Beryl Chris Jean L.

Jacoba PR1 HW
11 - Decisive

1.) Theoretical Framework

A theoretical framework consists of concepts and, together with their definitions and
reference to relevant scholarly literature, existing theory that is used for your particular study.
The theoretical framework must demonstrate an understanding of theories and concepts that
are relevant to the topic of your research paper and that relate to the broader areas of
knowledge being considered.

By The Conceptual Framework. College of Education. Alabama State University; Corvellec, Hervé, ed. What is Theory?: Answers from the Social and Cultural Sciences.
Stockholm: Copenhagen Business School Press, 2013; Asher, Herbert B. Theory-Building and Data Analysis in the Social Sciences. Knoxville, TN: University of
Tennessee Press, 1984; Drafting an Argument. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Ravitch, Sharon M. and Matthew Riggan. Reason and Rigor: How Conceptual
Frameworks Guide Research. Second edition. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE, 2017; Trochim, William M.K. Philosophy of Research. Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2006;
Jarvis, Peter. The Practitioner-Researcher. Developing Theory from Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999.

2.) Conceptual Framework

A conceptual framework is used to understand the place of -- and inform the direction of -- a
research project. Professor Roger Vaughan of Bournemouth University compares the
conceptual framework to planning a vacation. Before you plan your own itinerary, you look at
guidebooks to learn about the most important places to see and the best hotels. You use
that information to guide your planning. A conceptual framework uses previous research to
determine a theory and methodology for a current research project.

By Maria Magher

3.) Types of Qualitative Research

1. Ethnography
Ethnographic research is probably the most familiar and applicable type of qualitative
method to UX professionals. In ethnography, you immerse yourself in the target participants’
environment to understand the goals, cultures, challenges, motivations, and themes that
emerge. Ethnography has its roots in cultural anthropology where researchers immerse
themselves within a culture, often for years! Rather than relying on interviews or surveys,
you experience the environment first hand, and sometimes as a “participant observer.”

For example, one way of uncovering the unmet needs of customers is to “follow them home”
and observe them as they interact with the product. You don’t come armed with any
hypotheses to necessarily test; rather, you’re looking to find out how a product is used.

2. Narrative
The narrative approach weaves together a sequence of events, usually from just one or two
individuals to form a cohesive story. You conduct in-depth interviews, read documents, and
look for themes; in other words, how does an individual story illustrate the larger life
influences that created it. Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even
years, but the final narrative doesn’t need to be in chronological order. Rather it can be
presented as a story (or narrative) with themes, and can reconcile conflicting stories and
highlight tensions and challenges which can be opportunities for innovation.

For example, a narrative approach can be an appropriate method for building a persona.
While a persona should be built using a mix of methods—including segmentation analysis
from surveys—in-depth interviews with individuals in an identified persona can provide the
details that help describe the culture, whether it’s a person living with Multiple Sclerosis, a
prospective student applying for college, or a working mom.

3. Phenomenological
When you want to describe an event, activity, or phenomenon, the aptly named
phenomenological study is an appropriate qualitative method. In a phenomenological study,
you use a combination of methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents,
watching videos, or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning participants place
on whatever’s being examined. You rely on the participants’ own perspectives to provide
insight into their motivations.

Like other qualitative methods, you don’t start with a well-formed hypothesis. In a
phenomenological study, you often conduct a lot of interviews, usually between 5 and 25 for
common themes, to build a sufficient dataset to look for emerging themes and to use other
participants to validate your findings.

For example, there’s been an explosion in the last 5 years in online courses and training. But
how do students engage with these courses? While you can examine time spent and content
accessed using log data and even assess student achievement vis-a-vis in-person courses,
a phenomenological study would aim to better understand the students experience and how
that may impact comprehension of the material.

