What is ‘good research’?: Designing and evaluating quality studies

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Can’t use the file because of accessibility barriers? Contact us with the title of the item, permanent link, and specifics of your accommodation need.

Date

2019-11-08

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Today, there are more ways than ever for researchers in health and medicine, business and public policy, education, and the social sciences to design, conduct, and analyze studies to measure behaviors, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs. But with greater access to data and technologies, there is also increased potential for poorly designed research that can yield inaccurate findings. Poorly worded and formatted questions, reliance on easy, cheap samples of unknown quality, and low participation rates among some subgroups loom large. In this seminar, we will review potential threats to data quality using the widely-cited Total Survey Error (TSE) framework, focusing on coverage, sampling, nonresponse, and measurement error. Examples will be presented to highlight potential threats in these areas of data quality and how they may be addressed. This seminar should benefit researchers who are engaged in primary data collection as well as secondary data users.

Description

Ashley Clark is the director of the Center for Survey Research and a clinical assistant professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs where she teaches applied research methods. Ashley has 20+ years of experience as an applied statistician designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys in collaboration with faculty, staff, and students. Lilian Yahng is the director of research and development at the Center for Survey Research (CSR) and its senior methodologist. Lilian has 10+ years of experience designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys at the CSR. Her research interests include measurement error, multimodal and responsive design, and nonresponse in complex designs. She is also the director of the CSR’s Research Lab.

Keywords

Citation

Journal

DOI

Link(s) to data and video for this item

Relation

Rights

Type

Presentation