Quantitative Research Techniques and Designs - Assignment Example

Research Application Paper This paper illustrates the application of research knowledge using different quantitative and qualitative research concepts. The paper uses articles reviewed earlier in the course to exposit the quantitative and qualitative methods, design, and analysis used in their research studies. Research questions, hypothesis, variables, and different research designs are discussed. The paper also explores how different researchers select and utilize different techniques and tools of data analysis. The paper closes with valuable insights on how different researchers synthesize research findings and draw implications for practice, makes recommendations, and conclusions. In addition, the audience for different research studies is discussed and how research outcomes can inform social and institutional change is highlighted. Quantitative Research Techniques and Designs Anderson et al (2002) set out to study the managerial roles of public community College Chief Academic Officers. They began providing varying definitions of community college chief academic officers by different authors. These definitions help draw a line between who are college chief academic officers and those who are not. Some concepts mean different things to different people and research definitions help delimit the scope of the concept under study. For example, Vogt (2006) shows that college chief academic officers are the ones who uphold the integrity of a community college’s instructional and curriculum development. This is a technical definition of college chief academic officers for this study and is strengthened by clear articulation of their responsibilities and duties. Operational definition helps control parameters when measuring a variable. The conceptual definition of a College Chief Academic Officer demonstrates the measurability of the officers’ managerial roles. Research questions guide the methodology chosen to conduct a research study. The study by Anderson et al (2002) sought to answer the question on the managerial roles played by college chief academic officers and the ones they emphasize. They sought to find out whether there are environmental, personal, or situational characteristics that influence the roles that college chief academic officers emphasize. Singh (2007) affirmed the study’s use of collective bargaining, span of control, age, gender, years in position and managerial experience as some individual characteristics of college chief academic officers. Minztberg’s taxonomy provided the basis for this study’s managerial role survey. Anderson et al (2002) added ten questions to the survey’s original twenty questions. This addition was justified by the recognition of the problems that arise from the identification and convergence of latent factors that have less than three-indicator variables. The study reckoned that a newly modified instrument requires assessment for the validity of its content. To address the problem of content validity, the study recruited higher education managers to analyze the instrument for use on managerial roles. Vogt (2006) observed that the researchers operationalized Minztberg’s managerial roles using three-indicator variables. This operationalization of managerial roles involved identification of questions corresponding to the every one of the managerial roles. The higher education managers ensured that all questions were well worded to ensure that the survey would capture the required measurements with the highest level of confidence. The internal consistency of the ten scales was analyzed and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient recorded at 0.89 for one hundred and seventy seven valid responses. Anderson et al (2002) employed stratified random sampling approach, drawing a sample from six national accrediting regions. The researchers proceeded to calculate the percentages of community colleges in every one of the six regions. According to Singh (2007), the sampling employed in this study was credible because it was done randomly giving equal chance for any of the member college to be recruited. The authors were keen to ensure that they oversampled the accreditation regions to cater for statistical analysis. The study used a number of research designs techniques to capture the intended purpose clearly. The study uses non-experimental design to establish the emphasis of managerial roles and examine the relationship between the determinants of the varying emphases among college chief academic officers. Non-experimental research designs aims at capturing a phenomenon as it is and does not seek to test hypotheses. Anderson et al (2002) utilized descriptive statistics of maximum and minimum ranges, mean, and standard deviation. They found that leader roles are more emphasized, followed by liaison roles and disseminator roles come in last. At the bottom are the monitor roles, resource allocator roles, and entrepreneurial roles. The least emphasized managerial roles among college chief academic officers include spokesperson, disturbance handler, negotiator, and figurehead. The study used causal-comparative statistics to test for the differences that derive from the variability of the basis of emphasis whether environmental, personal and situational variables. Causal-comparative statistics methods helped establish the significance of these differences. The study found that there were significant differences that were indicated by the different means. Using the omega-squared technique, Anderson et al (2002) discovered that the medium associations were minimal. The authors advised that other sample populations would not help establish such significant differences. The study pointed out that the environmental, personal, and situational characteristics were the independent variables and the managerial roles were the dependent variables. Vogt (2006) moved that a MANOVA helped test the significance relationship between independent variables and dependent variables and univariate tests helped confirm the significance. Using correlation research design, Anderson et al (2002) noted that span of control increases with a corresponding increase in entrepreneur roles and a corresponding decrease in disseminator. Correlation analysis helped determine the association between dependent variables and independent variables. The nonparametric correlation Spearman’s rho gave rise to two correlations. A two-tailed test of level of significance of 0.05 showed a negative correlation between span of control and disseminator roles. Singh (2007) concurred that the same test with the same level of significance showed a positive correlation between span of control and