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Lecture 6

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10 views

Lecture 6

Uploaded by

usserkhanulzh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Research Methods I

Quantitative Research
Method
Lecture outline

-Revision of the previous lesson


-Introduction into quantitative research design:
Basic concepts
-When do we use quantitative methods?
Introduction into quantitative research design: Basic
concepts

Quantitative research designs focus on collecting data:


-represented numerically
-collected through surveys, polls
-existing datasets
Quantitative research questions

include information on:


-target population
-variables to be studied
-type of analysis to be used
f.e.: Does a positive learning environment lead to
better academic achievement?
A good quantitative research question:

-explains the variables and their relationship


-transfers concepts in concrete, measurable
elements
-is specific
-passes the “so what?” test
Quantitative research design

Experimental Nonexperimental
• Treatment • Descriptive
introduced • Observational
Unit of analysis
-Individual person
-Group of people
-Units within an organization
-Entire organization
-Neighborhoods
-States
-Countries
Variables
Gender
The data that we are
collecting from units of
analysis are known as
variables. Age

Variables are any


characteristic of the unit we
are interested in and want to Level of
happiness
collect (e.g. gender, age,
self-esteem).
Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a tentative explanation that accounts for a


set of facts and can be tested by further investigation.

-F.e., one hypothesis could be that poverty causes low


achievement, or
- that there is a relationship between pupils’ self-esteem
and the amount of time they spend watching television.
Select a sample from the
population
Target population
is the population to
which the
researcher wants to
be able to
generalize the
results.
Generalize the
results
Operationalization of the concepts

Concepts are translated into constructs that can be


observable/measurable

F.e.: What is academic achievement?


How it can be measured?

What is student satisfaction?


How it can be measured?
Analysis

Descriptive
Inferential
F.e. What are the
advantages of online F.e. What is the impact of
learning? online learning on academic
achievement?
Descriptive Inferential
No relationship There is the relationship

Variable 1 Variable 1
objective

Variable 5 Variable 2 Variable 5 Variable 2


separate
Reality/truth
related
measure

Variable 4 Variable 3 Variable 4 Variable 3


TOPIC REVIEW
1. What are the two types of quantitative research design?
2. Most quantitative research uses what to study a population?
3. What is a target population?
4. What is a unit of analysis?
5. What quality does a concept need to have when it is
defined in a research question?
When do we use
quantitative methods?
There are four main types of research question that
quantitative research is particularly suited to find an
answer to:

1. The first is when we want a quantitative answer. Examples


are:

‘How many students choose to study education?’ or

‘How many mathematics teachers do we need and how many


have we got in our school district?’
2. Numerical change can likewise only accurately be studied
using
quantitative methods.

F.e.:

Are the numbers of students in our university rising or falling?

Is achievement going up or down?

We would need to do a quantitative study to find out.


3. As well as wanting to find out about the state of something, we
often want to explain phenomena.

F.e.:

What factors predict the recruitment of mathematics teachers?

What factors are related to changes in student achievement over


time?
4. The final activity for which quantitative research is especially
suited is the testing of hypotheses.

We might want to explain something, for example:

Whether there is a relationship between a pupil’s achievement and


their self-esteem and social background?
Which types of the research problems 1-4 are
descriptive and which one are inferential?
Common misconceptions

Data has to be in a quantitative format to do quantitative


research, doesn’t it?

Not necessarily. If data are not naturally available as numbers,


you can try and turn non-quantitative data (like attitudes or
opinions) into quantitative data by measuring them numerically
(for example, by using a questionnaire rating scale).
Q&A

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