연구란 무엇일까? Research methods in physical activity

To each person, the word reseach conjures up a different picture.

Ethnier를 잠시 찾아보다 알게된 "Research methods in physical activity" 책의 첫 장의 내용을 정리했다.
(신체활동을 연구하는 모든 Kinesiology 분야에서 주로 사용하는 연구방법 책인 것 같다. 2022년에 나왔는데도 벌써 5900이 넘는 인용수를 가진 책이다.)
미국 Kinesiology department에서 공부를 하다보니 교육 현장에서의 질적 접근을 주로 다루던 한국에서와 다른 분위기에 혼란을 겪을 때가 많았다. 아직도 Research를 한다고 말하고 나의 이야기를 설명하면, 그것이 어떻게 리서치인지 이상하게 쳐다보는 경우가 있었을 정도이니. 특히 같은 연구 분야에 있으면서도 대척점에 있는 교수님에게 수업을 주로 들으며 비판을 받다보니 스스로 관점을 정립하고 흔들리지 않아야 한다는 생각을 종종 했다.
너무나도 기본적이고 당연한 내용이지만 적어두면 다시 살펴볼 수 있지 않을까.

Thomas, J. R., Martin, P., Etnier, J. L., & Silverman, S. J. (2022). Research methods in physical activity. Human kinetics.

The nature of reseach

Tuckman (1978) provided five characteristics: Systemic, Logical, Empirical, Reductive (taking individual events and use them to establish general relationships), Replicable.  

Research continuum

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Unscientific verse Scientific methods of problem-solving

Some unsicentific methods of problem-solving by Helmstadter (1970)
- Tenacity: clinging to certain belief despite a lack of supporting evidence.
- Intuition: using common sense or self-evident knowledge which often turn out to be false.
- Authority: reference and appeal to some authority as a source of knowledge.
- The rationalistic method: reasoning is fundameal but it cannot be used by itself to arrive at knowledge.
- The empirical method: relying too much on experience (or data).

Scientific method of problem-solving
- Step 1: Developing the problem (defining and delimiting it)
- Step 2: Formulating the hypothesis
- Step 3: Gathering the data
- Step 4: Analyzing the interpreting results

Alternative Models of Research

Normal Science (Kuhn, 1970)

- systemaic, logical, empirical, reductive, and replicable
- objectivity, quantitative, grounded in the natural sciences 

Challenges to Normal Science

Michael Polanyi (1958) and Thomas Kuhn (1970): objectivity is a myth and has no basis in reality.
Martens (1987) contended that ait has failed miserably in the study of human behavior in more complex fuctions.
"Different problems require different solutions."

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Types of research

Analytical Research

Historical research: about events that have been already occurred)
Philosopical research: critical inquiry establishing hypotheses, examining and analyzing facts, and synthsizing the evidence into a workable theoretical model.
Reviews: a critical evaluation of recent research on a particular topic
Research Synthesis: meta-analysis

Descriptive Research

Questionnaire / Interview / Normative survey
Case study / Job analysis / Observational research / Developmental studies (longitudinal method or cross-sectional approach) / Correlational studies / Epidemiological research

Experiemental Research

Qualitative Research

Ethonography / Naturalistic / Interpretive / Grounded / Phenomenological / Subjective / Participant observational

Mixed Method of Research

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Overview of the Research Process