entrepreneur role. Non-continuous span of control showed that entrepreneur role is emphasized more and disseminator role is least emphasized when more people report to college chief academic officers. The study collected demographic data that demonstrated that most college Chief Academic Officers had an average age of 52.5 years and that most were males. Most of the sampled chief academic officers worked at community colleges that had collective bargaining and had between five and twelve midlevel administrators below them. These demographics shows that most of these college chief academic officers had a managerial experience of 15.5 on average and had worked in their current institutions for an average of 5.4 years. The study calculated the median age of the sampled college chief academic officers and found it to be 53 but their modal age was 53 (Anderson et. al., 2002). They confirmed the findings of other studies that projected a looming leadership crisis because of the yet-to-retire college presidents. Singh (2007) postulated that the projection was based on the knowledge that college chief academic officer provided the people who replaced college presidents. The study utilized compressed tables summarizing data that could be used to draw pie charts and bar graphs to assess for the patterns of relationships between managerial roles and different characteristics unique to college chief academic officers. Qualitative Research Techniques and Designs In her study Blank (2009) employed content analysis to establish what other researchers had documented on the topic of teaching and teacher development. She reflected on Lortie’s 1975 study, Cole’s 1991 study and Hatch’s 1999 study that showed that Western schools’ teaching was largely isolated and independent. She established how deeply individualism was engrained in schools in the United States. Moll’s 2001 study helped Blank understand the emerging realization of teaching as a contextual, cultural, and personal practice. Erickson’s 2002 study underscored that teacher socialization is better understood when looked at as the transfer of school culture into the teacher (Blank, 2009). Narrative research manifests when Blank implores her knowledge of Lincoln Early Childhood Centre that she developed during her teaching practice at the school. Her memories of the place are vivid and they come to her with nostalgia. She employed phenomenology when she sought to establish how individual teachers perceived school community. Given the little information available, Blank used grounded theory when she set out to study the tensions that exist between teaching community and teachers’ preference for privacy. Blank used interviews to gather information on her research problem. She interviewed two teachers severally and audio taped and transcribed the interviews. These interviews helped her establish how these teachers ended up in Lincoln Early Childhood Centre, their teaching philosophies and their backgrounds. Interviews helped Blank capture how her interviewees perceived the school identity of Lincoln Early Childhood Centre and their experiences of orientation into the school (Delamont, 2012). Blank utilized the platform of interview to gather interviewees’ interpretation of the events she observed in the school and classrooms. Classrooms were Blank’s primary sites of observation and she observed professional development gatherings and staff meetings. Blank explains that she took time after every field experience to prepare extended filed notes that helped her write detailed descriptions. She combined this with continued data interpretation and analysis in during her fieldwork. Summarizing these notes helped her identify themes and develop questions for use in the next fieldwork exercise (Willis, 2007). In analyzing her data, Blank coded her information to help her make comparisons, aggregate and identify patterns. In order to code data and still show they were elements of other themes, Blank used periodic interim reports and contact summary reports to group the codes. After coding, she identified two themes that she used to group the results of the study about teachers’ perceptions of community (Willis, 2007). Shifting priorities and preference for privacy were the two most prevalent themes identified after the analysis of the data. The theme of shifting priorities embodied the codes of changes in leadership, external interests, school knowledge, and values of teachers. The theme of teachers’ preference for privacy carried the codes of recognition of good teaching, teacher feedback, and interaction contexts. Blank’s accurate and precise articulation of her field experiences build on the credibility and dependability of her reporting leaving no room for her readers to doubt her findings. Reporting and Contextualizing Research for Social Change Anderson et al (2002) used direct comparisons to draw conclusions, recommendations, and implications that are relevant to a number of audiences. For example, the study compared and found that the situational variable of the managerial experience of college chief academic officers was significantly different from the managerial variable of liaison role of coming up with networks. This was in comparison to less experienced college chief academic officers and the result showed that successful college chief academic officers develop more contacts. Successful college chief academic officers focus on establishing external relationships more than relationships within colleges. Current college chief academic officers would benefit from the findings of the study of Anderson et al (2002). College chief academic officers’ perception of managerial roles influences their level of job satisfaction. The study informs incoming college chief academic officers to wary of the expectations they bring into their positions. The recommendations of the study are aimed at promoting effectiveness in the functions of college chief academic officers. Effectiveness among college chief academic officers would help strengthen community college movement by increasing morale. Incumbent college chief academic officers are provided with information that can help them prepare adequately for the role of college presidents. Taking up the actions advocated for by the study can help revolutionize managerial leadership of community colleges. The College Week Journal would consider publishing this article. On the other hand, Blank adopts a meta-ethnographic approach in the synthesis of her findings. This is evident in her interest in the topic of teacher community and autonomy in early childhood education center. In this approach, the researcher is overly specific and starts with finding out what other qualitative researchers