Overview of the theory you need to understand for the week 12 assignment page 1 of 2

This document will contains instructions for the 20% assignment due week 12 as well as some of the theory you have to discuss. You need to read and understand the theory on pages 1 and 2 and watch videos or read lecture notes on quantitative  methods  before you read the actual instructions on the assignment on page 3 and 4

The first 2 pages contain links to videos by Dr John Cresswell, he isa pioneer of mixed methods which use both qualitative and quantitative research. His videos about mixed methods are very useful because they always explain both qualitative and quantitative methods. This means looking at his videos are the fastest way to learn the material for the 20% assignment and the 30% question on the final exam that is about research.(Look at the sample final exam in topic 3 of moodle to check you understand the other 70% of the final).

Before looking at the videos you need to understand some basic terminology.

Quantitative research uses numbers that measure a quantities
anything that measures a quantity is an instrument

A single answer on a survey can be  an instrument
Do you think the Iphone is cool?
.1) Strongly Agree .2) Agree .3) Neutral .4) Disagree .5) Strongly disagree.
Even if survey asks yes or no questions the summary of the results of surveys given to many people are an instrument
For example if a researcher gives 290 people a survey and summarized the results in the following 2  way table which is investigating the relationship between the willingness to receive mobile phone advertisements and an incentive of free talk time (This example was given to help you understand stage 3 of the assignment)

	Will accept sms Advertisements	Refuse to get sms Advertisements
No incentive	93	152
Free talk time offered	134	111

So quantitative research uses instruments

Quantitative research uses numbers that come from instruments and if you use an instrument you should check if it is a good instrument  or bad instrument, This is not a hard concept but have to learn the proper jargon and methods for checking if an instrument is good or bad,  One of the things you need to do is to check if your  instrument is reliable
Joppe (2000) defines reliability as:
“…The extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability and if the results of a study can be reproduced (by other researchers)under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable.” (p. 1)
Rigorous quantitative research  requires you to discuss the  reliability of your results, Unless it is clear that a different researcher would get exactly the same results, So if you use a sample to find your result you need to consider if someone got a different sample would they the get the same result, An acceptable way of doing this is the hypothesis test.

Qualitative research uses words, sounds and pictures,
There are many types of qualitative research so it is hard to define what rigorous qualitative research is,
However rigorous qualitative research of interview data needs you to use coding/indexing/identification of themes
For example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRL4PF2u9XA
In the example many  teachers were interviewed and were asked the open ended question “what are your goals as a teacher”many teachers complained they cannot achieve their goals because they are always in meetings , so being in meetings is a code,

Overview of the theory you need to understand for the week 12 assignment page 2 of 2

Before starting the assignment get idea of what qualitative and quantitative research is, youtube is a good way to do this

“Telling a Complete Story with Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research – Dr. John W. Creswell”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5e7kVzMIfs

A feature of mixed methods research is that it has both a qualitative and quantitative component
and this give a full picture
The previous video is too simple and if you want good marks you need more detail

“What is Mixed Methods Research”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OaNiTlpyX8

Note that mixed method research requires you to use rigorous qualitative research  and rigorous  quantitative research
and both types of research need to be connected.
For example at 5.09

He makes the point that Mixed methods is not

• Just using the name without the rigorous methods
• Having both qualitative and quantitative data available
• Collecting and reporting qualitative data separately without combining them

A rigorous quantitative method needs you to discuss reliability (If someone else used the same method of obtaining a sample would they get the same result), A hypothesis test is a rigorous quantitative method
The following video goes into even more detail, a general search is OK.

What Skills are Needed For Mixed Methods Research?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkAUoP_2i4Y
note that it describes the conditions for rigorous qualitative and rigorous quantitative research
A rigorous quantitative method needs you to discuss reliability

Also note to become very good at research you are advised to read 8 textbooks. Fortunately you only have to demonstrate you understand the main points, these are in the lecture notes on moodle and easy to find using youtube.

Instructions for the 20%  assignment due week 12 page 1 of 2
Submit as a single document with 3 sections, the word limit for the total of  all sections is 2500 words
You must demonstrate understanding of the main ideas of quantitative methods

Section 1 worth 8% of your final grade 600 to 1200 words

1. a) Comment on the literature review and ANOVA used in the article,

Songsriwittaya, A., Kongsuwan, S., Jitgarun, K., Kaewkuekool, S., & Koul, R. (2009). Engineering students’ attitude towards plagiarism: A survey study.Education, 69, 9-97.

your comments should demonstrate you have read the lecture notes on research methods as well as demonstrating you have looked the sample final  exam questions on ANOVA, so when discussing the ANOVA you need to more than what is required in the final exam question on ANOVA (refer to sample exams on moodle) , You need to identify the research question/goal of the article and discuss how the ANOVA helps answer the research

1. b) Comment on the literature review and all the different tests of independence in the article,
   Schrimsher, R. H., Northrup, L. A., & Alverson, S. P. (2011). A survey of Samford University students regarding plagiarism and academic misconduct.International Journal for Educational Integrity,7(1).

