METHODS

OF
RESEARCH
Topic 8:
Methods of
Observation
Is concerned neither with what a
respondent places on paper nor with
what he says in an interview, but deals
with the overt behavior of persons in an
appropriate situations, sometimes
under conditions of normal living and at
other times with some special set of
factors operating.
Is a set of questions
administered to respondents
to generate information about
a person, an object, or a
specific situation.
1. Consider the extent to which the questions influence
the respondents to show themselves in a good light.
2. Consider the extent to which the questions influence
the respondents to be unduly by trying to anticipate
what the researchers want to find out.
3. Consider the extent to which the questions might be
asking information about which the respondent are
not certain or perhaps not likely to know about
themselves.
1. Specific versus Non-specific questions
examples:
Specific: How much do you like or dislike
your Math teacher?

Non-specific: How satisfied are you with
your class in Math?
2. Fact versus Opinion
examples:
Fact: Civil Status: Single ___ Married ___

Opinion: What do you think will happen to
Philippines in 2050?
3. Questions versus Statements
Examples:
Question: Do you think there should be
Grade 13?
Yes ___________ No _____________
Statement: There should be a Grade 13.
Agree _________ Disagree ________
4. Predetermined versus Response-keyed
Questions
Predetermined requires the respondent
to complete every item.

Response-keyed subsequent questions
may or may not be answered to a keyed
answer.
Example:
Are you a college graduate?
Yes __________ No _____________

If yes, answer No. 12 _____________
If no, proceed to No. 13 ___________
1. Unstructured enables the respondent to write his
answer in whatever form chooses.
Example: Why do you want to go to college?

2. Fill-in-Response considered the transitional mode
between unstructured and structured forms. It requires
the individual to generate rather than choose a
response. It limits the range of possible response by
limiting the answer to a word or phrase.

Example: What is your mothers educational
attainment?
3.Tabular Response the respondent is asked to fit
his responses into a table.
4. Scaled Response the respondent is asked to
rank a series of statements in terms of a particular
criterion.
Example: The teacher is cranky.
_________ __________ ___________
Agree Undecided Disagree
5. Ranking Response the respondent is asked to
rank a series of statements in terms of a particular
criterion.

Example:
Rank the following health habits in terms of their
importance to you. Use numbers 1 through 5 with 1
indicating the habit as most important and 5
indicating the least useful.
_________ exercising everyday
_________ getting fresh air
_________ eating well-balanced diet
_________ getting enough sleep
_________ getting enough rest
6. Checklist Response the respondent replies by
selecting one of the possible choices offered. The
responses are nominal categories and do not
represent points in a continuum.

Example: I get most of emotional support from:
(Check one of the following)
____friends ____sister/brother
____mother ____teachers
7. Categorical Response similar to the checklist,
but simple and offers the respondent only 2
response possibilities for each item.
Example:
Are you a professional teacher?
yes _____ no ______

The Philippines is a republic country.
yes _____ no ______
1. To know what a person knows.
2. To know what a person likes or
dislikes.
3. To know what a person thinks.
4. To discover what experiences have
taken place.
- It is a face-to-face interpersonal role
situation in which the interview asks the
person being interviewed questions designed
to obtain answers to the research problem.

- It is probably the oldest and the most often
used device in obtaining information.
It is a psychological and
sociological measuring
instrument and therefore
subject to the same criteria of
validity, reliability and
objectivity.
a. As an exploratory device to help identify
variables and relationship to suggest a
hypothesis and to guide other phases of
the research.
b. As the main instrument of the research.
c. As a supplement to other methods like
following up certain unexpected results,
validating other methods, going deeper
into the motivations of respondents.

1. Structured or standardized questions,
answers and wordings are fixed. It uses
interview schedules that have been carefully
planned and prepared.
2. Unstructured or unstandardized - more
flexible and open. The content, sequence, and
wording are entirely in the hands of the
interviewer. Ordinarily, no schedule is used.
- Is a plan and written schedule of the questions to be asked.
There are three (3) kinds of information included in most
schedules:

-FACE SHEET INFORMATION identifies the respondent
name.

-CENSUS-TYPE INFORMATION identifies the attributes of the
individual or the respondent that springs from his
membership in social groups like sex, income, religious
affiliations, education, age, race and etc.

- PROBLEM INFORMATION asks information on questions
regarding the problem on hand.

