Research Methods

Question 1

Quantitative

Answer 1

research that is quantified or whose data can be explained or manipulated mathematically (Maxfield & Babbie, 2012)

Question 2

Data collection methods

Answer 2

interviews, questionnaires, & test

Question 3

Is the researcher involved?

Answer 3

yes

Question 4

Broad situations

Answer 4

general

Question 5

intent

Answer 5

find relationship between two variables

Question 6

deductive

Answer 6

testing a theory to make generalizations

Question 7

Relation to a number

Answer 7

participants experiences

Question 8

Focus

Answer 8

variables using numbers and words

Question 9

Qualitative

Answer 9

research that relies on very close systematic observation of a small number of cases to research a social problem (Hagan, 2010).

Question 10

Data collection methods

Answer 10

interviews, focus groups, observations

Question 11

aplication

Answer 11

applies to specific situations and experiences, scope is narrow

Question 12

intent

Answer 12

examine participants experiences

Question 13

approach

Answer 13

naturalistic, real world scenario

Question 14

inductive

Answer 14

using generalizations to lead to a theory

Question 15

focus

Answer 15

philosophical nature

Question 16

favored over another?

Answer 16

Prefers quantitative, data collection methods and most studies try to find a correlation between the independent and dependent variables.

Question 17

Strengths of quantitative

Answer 17

generalized if selection process is well-designed and sample is representative of study population, relatively easy to analyze and data can be very consistent, precise and reliable

Question 18

weaknesses of quantitative

Answer 18

related secondary data is sometimes not available or accessing available data is difficult or impossible, difficult to understand context of a development and data may not be enough to explain complex issues

Question 19

Strengths of qualitative

Answer 19

provide more detailed information to explain complex issues and multiple methods for gathering data on sensitive subjects

Question 20

weaknesses of qualitative

Answer 20

findings usually cannot be generalized to the study population or community, more difficult to analyze, don’t fit neatly in standard categories, may be costly and data collection is usually time consuming

Question 21

validity

Answer 21

produce consistent results (Trochim, 2006)

Question 22

Why is validity important?

Answer 22

it determines what survey questions to use, and helps ensure that researchers are using questions that truly measure the issues of importance

Question 23

UMES Scenario: Quanitative

Answer 23

involve a questionnaire and closed ended tests

Two variables: police aggressiveness and student’s response