You do not  need to discuss the ANOVA

your comments should demonstrate you have read the lecture notes on research methods as well as demonstrating that you have looking at the exam questions on the chi square test of independence. so when discussing the independence test  you need to more than what is required in the final exam question on test of independence (refer to sample exams on moodle) , You need to identify the research question/goal of the article and discuss how the chi square test  helps answer the research question

c) Comment on the research in the article

Ryan, G., Valverde, M., Pàmies, M. M., Casals, A., & Gorjup, M. T. (2011). Don’t be a copycat! Lecturers’ perceptions of plagiarism among university students. In IX Jornades de xarxes d’investigació en docència universitària [Recurso electrónico]: Disseny de bones pràctiques docents en el context actual= Jornadas de Redes de Investigación en Docencia Universitaria: Diseño de buenas prácticas docentes en el contexto actual (p. 176). Universitat d’Alacant.

Your comment should demonstrate you have read the lecture notes on research methods.

1. d) Which of the articles are using qualitative methods and which are quantitative methods? What is the difference qualitative and quantitative research methods? If you have actually done this is parts a) b) and c) there is no need to repeat yourself by doing it again
2. e) Would your comments be the basis of a literature review? If you say yes explain why your comments are similar to a literature review, if you say no explain why your comments are different to a literature review.
3. f) Explain how each of the articles above reviews the literature and explain how the article is “filling a gap”, This is the most important question spend some time answering it, If you have actually done this is parts a) b) and c) there is no need to repeat yourself by doing it again

Instructions for the 20%  assignment due week 12 page 2 of 2
Section 2 worth 5% of your final grade 250 to 500 words
Find 5 journal articles that all refer to the same research question, you can use ANY research question as long as it is specific (narrow). It is acceptable to have 1 or 2 old articles (articles published 2007 or before 2007) but at least 3 of the articles must be recent (published in 2008 or after 2008)

For example
The research question on” immigration” is NOT acceptable because it is too broad
The research question “Employment in Australia” is NOT acceptable because it is too broad
The research question “Is the Australian government of using Immigration to overcome the skills shortage working:” is acceptable because it is narrow.

Then Skim through the ABSTRACT or introduction of each article and give a short 50word comment on each article. Your comment should be related to the research question.
Note that it will probably make things easier if you change your research question after looking at the abstracts to make the discussion easier.

*After giving your discussion there will be a “gap” in your discussion, state what research could fill the gap, Note that you do not have to do the research yourself
Note that your task is much easier than what you have to do when you are actual doing research. If you are actually doing research you are supposed to read the articles carefully and identify the gap in the research. However this takes a very long time, so instead of reading all the articles carefully you just read your own discussion of the 5 articles and identify the gap in YOUR discussion of the articles
Some general comments about section 2

*The research same topic as section 1 if that is convenient or you can choose a different topic because you are allowed to choose ANY research question.

*The 5 journal articles have to be related to the research question, Many students want all the articles  to be qualitative and this is OK, you are not allowed to use the 3 articles from section 1

*You have to use journal articles so use EBSCO or google scholar, I would recommend using google scholar to find the article, and then use EBSCO if you want more details, The abstract may be enough

Section 3 worth 7% of your final grade 600 to 1200 words

Do a literature review just using 2 of the articles in section 2, You can expand on the what you said in section 2 but just use 2 of the articles , Make sure you work demonstrates you have carefully read the instructions on a literature review , also make sure your work is properly referenced.

A general overview of a literature review
Part of the first part of a journal article is similar to a literature review because the following aspects of a literature review are highly desirable and they convince the reader the journal article has  authority https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpErYDb6PsY  10:04

Tip  for section 2

Given below is a slide  of the goals of a literature review, The introduction to most journal articles has the same goal so discuss this briefly in the 2500 essay,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpErYDb6PsY  14:00

Note that if an the article is short they only deal with one topic so there is no need for practical headings

Brief example of section 2

Example
All  5 of the articles below specifically address the question “How to teach the concept of p-value using simulations” (I suggest students pick an easier question, section can be about ANY question as long as it is specific)

“Briand, G., & Hill, R. C. (2013). Teaching basic econometric concepts using Monte Carlo simulations in Excel. International Review of Economics Education, 12, 60-79.”

