Planning an Applied Research Project Chapter 7 – Forms of Quantitative Research © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives »Explain the differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods »List the quantitative research designs »Explain the differences between survey research, experimental, pre experimental, quasi experimental, post hoc, developmental, and forecasting research methods »Differentiate among independent, dependent, confounding and intervening variable »Analyze the issue of significance »Explain mixed methods of research © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Key Terms »Causation »Confounding variable »Connection »Control group »Correlation »Dependent variable »Developmental research »Embedded design »Experimental research method »Exploratory design »Explanatory design »Explanatory variable »Forecasting © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Key Terms (cont’d) »Hypothesis or hypotheses »Independent variable »Mixed methods »Moderating variable »Null hypothesis »Pre-experimental »Pre-test »Post-test »Pure experiment »Quasi –experimental research method »Regression analysis »Research hourglass »Significance »Smoothing »Survey Research »Time series analysis »Treatment group »Triangulation design © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review of Qualitative vs. Quantitative »Both valid »Both use serious research techniques, although different »Both contribute to new information and perspectives »Both are rigorous »They fall on a continuum with mixed methods in between »Qualitative Quantitative »Qualitative Mixed Quantitative © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review of Qualitative vs. Quantitative (cont’d) QualitativeQuantitative »Words more important and numbers count also »Many variables and few cases »Purpose is to explore, investigate, discover »Writing the results counts »Analysis is complicated »Numbers more important and words count »Few variables and many cases »Purpose is to test, verify »Analyzing the numbers counts »Analysis is pretty standardized © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Three C’s of Quantitative Research C Connection C Correlation C Causation © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Purposes of Quantitative Research P Prove A Assess or test V Validate E Examine D Demonstrate The road © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Quantitative Research ˃ Focus on numbers but often includes words ˃ Emphasis on interpretations of numbers ˃ Standard data collection models ˃ Use of statistical techniques to analyze data ˃ Many cases and few variables ˃ Examination of significance of the numbers ˃ Desire to prove connections, correlations and maybe causation ˃ Focus on proving an hypothesis or hypotheses © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Types of Quantitative Research »Survey research »Pre experimental »Quasi experimental »Experimental »Post-hoc »Developmental studies »Forecasting © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Survey Research »Information about how a group of people think, perceive the world, feel about an activity, program, policy, possibility of change, new development »Methods include: − Face to face interviews − Telephone interviews − Paper and pencil questionnaires − Online questionnaires © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental Research »Elements ˃ Control over independent variable enables measurement of change in the dependent variable as independent variable changes ˃ Control over a pre-test and post-test situation ˃ Control over selection of the sample ˃ Control over treatment application © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental Research (cont’d) »Pure Experimental Research ˃ Can control treatment, pretest, and assignment to control and experimental groups ˃ Can prove cause and effect with some certainty ˃ Can select sample carefully ˃ Can assign participants to groups randomly ˃ Can give one group a treatment and not the other ˃ Internal validity important © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental Research (cont’d) »Pre-experimental Research ˃ Cannot control treatment or only in a limited manner ˃ Cannot prove cause and effect with any certainty ˃ Cannot make changes in the independent variable ˃ Cannot select sample and randomize participants into the groups ˃ Internal validity important © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experimental Research (cont’d) »Quasi-Experimental Research ˃ Can control randomization of participants or respondents in some ways ˃ Can prove cause and effect with some certainty ˃ Can select sample carefully ˃ Cannot randomly assign participants to groups ˃ Can give one group a treatment and not the other ˃ Internal validity important © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Post-Hoc Research »Conducted after the fact »No control over the variables, pre-test, treatment choices, or partisans »Often used to show the impact or effect of something that has already happened »Often designed after the event or action © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Developmental Research »Focuses on time factors – changes over the age of the participants primarily »Cohort studies – cross-sectional approach »Longitudinal studies – long term approach © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Forecasting »Attempts to predict future behavior, data, programs, events, or other items »Methods ˃ Time series analysis ˃ Smoothing ˃ Regression analysis ˃ Trend analysis © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Role of Hypotheses »Hypotheses needed to test: ˃ Clarification of independent variable ˃ Determination of dependent variable ˃ Confounding or moderating variables ˃ Intervening variables ˃ Null hypothesis © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Overcoming Confounding Variables »Strategies: ˃ Keep things constant ˃ Use a control group ˃ Select people using a randomizing technique ˃ Ensure equivalence where possible ˃ Treat all participants the same way ˃ Using statistics carefully and intelligently © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Determinations of Significance »Importance of Significance ˃ Importance of significance in testing, reinforcing or proving a hypothesis ˃ Proving that results could not be obtained by chance alone ˃ Tests of statistical significance © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mixed Methods »Combination of qualitative and quantitative methods ˃ Triangulation design ˃ Embedded design ˃ Explanatory design ˃ Exploratory design © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Research Hourglass »Topic »Purpose statement »Research questions »Literature review »Research design »Data collection method »Data analysis plan »Findings »Applications »Future research ideas © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review of Class Session »Anything unclear? »One thing that I learned from this class is … © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.