have documented and compares their findings. The reading of other researchers work help shape or even changes completely a researcher’s topic of interest (Delamont, 2012). Meta-ethnographic synthesis involves the translating identified studies into each other. Meta-ethnographic synthesis takes place in phases or stages which start with the identification of an intellectual area or topic of interest. This stage helps in preparing for an inquiry into an area where the researcher has little control over and where his or her focus is on a current phenomenon within real-life context. Reading interpretive accounts tempers an intellectual interest and the researcher ponders how prior studies can help inform his or her intellectual interest. After reading prior studies, researchers proceed to decide which of the studies are relevant to their study (Gorard, 2004). The decision of which studies are relevant requires justification that has to do with the consideration of the audience of the research and the best accounts to address the interests of the audience. The proceeding phase involves rereading the selected accounts and looking out for interpretive metaphors. This requires researchers to pay immense attention to the slightest details in these accounts and what they how they will benefit researchers’ concerns. The researcher proceeds to determining the relationships between the selected studies. Juxtaposing the concepts, ideas, phrases, and metaphors noted in the studies help in establishing relationships between studies. The assumptions that result in the identification of relationships between studies help in their translation. Translation compares the concepts and metaphors of different studies. This is what helps Blank arrive at conclusions about the meanings that early childhood teachers give to school community (Delamont, 2012). Very closely related approach to meta-ethnographic synthesis that Blank uses is thematic synthesis. Thematic analysis involves the identification of themes that traverse areas and topics of interest. Blank identifies shifting priorities and preference for privacy as her two thematic areas. Under each thematic areas, she identities several codes help conceptualize her research problem. Coding involves the identification of the meaning and content of the selected texts. Some researchers structure their codes in a tree form and others structure them as free codes without necessarily having a hierarchical structure. Sentence-by-sentence coding helps in the translation of concepts of different studies. Translation produces related codes and others that are different and researchers end up with a bank of codes. Thematic synthesis seeks to identify themes that recur in the majority of the selected texts and use them to develop analytical themes. It utilizes descriptive synthesis and looks out for explanations that are relevant to the given review question (Gorard, 2004). By and large, the outcomes of these and many other ways of synthesizing the outcomes of research help indicate areas of practical implications for different groups. Researchers are the first groups of people who derive benefit from the outcomes of a research study. Blank finds out that teaching community is entangled in contradictions and complexities that result in tensions between community and autonomy. This are the findings Blank arrives at after interrogating the meanings that early childhood teachers attach to community which exposed inherent conflict the ethos of teaching community and their autonomy. Blank reckons that there have been research conducted on this topic and has provided useful knowledge on it (Willis, 2007). However, Blank notes that previous research on this topic has accomplished little in as far as addressing the tensions plaguing the teaching community is concerned. In fact, she charges that researchers in this area have oversimplified the issues surrounding teacher community. This way, she invites other researchers to be a little more exhaustive in studying these issues of the teaching community without shying away from any issue because of its nature or gravity. In-service teachers are an essential audience to the findings of Blank’s study since they provided a basic unit of observation. She reckons that in-service teachers have been relying on the assumption provided by literature that strong teaching communities translate to improved teaching practices. Blank explains that the experience of the professional teaching communities is stifled by complexities and tensions. These tensions arise from the conflict between teachers’ value for autonomy and the value they place on community. She advises that teachers should emphasize developing collaborative communities that will help students’ learning without downplaying the importance of having mechanisms that will help them cope with their internal tensions (Gorard, 2004). Blank poses questions that can help bring valuable change in the teaching profession. Conclusions This paper has presented insightful dimensions of applying research knowledge. Concepts of research definitions, sampling and instrumentation are some of the key items of quantitative methods discussed herein. Students that are new to the study of research methods will find the knowledge of quantitative and qualitative designs insightful. The paper has discussed non-experimental, causal-comparative, and correlation designs of quantitative research. Narrative and phenomenological designs are some of the qualitative designs discussed in this paper. Among the quantitative data analysis techniques discussed in this paper include pie charts and graphs. Data coding, identification of themes and dependability are some of the concepts expounded about qualitative data analysis. The paper has closed with captivating account of how different researchers synthesize and report their findings. References Anderson, P., Murray, J. P., & Olivarez, J. (2002). The Managerial Roles of Public Community College Chief Academic Officers. Community College Review, 30(2), 1. Blank, J. (2009). Life in the village: Teacher community and autonomy in an early childhood education center. Early Childhood Education Journal 36(4), 373-380. Delamont, S. (2012). Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub. Gorard, S. (2004). Quantitative methods in social science. London: Continuum. Singh, K. (2007). Quantitative social research methods. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Vogt, W. P. (2006). Quantitative research methods for professionals. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Willis, J. (2007). Foundations of qualitative research: Interpretive and critical approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Read More