Assignment 2: RA: Annotated Bibliography on PTSD

Research and Evaluation

September 13, 2017

Evaluating Quantitative Research

PART 1: Comparing Methods

Experimental Research Method

In the experimental research method, research is approached or viewed as a systematic and scientific process through which a researcher manipulates one or more variables while controlling and measuring any variations in other variables (Stangor, 2011). The variables being manipulated are called the independent variables while the ones being observed for variations are the dependent ones. In this type of research, the researcher uses control groups with randomized variables. Experimental researches are objective, and the views or opinions of the researcher do not affect the results of the study. In other words, experimental research should lack bias. An example situation where experimental research method can be applied by a forensic counselor could be dividing a group of young criminals undertaking community service into two sub-groups. One sub-group would be having a counseling session before their service while the other would be going directly to their activities. This should help compare which group responds better to the modes of punishment and shows reduced criminal behavior.

Survey Research Method

On the other hand, survey research involves any measurement processes that engage the researcher in asking the respondents questions. This may be in the form of interviews or detailed or simple questionnaires. Unlike the experimental research method, surveys do not require any control experiments neither do they require any changes to be made to variables by the researcher. Moreover, unlike in experimental research where bias is minimal, bias in surveys may be present due to non-randomness in samples selected. Nonetheless, surveys are advantageous in that they avoid the creation of artificial situations that do not represent real life situations, something common in the experimental research. A forensic counselor may use surveys to determine the impact of serving the juvenile sentence on young criminals.

PART 2: Questions

Research Goal

In the example in part 1 above for the experimental research method, the goal would be to find out whether counseling sessions have any impact on the behavioral changes in young criminals. This is a suitable objective because, as Carter (2004) suggests, it is specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic and time bound.

Sampling Technique

This study would be suited by a random sampling technique. In this technique, every person in the sample frame will have an equal chance of being selected. According to Carter (2004), random sampling is easy to use and enables actual and accurate representation of the larger population. In fact, there is no any other method in existence that is easier in extracting a sample from a population than random sampling. Researchers can use manual lottery method or computer-generated selections. This study would focus on a small population of less than a thousand people, and therefore manual lottery method would be preferred. For instance, a sample of 50 people out of the total population of 500. Each person would be assigned a unique number from 1 to 500 and then fifty numbers extracted. This would leave each person with a 10% chance of being included in the sample. This sample will be best in generalizing on the whole population and would also ensure the study is not biased.

Research Design

In this case, the experimental research design would be the most appropriate to use. Creswell, (2014) asserts that the rationale for experiments is to test an idea, treatment or program to see if it makes a difference. There is a control and a test group, where the individuals are randomly assigned to two groups. One group is exposed to the phenomena being tested, and the other one is not. In this case, there are two sub-groups where one is enrolled in the counseling session which they attend before embarking on their actual community service while the other group is not enrolled to such session but goes directly to their community service activities. The result for both sub-groups will be compared to determine whether there was an actual behavior change impacted by the counseling sessions.

Hypothesis and Expected Results

Hypotheses may be null or alternative. Null hypotheses are ones who lead a researcher to the belief that there are no relationships between two or more variables, or there is lack of scientific information to discredit it. On the other hand, the alternative hypothesis is to disprove the null hypothesis. In the case study situation, the hypothesis would be “there is an improvement in behavioral changes among the group members attending the counseling sessions." This is an alternate hypothesis which counters the null hypothesis which would be “there are no behavioral changes among members attending the counseling sessions." The expected result for this situation would be that the counseling sessions before community work would have a positive effect on the behavioral changes among the young criminals.

References

Carter, D. (2004). Quantitative psychological research: a student's handbook. Hove, East Sussex New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Creswell, J. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications.