GS/PPAL 6200 3.00 Section NResearch Methods and Information Systems

January 6, 2015

Professor Brenda Spotton VisanoOffice: 130 McLaughlin

Voice Mail: (416) 736-2100 ext. 20470 E-mail: spotton@yorku.ca

Agenda

• Introduction to the course– Prerequisites, Objectives, Delivery, Requirements,

Evaluation• Introduction to each other• Introduction to Research Methods – Language Of Research

• Types of Questions, Time in Research, Types of Relationships, Variables, Hypotheses, Types of Data, Unit of Analysis, Two Research Fallacies (to be read on own)

– What do we know? • Evidence, Data, Perspective: Video clips, Fallacies

Introduction to the course

• Specific Requirements• Numeracy skills, familiarity with spreadsheet software

• Primary Learning Objective • to increase basic skills in the collection, analysis,

interpretation and presentation of information that can inform public sector decisions.

• Principal Modes of Delivery• Lecture, small group work, individual group work

• Evaluation• Three assignments with an optional 4th assignment

Introduction to each other

• Our public sector interests• Our wish list for a “successful” course• Questionnaire• Public sector research problems and research

methods we (hope to) engage in

Learning Outcomes• Understand the role and process of research in contemporary public

policy development• Understand key concepts in research • Apply critical analytical skills to published research • Understand the application, value and limits of quantitative and

qualitative research methodologies and techniques / tools • Develop skills in devising and designing research methods suitable

for different policy contexts and for rigorous analysis • Provide a grounding in ethical issues related to:

– academic research – the role of the public servant as a custodian of data and information

balancing the public’s right to know against the personal data and information which an individual citizen has a right to be kept confidential

Achieving Learning Outcomes

• Basic user familiarity requires familiarity with– research ethics– existing data sets– the collection of qualitative and quantitative data – data measurement– sampling – advantages and disadvantages of different research

methods– descriptive and inferential statistics

Introductions to Basics http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/intres.php

Read Trochim’s “Foundations” (above) to review the vocabulary and basic concepts of research…1. Research Questions: Descriptive, Relations, Causal2. Relationships: Correlational or Causal? None, Positive, or

Negative?3. Data: Types, Units of analyses4. Research Philosophies5. Structure, Components of Research Studies

Evidence, Data, and Perspective

• http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world

• http://nupge.ca/content/2467/ccpa-video-highlights-growing-gap-incomes

Reasoning

• (1) All men are mortal. (2) Socrates is a man.Therefore:(3) Socrates is mortal.

• (1) Every day to date the law of gravity has held. Therefore: (2) The law of gravity will hold tomorrow.

• Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

Quotes for Class Discussion

• “All quantitative data [are] based on qualitative judgments; and all qualitative data can be described and manipulated numerically.”

• Fallacies...

Fallaciesfrom http://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logical-fallacies

• if I am skeptical about the existence of alien visitors, I must also be skeptical of the existence of the Great Wall of China, since I have not personally seen either

• I was sick, I took a treatment, and now I am better, therefore the treatment made me better.

• If I claim that all Scotsman are brave, and you provide a counter example of a Scotsman who is clearly a coward, I might respond, “Well, then, he’s no true Scotsman.”

Fallacies (cont’d)

• 1990’s both religious attendance and illegal drug use have been on the rise

• evolution must be wrong because if it were true it would lead to immorality

• Men on average have more years of formal education than women. I am a woman, therefore I have less education than the average man.

• I cannot speak a second language. I am a woman. Therefore all women cannot speak more than one language.

Parting Questions

• What do we know? How do we know what we know? How do we discover what we don’t know?

• Does interpretation play a role in research? Is the researcher independent of the research subject or does the background (education, beliefs, values) of the researcher influence what is observed?