Enhance your research skills with Methods Consult. Dive into Methods Consult episodes for quick, expert guidance on essential research methods. Explore topics like:
- Choosing the proper literature review for your study.
- Mastering thematic analysis.
- Determining appropriate sample sizes.
- Navigating research paradigms.
Each episode delivers practical insights in under 30 minutes, designed for educators and researchers in health professions education. Transform your research journey, one method at a time!
Episodes
Key points episode 8
- Defines research paradigms as foundational worldviews shaping research approaches.
- Highlights the significance of paradigms in health professions education.
- Introduces post-positivism, emphasizing empirical observation and objectivity.
- Explores constructivism, focusing on socially constructed realities.
- Stresses the importance of aligning research methods with paradigmatic assumptions.
Key points episode 18
- Defines thematic analysis (TA) as a method for identifying patterns in qualitative data.
- Explores its flexibility across research paradigms.
- Highlights reflexive TA and the researcher’s role in theme development.
- Outlines the six phases of TA by Braun & Clarke.
Key points episode 74
- Explains the spectrum of literature reviews, from systematic to scoping, realist, and narrative.
- Introduces the objectivist–subjectivist continuum to help align your review with your research goals.
- Offers strategies to navigate different review types and choose the most suitable approach.
- Highlights the importance of understanding each review’s expectations regarding rigor, knowledge generation, and credibility.
- Provides practical tools and resources to facilitate the literature review process.
Key points episode 31
- Defines conceptual frameworks, theories, and theoretical frameworks in research.
- Clarifies their distinct roles in structuring and justifying studies.
- Explains how these elements evolve as research develops.
- Provides visual aids to illustrate key differences.
Key points episode 54
- Explores the importance of sample size in ensuring study validity, reliability, and generalizability.
- Discusses ethical considerations in determining sample size, minimizing unnecessary participant exposure.
- Highlights power analysis as a method to calculate the minimum sample size needed to detect meaningful effects.
- Explains key statistical concepts like Type I and Type II errors, power, and effect size.
- Emphasizes the role of pilot studies in estimating effect sizes and refining sample size calculations.