Descriptive Research

• • Descriptive Research Purpose – Documents/Describes • Behaviors/conditions/effects – In individuals / in groups – It is often tied to exploratory research (which finds relationships) Descriptive Research often foundational for: – – – Classification Identifying relevant variables Generating new research questions

Descriptive Research

• In Developmental Research – Description of developmental change – Sequencing of behaviors – …..to develop a clear picture of those we treat – …..in order to have valid interpretation of outcomes – Longitudinal – Cross-sectional • Interesting example from 1759 in P & W

Descriptive Research

• Normative data – – “Typical” or “standard” Reference data • Why is the validity of these norms important to us?

• These data are still in great need of being generated – For different populations • Age • • Gender Functional limitation • Pathology

Descriptive Research

• Qualitative Research – – Based on the patient’s perspective Seeks to describe • complexity of humanity • • how individuals perceive themselves within a specific social context • Why is this important?

• Evidence based practice – Clinical judgment and literature support – In context of patient’s circumstances and values

Descriptive Research

• • Qualitative Research – Not a dirty word – Is a research method if tied to: • Understanding a phenomenon • • Explaining phenomenon Developing a theory about a phenomenon Approaches in Qualitative Research – Phenomenology – Ethnography – Grounded Theory (Example p 309) These three collectively known as naturalistic inquiry

Descriptive Research

• Qualitative Research Data Collection – Observation • Non-participant • Participant – Interview • May be structured • Should be flexible to allow for circumstances • This is different from clinical interview – Clinical interview seeks diagnosis – Qualitative interview seeks____________________________?

– Data analysis • Sift, code, sort, classify, index, connect, etc – Highly knowledge and skill driven!

Descriptive Research

• • Reliability and Validity – Measurement Error Concept • Evaluated with judgments vs. numerical equivalency – Seek to establish “trustworthiness” • • Triangulation with different data sources Audit trail that another reader/researcher can follow Sampling – Purposeful, in order to seek informative subjects – Theoretical • Sampling changes as… • …theories emerge from the data

Descriptive Research

• Case Studies – In depth description of condition or treatment – Often of an individual (almost always in PT literature) – Could be of a group – Purpose is to: • • Understand unusual patient condition Describe a new/innovative/creative application of treatment • • Generate a theory Test a theory • Provide future research questions – Most practical, least rigorous – Validity issues, but still very useful

Surveys and Questionnaires

• • • Methods for collecting data by self report Interview – Researcher asks questions – In depth – Costly Survey – Researcher prepares the questions – Efficient – Prone to misunderstanding of questions

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Overall research question – Guiding questions delineate objectives • Helps ensure each question is useful to overall aim – Hypotheses – Set up an outline – Compare /review existing instruments – – Design your instrument Draft/review/draft/review as needed – Pilot test and revise – Select your sample – Contact your sample

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Constructing survey questions – Open ended questions • When not sure of all possible answers • May help design instrument – Closed ended questions • Should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive • Uniform and easy to code • Limits response; may not capture essence of subject • Grid is efficient when format of several questions the same • May rank order a series of responses

Surveys and Questionnaires

• • Wording Questions – – Simple and unambiguous Single question – – Consider impact of time/frequency questions “Frame” sensitive questions to improve response Scales – Categorical – – Continuous Summative – Cumulative

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Categorical – Nominal data • Continuous – Ordinal data collapsed to ranks • Likert Scale does this – Interval, ratio data • Summative – Total score reflects a sum of the individual items scores – – – May reflect different underlying abilities/behaviors Likert Scale (SD, D, N, A, SA) Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain vey common • Cumulative – Score designed to indicate increasing ability – A 5 indicates they answered yes to Q 5, Q4, Q3, Q2, Q1

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Surveys and Questionnaires

Semantic differential – Scales for pairs of words in three dimensions • • Evaluation Activity • Potency – Good – bad – – Slow - fast Weak - _______?

Visual Analog Scale – Usually 100mm in length – – – Anchored by extremes of the characteristic Subject marks – you measure One dimensional

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Rasch Analysis – – Statistically manipulates ordinal data Creates a linear measure on an interval scale – Must: • • Reflect a uni-dimensional concept (i.e. walking) Be hierarchical • Have scale that measures change within or across subjects – Functional Independence Measure (FIM) is an example • 18 item scale of motor and cognitive function • Describes amount of assistance for daily living (ADLs)

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Q-sort – – Characterization through rank ordering Build a distribution based on normality • 11 piles – Pile 1 and 10 with the least items – Pile 5 with the most items • Put the high and low score on each extreme (pile 0 and 10) • Put the next highest scores and next lowest scores (1 and 9) – Rearrange the items until the pile reflects your ranking • Delphi survey – Experts assemble qualities/behaviors – Continues until Consensus reached about the rankings

Surveys and Questionnaires

• Analysis?

– Collate – Code responses if appropriate – Perform Descriptive Statistics – Frequencies/percentages (categorical data) – Relationships (Chi squared frequently used) • Informed consent?

– You are not touching the subject – Needed?

– Not needed?