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 Systematic – plan, identify, design, collect data,

evaluate
 Logical – examine procedures to evaluate
conclusions
 Empirical – decisions are based on data
(observation)
 Reductive – general relationships are established
from data
 Replicable – actions are recorded
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 Ethridg (1995) distinguishes between two types
of research:
 Discovery: formulating, finding, and creating
new knowledge or information; and
 Confirmation: discerning the validity or
reliability of knowledge or information.
Basic Research aims to expand the frontiers of science and knowledge by
verifying or disproving the acceptability of a given theory or attempting to
discover more about a certain concept (non-specificity)
Example: How does motivation affect employee performance?

Applied Research focusses on a real-life problem or situation with a view to

helping reach a decision how to deal with it (Specificity)
Example: Should Corporation X adopt a paperless office environment?

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 Montoya BS, Brown LE, Coburn JW, Zinder SM. Effect of warm-
up with different weighted bats on normal baseball bat velocity.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 23(5):1566-1569,
2009.
 Step 1: develop the problem
 identify independent and dependent variables
 Step 2: formulate the hypotheses
 the anticipated outcome
 Step 3: gather data
 maximize internal and external validity
 Step 4(5): analyze and interpret results
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 Basic research – type of research that may have
limited direct application but in which the
researcher has careful control of the conditions
 Applied research – type of research that has
direct value to practitioners but in which the
researcher has limited control over the research
setting

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• Level I—Basic research
– Goal: Theory-driven
– Approach: Laboratory
• Level II—Moderate relevance
– Goal: Theory-based using relevant movements
– Approach: Similar to real-world task or setting
• Level III—Applied research
– Goal: Immediate solutions
– Approach: Real-world settings

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 Experimental research
 Treatments are given to subjects
 Cause-and-effect questions
 Non-experimental research
 Treatments are not given to subjects
 Participants are observed as they naturally exist

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 Researchers may not be able to conduct
experimental research due to ethical or legal
concerns, etc.
 Examples
 physical activity and heart disease
 anabolic-androgenic steroids and liver cancer

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 Steps in causal-comparative
(ex post facto) studies
1. Observe and describe some
current condition
2. Look to the past to determine
cause(s)

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 Causal-comparative
 Survey (poll)
 Sample vs. census
 Case study
 Longitudinal
 Correlational
 Historical

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 Quantitative – data are gathered such that they
can be quantified and subjected to statistical
analyses
 Qualitative – data are gathered such that they
can be analyzed through informed judgment

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 http://faculty.fullerton.edu, KNES 510: Research
Methods in Kinesiology
 Steven A. Greenlaw, Doing Economics: A Guide
to Understand and Carrying Out Economic
Research, p. 1.
 Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan, MBA III (Research
Methodology), COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology

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