Week 12: Quantitative Research Methods - Surveys and Quantitative Data Analysis
Slide 1

Location: CBC Campus - Tuesday T-336 & SWL-220
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-8:15
Week 12: 11/04/19 — 11/10/19
Reading Assignment: DeCarlo (2018) chapter 11 and 12
Topic and Content Area: Quantitative Research Methods
Assignments Due: Assignment 02: reading quiz for chapters 11 and 12 are due at 5:30 PM prior to class via My Heritage
Other Important Information: N/A
Slide 2
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Quantitative Designs
- Experiment
- Survey
- Program evaluation*
- Secondary data*
Qualitative Designs
- Interview
- Focus group
Slide 3
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Strengths
- Cost-effectiveness
- Generalizability
- Reliability
- Versatility
- Longitudinal designs are great
Limitations
- Inflexibility
- Lack of depth
- For cross-sectional designs, difficulty with time order
- Phone, mail, internet, and in-person surveys all have issues
Slide 4

- Questions are based on operational definitions (But also include other variables and characteristics)
- Concise, easy to understand
- Address the “most knowledgeable people” about a topicThink back to sampling
- Clear wording (Double negatives, double-barreled questions and answers, jargon, slang)
- Neutral wording (Leading language, social desirability)
- Pretesting is key
Slide 5
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- Closed-ended questions (Mutually exclusive and exhaustive response options)
- Fence-sitters and floaters
- Filter questions, Matrix questions
- Group your questions by theme
- Ordering is important, though tricky
- Think about the time needed to complete the questionnaire
- Look professional
Slide 6
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Show examples of…
- Questionnaire
- Data Collection
- Report
Slide 7
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Create a 5-10 question survey which addresses the topic of “study skills,” though the specific research question is up to you…
- Include questions and answers
- Follow best practices listed in the book
- Don’t ask anything sensitive
Slide 8
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Gather data from all of the class
Slide 9

- What questions worked well? Didn’t work so well?
- What research questions could we answer?
- What would univariate analysis look like here?
- What bivariate relationships could we explore? Multivariate?
- What would you do differently, if you could?
- Setting? Format?
Slide 10

Classic Experimental Design
- Experimental and control groups
- Random assignment
- Pretest and posttest
Variations
- Posttest only (testing effects)
- Solomon four group design
- Using a comparison group
Slide 11
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- Nonequivalent comparison group design (true experiment, without random assignment)
- Natural experiments
- Ex post facto control group
- Time series
- Matching (Individual and Aggregate)
Slide 12
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- Static group comparison
- One-shot case study
- One-group, pre/posttest
Severe limitations
Slide 13
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- Internal vs. external validity
- Replication
- Threats to validity
- Noncomparable groups
- Selection bias
- Placebo effect
- Researcher effects
Slide 14
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- Response rates and nonresponse bias
- Importance of creating a codebook
Slide 15
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- Univariate analysis
- Measures of central tendency
- Frequencies
- Bivariate analysis
- Chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation
- Multivariate analysis
- Regression, MANOVA