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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Correlational, comparative study
— what is a valid research design? | | Author(s) | Jik-Joen Lee |
| Journal title | Hallym International Journal of Aging, vol 9, no 1, 2007 |
| Pages | pp 59-76 |
| Source | http://baywood.com |
| Keywords | Ageing process ; Correlation ; Comparison ; Research ; Methodology. |
| Annotation | Many social gerontologists have lately been involved in correlational and/or comparative research activities to advance their professional knowledge and to capture social facts and realities about ageing. Conducting this kind of research requires social gerontologists to pay proper attention to the formation of comparison groups and the explanation of findings. They have to deal with the issue of validity so as to obtain empirical knowledge, develop theories, and test hypotheses. According to Campbell and Stanley, there are two kinds of validity: internal and external. The original concept of validity provides a framework for us to critically identify the methodological problems of a correlational, comparative study, and to determine the degree to which this particular research design meets the validity requirements. This article concludes that social gerontologists must control so many internal and external validity threats as possible in order to develop scientific knowledge and generalise their findings. They should make sure that their samples are probabilistically obtained when conducting comparative studies. In addition, statistical findings and conclusions must be supported by intellectual and/or culturally relevant explanations. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080428214 A |
| Classmark | BG: 49: 48: 3A: 3D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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