L10:Big Idea 1-Question and Explore-Choosing and Defending an Inquiry Method

Lesson 10: Focus What assumption or paradigm is a researcher making when they choose to engage in either qualitative or quantitative methods? What is the approach to inquiry (induction versus deduction in qualitative and quantitative methods)? How is the data/information used in qualitative versus quantitative methods (testing hypotheses and theories or generating hypotheses and building theory)? Why would a scholar want to implement a mixed methods (both qualitative and quantitative) approach?

Lesson 10: Focus Experimental research: manipulate the predictor variable and subjects to identify a cause-and-effect relationship requires an experimental group, or the ones being manipulated, while the other is placed in a placebo group, or inert condition or non-manipulated group a laboratory-based experiment gives a high level of control and reliability. Non-experimental research: cannot control, manipulate or alter the predictor variable or subjects, but instead, relies on interpretation, observation or interactions to come to a conclusion. relies on correlations, surveys or case studies, and cannot demonstrate a true cause-and-effect relationship. non-experimental research tends to have a high level of external validity, meaning it can be generalized to a larger population.

Design: Experimental Method: Quantitative Purpose/Approach is largely explanatory-focuses on “facts” and explaining the relationship between one set of facts and another Data Collection usually involves a pre-test/post-test, identifying correlations between variables, random assignment, control groups etc., or surveys. Data Organization usually involves the placement of info into pre-determined categories in data tables and may pit one data set versus another in a graph. Data Analysis Focus is on objectivity Data is counted/measured (i.e. uses numbers). It tends to come from lots of people Aims to find generalizable conclusions about the relationship between variables Experimental research: manipulate the predictor variable and subjects to identify a cause-and-effect relationship requires an experimental group, or the ones being manipulated, while the other is placed in a placebo group, or inert condition or non-manipulated group a laboratory-based experiment gives a high level of control and reliability. Non-experimental research: cannot control, manipulate or alter the predictor variable or subjects, but instead, relies on interpretation, observation or interactions to come to a conclusion. relies on correlations, surveys or case studies, and cannot demonstrate a true cause-and-effect relationship. non-experimental research tends to have a high level of external validity, meaning it can be generalized to a larger population.

Health Halos Experiment Using the set of images assigned to you (Group A or Group B) Determine the total calories of the food in the image. Provide your calorie total to your instructor. The instructor will collate the results and compute the total calorie average for each image set. Compare the averages of the image sets.

Sample Data A B 1572 1800 1700 1170 3272 2970 1636 1485 Remember that the term “Health Halo” came from the notion that having a “fat free” object associated with a meal automatically placed a “health halo” around the meal, resulting in a perceived lower calorie count than a meal of equal value.

Health Halos Experiment Have a discussion after reviewing the article on the study What is the hypothesis?  And the null hypothesis? What were the variables?  How were they controlled? What was the conclusion? Could the experiment be improved in anyway?  (e.g. – should the group without the ‘health halo’ have had a picture of crackers without the label – to make sure the label was the only variable that had the impact?)  Half of the 40 people surveyed were shown pictures of a meal consisting of an Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad and a 20-ounce cup of regular Pepsi. On average, they estimated that the meal contained 1,011 calories, which was a little high. The meal actually contained 934 calories — 714 from the salad and 220 from the drink. The other half of 40 people surveyed were shown the same salad and drink plus two Fortt’s crackers prominently labeled “Trans Fat Free.” The crackers added 100 calories to the meal, bringing it to 1,034 calories, but their presence skewed people’s estimates in the opposite direction. The average estimate for the whole meal was only 835 calories — 199 calories less than the actual calorie count, and 176 calories less than the average estimate by the other group for the same meal without crackers.

Qualitative Method Purposes Purpose/Approach is generally exploratory and aims to find insights into particular contexts Data Collection is commonly in the form of focus groups, in-depth interviews, uninterrupted observations, bulletin boards, and ethnographic participation/observation. Data is descriptive often textual (it tends to focus on a specific case or cases). Data Organization is open and flexible – data categories emerge through the process. Data Analysis techniques focus on finding themes and meanings and/or interpretations: Coding/categorizing Likert scales

Comparing Data Collection Methods Quantitative research methods include: Surveys/questionnaires (where data is numerical and/or counted) Laboratory experiments Intervention strategies with pre and post tests Qualitative research methods include: Case study research - a case study is an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context Ethnography- the ethnographer immerses her/himself in the life of people s/he studies and seeks to place the phenomena studied in its social and cultural context Observations of behaviour in a social setting Interviews to determine emerging themes in narrative data Focus Groups to determine emerging themes in narrative data Questions to keep in mind for qualitative data collection and interpretation: What do I want to know? Why do I want to know it? What answers might I expect? What will I do with these answers? Have I considered the ethical issues, impact, implications of what I’m about to do?

Qualitative Research Activity Field Observations 1. Go to the window and make observations for five minutes (your teacher may assign a different place for you to make observations). 2. While you are making observations, think about why you are choosing to observe what you are observing and determine the question you are trying to answer with the observations you are making. 3. Record your question, observations, and rationale for observations made.

