What is a research hypothesis? A hypothesis is a tentative explanation for certain behaviors, phenomena, or events that have occurred or will occur.
1. The hypothesis states the researcher's expectations concerning the relationship between the variables in the research problem.
2. The hypothesis is a refinement of the research problem. It is the most specific statement of the problem.
3. The hypothesis states what the researcher thinks the outcome of the study will be.
4. The researcher collects data that either supports the hypothesis or does not support it.
5. The hypothesis is formulated following the review of related literature and prior to the execution of the study. The related literature leads the researcher to expect a certain relationship.
6. "A good hypothesis states as clearly and concisely as possible the expected relationship (or differencce) between two variables and defines those variables in operational, measurable terms."
7. "A well-stated and defined hypothesis must be (and will be if well-formulated and stated) testable. It should be possible to support or not support the hypothesis by collecting and analyzing data."
Formulating a research hypothesisTo formulate a research hypothesis we start with a research question and:
8. generate operational definitions for all variables, and
9. formulate a research hypothesis keeping in mind expected relationships or differences operational definitions
10. Hypothesis can also be classified in terms of how they were derived inductive hypothesis - a generalization based on observation, deductive hypothesses - derived from theory
11. A hypothesis can be directional or non-directional.
Research Hypothesis: There is no specified relationship between the variables thus no research hypothesis. There is a research problem but not a formal research hypothesis.
Example: A researcher wants to find out the educational characteristics of gifted students with learning disabilities in the middle school. When asked what is meant by "educational characteristics" the researcher lists the following variables - IQ, reading achievement, mathamatics achievement, written language achievement, and locus of control (internal versus external locus of control).
Research Question: What is the average level of IQ, reading comprehension, mathematics performance, written language proficiency, and locus of control for gifted children with learning disabilities in the middle school.
Operational Definitions:
1. IQ - Scores on an individually administered IQ test
2. Reading Comprehension - Scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests
3. Mathematics Performance - Scores on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement: Mathematics Section
4. Written Language Proficiency - Scores on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement: Written Language Section
5. Locus of Control - A suitable measure for internal versus external locus of control will be selected
Monday, July 14, 2008
Hyphothesis Development
A hypothesis consists either of a suggested explanation for a phenomenon or of a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. The term derives from the Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." The scientific method requires that one can test a scientific hypothesis. Scientists generally base such hypotheses on previous observations or on extensions of scientific theories. Even though the words "hypothesis" and "theory" are often used synonymously in common and informal usage, a scientific hypothesis is not the same as a scientific theory.
A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation. Something taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation; an assumption. The antecedent of a conditional statement
What is a hypothesis?A guess?
No. A hypothesis is sometimes described as an educated guess. That's not the same thing as a guess and not really a good description of a hypothesis either. Let's try working through an example.
If you put an ice cube on a plate and place it on the table, what will happen? A very young child might guess that it will still be there in a couple of hours. Most people would agree with the hypothesis that:
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes.
You could put sit and watch the ice cube melt and think you've proved a hypothesis. But you will have missed some important steps.
For a good project you need to do quite a bit of research before any experimenting. Start by finding some information about how and why water melts. You could read a book, do a bit of Google searching, or even ask an expert. For our example, you could learn about how temperature and air pressure can change the state of water. Don't forget that elevation above sea level changes air pressure too.
Now, using all your research, try to restate that hypothesis.
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
But wait a minute. What is the ice made from? What if the ice cube was made from salt water, or you sprinkled salt on a regular ice cube? Time for some more research. Would adding salt make a difference? Turns out it does. Would other chemicals change the melting time?
Using this new information, let's try that hypothesis again.
An ice cube made with tap water will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
Does that seem like an educated guess? No, it sounds like you are stating the obvious.
At this point, it is obvious only because of your research. You haven't actually done the experiment. Now it's time to run the experiment to prove the hypothesis.
A hypothesis isn't an educated guess. It is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.
Once you do the experiment and prove the hypothesis, it becomes part of scientific theory.
A tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation. Something taken to be true for the purpose of argument or investigation; an assumption. The antecedent of a conditional statement
What is a hypothesis?A guess?
No. A hypothesis is sometimes described as an educated guess. That's not the same thing as a guess and not really a good description of a hypothesis either. Let's try working through an example.
