Research Design

Study notes Some of the information below may be repetitive of what you have read in Creswell. In chapter 10, Singleton addressed field research, which overlaps with some qualitative designs, but for Singleton it is different from qualitative research because field research often involves quantification and more than simply observation. (Sometimes qualitative research also involves quantification) What Singleton addressed as field research is out the traditions of sociology and anthropology. Field research is probably more like ethnography than it is like other qualitative designs. In a previous unit, we mentioned the use of existing data for research. Sometimes using data that are available lessens the data gathering task because you do not have to be dependent on others to return a survey or agree to an interview. Here is a good example of the use of existing data in a causal-comparative design. A former Princeton student who was in the Education program and is an assistant principal did her dissertation using existing data. She wanted to know if the reading scores on a standardized test (ITBS) were different after a new approach to teaching reading than before the new approach began. She went back to 1991 and recorded scores of 1st and 2nd graders for a five-year period before the intervention in 1996. Then she obtained scores of 1st and 2nd graders for five years after the new program and then did a number of statistical comparisons. She found significant differences on the comparisons so it would appear that the new approach to reading was effective. She could have set up a quasi-experimental design, but unless she did it for a number of years, she would not have had nearly as much data. This is a case in which it was not feasible to do an experimental design, but she obtained useful data. Not all research using available data is causal-comparative. Much is descriptive. Probably the use of available data for research is among the top three types of designs used. Think of all the studies that come from the U.S. Census every ten years. You may have some good data stored at your place of employment. One researcher in Arizona has studied the trash/garbage of people for 25 years to find out how they live. Can you imagine sifting through someone's trash for 25 years? He has, however, learned a great deal about how the people whose trash he has swiped in the Tucson area live. Moving back now to Chapter 10 in Singleton. While qualitative research is simply not acceptable to some researchers, in many ways, it can be more valuable than quantitative research when specificity and correctness are not necessary. Probably about 40% of Princeton students do some type of qualitative research for their dissertations. Singleton refers to qualitative research as field research. He simply uses a broad category to cover various kinds because qualitative research is done in the real world (field). One primary difference between quantitative and qualitative research is the way data are analyzed. In quantitative research, analysis is done using some quantitative measure-numbers-statistics. In qualitative research the researcher is the instrument of the analysis. That, of course, leaves room for bias so extra care must be taken when analyzing data. Qualitative research is often more difficult to do because you must come up with a method of analysis and then analyze the data drawing from your own brain. Below is a list of some qualitative designs and a brief description of what each is. 1. Case study - To understand one person or situation or perhaps a very small number in great depth such as one might do in historical case studies or an organizational case study. You can study many entities using case study-schools-organizations-churches-businesses-basically anything that you can put a boundary around, you can study using case study techniques. 2. Ethnography - To understand how behaviors reflect the culture of the group. (Margaret Mead studied people of some Pacific islands for years) (A 5'2" female psychologist lived with the Crips or Bloods-don't remember which one-for two years to study their behavior-gutsy huh?) 3. Phenomenological - To understand an experience from another's point of view. 4. Grounded theory - To try to derive a theory from data collected in a natural setting. 5. Content analysis - To identify the specific characteristics of a body of material. (Leedy, 2001 p. 157)(This could be quantitative or qualitative) If you want to research something that is better studied using a qualitative method, do some reading of any of he following-Yin, Merriam, Stake, Creswell. In chapter 9, Creswell describes factors you should address in writing the results of a qualitative study. Please note the differences.