Quantitative Techniques and Designs - Research Paper Example

Research Application Paper #3 s affiliation Research Application Paper #3 Quantitative Research Techniques and Designs Quantitativeresearch gives much emphasis to objective measurement and numerical analysis of collected data which may have been done through questionnaires or surveys. It is worth noting that quantitative research gives much focus to gathering of numerical data and its generalization across groups of people. The first study aims at establishing the influence of leadership style on teacher job satisfaction. For purposes of this study, we will use the article to describe the quantitative methods used; the quantitative design used, and describes the quantitative analysis used. Quantitative research methods aim at not only maximizing objectivity, but also the replicability and generalizability of findings and quantitative research methods are typically interested in predictions. Amongst the key features that are associated with many quantitative researches include the use of instruments like tests or surveys in the collection of data and most importantly the reliance on probability theory on the test statistical hypothesis corresponding to research questions of interest (Busch, O’Brien, & Spangler, (2005). The fact that inferences from tests of statistical hypothesis leads to general inferences about characteristics of a population makes quantitative methods be referred to as deductive in nature. It is also worth noting that quantitative methods employ the use of the assumption that there exists a single truth that is independent of any human perception. The research question for the first article was to determine the influence of leadership style on teacher job satisfaction. In answering the research question, the article looks at the various effects of principal’s leadership style which could either ne transformational or transactional, principal’s decision-making strategy which could either be autocratic or participative and lastly the teacher’s occupation perception on the satisfaction the teacher derives from the job. For purposes of the study, it was hypothesized that teacher’s description of their occupation as one that provides high statues, promotion opportunities for talented individuals, possibilities for self-development and personal growth will have an effect on their satisfaction from the work. The other hypothesis was that teacher’s occupation perception is hypothesized to directly affect job satisfaction but also hypothesized to be affected by principal’s behavior. The study employed the use of mainly exogenous variables. Past studies on the subject have always used the principal’s leadership style and the principal’s decision making strategy as regards the content of teachers and the rate of teachers burnt out from their occupation. However, this study set out to examine the influence of teachers’ occupation perception on their satisfaction from their job. The study involved a sample of 930 teachers from a total of 98 schools that were located in the northern part of Israel. The study population comprised of a diverse population that represented the composition of teachers in Israel with regard to gender and religion. Quantitative research design is mainly employed in the structuring of the research and basically shows how all the major parts of the research project like the sample or groups, measures, treatments or programs and methods of research assignment will be done and their inter-correlation into ensuring that the research questions are addressed(Busch, O’Brien, & Spangler, 2005). The success of any research project is wholly dependent on the effectiveness of the employed research design. Another key factor worth noting is the fact that the various designs differ in the quality of evidence they provide to effectively establish the cause and effect relationship between the variables. The quantitative design for this study is the survey designs. Survey designs refer to a no experimental research design that is employed when describing an individual or a group by issuing either a survey or a questionnaire. A survey, alternatively known as a questionnaire or a self-report refers to a common measurement tool employed in behavioral sciences in the form of a series of questions and statements to which the participants are required to offer response. For purposes of the study, questionnaires were issued to a sample of 930 teachers from elementary school, the middle and high schools from a total of 98 schools that were located in the northern part of Israel. The first part of the questionnaire was about transformational leadership and transactional leadership with the MLQ being translated into Israel milieu in a 27-item question with a 5-point scale which basically required the respondents to talk about the leadership style of their principals categorized under the three categories of transformational leadership and two categories of transactional leadership. The quantitative data analysis employed during the study mainly included of Principal component analysis with the varimax rotation being performed on the 30 items of MLQ so as to establish whether there could be traces if behavioral dimensions proposed by Bass and Avalio (1990) within the sample. The reliability of indices, means and standard deviations for the five scales were as outline below. Scale Reliability M SD Transformational Leadership (17 items; n = 682 teachers) .94 3.64b .75 Transactional Leadership (10 items; n = 712 teachers) .77 2.34b .67 Teacher’s Occupation Perception (28 items; n = 702 teachers) .93 3.19c .60 Decision-Making Style (24 items; n = 601 teachers) 2.45d .47 Teacher’s Satisfaction (25 items; n = 677 teachers) .96 4.73e .99 a. Cronbach’s alpha. b. Rating scale: 1 = not at all to 5 = very typical. c. Rating scale: 1 = disagree strongly to 5 = agree strongly. d. Rating scale: 1 = autocratic decision to 4 = delegation. e. Rating scale: 1 = never to 7 = always. Consequently, it was established from the study that the correlation matrix of the independent variables and teachers’ job satisfaction showed significant correlation with the teachers’ occupation perception perceptions (r = .65, p < .0001),transformational leadership (r = .56, p < .0001), participative style (r = .35,p < .0001), and transactional leadership (r = –.21, p < .0001). Qualitative Research Techniques and Designs Qualitative research basically deals with exploration of issues, answering of questions through analysis, and understanding of a given phenomenon using unstructured data. In addition, this