Educational Research: Descriptive Research Shannelle Gay P. Paracha Master of English in Applied Linguistics

Research... The systematic application of a family of methods employed to provide trustworthy information about problems. "recherche"

…collects data in order to answer questions about the current status of the subject or topic of study sample …uses formal instruments to study preferences, attitudes, practices, concerns, or interests of a sample DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH (“SURVEY RESEARCH”)

Detailed descriptions of specific situation(s) using interviews, observations, document review How do people implement this program? What challenges do people face? What are people’s perceptions? Did the program cause any changes in participants’ outcomes? Descriptive-Qualitative (Ethnography/ Case Study) You describe things as they are.

Descriptive-Quantitative Numerical descriptions (frequency, average) How many people are participating in this program? What are the characteristics of people in this program? How well did participants in this program do? Did the program cause any changes in participants’ outcomes? Why did the program work this way? You measure things as they are.

The basic steps of conducting a descriptive research... selecting an appropriate sample of participants collecting valid and reliable data reporting conclusions recognizing and identifying a topic to be studied

Step 1: Statement of the problem 1. Do teachers hold favorable attitudes toward using computers in schools? 2. What is the best way to provide access to computer equipment in schools? 3. What is generally the word-formation process utilized in the formation of text- message registers? Descriptive Research

Step 2: Identification of information needed to solve the problem

Step 3: Selection or development of instruments for gathering the information 1.surveys, 2.interviews, 3.observations, and 4.portfolios

Kinds of Survey CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY… …involves collecting data from selected individuals in a single time period however long it takes to collect data from participants

LONGITUDINAL SURVEY LONGITUDINAL SURVEY… …involves collecting data at two or more instances in order to measure changes over time

SELF-REPORT SURVEY SELF-REPORT SURVEY… …requires individuals to respond to a series of statements or questions about themselves

OBSERVATION STUDY OBSERVATION STUDY… …the researcher obtains data by watching participants in a situation

TYPES OF SELF-REPORT ITEMS …scaled …ranked …checklist …free response

Step 4: Identification of target population and determination of sampling procedure …use an appropriate sampling technique …participants must be able to provide the desired information sought and willing to provide it to the researcher

Step 5: Design of procedure for information collection Step 6: Collection of information Step 7: Analysis of information Step 8: Generalizations and/or predictions

Conducting a questionnaire study… 1. state the problem 2. select participants 3. construct the questionnaire 4. prepare cover letter 5. pretest questionnaire 6. follow up activities 7. analyze/report results

…include a brief statement describing the study and its purpose at the top of the instrument …provide standardized directions …organize items leaving sufficient white space on instrument Designing an instrument…

…place similar items together …ask general, non-threatening items first, moving into more specific, self-revealing items

…construct items according to a set of predetermined guidelines …include only items relating directly to the purpose of the study …avoid jargon or any term or concept that might mean different things to different people SOME DO’S AND DON’T’S…

…each item should deal with a single concept and be worded as clearly as possible …items should indicate a point of reference beyond the self in order to judge the self …avoid ambiguous terms like several or usually

…avoid touchy matters in items which respondents might not respond to honestly or at all …avoid leading questions which suggest that one response may be more appropriate than another …each item must be able to stand on its own

…don’t jam items together …don’t put the most important questions at the end of the instrument

prepare the cover letter… …a brief, neat, explanation of the significance of the study and what is being asked of the respondent and why …addressed to the specific, potential respondent

…an endorsement adds credibility anonymity confidentiality …guarantee anonymity or confidentiality …include a specific deadline date by which the completed instrument (“questionnaire”) is to be returned

…individually sign each letter …include a self-addressed, stamped, return envelope

pretest the instrument… pilot study …conduct a pilot study to gather information about deficiencies and suggestions for improving the instrument …provides greater content validity

follow-up activities… …because first mailing results tend to be low (30% - 50% response rate), researchers need strategies to increase the response rate

initial follow-up strategies to increase response rate up to 20%… …send out reminder postcard …mail a second packet with a new, positively worded cover letter and another self-addressed, stamped, return envelope

secondary follow-up strategies to increase response rate up to 10%… …telephone nonrespondents to encourage them to respond

dealing with nonrespondents …study whether nonrespondents differ from respondents in some systematic way by selecting a sample from the nonrespondents …telephone sample, aggregate data, include in report

dealing with nonresponses …study the items to determine the problem with the item …include description of the nonresponses and the determination of the reason in the report

analyze/report results… item analysis …discriminant item analysis includes giving the response rate for each item as well as the total sample size and the overall percentage of returns, since not all respondents will answer questions

…group items into clusters that address the same issue and develop total scores across an item cluster in order to avoid “information overload”

Conducting an interview study… 1. state the problem 2. select participants 3. construct the interview guide 4. communicate professionally and record responses accurately 5. pretest interview procedure 6. analyze/report results

1. STATE THE PROBLEM… …topic must be of sufficient significance to motivate individuals to participate and justify the research effort in the first place …define topic in terms of specific objectives indicating the kind of information needed

2. SELECT PARTICIPANTS… …use an appropriate sampling technique …participants must be able to provide the desired information sought and willing to provide it to the researcher

INSTRUMENT GUIDE 3. CONSTRUCT THE INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT (“INSTRUMENT GUIDE”)… …indicates the question to be asked, the order, and how much additional prompting or probing is permitted …the goal is to obtain standardized, comparable data from each interviewee

4. COMMUNICATE PROFESSIONALLY AND RECORD RESPONSES ACCURATELY… …effective interviewing requires training and experience to avoid interviewer bias and interviewer error

…record responses manually on the interview guide …(requires interviewee permission) use a tape recorder or VCR to verify accuracy of responses

5. PRETEST INTERVIEW PROCEDURE… …use a small group from the same population or a similar population to the one being studied to validate the interview instrument and the interviewer’s communication and recording skills

6. ANALYZE/REPORT RESULTS… …item analysis includes giving the response rate for each item, as well as the total sample size and the overall percentage of returns, since not every respondent will answer all questions

…also include in-depth data to open- ended interview items to portray responses in more accurate and honest terms

Conducting an observational study… 1. state the problem 2. select participants 3. define the observational variables 4. record observations 5. assess observer reliability 6. reduce observer bias 7. analyze/report results

1. STATE THE PROBLEM… …topic must be of sufficient significance to motivate potential respondents and justify the research effort in the first place …define topic in terms of specific objectives indicating the kind of information needed

2. SELECT PARTICIPANTS… …use an appropriate sampling technique …participants must be able to provide the desired information sought and willing to provide it to the researcher

3. DEFINE THE OBSERVATIONAL VARIABLES… …operationalize the variables to be observed in terms of specific behaviors that can be quantified …ensure that the observations can be quantified in a way so that all observers will count the behavioral activities in exactly the same way

coding procedure …simplify procedure for recording observations by developing a coding procedure

4. RECORD OBSERVATIONS… …record behavior at the time it occurs …alternate observation periods and recording periods

5. ASSESS OBSERVER RELIABILITY… …use at least two observers who make independent observations interobserver reliability …compute interobserver reliability

6. REDUCE OBSERVER BIAS… …train observers until a satisfactory level of agreement is achieved (at least 80%) …monitor observers

TYPES OF OBSERVER BIAS …response set …halo effect …knowledge of participants

response set response set …the tendency of an observer to rate the majority of observees as above average, average, or below average regardless of the observees’ actual behavior

halo effect halo effect …the tendency of an observer’s initial positive or negative impressions of the observee to affect subsequent observations

self-fulfilling prophecy self-fulfilling prophecy …the tendency of an observer’s knowledge of the observees or the purposes of the study to affect the observation(s)

Mini-Quiz… True or false… …in a descriptive research study, the researcher predetermines what variables will be surveyed before selecting or observing the research participants True

…one of the most difficult activities on the part of questionnaire researchers is to write or select questions that are clear and unambiguous True

…longitudinal surveys are useful for studying the dynamics of a topic or issue over time True

…one of the problems with longitudinal studies is that the samples tend to shrink as time goes by True

…one of the problems with cross- sectional studies is selecting samples that truly represent the population at a particular level or ability True

…an external review of an instrument provides the researcher greater assurance of it its content validity True

…if the responses from respondents and nonrespondents are essentially the same, the researcher may assume that the response group is representative of the whole sample and that the survey results are generalizable True

…if the responses from respondents and nonrespondents are different, the generalizability across both the respondent and nonrespondent groups is not present and must be discussed in the report True

…bias can affect the validity of the interpretations in observational studies True

Fill in the blank… …a study requiring individuals to respond to a series of statements or questions about themselves self-report study

Fill in the blank… …a study in which individuals are not directly asked for information but data is obtained as the researcher watches participants engage in a situation observation study

Fill in the blank… …items on a survey that are answered by circling a letter, checking a list, or numbering preferences close-ended items

Fill in the blank… …the researcher guarantees that no one, including the researcher, knows who completed each questionnaire anonymity

Fill in the blank… …the researcher guarantees that no one, except the researcher, knows who completed each questionnaire and promises not to divulge that information confidentiality

Fill in the blank… …the oral, in person administration of an instrument to each member of a sample interview

Fill in the blank… …determining the current status of a phenomenon not through an instrument but as the researcher watches the participants engage in the activity being studied observational study

Fill in the blank… …an observation in which the researcher watches behavior as it normally unfolds naturalistic observation

Fill in the blank… …an observation in which the researcher creates a situation to be observed and tells participants what activities to engage in simulation observation

Fill in the blank… …a coefficient found by dividing the total number of agreed observations by the total number of agreed and disagreed observations inter-observer reliability

Fill in the blank… …a means by which observers record observations at the time it occurs by simplifying the recording process coding

Fill in the blank… …a statistical approach that summarizes the results of many studies having investigate the same problem meta-analysis

This module has focused on... …which involves collecting data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions about the opinions of people about some topic or issue descriptive research