Reliability of research

Validity gives confidence in conclusions:

• Internal Validity – Cause and effect conclusions from research results illustrating the reasons why.
• External Validity – confidence in generalizing findings with other people and situations.
• Construct Validity – confidence that the theoretical constructs in the study are reflected in real life situations.

Types of research

• Quantitative research – uses codes created to represent an observation through measurement. This gives reliability (consistency to evaluate), falsifiability (hypothesis testing, something is proven wrong) and replication (duplication of the study). This research focuses on answering a particular question.
• Qualitative research – observations converted into records based on the observer’s belief in what is important. This research can provide precise details about a witnessed occurrences and the context in which it happens.

Applied Research – directed toward a solution to a problem.

Basic research – to understand the fundamental nature of phenomena.

Altermatt, Bill. “Evaluating Research, Types of Resarch”. 2008. PDF.

• Stasis Theory

Stasis theory is a four-question, pre-writing (invention) process developed in ancient Greece by Aristotle and Hermagoras. Working through the four stasis questions encourages knowledge building that is important for research, writing, and for working in teams. Stasis theory helps writers conduct critical analyses of the issues they are investigating.