Research Methods & Study Design Certification — Foundation

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1. Module 1

   F1

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Paradigms, epistemology and the design stackLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [R] Describe the design stack — ontology, epistemology, methodology, methods — and locate a given decision at the correct level.
      • [R] Characterise positivism, post-positivism, interpretivism/constructivism, pragmatism and critical realism by their ontological and epistemological commitments.
      • [A] Identify the paradigm a described study actually enacts.
      • [An] Detect a mismatch between a study's declared paradigm and its design, and explain the mismatch.
      • [R] Distinguish deduction, induction and abduction and state what each licenses.

2. Module 2

   F2

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.From topic to answerable questionLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Label a given set of statements correctly as aim, objective, research question or hypothesis.
      • [C] Convert a topic into an answerable research question.
      • [An] Assess whether a research question is answerable by any design and identify why not.
      • [A] Match a question type to the design type it demands.
      • [R] Identify independent, dependent, control, moderator and mediator variables in a described study.

3. Module 3

   F3

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Quantitative designs and what they licenseLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Classify a described study by its design features rather than its label.
      • [An] Determine what causal claim a given design can support.
      • [An] Distinguish a quasi-experiment from a single-group pre-post design.
      • [A] Identify the design threat most likely to defeat a described study.
      • [R] Describe the temporal structure of cohort, case-control, cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.

4. Module 4

   F4

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Sampling, measurement and instrumentsLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Identify the sampling strategy in a described study and name its inferential consequence.
      • [A] Distinguish target population, sampling frame and achieved sample, and identify divergence.
      • [An] Explain why a described sample supports inference to a particular population, or to none.
      • [C] Operationalise a construct into measurable indicators and defend the operationalisation.
      • [An] Appraise survey items for wording, response format and ordering problems.

5. Module 5

   F5

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Validity, reliability, bias and confoundingLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Assign a described threat to the type of validity it bears on.
      • [A] Name the specific internal-validity threat in a described study.
      • [An] Specify to what population, setting and time a result may be generalised.
      • [R] Explain why a measure can be reliable and invalid.
      • [An] State what a reported Cronbach's alpha does and does not license.
      • [An] Distinguish confounder, mediator, moderator and collider in a described causal structure.

6. Module 6

   F6

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Qualitative approaches and analysisLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [A] Identify which qualitative approach a described study is actually using.
      • [An] Explain why a described study is not the approach it claims to be.
      • [A] Select an approach appropriate to a question and its epistemological commitments.
      • [A] Construct a codebook and apply it consistently where the approach calls for it.
      • [An] Apply trustworthiness criteria rather than importing quantitative ones.
      • [R] Distinguish the four types of triangulation and state what each addresses.

7. Module 7

   F7

   1 lesson

   1. Locked.Mixed methods, ethics in design, and stating limitsLocked

      On completion you will be able to

      • [R] Name the core mixed-methods designs and their sequence and priority.
      • [An] Determine whether a study described as mixed methods is integrated at all.
      • [A] Identify ethical issues arising from a design as distinct from its conduct.
      • [A] Distinguish limitations, delimitations and assumptions.