kind of research tries to find an understanding of the research problem under study from a perspective of the sampled population involved. Thus, it is always effective when the research intends to obtain specific cultural information on the opinions, values, behaviors and the general social contexts of a given population(Steyn, 2006). In its basic form, qualitative analysis involves the analysis unstructured data in a research, including: literature reviews, open-ended responses from surveys, video and audio recording, pictures, web pages and social media. From the research article on “A Qualitative Study of the Aspects Influencing the Implementation of Invitational Education in Schools in the United States of America,” qualitative analysis or rather methods is used to identify the factors which impact on professional development of teachers. In addition, qualitative techniques in this study enabled the researcher to get down to the perception of teachers on the aspects affecting realization of IE in schools. In this study, there was the use of a phenomenological approach alongside field research so as to comprehend the participants’ individual meanings that were developed from encounters in their lives. Phenomenology, in this study, aims at getting an in-depth meaning in every day’s human encounters; factors affecting the Invitational Education implementation at schools. The entire research used a purposeful sampling which was convenient for the information that was needed for analysis. Schools were selected according to various qualifications and categories across all grades in the education system. After the selection of schools, communication reached the schools’ principals through emails so as to arrange for the meeting and visits. Thus, all schools presented a diverse students population when it came to culture, income and the national heritage; the family incomes ranged from substandard incomes to high incomes. Collection of data, keeping in mind that this is a qualitative research or study, can be done using a number of means; Interviews, observations, documents, protocols, focus groups and assignments. Thus, in this study interviews were the commonly used data collection method. This was done using a guide or rather questions which included: the impact of internal and external condition of schools on implementation of IE, the role played by leadership in implementation of IE, the staff’s role in implementation of IE and the general requirements of PD programs on implementation of Invitational Education. The IE consultants, teachers and the principals were interviewed for a period between one to one and half hours. From this study, we can deduct that the interviews enable individuals to report the exact information on their encounters and beliefs accompanying them. Moreover, the types of interviews to conduct in this study were determined by specific occurrences and the timetable of the school. From these encounters or school occurrences, the study used one general question to open the entire interviews session: Which factors impact on efficiency in implementation of the IE? Data recording was done by use of short notes and tape recording after the researchers were granted permission from their respondents. Immediately after the interviews, for the purposes of obtaining a more clear data, the recorded notes got expanded by the researchers, verified and transcribed after verifications to suit computers’ saving applications. To validate the data and to determine whether the data was reliable or not, the researchers used Guba’s model to ensure trustworthiness. This model has four key steps or strategies: dependability, credibility, conformability and transferability. Analysis of data in any research, whether qualitative or quantitative, is an equally special or crucial section as it determines the final results and how recommendations can be made. Thus, the data from transcribed interviews and recorded notes from the field were coded accordingly for the purposes of analysis. The first step in the analysis process was to eliminate any personal involvement by getting awareness on the assumptions of the research. Secondly, data validation and reliability were determined through dependability, transferability, conformability and credibility. This step involved data from interviews conducted on teachers and principals, previous occurrences at schools and according to previous literatures of similar studies. To ensure trustworthiness of the research, phenomenological reduction was performed. It involved replacing the pre-conceived ideas within the given brackets. Bracketing was performed while reading all the transcripts that contained field notes for the first time so as to identify the required data in its pure form. Eventually, the data was categorized in different significant forms that were identified during analysis. Therefore, a qualitative approach in research has one major strength which is its ability to offer descriptions that are complex on how individuals experience certain issues in the society. Furthermore, it gives information on the human aspects which are often contradicting with the emotions, believes, relationships, behaviors and opinions of individuals. These methods have always been effective in identification of any intangible issues or rather factors like gender roles, religion, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and social norms. The role of such factors in any research is to assist in interpretation implications of given situations. Precisely, qualitative researches have got three main methods. These methods are participant observation, the use of the focus groups and in-depth interviews. Participant observation is best used when a research require data which is based on the naturally existing behaviors of individuals in their normal contexts. The focus groups, on the other hand, are appropriate when data or rather information about a group’s cultural morals is required. In addition, it is used in generating he broader overviews of critical issues of the cultural groups in question. The in-depth interviews are best used when collecting data about individuals their personalities, personal histories, experiences and perspectives, especially when the research is exploring a sensitive topic. Therefore, the above discussed study used the focus groups method since it emphasizes the cultural norms of schools as it generates wider overviews of idea of factors affecting the general implementation of IE at schools. In a quantitative research, like in the case of this study, it is always evident that results get summarized in the form of visual tools like the pie chart, the frequency graphs so as to easily derive and present the most visible components and aspects of the identified factors of the study. 