Qualitative Research Activity Interviews 1. After your field observations, pair up with another participant (not at your table) and interview each other about the questions you formulated while making your observations. 2. Ask each other why you formulated that specific question. 3. Ask each other what you think the question you chose and observations you made reveal about your biases and situatedness. 4. Ask each other to what extent you are uncomfortable with the interview process and questions (as both the interviewee and the interviewer). 5. Be prepared to share the challenges and benefits to doing field observations versus interviews when prompted.

Mixed Method Research Combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and/or data analysis to Triangulate-do confirm the quantitative data/interpretation with qualitative data/interpretation “The essential idea of triangulation is to find multiple sources of confirmation when you want to draw a conclusion” (Willis, 2007,pp. 218-219). Paint a more comprehensive picture of the phenomena being studied

A Mixed Method Example A researcher wants to explore (qualitative objective) why people take on-line college courses. The researcher conducts open-ended interviews (qualitative data collection) asking them why they take on-line courses. Then the researcher quantifies the results by counting the number of times each type of response occurs (quantitative data analysis) The researcher also reports the responses as percentages and examines the relationships between sets of categories.

Practicing a Mixed Method 1. In your table group, combine all the data you collected in the interview. 2. Determine a quantitative way to analyze the interview data from the entire group according to the following research question: What does this data reveal about the lived experiences of AP Research students engaging in field observations and interviews? Record your conclusions according to your analysis. 3. Determine a qualitative way to code and identify common themes with the interview data from the entire group according to the following research question: Record your conclusions according to your analysis

Practicing a Mixed Method 4. Combine the qualitative and quantitative data to develop a theory about the lived experiences of AP Research students engaging in qualitative research methods. 5. Describe the limitations to your theory if you only used the qualitative interview data. 6. Describe the limitations to your theory if you only used the quantitative interview data.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kmallikarjuna/how-to-science-as-told-by-17-overly-honest-scientists#.ofyameWmN Are the researchers effectively articulating the rationale for implementing a data collection or analysis method? Are these methods valid, reliable? What are the implications, limitations of using these methods?

What Should You Articulate? Explaining the limitations of your research and justifying the choices you made during the inquiry process demonstrates the command that you had over your research Elaboration of rationale for proposed research design appropriateness to learner’s study (not simply a listing and description of research designs). Discussion of why the selected method was chosen instead of another (why quantitative method selected instead of qualitative). Elaboration of why the proposed design will accomplish the study goals and why design is the optimum choice for this specific research.

What are Limitations? Limitations are influences that the researcher cannot control.   They are the shortcomings, conditions or influences that cannot be controlled by the researcher that place restrictions on your methodology and conclusions. Any limitations that might influence the results should be mentioned. When considering what limitations there might be in your investigation, be thorough.  Consider all of the following: your analysis the nature of self-reporting the instruments you utilized the sample (and sample size) time constraints

What do explanations of limitations look like? Identify only those limitations that have the greatest potential impact on:  (a) the quality of your findings (b) your ability to effectively answer your research questions and/or hypotheses. For example, we know that when adopting a quantitative research design, a failure to use a random sampling technique significantly limits our ability to make broader generalizations from our results (i.e., our ability to make statistical inferences from our sample to the population being studied).  Limitations can also include discussing whether or not participants answered the questions truthfully, whether or not you got enough students for your sample size, whether or not your data collection instrument or method worked well, etc.

Excuses are not Limitations Students may think that offering an “excuse” for why the research design did not get implemented as planned or why they did not choose a better, more aligned research design is an explanation of the limitations of their design/conclusions made. Examples: I am only a high school student and could not implement the method that I know would be most aligned to the purpose of my inquiry. My results were probably skewed because I didn’t hand out my survey until about a month ago, so hardly anyone responded.

Articulating Rationale and Limitations of Chosen Methods 1. With your table group, discuss and develop responses to the following questions and report your findings to the entire class: a. How do you justify/rationalize why you chose a particular method (alignment, purpose, approach, design)? i. What do rationale for choosing methods look like? b. What do explanations of limitations for using a particular method look like? c. What challenges do you think you will have in articulating the limitations to the conclusions you can make by choosing one method over another? 2. Develop a short research proposal using the last two sets of homework you generated: Inquiry Proposal Research Question Approach Design Proposed Method Rationale for Chosen Method Limitations of Chosen Method

Articulating Rationale and Limitations of Chosen Methods 3. Engage in peer review with a partner on the alignment of the above components of your inquiry process as well as the clarity of your rationale for choosing your method and limitations to choosing that method. Peer Review Feedback Provide feedback on the alignment of your partner’s inquiry proposal components and effectiveness of rational and articulation of limitations.

Reflection-Include your response in your Trello. What sources have you already found to help you develop effective rationale for the inquiry method you are choosing/developing? Where in your Academic Paper will you include the rationale for the method you chose as well as the limitations of using just that method over another?