Research and Critique a Qualitative Study

An experimental research is one whereby the researcher manipulates the various variables

believed to be affecting a given hypothesis or study topic to establish some facts on the

relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variables in the study.

Experimental research helps to predict a given phenomenon that can be used to improve people’s

lifestyle. In the past, an experimental research was conducted in two secondary schools in the

city of Palu, Indonesia on bullying in schools.

Experimental Research Design

There are several designs of experimental research, in this study on bullying the

researcher used the post-test-only design. The researcher in this study divided the subjects of

study into two groups that are the experimental group and the control group. This study was

using the secondary school students as the subjects. Bullying means harassing or mistreating

someone who in some way are not in a position to defend themselves. The researcher has

indicated in the report that the students were grouped differently depending on the gender and

the different levels of their study to know who was more prone to bullying and establish the

causes of the condition.

Sampling Strategy Used in the Study

This study used students from two schools in the city; the subject was categorized into

two as mentioned on the research design, so the sampling method that was used in this case was

random sampling method. This strategy enabled the subjects of the study to have equal chances

to be studied. The researcher, first of all, established the group that was being identified more as

bullies and as the sample was taken and was established that boys made the majority of bullies as

compared to the female counterparts.

Research Design and Statistical Analysis

This study employed qualitative research design to answer the research question which

was mainly to establish what encouraged bullying among students in schools. The primary

methods of qualitative design that were employed in this study were interviews and focus

groups. The students were put in groups in line with the experimental research that is the control

group and the experimental group. The students who were more likely to be bullied were the new

ones and those who appeared to be in some way small bodied. According to the information that

was provided by the subjects in the interviews and the focus groups. Qualitative design was more

appropriate mainly because of the data collection methods that are normally used in the study

using interviews and focus groups. These methods provided an excellent way of collecting the

data because of the manner in which the respondent was being positioned through the interviews

and the focus groups. This study addressed a very crucial issue affecting the subject, and it was

too sensitive to the point that some individuals would have had some fear.

When carrying out an experimental research study, it usually is vital to carry out some

statistical analysis on the information that has been provided to establish whether there is an

element of the relationship between the variables. The researcher used descriptive statistics to

analyze the data that came from the study because this study was merely meant to provide simple

sample measure. “There were also some steps that were actually used to bring some correlations

between the observed variables in the study” (Düğenci, Haktanir & Altun, 2015).

Study Results and Conclusion

The study found from the interviews that some students had been victims of bullying and

quite a number also agreed that they at some point bullied their fellow students. It also showed

that bullying differed from one level to another and that the percentage of girls who were bullied

was relatively higher than that of boys. The researcher made several conclusions that the teachers

did not consider bullying a very serious offense in Indonesia because of how they handled the

cases.

Threats to validity in the study

Validity is the degree to which a study accurately assesses the concept the researcher

wanted to establish or attempting to measure. There usually are cases where this accuracy may

be threatened by some processes or events in the study. The first threat that would be anticipated

in this study is maturation; this has to do with the changes in variable due to normal or

developmental processes this is mainly a one group design.

Statistical regression, this is usually an effect that occurs on the outcomes of a tendency

for subjects. Whenever the dependent variables are not accurately valid, then there is some

tendency of some extreme scores to regress towards the mean. Validity is normally questionable

when the results give data that are extreme towards the mean.

The researcher was very keen on ensuring that these threats on validity were addressed

accordingly. On the issue of maturation, the researcher made sure that the variables that were

under study were only exposed or instead directed to the respective independent variables. In this

case, the study was on bullying and victimization among the students, so the researcher made

sure that they only focused on the issues affecting these particular dependent variables. The

researcher also worked on the sample randomization strategy to ensure that there were no cases

of sample bias. Sample bias is another crucial factor that affects the validity of a research study.

Ethical Principle

The researchers in this study applied several ethical principles in the research, and the

first one was informed consent principle. This principle usually helps the researcher to put the

respondents in some position to enable them to have full knowledge on the study. The research

was dealing with the students, and the issue was so critical to them that was bullied, they were

utterly made aware of how this study was conducted.

There was also the principle of confidentiality; this principle ensures the privacy of the

respondent's protection. “The students who are providing information in this research were

assured that the information they provided in this study was going to be treated with the highest

confidentiality possible so they could be confident when giving the information for the study”

(Dechenaux, Kovenock & Sheremeta, 2015).

References

Dechenaux, E., Kovenock, D., & Sheremeta, R. M. (2015). A survey of experimental research on contests,

all-pay auctions, and tournaments. Experimental Economics, 18(4), 609-669.

Düğenci, O., Haktanir, T., & Altun, F. (2015). Experimental research for the effect of high temperature on

the mechanical properties of steel fiber-reinforced concrete. Construction and Building Materials, 75,

82-88.

General Assembly of the World Medical Association. (2014). World Medical Association Declaration of

Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. The Journal of the American

College of Dentists, 81(3), 14.