1. Fixed offers the respondent choice of two
or more alternatives like for example a
dichotomy of Yes or No, Agree or Disagree
or Dont Know (I am not sure)
2. Open-Ended Items supply a frame of
reference for respondents answer but put
a minimum of restraint on their answers
and expressions.
The advantages of Interview
and Interview Schedules is
the fact that is adaptable and
capable of being used with all
kinds of respondents and with
many kinds of research and
suited to exploration in depth.
These are methods in which anyone
following the prescribed rules will
assign the same numerals to objects
and set of objects as anyone else.
Agreement between observers is at
a maximum and observes variance
is at a minimum.
It is a systematic procedure in which the
respondent is presented with a set of
constructed stimuli to which he responds
enabling the tester to assign the participants
a numeral or set of numerals from which
inferences can be made about the
participants possession of whatever the test
is supposed to measure.
It is a set of symbols or numerals
constructed in a way that they can
be assigned by rule to the individuals
to whom the scales is applied; the
assignment being indicated by the
individuals possession of whatever
the scale is supposed to measure.
Intelligence and Aptitude Test it measures the intelligence and
potential ability for achievement.

Achievement Tests measure the present proficiency, mastery and
understanding of general specific areas of knowledge.
Standardized Tests published group test based on general
education content common to a large number of school systems.
General Tests batteries of tests that measure the most
important area of school achievement namely: language,
vocabulary, reading and social studies.
Special Tests are test in individual subject like History, Science
and English.


Personality Tests it measure the
personality traits and is the most complex
problem of psychological measurement.
The main problem is validity.

Attitude Scales it measure the persons
predisposition to think, feel, perceive and
behave toward a referent or cognitive
object.

Summated Type (Likert-type scale) it is a
set of attitude items which are considered
approximately of equal attitude value. The
scores of the items are summed or averaged
to yield an individuals attitude score. A
multiple item rating scale in which the degree
of an attribute possessed by an object is
determined by asking respondents to agree or
disagree with a series of positive and/or
negative statements describing the object.

Example:


Totally
disagree Disagree Neutral Agree
Totally
agree
a) Shopping takes much longer on the Internet [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
b) It is a good thing that Saudi consumers have
the opportunity to buy products through the [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
c) Buying products over the Internet is not a
sensible thing to do [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
Attitude toward buying from the Internet
The following procedure is used to analyze data from Likert scales:
1. First, weights are assigned to the responses options, e.g. Totally
agree=1, Agree=2, etc
2. Then negatively-worded statements are reverse-coded (or
reverse scored). E.g. a score of 2 for a negatively-worded
statement with a 5-point response options is equivalent to a
score of 4 on an equivalent positive statement.
3. Next, scores are summed across statements to arrive at a total
(or summated) score.
4. Each respondents score can then be compared with the mean
score or the scores of other respondents to determine his level
of attitude, loyalty, or other construct that is being measured
Note that the response for each individual statement is expressed on
a category scale.

Equal-Appearing Interval
Scales (Thurstone scale)
where each item is designed a
scale value and the scale value
indicates the strength of an
attitude response to the item.





Start with a large set of items that you
think all reflect the same construct.


Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Many judges individually sort these into 11 piles where:
1 = least favorable to the concept
11 = most favorable to the concept

1 2 3
Manage resources effectively.
4
4 5
Organize the work when
directions are not specific.
39
6
7 4
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
9 10 11
Work quickly and
effectively under
pressure
49
For each item, plot the distribution of pile numbers.

0
5
10
15
20
25
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Get the median.
and interquartile range.
Choose those items that are at equal intervals (from 1
to 11) and that have the smallest interquartile range.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Organize the work when
directions are not specific.
39
Decide how to manage
multiple tasks.
20
Organize the work when
directions are not specific.
39
Organize the work when
directions are not specific.
39
Manage resources effectively.
4
Work quickly and
effectively under
pressure
49
Manage resources effectively.
4
Work quickly and
effectively under
pressure
49
Cumulative or Guttmann
Scale it consists of a
small set of homogenous
items that are
undimensional.

Values Scales are culturally weighted
preferences for things, ideas, people,
institutions and behavior. A value scale is a
simple drawing tool that helps you see and
draw values by comparison. The scale to the
right has a sliding range of values on one edge
and ten gradated sections on the other edge.
- Here's a chart with pencil grades and their
general value ranges. (Each brand is different
though, so test your pencils to find their
range.)