Research is literally everywhere, and knowing about research methods will help us understand how we came to know what we accept as fact. We all know that 4 out of 5 dentists recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum, and that taste-tests show that Burger King's Croissanwich is preferred 2 to 1 over McDonald's Egg McMuffin. We also know that proper nutrition is important for children's development, and that heroin is addictive. The question is: How did we come to know these things?
We learned about these things through research. Someone somewhere did a study and found each of the above findings. While most of us accept the value of good nutrition for children and the dangers of heroin, at least some of us (especially Certs Sugarless Mint and Egg McMuffin fans) would quibble with the other two findings. Just how did the researchers do the studies that found those numbers (by the way, get in the habit of questioning how researchers find their results, even those you agree with)? Who knows, maybe they did the Croissanwich study at Burger King one morning and asked people which sandwich they preferred. The fact that the participants had already gone to Burger King for breakfast meant that they had at least some tolerance for Croissanwiches. What about the dentists? What percentage of them "recommended" candies of any kind? Which dentists participated in the study and what exactly do they prefer about sugarless gum over sugarless mints?
When we ask questions like these, we are questioning the methods the researchers employed in their studies. Research methods are a variety of techniques that people use when studying a given phenomenon. They are planned, scientific, and value-neutral. What that means is that good research methods don't "just happen." Instead, they are deliberately employed in a way that is designed to maximize the accuracy of the results. Assume, for example, that you want to do a survey to assess students' level of satisfaction with the parking situation on your campus. Because no one wants to take time to be interviewed, you are forced to start interviewing the people sitting in their cars waiting for parking places. Since they're bored anyway and have nothing better to do, they agree to answer your questions. Lo and behold, you find that all 50 people you talk to are VERY unhappy about the lack of parking spaces on campus.
We learned about these things through research. Someone somewhere did a study and found each of the above findings. While most of us accept the value of good nutrition for children and the dangers of heroin, at least some of us (especially Certs Sugarless Mint and Egg McMuffin fans) would quibble with the other two findings. Just how did the researchers do the studies that found those numbers (by the way, get in the habit of questioning how researchers find their results, even those you agree with)? Who knows, maybe they did the Croissanwich study at Burger King one morning and asked people which sandwich they preferred. The fact that the participants had already gone to Burger King for breakfast meant that they had at least some tolerance for Croissanwiches. What about the dentists? What percentage of them "recommended" candies of any kind? Which dentists participated in the study and what exactly do they prefer about sugarless gum over sugarless mints?
When we ask questions like these, we are questioning the methods the researchers employed in their studies. Research methods are a variety of techniques that people use when studying a given phenomenon. They are planned, scientific, and value-neutral. What that means is that good research methods don't "just happen." Instead, they are deliberately employed in a way that is designed to maximize the accuracy of the results. Assume, for example, that you want to do a survey to assess students' level of satisfaction with the parking situation on your campus. Because no one wants to take time to be interviewed, you are forced to start interviewing the people sitting in their cars waiting for parking places. Since they're bored anyway and have nothing better to do, they agree to answer your questions. Lo and behold, you find that all 50 people you talk to are VERY unhappy about the lack of parking spaces on campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment