Week 12: Quantitative Research Methods - Surveys and Quantitative Data Analysis
A presentation at Heritage University at CBC Week 12 in in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell
SOWK 459 Fall 2019 Planning: Class 12
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
Types of Research Design
Quantitative Designs
- Experiment
- Survey
- Program evaluation*
- Secondary data*
Qualitative Designs
- Interview
- Focus group
Survey Design
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
Writing Quantitative Survey Questions
- 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
Writing Quantitative Survey Questions
- 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
Bridges Program Parent Questionnaire
Show examples of…
- Questionnaire
- Data Collection
- Report
Group Activity - Survey Creation
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
Group Activity - Data Collection
Gather data from all of the class
Group Activity - Debrief
- 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?
Basic experimental design
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
Quasi-Experimental Design
- Nonequivalent comparison group design (true experiment, without random assignment)
- Natural experiments
- Ex post facto control group
- Time series
- Matching (Individual and Aggregate)
Pre-Experimental Design
- Static group comparison
- One-shot case study
- One-group, pre/posttest
Severe limitations
Logic of Experimental Design
- Internal vs. external validity
- Replication
- Threats to validity
- Noncomparable groups
- Selection bias
- Placebo effect
- Researcher effects
Analyzing Quantitative Data
- Response rates and nonresponse bias
- Importance of creating a codebook
Quantitative Data Analysis
- Univariate analysis
- Measures of central tendency
- Frequencies
- Bivariate analysis
- Chi-square, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation
- Multivariate analysis
- Regression, MANOVA
A look into some of the basics of quantitative research methods.
for free. You
can too.