If you put an ice cube on a plate and place it on the table, what will happen? A very young child might guess that it will still be there in a couple of hours. Most people would agree with the hypothesis that:
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes.
You could put sit and watch the ice cube melt and think you've proved a hypothesis. But you will have missed some important steps.
For a good project you need to do quite a bit of research before any experimenting. Start by finding some information about how and why water melts. You could read a book, do a bit of Google searching, or even ask an expert. For our example, you could learn about how temperature and air pressure can change the state of water. Don't forget that elevation above sea level changes air pressure too.
Now, using all your research, try to restate that hypothesis.
An ice cube will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
But wait a minute. What is the ice made from? What if the ice cube was made from salt water, or you sprinkled salt on a regular ice cube? Time for some more research. Would adding salt make a difference? Turns out it does. Would other chemicals change the melting time?
Using this new information, let's try that hypothesis again.
An ice cube made with tap water will melt in less than 30 minutes in a room at sea level with a temperature of 20C or 68F.
Does that seem like an educated guess? No, it sounds like you are stating the obvious.
At this point, it is obvious only because of your research. You haven't actually done the experiment. Now it's time to run the experiment to prove the hypothesis.
A hypothesis isn't an educated guess. It is a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation.
Once you do the experiment and prove the hypothesis, it becomes part of scientific theory.
Overview of the Course -Tentative
Overview of course
Lesson 1. Introduction to Research
Lesson 2. Types of Research Studies
Lesson 3. Qualitative Research
Lesson 4. Selecting a Research Topic
Lesson 5. Conducting a Review of Related Literature
Lesson 6. Formulation and Statement of a Research Hypothesis
Lesson 7. Developing a Research Plan
Lesson 8. Subjects and Instruments
Lesson 9. Preparing the Research Report
Submission of Final Project
Lesson 1. Introduction to Research
Lesson 2. Types of Research Studies
Lesson 3. Qualitative Research
Lesson 4. Selecting a Research Topic
Lesson 5. Conducting a Review of Related Literature
Lesson 6. Formulation and Statement of a Research Hypothesis
Lesson 7. Developing a Research Plan
Lesson 8. Subjects and Instruments
Lesson 9. Preparing the Research Report
Submission of Final Project
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Research Study Format
Problem Statement
Hypothesis
Scope and Limitation of the Research Study
Data Gathering Methodology
Initial Literature Read
Logical Framework
Research Study Outline
Bibliography
Annexes
Hypothesis
Scope and Limitation of the Research Study
Data Gathering Methodology
Initial Literature Read
Logical Framework
Research Study Outline
Bibliography
Annexes
Tentative List of Research Topics
1. Global Warming and the Philippines
2. The ZTE Broadband Scandal
3. OFW Foreign Currency Remittance and the Philippine Economy
4. The Overseas Filipino Workers
5. Rising Oil Prices in the World Market
6. The Philippine Rice Crisis of 2008
7. Terrorism in Southern Philippines
8. The Philippine Muslim Separatist Movement
9. The Employment Prospects of the New Entrants to the Philippine Labor Force
10. Poverty in the Philippines
11. Issues in the Constitutinal Amendments
12. GMA's 2008 SONA
2. The ZTE Broadband Scandal
3. OFW Foreign Currency Remittance and the Philippine Economy
4. The Overseas Filipino Workers
5. Rising Oil Prices in the World Market
6. The Philippine Rice Crisis of 2008
7. Terrorism in Southern Philippines
8. The Philippine Muslim Separatist Movement
9. The Employment Prospects of the New Entrants to the Philippine Labor Force
10. Poverty in the Philippines
11. Issues in the Constitutinal Amendments
12. GMA's 2008 SONA
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Assignment for July 15, 2008 1:30-3:00 PM Class
Group Asssignment:
Instructions
1) Read and Understand the article assigned to your group
2) Summarize the article assigned to your group (10-15 sentences). Do not copy sentences verbatim. Express them in your own words. Use the "what, who, when, where,why,how" thought-dissecting technique.
3) Be Ready to report your summary to the class. Submit a printed copy to the Professor. Write your report in Manila paper for class presentation.
