EDUC 607 - Murillo

All research requires thoughtful writing, but quantitative research findings are presented in numbers, treated with statistical procedures. Researchers in this milieu carefully plan their methodologies. Part of their credibility rests on how rigorously those methodologies are applied. Quantitative research involves deductive logic (general to specific), to obtain information that will help solve a particular problem. Controls to facilitate objectivity are emphasized. In education, quantitative research is usually pursued through quasi-experiments, survey or questionnaire studies, standardized tests, and/or observations, using samples of subjects that are randomly selected.

By contrast, qualitative research involves inductive logic (specific to general), to understand the meaning of a situation and its importance to the human condition. Findings are presented in words. Qualitative researchers apply emergent designs – they revise their plan and methodologies as new data become available. Qualitative research often uses interviews, observations, and/or artifacts, obtained from a carefully selected social scene or through work with purposefully selected informants. Qualitative researchers learn from and through their immersion in the study. This is accomplished through adept use of participant language in naturalistic settings, with a reliance on researcher skill rather than through inherent capabilities of a data collection instrument. In qualitative research, the researcher IS the instrument!

There are three headings on the syllabus chart, but all twelve designs can be considered in two general categories: quantitative and qualitative. The attributes of your study plan will be established by the quantitative/qualitative categories. Seven of the designs are essentially quantitative, because all of the program evaluation designs, except Naturalistic Evaluation, are quantifiable. The other five designs are qualitative.

Label your design, so your audience will know the general parameters of your study. Be sure it includes either objectives or a complete data collection instrument, projected sample size and selection procedure, and your strategy for obtaining permission for the study. In addition, quantitative designs should identify an appropriate statistical treatment procedure, and qualitative designs should have clearly articulated foreshadowed problems:

QUANTITATIVE DESIGNS                    PROGRAM EVALUATION             QUALITATIVE DESIGNS

Relationship                                                        Objectives-based                                          Historical
survey                                                                evaluation                                                        study

Descriptive                                                          Discrepancy                                               Oral history
survey                                                                 Evaluation Model                                         project

Quasi-experimental                                              Naturalistic                                               Ethnographic
study                                                                   Evaluation                                                 case study

Delphi probe                                                  Evaluability Assessment                                   Policy study