4. Grounded Theory
Whereas a phenomenological study looks to describe the essence of an activity or event,
grounded theory looks to provide an explanation or theory behind the events. You use
primarily interviews and existing documents to build a theory based on the data. You go
through a series of open and axial coding techniques to identify themes and build the theory.
Sample sizes are often also larger—between 20 to 60—with these studies to better establish
a theory. Grounded theory can help inform design decisions by better understanding how a
community of users currently use a product or perform tasks.

For example, a grounded theory study could involve understanding how software developers
use portals to communicate and write code or how small retail merchants approve or decline
customers for credit.

5. Case Study
Made famous by the Harvard Business School, even mainly quantitative researchers can
relate to the value of the case study in explaining an organization, entity, company, or event.
A case study involves a deep understanding through multiple types of data sources. Case
studies can be explanatory, exploratory, or describing an event. The annual CHI conference
has a peer-reviewed track dedicated to case studies.

For example, a case study of how a large multi-national company introduced UX methods
into an agile development environment would be informative to many organizations.

By Jeff Sauro

5.) Types of Quantitative Research

Survey Research
Survey research uses interviews, questionnaires, and sampling polls to get a sense of
behavior with intense precision. It allows researchers to judge behavior and then present the
findings in an accurate way. This is usually expressed in a percentage. Survey research can
be conducted around one group specifically or used to compare several groups. When
conducting survey research it is important that the people questioned are sampled at
random. This allows for more accurate findings across a greater spectrum of respondents.

It is very important when conducting survey research that you work with statisticians and
field service agents who are reputable. Since there is a high level of personal interaction in
survey scenarios as well as a greater chance for unexpected circumstances to occur, it is
possible for the data to be affected. This can heavily influence the outcome of the survey.

There are several ways to conduct survey research. They can be done in person, over the
phone, or through mail or email. In the last instance they can be self-administered. When
conducted on a single group survey research is its own category. However survey research
can be applied to the other types of research listed below.

Correlational Research
Correlational research tests for the relationships between two variables. Performing
correlational research is done to establish what the affect of one on the other might be and
how that affects the relationship. Correlational research is conducted in order to explain a
noticed occurrence. In correlational research the survey is conducted on a minimum of two
groups. In most correlational research there is a level of manipulation involved with the
specific variables being researched. Once the information is compiled it is then analyzed
mathematically to draw conclusions about the affect that one has on the other.

Causal-Comparative Research
Causal-comparative research looks to uncover a cause and effect relationship. This
research is not conducted between the two groups on each other. Rather than look solely for
a statistical relationship between two variables it tries to identify, specifically, how the
different groups are affected by the same circumstance. Causal-comparative research
involves ‘comparison.’ In causal-comparative research the study of two or more groups is
done without focusing on their relationship. As always the use of statistical analysis is
engaged to synthesize the data in a clear method for presentation.

Experimental Research
Though questions may be posed in the other forms of research, experimental research is
guided specifically by a hypothesis. Sometimes experimental research can have several
hypotheses. A hypothesis is a statement to be proven or disproved. Once that statement is
made experiments are begun to find out whether the statement is true or not. This type of
research is the bedrock of most sciences, in particular the natural sciences. If natural
sciences, such as biology, are something you are interested in you should check out
Udemy’s course on writing an A+ Biology Paper. It will help you use the types of quantitative
research to great effect.

By April Klazema

6.) Types of Citations

- Quotations
Quotations must be identical as in the source consulted. Only quote phrases, lines, or
passages relevant to your subject matter and do not change spellings or punctuation of the
original quotes.

- Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing involves writing your passage, phrase by phrase from the source into your own
words. Your passage should be of equal length or shorter than the original passage.
Paraphrasing means a complete rewrite of the consulted source passage and not just
rearrangement of words.

- Summarizing
Summarizing includes putting the main idea(s) of a passage into your own words.
Summaries are much shorter than the original source passage. Make sure to not change or
alter the original meaning of the passage while summarizing main idea(s).

http://www.writeawriting.com/academic-writing/citation-definition-types-writing-guidelines/