Group I - Four and a Half
1. MANILA, Philippines—Philippine exports slowed down to a year-on-year growth of 2.3 percent in May to $4.224 billion, as the global surge in oil and food prices led to tighter demand for non-basic items like electronics.
In April, growth in exports was recorded at 4.9 percent.
Electronics exports, the biggest dollar-earner among Philippine-made goods, fell 3.4 percent year-on-year to $2.473 billion in May, the National Statistics Office reported Thursday.
Total exports from January to May reached $21.085 billion, up 3.1 percent from the same period last year.
The government’s revised exports full-year growth target is 5.0 percent.
Jonathan Ravelas, market strategist for Banco de Oro Unibank, said the slowdown in exports was a reflection of the response of consumers worldwide to rising prices of basic commodities.
“The Philippines’ biggest market for electronics is the United States, and we all know that the US economy is undergoing uncertainty,” Ravelas said in a phone interview. “Due to rising inflation and uncertainty, the ability of American consumers to buy electronics is waning.”
The slowdown in export earnings has been one of the reasons stock market prices in the Philippines have been falling, Ravelas added. But he added there was no need for people to take things negatively.
“When prices are low, it is the best time to buy and invest,” he said.
Group 2 - The Researchers
2) MANILA, Philippines—The peso is expected to depreciate further to 48.00 to the dollar in the third quarter as an offshoot of sustained high inflation and weakening exports, according to projections of Banco de Oro Unibank.
The bank said the slowdown in global demand for Philippine exports would continue to widen the trade deficit, which would affect the exchange rate, a bank official said.
“There is still risk for the peso to depreciate some more in the third quarter,” Banco de Oro market strategist Jonathan Ravelas said in an interview.
“Although there is growth in the remittances from overseas Filipino workers, its positive impact on the peso is being outweighed by the increase in dollar spending for imports due to higher oil prices,” he said.
Philippine imports surged 17.9 percent to $19.462 billion in the period from January to April, largely because of the sharp rise in oil prices. The Philippines imports more than 90 percent of its oil.
The trade deficit reached $2.601 billion in the four months, with a slowdown in exports putting downward pressure on the peso, which recently depreciated to the 44-per-dollar level.
Group 3 - High Five
3) Romulo Neri may be sustained by a different self-image, but to many Filipinos he is damaged goods. He has lost the moral standing, and thus the credibility, to discharge the functions of high office. Appointing him to head the Social Security System (SSS), therefore, can only be seen as political payback: payback for him, for keeping his silence about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s role in the anomalies that marked the national broadband network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. and in politicization of the SSS, to meet the Arroyo administration’s increasingly self-serving objectives.
When Neri testified before the Senate that Benjamin Abalos, then the chairman of the Commission on Elections, had offered him a P200-million bribe, in exchange for approving ZTE Corp.’s bid for the NBN project, he popularized a new phrase in the country’s ever-growing dictionary of corruption: “Sec, may 200 ka dito” (meaning, Secretary, you have P200 million for yourself in this deal).
More crucially, he also faced a crossroads: to stop at that damning revelation, or to tell all. He decided not to say anything further. To strengthen the grip he had placed on the hand covering his mouth, he even petitioned the Supreme Court to enjoin the Senate from asking him potentially revelatory questions about what the President knew, and when she knew it.
This decision, however, did not prevent Neri from meeting with opposition senators, ostensibly to discuss our own version of the axis of evil, so to speak, but in actuality, according to the testimony of Jun Lozada, the Neri associate who helped arrange the meeting, to explore the possibility of raising “patriotic money” to tide Neri along, in case he decided to burn his bridges with the President.
In that meeting at the Asian Institute of Management, Neri lectured, among other topics, on the evil of regulatory capture, the phenomenon where a regulatory agency is held hostage or is indirectly controlled by the very parties it is mandated to regulate. In truth, Neri’s detailed lecture missed the big picture. What is happening under the Arroyo administration is institutional capture, the phenomenon where various institutions of government and society—the House of Representatives, the police, the local governments, the military, even (if critics are to be believed) the Catholic bishops—have been co-opted or marginalized by an over-assertive executive. Neri’s appointment to the SSS means we must add it to the lengthening list.
