Elements of Research

Some of the important elements of research include --

concept,

construct,

variables,

measurement,

scales,

reliability, and

validity.

To conduct effective research, a researcher needs to have a clear understanding of these elements.

A concept is a term that expresses an abstract idea formed by generalizing from particulars and summarizing related observations. Researchers can simplify research by using concepts that helps them formulate a general and inclusive term. 

A construct is a combination of concepts. Variables are used to describe the phenomena and events that can be measured in empirical world. Independent variables are varied by the researcher, whereas dependent variables are the ones that researcher wants to find out about. Researchers can observe the phenomena or events by a clear statement of what is to be observed, called an operational definition.

Measurement is an assignment of numerals to persons, objects, or characteristics. In this chapter, four levels of measurement are described. The nominal level simply assigns numerals to the objects without mathematical significance. The ordinal level ranks objects according to certain orders, such as from smallest to largest. The scale is at the interval level when the intervals between adjacent points are equal. The ratio level, the highest level of measurement, has all the properties of interval scales and plus a true zero point.

Measurement of some variables requires scales. This chapter describes Thurstone scales, Guttman scales, Likert scales, and semantic differential scales. Likert scales and semantic differential scales are the most commonly used scales in mass media research.

A measurement must be both reliable and valid to be useful in any research procedures. We can say a measure is reliable if it consistently gives the same answer. Reliability consists of three components: stability, internal consistency, and equivalency. To assess the reliability of measurements, researcher can use the test-retest method with the correlation coefficient. The split-half technique and the cross-test reliability method can be used to examine the internal consistency and the equivalency component of reliability. Also, intercoder reliability is used in the case of content analysis.

A valid measure measures what it is supposed to measure. Four major types of validity are: face validity (does it measure what it says it measures), predictive validity, (if SAT scores are valid indicators of college success, then those who do well on the exam should do better in college than those who don't) concurrent validity (can we compare our results to other readily available results concurrently to make sure things are valid), and construct validity (are our constructs valid?).

Reliability and validity are related. Reliability is a necessary condition to establish validity, but it is not a sufficient condition. A measurement can be reliable even if it is not valid. It is important to remember that a measurement must be both reliable and valid to be used in the research.