3. Reporting and Contextualizing Research for Social Change Results and findings of the above qualitative research were presented in categories as factors affecting the implementation of the IE in schools. The researcher used sub-headings to mark the beginning of a point and separate it from the previous and the next one. For instance, the leadership role is the first point in the findings section. Under this point, the author describes the principal as a leader in a school. Thus, principals are deemed as the key and senior most people in institutions who determine how a school flows; when things are smooth and properly running. These are the people who spearhead every operation in schools. Therefore, if a principal does not favor any activity at school, then it is prone to failure. This is the opinion of the consultants as presented by the researcher. Moreover, the author uses specific theories that are found in the topic of study and covered in the findings. For instance, the researcher mentions transformational leadership, as an appropriate style of leadership needed for the implementation of IE in schools. This style of leadership is from the leadership theories. Thus, the author relates this leadership theory with the relationships at school, whereby the principal and the teachers are deemed to be in a transformational relationship. In addition, this style of leadership inspires since effective implementation of the IE needs a leader who can be a role model to the entire institution and who can play a key role in creating conducive environment for IE implementation. Teachers are equally crucial players in this research. From the study’s finding, teachers are deemed to be the wheels of IE implementation, after the principals. Furthermore, teachers, according to the author, are the group of individuals who form the action part of the entire implementation process since they are the ones who are in regular contact with students. To split down the points or rather the findings, in every single finding the author used minor headings which form characteristics of teachers or rather the aspects that make teachers be essential parties in this implementation. For instance, the teachers’ commitment and attitudes and collaboration among the staffs are some of the factors affecting IE implementation. Environment plays a chief role in determine the success or failure of any activities in schools. The author, in the findings section mentions both internal and external environment. Thus, the author concludes that teachers are considered to work best in condition that offer full sport and care for their welfare. Therefore from the findings, development and implementation of professional programs revolves around teachers, environment and leadership from the principals. However, this research has its deficiencies. It has not exhausted all the factors that can impact on general implementation of IE as developmental programs for teachers. Factors such as work ethics, integrity and code of conduct have not been researched on. Therefore, in future researches, researchers should consider making their deduction from such aspects, ethics, integrity and code of conduct, to add on the already studied factors in this research. This article can serve as a map to transformations in institutions and the general working environment for teachers. To start with, the article points out extremely crucial factors that hinder implementation of vital programs in schools. For instance, in situations whereby the principals are not performing or rather playing their roles responsibly, the article offer guidance on the kind of leadership principal should engage in. in addition, it proposes that transformational leadership is the most appropriate style for learning institutions. Secondly, socially, this article plays a great role in developing teachers’ relationships at work places. It encourages collaboration and unity among teachers. Moreover, the principal-teachers relationship can be enhanced by this article as it shading some light on the importance of such relationships to the general implementation of the IE programs. Finally, the entire article has an impact on the general working of teachers. It points out a number of aspects that can motivate teachers at work and create awareness on the importance of IE programs in schools. The article goes further and describes several ways such programs can be instituted or rather introduced in schools, their effect and the possible responses or reactions of teachers towards such moves. The first research, “the influence of leadership style on teacher job satisfaction” was trying to reach all the stakeholders in the teaching fraternity right from the ministries in charge of education, to the other stakeholders like the management boards of the leaning institutions, the principals of these institutions, and the teachers themselves. The second article, “A qualitative study of the aspects influencing the implementation of invitational education in schools in the Unites States of America gave much focus to establishing the influence of the effective implementation of Invitation Education (IE) within the framework of professional development while assessing the role of leadership, the role of teachers, the requirements of PD programmes for IE and also the in school and out-of-school conditions. This study was mainly intended for higher institutions dealing with professional development. Other journals that might consider publishing this article include the international journal of Education research, the journal of education research, the American educational research journal, the international journal of educational research and the journal of Educational research online. References Busch, J. R., O’Brien, T. P., & Spangler, W. D. (2005, January 1, 2005). Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies. , vol.11.No. 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107179190501100308 Lodico, M. G., Spaulding, D. T., &Voegtle, K. H. (2010). Methods in Educational Research from theory to practice (second ed.). Retrieved from Jossey-Bass United States Steyn, G. M. (2006). A Qualitative Study of the Aspects Influencing the Implementation of Invitational Education in Schools in the United States of America. , volume 12. Retrieved from academicsearchpremierdatabase Quantitative and Qualitative Designs and Techniques Read More