Recently in 9. Research Category

am battling "zombies" these days and comes the time that i need to use factor analysis for analysis. however, there are so many questions for a newbie like me, came across a few readings but nothing as useful as this which Dr Chai CS has shared:

Costello, Anna B. & Jason Osborne (2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation, 10(7). Available online: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=10&n=7

if you are exploring the use of factor analysis and you have qns like which extraction methods to choose, no. of factors to retain, sample size etc, just grab this article and you'll be on the way to a good start. Thank you 蔡老师 (:

have not been following up with Pew/Internet's excellent series of research lately until i saw this in /. today that reminds me of its existence.

this issue entitled "Digital Footprints" released on 16 Dec 07 looks into how people looked at personal identities in the internet, and how development of Web 2.0 has changed pple's perception of things. believe this 50-pages report would be insightful, will find time to look at it after i have completed the killing examinable assignments *arghh*

check it out ;)

needed some tips for my upcoming assignment, and a google search revealed these few references:

1. Book Critique
2. Book or Article Review or Critique Guidelines
3. Writing Book Critiques
4. The Book Review or Article Critique: General Guidelines

wish me luck for my next (exam) assignment :O

As cited in Golafshani, N. (2003):

Joppe (2000) defines reliability as: …The extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability and if the results of a study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable. (p. 1)

Joppe (2000) provides the following explanation of what validity is in quantitative research:
Validity determines whether the research truly measures that which it was intended to measure or how truthful the research results are. In other words, does the research instrument allow you to hit "the bull’s eye" of your research object? Researchers generally determine validity by asking a series of questions, and will often look for the answers in the research of others. (p. 1)

two other websites gathered via google search:

Reliability and Validity: What's the Difference?
Colorado State University Writing Guide: Overview: Reliability and Validity