QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH IN EDUCATION
NAME: Espinoza Martínez Luis Andrés
DATE: JULY 1ST, 2020
QUANTITATIVE QUESTIONS
ABOUT QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
1. Gender (male/female) is not a quantitative variable. Can you think of any ways
you could study gender in quantitative research?
Even though gender is not a quantitative
variable, it is possible to analyze gender-
related topics in a quantitative approach. For
example, in an educational context we could
compare the academic performance of students based on their gender, of course,
researchers should never judge intelligence based on gender, that would be unethical,
the goal should be to identify other aspects that influence in their high or low
performance.
In order to do it, a number will be assigned to the males (1) and to the females (2), a
survey can be made in which students will mark 1 if their male or 2 if their female, than
we can count how many girls and boys are in a classroom, based on that data, we could
consider other aspects such as their grades, and answer the following questions: what’s
the average grade of the male students? What’s the average grade of the female’s
students? The results will show which gender has better scores, and the researcher
could make further investigation as to which factors can be related to the results
obtained.
2. Learning styles (e.g. visual, audio, and kinesthetic) are not a quantitative
variable. Can you think of any ways you could study learning styles in quantitative
research?
When leading a research on learning styles, it is possible to
use quantitative methods to measure which one
performs better under different circumstances. For
example: the researcher could set sample groups, each
group is assigned to a learning style and all the participants should receive the same
topics, but with different learning styles; once the course is finished the participants will
be tested. Then the researcher can analyze which learning style produced the best
scores, the results can then be presented in a bar graph.
3. What is your worldview (epistemology) with regard to research?
Researching is a very important part of our lives, it allows institutions to find solutions
to existing problems, they can analyze the needs of a community and look for ways to
generate solutions. Withing the researching community there are 2 opposing
worldviews regarding research, the realists (who maximize objectivity and the
detachment of the researcher) and the subjectivists (who believe that researching is
always influenced by the researchers’ beliefs and emotions).
Personally, I don’t feel identified by any of these groups, I consider myself a pragmatist,
I believe researchers should use both objective (quantitative) and subjective (qualitative)
approaches depending on the circumstances. Quantitative methods will not always be
effective, and qualitative methods might also need to be complemented by quantitative
methods, it is the researcher’s decision to choose which one fits his needs better.
Do you think it is compatible with using quantitative methods?
Yes, indeed. Quantitative methods are an essential part of research studies, they offer an
objective, clear and simple way to analyze data. They can be used to establish general
laws of behavior, by identifying patters under different settings or contexts.
4. Can you think of a research question you could study using quantitative
methods?
A question that could be studied using quantitative methods is:
How many calories do Ecuadorians consume per day?
The quantitative variable is the number of
calories eaten in a day; In order to answer this
question, the researcher could select a sample
group from different ages, gender and race, and
quantify the number of calories they consume
during a day.
5. What kind of research question would you study using a mixed methods design?
An example could be: The effects of social media in teenagers.
I would use a quantitative method to calculate how many hours a day they spend on
social media, then I would look for a pattern correlated with their age, financial
situation, gender, etc., and finally there would be interviews with some of the
participants, where they would share their personal experience, I would ask questions
such as: How does social media make you feel? How do you feel every time you get a
new follower or a “like”? these qualitative questions would contribute to the research
process.
6. What are the main distinctions between post-positivism and positivism?
Positivism holds that the main goal of knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena
that we experience, and that laws of cause and effect could only be discern by using the
scientific method, but post-positivism recognizes that the way a scientist thinks and
works is not different from the way we think in our daily lives; in other words, post-
positivism acknowledges that observation is subjective, and therefore fallible and that
all theories can be revisable.
