quantitative and qualitative research

Question 1

what is the hypothetico-deductive method?

Answer 1

• observation
• formulate theory
• derive testable hypotheses and test these

Question 2

what is a hypothesis?

Answer 2

a testable idea

Question 3

how to form a hypothesis?

Answer 3

what do we know?
What are we interested in?

Question 4

what is a null hypothesis?

Answer 4

there is no correlation between variables

Question 5

steps to forming a hypothesis?

Answer 5

• define key concepts
• think about the practical issues and the design of the study
  
  • how to test
  • where to test
  • who is being tested
  • what to measure

Question 6

what is experimental design?

Answer 6

used to determine the causal relationship between variables

Question 7

what is the independent variable?

Answer 7

what you change and manipulate in the experiment

structure:
- has a IV and DV
- has two conditions
- compare the two conditions

Question 8

what is a dependent variable?

Answer 8

what you measure/ the outcome

Question 9

what are confounding variables?

Answer 9

variables which have unwanted influences on the results

Question 10

how to eliminate confounding variables?

Answer 10

• conducting the study in a standardised manner
  
  • testing each participant in the same
    setting
• ensure no consistent differences between conditions
  
  • randomly select/allocate participants
  • randomly testing at different times/conditions
• within subjects design
  
  • participants attended ALL conditions
• between subject design

Question 11

what is quasi-experimental design?

Answer 11

When randomly allocating participants is impossible, e.g. to explore the differences between two populations and therefore participants only attend one condition

Question 12

what is correlational design?

Answer 12

used to investigate relationships between two variables
- correlation doesn’t equal causation
- how does a change in variable A effect variable B

Question 13

what is a correlational design plan?

Answer 13

• how to measure variables
  
  • survey: give people questionnaires
  • observation: watch and record
    what happens
  • document research: review publications, newspapers and diaries etc

Question 14

what is a positive correlation?

Answer 14

When variable A (social circle) increases, variable B (happiness level) also increases

Question 15

what is a negative correlation?

Answer 15

When variable A (social circle) increases, variable B (happiness level) decreases

Question 16

what is no correlation?

Answer 16

No relationship between the two variables

Question 17

what is the criteria for quality?

Answer 17

reliability - the results are replicable / the consistency of results
validity - the experiment tests the variables we want to test / accuracy of measurements
generalizability - The extent to which the experiment results can be applied in real-world

Question 18

How can validity be improved?

Answer 18

Think of the confounding variables when designing

Try to use setting and tasks similar to real life

Question 19

how to improve reliability?

Answer 19

Increasing sample size

Repeating the experiment
- A clear description of how it was carried out in onestudy.

Question 20

what is generalizability across people?

Answer 20

Fundamental processes are presumably universally shared.

What processes are universal and what are not?

Question 21

How can i improve generalizability?

Answer 21

repeating a study with different participant populations

Question 22

what is qualitative research?

Answer 22

Aims to describe the nature of relationships, situations, processes,systems and people

Question 23

why do we use the qualitative method?

Answer 23

o uncover information impossible to be collected via quantitative methods.

When the information relates to the complex use of language or meaning

Question 24

when is the qualitative method used?

Answer 24

Studying the complexity of something in its natural setting

To evaluate the implementation of social policies

When there is little or no research on the topic

As a preliminary phase to clarify a research question

As a preliminary phase to guide quantitative research

Question 25

what makes a good qualitative question?

Answer 25

Be subjective - What do you think/feel

Be specific - Different learning ways vs online / face-to-face learning

Giving the respondent the opportunity to provide a more reasoned,personal response

Answer 26

Primary sources
- interview
- focus group
- observation

Secondary sources
- document view
- Earlier research
- Personal records
- Client histories
- Service records
- Government publications

Question 27

what is a structured interview?

Answer 27

A fixed set of questions asked in a fixedorde

Question 28

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 28

A fixed set of questions but not asked in a fixed order

Question 29

what is an unstructured interview?

Answer 29

Have topics but no fixed questions or order

Question 30

what is a focus group?

Answer 30

Discussion-based interview

Build conversation among participants

Question 31

what is non-participant observation?

Answer 31

Non-participant observation:No direct contact with group members

Question 32

what is participant observation?

Answer 32

Observer join the studied group with the expressed intention

Question 33

what are types of data collection?

Answer 33

primary and secondary

Question 34

what are types of data analysis?

Answer 34

thematic analysis
grounded theory

Question 35

what is the aim of thematic analysis?

Answer 35

Generate themes – patterns in the data that are important or interesting, and use these themes to address the research issues

Question 36

what is the grounded theory?

Answer 36

Grounded theory method* Developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967)
- To generate or discover the theory

Question 37

why is the grounded theory used?

Answer 37

There is little or no theory in existence or you do not agree with existing theories.

Question 38

when is quantitative research used?

Answer 38

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses.

Question 39

when is qualitative research used?

Answer 39

Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

Question 40

what are the advantages of qualitative research?

Answer 40

• In-depth examination of phenomena
• Examine complex questions
• Deal with value-laden questions
• Not limited to rigidly definable variables
• High in ecological validity

Question 41

advantages of quantitative research?

Answer 41

• Easy to implement the research – standardized procedure/ well-controlled
• Relatively quick to gather and analyse data
• Relatively large sample sizes* Provides precise and numerical data and easy to interpret