Benefits and Challenges of Research Methods

Benefits and Challenges of Research Methods

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Friday, February 26, 2016

Post 222

“Can you imagine using the same methodology for every study you conduct?” (Laureate Education, Faculty Development, 2015). This is simply out of question; all research projects have individual and unique characteristics that cannot account for the usage of the very same methodology and in the very same way. Using the same methods “is unlikely because your research questions may change over time, pushing you to select a different research method” (Laureate Education, Faculty Development, 2015). Additionally, it needs to be considered the fact that all fields of study do have different conceptualizations in their research projects; it is not the same kind of project in the hard sciences than in the social sciences.

“As a researcher, it is important that you understand and consider the benefits and challenges associated with different research methodologies” (Laureate Education, Faculty Development, 2015). If your objective is to test hypotheses by examining cause and effect or even measuring the range of frequency of a phenomenon in the hard sciences (biology, medicine, etc.), a quantitative methodology is the most advisable for a research project. As stated by Laureate Education (Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Research, 2015), this will involve “a large number of respondents who are typically randomly selected.” If your research aims at examining issues and understanding phenomena to explore the individuals’ perceptions and attides (like in the social sciences), a qualitative research project is at hand. A project like this in the social domanin “involves a small number of participants or focus groups who are consciously selected” (Laureate Education, Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Research, 2015) And if you want to really understand phenomena more thoroughly, perhaps a mixed methods approach is the one needed. This choice will focus on research that “includes multiple objectives with an emphasis on examining real-life contexts, gaining multiple perspectives, and understanding cultural influences” (Laureate Education, Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Research, 2015).

In a previous piece of reflective journaling, I was considering the following research question: “How can peer assessment in blended learning scenarios benefit language learners in public speaking and pronunciation acquisition?” In hindsight, I can still recall the words of my research mentor, Dr. Rafael Espinoza, that there exist research questions that can be approached from several investigative flanks. A question like this one can probably be researched from various methodological paths.

Research Method	Pros	Cons
Quantitative Approach	Generalizable results can be applied to various groups of individuals to obtain similar concluding hypotheses (Laureate Education, Academic Research, 2013). Peer assessment can come out of the study as a type of evaluation that can yield very positive effects in student learning.	A research project in this area of blended learning scenarios will indeed need a huge sample of individuals to get those generalizable results that account for big groups of individuals.
Qualitative Approach	“The basic generation of meaning is always social, arising in and out of interaction with a human community” (Creswell, 2003). Then, peer assessment can be qualified as a possible learning method for public speaking in blended learning scenarios.	“The process of qualitative research is largely inductive, with the inquirer generating meaning from the data collected in the field” (Creswell, 2003). If you as a researcher are not comfortable in spotting commonalities emerging from your data, this approach is not then for you.
Mixed Methods	By combining both approaches, from the quantitative stand, the researcher gains “a large amount of data that can be easily organized and manipulated into reports for analysis” (Qualitative and quantitative research for small business, n.d.) to predict behavior concerning peer assessment. From the quantitative stand, you can sense the emotional reactions that students have towards the use of peer assessment in a virtual environment.	Though the amount of participants is not as large as a quantitative research per se, it is always difficult to find language students ready to participate in a research project. Not knowing how to tabulate information within, i.e., Microsoft Excel can be a problem for a neophyte researcher. (This also applies to Quantitative Research.) Moreover, the writing of the right questions to ask and explore students’ feelings towards peer assessment beyond the class boundary is a challenge.

Based on this quick analysis of the three possible ways of giving some sense to the above research question, a mixed method of inquiry is a good choice to see how individuals see this change in their public speaking instruction and react to peer assessment provided by means of a blended teaching/learning scenario.

If a mixed method of inquiry is chosen, what are the potential benefits of this methodology? As specified by Creswell (2003) puts it when talking about a sequential tranformative design in mixted methods of inquiry, and for this particular research question on peer assessment, “either qualitative or quantative data may be collected first” (Harwell, 2011). Data concerning peer assessment in blended education can be analyzed separately, and “the findings are integrated during the interpretation phase” (Harwell, 2011) to better comprehend what the statistical data and the commanalities spotted during the analysis of data reveal about the phenomenon in question.

The one main challenge that I can detect in a research project like this is the way in which data can be collected. Likert scales questionnaries with open-ended questions, plus the observation of individuals in a blended context, are ways to triangulate the information and mitigate any problem. The other one challenge could be the time requited to analyze data conscentiously, but this can be done as time allows the researcher to do so. Some sort of agenda of data analysis needs to be proposed and followed.

References

Creswell, J. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Retrieved from http://ucalgary.ca/paed/files/paed/2003_creswell_a-framework-for-design.pdf

Harwell, M. (2011). Research Design in Qualitative/Quantitative/Mixed Methods. In C. Conrad, & R. Serlin , The Sage handbook for research in education: Pursuing ideas as the keystone of exemplary inquiry (pp. 147-182). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.in/upm-data/41165_10.pdf

Laureate Education, I. (2013). Academic Research. Retrieved from Faculty Development: https://lnps.elearning.laureate.net/bbcswebdav/institution/LPS1/

Laureate Education, I. (2015). Faculty Development. Retrieved from Academic Research: http://global.laureate.net/portal.aspx#

Laureate Education, I. (2015). Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods Research. Retrieved from Faculty Development: http://global3.laureate.net/#/home/faculty

Qualitative and quantitative research for small business. (n.d.). Retrieved from British Library: http://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/qualitative-and-quantitative-research-for-small-business