validity allows the research to rule out plausible rival
hypotheses concerning differences between comparison groups.

III. CONCEPT NOTES

Data Analysis- The process of evaluating data using analytical and logical reasoning to
examine each component of the data provided. This form of analysis is just one of the many
steps that must be completed when conducting a research experiment. Data from various
sources is gathered, reviewed, and then analyzed to form some sort of finding or conclusion.
There are a variety of specific data analysis method, some of which include data mining, text
analytics, business intelligence, and data visualizations.
Aritmetic Mean- In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean or simply
the mean or average when the context is clear, is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by
the number of numbers in the collection.

Variance- In probability theory and statistics, variance is the expectation of the squared
deviation of a random variable from its mean, and it informally measures how far a set of
(random) numbers are spread out from their mean. The variance has a central role in statistics.
It is used in descriptive statistics, statistical inference, hypothesis testing, goodness of fit, Monte
Carlo sampling, amongst many others. This makes it a central quantity in numerous fields such
as physics, biology, chemistry, economics, and finance.

Standard Deviation- In statistics, the standard deviation (SD, also represented by the Greek
letter sigma σ or the Latin letter s) is a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation
or dispersion of a set of data values.

One-group pre- test- posttest design- A single case is observed at two time points, one
before the treatment and one after the treatment. Changes in the outcome of interest are
presumed to be the result of the intervention or treatment. No control or comparison group is
employed.

Randomized controlled trial - is a type of scientific (often medical) experiment which aims to
reduce bias when testing a new treatment.

Variable- A characteristic, number, or quantity that increases or decreases over time, or takes
different values in different situations.
Two basic types are (1) Independent variable: that can take different values and can cause
corresponding changes in other variables, and (2) Dependent variable: that can take different
values only in response to an independent variable.
Objectives- A specific result that a person or system aims to achieve within a time frame and
with available resources.
In general, objectives are more specific and easier to measure than goals. Objectives are basic
tools that underlie all planning and strategic activities. They serve as the basis for creating
policy and evaluating performance. Some examples of business objectives include minimizing
expenses, expanding internationally, or making a profit.
Conclusion- a final decision or judgment : an opinion or decision that is formed after a period of
thought or research

Data organization- refers to the method of classifying and organizing data sets to make them
more useful. Some IT experts apply this primarily to physical records, although some types of
data organization can also be applied to digital records.

Flow process chart- in industrial engineering is a graphical and symbolic representation of

the processing activities performed on the work piece.
Venn diagram- (also called a set diagram or logic diagram) is a diagram that shows all
possible logical relations between a finite collection of different sets.

Pie chart- (or a circle chart) is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to
illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently
its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents.

Line graphs - are used to track changes over short and long periods of time. When smaller
changes exist, line graphs are better to use than bar graphs. Line graphs can also be used to
compare changes over the same period of time for more than one group.

Bar graphs - are used to compare things between different groups or to track changes over
time. However, when trying to measure change over time, bar graphs are best when the
changes are larger.

Experimental design - a method of research in the social sciences (such as sociology or

psychology) in which a controlled experimental factor is subjected to special treatment for
purposes of comparison with a factor kept constant.

Hypothesis- is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific

hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it.

Dependent variable- is what you measure in the experiment and what is affected during the
experiment. The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called
dependent because it "depends" on the independent variable. In a scientific experiment, you
cannot have a dependent variable without an independent variable.

Idealization -is the process by which scientific models assume facts about the phenomenon
being modeled that are strictly false but make models easier to understand or solve. That is, it is
determined whether the phenomenon approximates an "ideal case," then the model is applied
to make a prediction based on that ideal case.

Independent variable- is the variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment.

Control Variable- a variable that is used to regulate the flow of control, or order of execution,
generally the number of times a loop will execute.

Matching- is a statistical technique which is used to evaluate the effect of a treatment by

comparing the treated and the non-treated units in an observational study or quasi-
experiment (i.e. when the treatment is not randomly assigned).

Randomized experiment- a study sample is divided into one group that will receive the
intervention being studied (the treatment group) and another group that will not receive the
intervention (the control group).

Reasearch- careful study that is done to find and report new knowledge about
something.

Data - factual information [as measurements or statistics] used as a basis for reasoning,
discussion, or calculation.

Deviation - the distance between the mean and a particular data point in a given distribution.

Measurement - process of obtaining a numerical description of the extent to which persons,

organizations, or things possess specified characteristics.

Methods - systematic approaches to the conduct of an operation or process. It includes steps of

procedure, application of techniques, systems of reasoning or analysis, and the modes of
inquiry employed by a discipline.