Design

Research Design

In this module we discuss different kinds of research designs, such as experiments, field studies, observation and simulations.

We also take up a number of abstract issues that arise in doing research, such as issues of validity, reliability, causality, generalizability and ethics.

Topics

Experiments, quasi experiments and field studies
- ethnography & surveys
- archival research
Inferring causality
Role of quantitative and qualitative
Validity and reliability
- Issues of endogeneity
Role of Simulation
Ethics
Sampling

Handouts

Trochim. Language of research [php]
Trochim. Sampling [php]
Trochim. Design [php]
Trochim. Ethics in research [php]
Trochim. Validity and reliability [php]
Horan. Threats to validity [html]
Borgatti. What is qda? [html]
Borgatti. Types of research [html]
Neill. Qual vs Quant. [html]
Siva. Simulation [doc]
Burton. Simulation [doc]
Kendall. Hiawatha designs an experiment [pdf]
Borgatti. Types of validity. [html]
Research Methods in the Social and Natural Sciences - an interactive tutorial on five basic research strategies in science: experiments, correlation, surveys, naturalistic observation, and case studies
Morris. Notes on archival data. [pdf]

Readings

Sutton, R.I. and A. Rafaeli. 1988. "Untangling the relationship between displayed emotions and organizational sales: The case of convenience stores." Academy of Management Journal. 31(3):461-487. [pdf]
Borgatti, S.P. and Molina, J-L. 2003. Ethical and strategic issues in organizational network analysis. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 39(3): 337-350. [pdf]
Johnson, J. C. 1998. "Research design and research strategies," in Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Edited by H. R. Bernard, pp. 131-171. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. [pdf]

Related Modules

Bibliography

Design Overviews

Dean, J. S., G. J. Gummerman, J. M. Epstein, R. L. Axtell, A. C. Swedlund, M. T. Parker, and S. McCarroll. 2000. "Understanding Anasazi culture change through agent-based modeling," in Dynamics in human and primate societies: Agent-based modeling of social and spatial processes. Edited by T. A. Kohler and G. J. Gummerman, pp. 179-205. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brim, J. A., and D. H. Spain. 1974. Research design in anthropology: Paradigms and pragmatics in the testing of hypotheses. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Marianne W. Lewis and Andrew J. Grimes. Metatriangulation: Building Theory from Multiple Paradigms. The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Oct., 1999), pp. 672-690 [^pdf]
Johnson, J. C. 1998. "Research design and research strategies," in Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Edited by H. R. Bernard, pp. 131-171. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

Experiments

Shadish, W. R., T. D. Cook, and D. T. Campbell. 2002. Ch. 1 (p. 1-32), "Experiments and generalized causal inference," Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Campbell, D. T., and J. C. Stanley. 1966. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Company.

Simulation

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12169&page=R1
Richard M. Burton, “Computational Laboratories for Organization Science: Questions, Validity and Docking,” Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 2003, Volume 9, No. 2, pp. 91 - 108.

Alternative

Aunger, R. 2004. Chapter 5 (p. 94-115), "Reflexive realism: A new way of doing ethnography,"Reflexive ethnographic science. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Classics

Emile Durkheim. Suicide.

Exemplars of four kinds of studies (courtesy of Martina Morris)

Archival research

Participant Observation

Survey Research

Experimental research

Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum

The Cocaine Kids by Terence Williams

In Search of Respect by Philippe Bourgois

To Dwell Among Friends by Claude Fischer

bedience to Authority, by Stanley Milgram

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