Research Scenarios

Many research methods, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, action research, and secondary data analysis are used when conducting educational research. According to McMillan and Schmacher (2008) the intent of a research design is to “use a design that will result in drawing the most valid, credible conclusions from the answers to the research questions” (p. 22). Four example scenarios are given below including elements important to selecting the type of research method that should be used. Which of the five previously mentioned research methods best fits each scenario?

Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.

This research study definitely calls for an interactive qualitative method. McMillan and Schumacher (2008) classify a study as qualitative when researchers observe subjects in their “natural surroundings” (p. 26) such as the students working in the peer mediation program. Also, qualitative designs gather data in the form of words rather than numbers. Specifically, the type of face-to-face design used would be the phenomenological study. McMillan and Schumacher (2008) define this type of design as one that “the researcher conducts long interviews with the subjects directed toward understanding their perspectives on their everyday lived experience with the phenomenon” (p. 26).

Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.

In this scenario, quantitative methods would be best to analyze the results. Quantitative research is characterized by using “numbers, statistics, structure, and control” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 23). This scenario randomly divides the students into two groups, which eliminates bias. Also, the results for this study will be based on the fewest office referrals, which will be shown in numbers. More specifically, the type of quantitative study that could be used is experimental design. Since the researcher controls what each group experiences and compares the two groups to each other, experimental design would work best.

Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.

In this scenario, a mixed method approach would work best. This method combines qualitative and quantitative designs since it can “show the result and then explain why it was obtained” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, 28). An explanatory design shows the number of office referrals and the percentage of decrease. Then, the explanation is given as to how the student attitudes affected this decrease. This example uses quantitative designs first and then qualitative designs afterwards to explain the result.

Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.

This scenario fits the criteria of qualitative research designs. Since this scenario is gathering evidence from prolonged interviews, at first this research design resembles ethnography. However, McMillan and Schumacher (2008) recommend the use of case studies when examining a group of subjects over time and using multiple sources of data. In this study, analysis is based on the pre and post tests along with the bi-monthly interviews. In this study the focus is on the attitudes of the subjects regarding peer mediation. As attitudes can change, the data from the ongoing interviews will be recorded and compared to that of previous months.

It should be recognized that I am an amateur at identifying research methods. Based on the information that I have gathered over the past seven weeks, I have attempted to identify and rationalize the research designs that would best meet the needs of each of the four scenarios. I welcome any and all comments and suggestions related to this topic. Please feel free to make any comments that would help me with this process.

References

McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.