"Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or to explain a particular phenomenon."
"Quantitative methods emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques."
- Babbie, Earl R. The Practice of Social Research. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010; Muijs, Daniel. Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS. 2nd edition. London: SAGE Publications, 2010.
Hypothesis
Case Study
Experimental Research
Survey Research
Data Collection & Analysis
Deductive Reasoning
Test and Measure
Qualitative research is a type of educational research that uses non-numerical data to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It is also used to help develop hypotheses.
"Qualitative research is a process of naturalistic inquiry that seeks an in-depth understanding of social phenomena within their natural setting. It focuses on the "why" rather than the "what" of social phenomena and relies on the direct experiences of human beings as meaning-making agents in their every day lives. Rather than by logical and statistical procedures, qualitative researchers use multiple systems of inquiry for the study of human phenomena including biography, case study, historical analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology."
Focus Groups
Observation
Interviews
Inductive Reasoning
Explore and Understand
Mixed research is the process of using both quantitative and qualitative research.
"Mixed method approaches allow researchers to use a diversity of methods, combining inductive and deductive thinking, and offsetting limitations of exclusively quantitative and qualitative research through a complementary approach that maximizes strengths of each data type...Mixed methods may be employed to produce a robust description and interpretation of the data, make quantitative results more understandable, or understand broader applicability of small-sample qualitative findings."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355095675_The_Meaning_and_Role_of_Action_Research_in_Education
Reading is such an important skill that students need to survive in school and life. This was an important concept that I wanted to focus on. The purpose of this paper was to create an interest in reading in the elementary grades, specifically second grade. This concept came about through my observation of student behavior during independent reading time. These observations created the question of interest in reading for students. This interest is not necessarily the students’ opinion of their interest in reading. The interest that I have wondered about is creating the interest in reading by connecting students to literature that is connected to their personal interests. This became a difficult topic to research as there is not much research for that specific topic.
I think this was my most difficult area. My project ended up spanning over two semester courses. When I chose my topic, I did not realize how little research I would be able to find on my topic. As I first began researching my subject, I had great difficulty finding any direct research done on my topic. I then began to research areas that could be applied to my topic. Creating an interest in reading for my students has always been a huge point for me in my teaching career. That is why I was so driven to find an answer to my question. What I found made me realize that I would need to conduct my own research which was not what I had been expecting to find. I worked with my group of students utilizing the information that I did learn from different articles I found while researching. While I was able to come to a basic conclusion, I have continued working with students to learn more about how to create that interest in reading among my students. However, I feel as though this could be a research project for the rest of my career if I allowed it to be, and would still never find an exact answer.
I found research to be tricky as one question often spiraled into another as I was working. It was hard not to spiral with my new questions and stay focused on the one topic that I began with. It is also easy to question your thinking and wonder if your original topic was truly what you had intended it to be.