“Budgett, S., Pfannkuch, M., Regan, M., & Wild, C. J. (2012). Dynamic visualizations for inference. International Association of Statistcial Education Roundtable Conference July.”

“McDaniel, S. N., & Green, L. (2012a). Independent Interactive Inquiry-Based Learning Modules Using Audio-Visual Instruction In Statistics. Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 6(1).”

“McDaniel, S. N., & Green, L. B. (2012b). Using Applets and Video Instruction to Foster Students’ Understanding of Sampling Variability. Technology Innovations in Statistics Education, 6(1).”

“Pollatsek, A., & Konold, C. (1991). Randomness is well enough understood to be misunderstood. Journal Of Behavioral Decision Making, 4(3), 218-220.”

2) Give a very brief discussion of each of the articles (skim the abstract or introduction)
Both  Budgett(2012) and McDaniel(2012b)   agree than students struggle to understand the concept of p-value you can use simulations to convince students that it is possible to give a method for finding the percentile of a test statistic using that test statistic, It does not matter that you do not actually know the distribution of what you are sampling.
Budgett(2012) cites and paraphrases many articles that explain why the way a university usually teaches students what a  ‘p-value’ is causes misconceptions about what a ‘p-value’ and proposes a new method for teaching p-value

McDaniel  (2012a) gives a  warning that using simulations can teach students about p-value however the students need a lot of guidance.

McDaniel(2012b) explains that students are not aware of the most important concepts of sampling distribution so they cannot really understand any major concept in statistics, The article also explains that a good way to teach the major concepts is to show the students sampling distributions.

Pollatsek(1991) Argues that the major misunderstanding of probability is that they believe in the  Gamblers fallacy you can check if students believe in the gamblers fallacy by showing them a simple simulation of tossing coins, When there are 5 heads in a row you can ask is the what is the probability the next coin is a head.

3) Look at YOUR discussion of the articles and discuss a gap

The discussion above does not mention on the main reasons students struggle with  p-value , Students expect to understand p-value by simply reading  the formal definition the and they don’t slowly try and understand p-value without carefully looking at data which used to calculate  the p-value. To overcome this problem you can give the students the following warnings.

Another problem students have is they are not aware that it is very important to discuss the reliability of instruments, You can encourage students to look at a simulation and understand that a hypothesis test is the “standard form” for discussing reliability, A Hypothesis test is a procedure developed by people that have a much better understanding of reliability than a typical researcher so students must copy the method exactly, there answer is in standard form,

To aid understanding of p-value you could also point out that reliability needs you consider how your numbers would be different to another researcher that used a different sample, So reliability is a way of comparing you work to other people,
A common way of doing this is using percentiles and the p-value is a percentile, the p-value is a percentile of p-value if the null hypothesis is true.

Another  fact that students do not understand on is the fact that p-value is a probability.  So another way of testing if simulations help students understand what a p-value is would be to  give a survey asking the students how a p-value is similar and different to the following statement of probability ‘If am going to throw 10 coins the probability I will get 10 heads is 0.001’ then you could get students to look at a then take another survey  and see if the results improve

Brief discussion of qualitative research page 1 of 2, This will make sense if you attend the lecture in week 9

Quantitative Research uses an instrument

A survey is an instrument
Do you think the Iphone is cool
.1) Strongly Agree .2) Agree .3) Neutral .4) Disagree .5) Strongly disagree.
turnitin is an instrument it gives a number it uses a turnitin match.

Instruments let you do quantitative research, but what ss this the best way to work out if your customers think something is cool? Should you use an instuments.
Is a  pictures/videos  better?

Is a  conversation where they tell you “oh my god, this if fantastic” better than a survey?

Steve Jobs placed a very low priority on market research because it did not help him make products people didn’t know that they wanted, But he does  it to check if people actually really loved the product.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5e7kVzMIfs

Steve Jobs was not interested in what can be measured.

Brief discussion of qualitative research page 2 of 2 if you attend the lecture in wee 9

Qualitative research method is useful investigating what people think and feel
You don’t only use instruments, you have to use an interviews with open ended questions, focus groups you
and you can also use photographs

You could use qualitative methods to find that many students do not find bus701 interesting,
The challenge is to make the questions you have to ask in the exam interesting.
the exam has to cover the standard forms for reporting quantitative research.

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