But the SSS is a major institution, with sound financial controls and, especially under its outgoing administrator, Corazon de la Paz, a robust track record. Surely it isn’t possible for one man to put all of that at risk?
Group 4- Hep, Hep Kids
4) MANILA, Philippines—Nothing that Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. said Thursday about the food crisis is new. The observations made by the former politician, who remains active in (backroom) politics, had been noted before by every government official who spoke on the issue. The big difference, however, is that Cojuangco is putting his money where his mouth is. [See story]
“There is no more important issue today than food security,” said the chair of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), one of Asia’s biggest food and beverage conglomerates. “The defining challenge of the future is to guarantee that people have access to food.” Noting that soaring food prices have forced many millions more of the world’s poor to go hungry, Cojuangco said that “guaranteeing an adequate supply is an important strategic goal for everyone, not just government.”
Ramon Ang, SMC president, added: “We need to boost agricultural production and help insulate our countrymen from the continued volatility of the commodities market.”
How? SMC has a big idea and it is willing to spend big bucks to bring it about. Cojuangco said that the government has identified three million hectares of idle lands that can be planted to various crops, particularly rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut and vegetables. SMC, together with the Malaysian food giant Kuok Group, wants to develop one-third of that, or one million hectares. They plan to invest as much as $1,000 per hectare for their project called “Feeding our Future.” And they guarantee to buy all the produce from the farms that will be developed under the program.
Group 5- Titik-O
5)MANILA, Philippines—As the nation braces itself for another economic storm, we might do well to remember that even in the most adverse of circumstances, the rich and the privileged will continue to live in luxury, almost as if nothing has happened.
Conversely, there will be people who are more vulnerable to the adverse impact of the crisis. Collectively, we say it’s the poor who suffer the most. But even among the poor, there will be differences in vulnerability. I’m thinking of the elderly and the children, and between the two populations, it’ll probably be the children who will take the brunt. This is because the elderly can still fight for their rights within a household or a community. Just look at the feisty senior citizens working to keep their benefits such as discounts from drugstores. Within households, the elderly will also often invoke the cultural premium placed on respect for parents to get their share of the family budget.
Children, on the other hand, are often the first to be sacrificed when families begin to scrimp on budgets with children unable to complain. Food seen to be nutritious will go first to adult males, who are perceived as the breadwinners, then to women, and last to the children.
When an economic crisis strikes, it’s also the children’s education that is often sacrificed. The current crisis could worsen the already serious dropout rate because the spiraling oil prices will mean more increases in public transport fares. Even if public elementary and secondary schools do not charge tuition, an increase in “baon” [food allowance] and transportation could force parents to pull out their children from school.
So far, the national government’s response to the vulnerability of the poor has been subsidies, but the approach is only a stop-gap measure, and could lead to more problems in the future, for several reasons. First, subsidies are doles with no incentive to get people to participate in working out longer-term solutions. Second, subsidies can lead to more expectations of doles. If the subsidies stop, as they have to eventually, people will take this against the administration. Third, there is no guarantee the subsidies go to basic needs. Even if the subsidy is specified for food, it can still go to junk snacks and other products of dubious nutritional quality. Finally, and this goes back to my earlier point, subsidies often add to inequities within households, the expenditures prioritizing adults over the children.
Group 6- 69ers
6)MANILA, Philippines – Marikina’s women police officers are leaving their desks temporarily to teach the city’s young students about their rights and how they can protect themselves from abuse.
The Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) of Marikina will hold free lectures and seminars in the city’s 27 public schools on children’s rights, crime prevention, and provisions of certain laws like the Anti-Child Abuse Law (R.A. 7610), Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (R.A. 9344), and the Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
PO4 Nenita Abanes, Marikina WCPD assistant chief, told the Inquirer Thursday that they were going directly to the students because they want to keep the youth aware of their rights and what they could do if these were violated.
“The number of crimes against children is not going down,” said Abanes. She said many cases of child molestation went unreported.
Abanes said almost 85 percent of crimes against children occurred in homes or involved people kids knew. “Offenders often take advantage of a child’s trust. That’s why we want these children to know what constitutes abuse,” said Abanes.
Abanes said in her lectures, she explained to students the importance of reporting abusive behavior like lascivious touching.She added that she stressed the importance of reporting crimes within 24 hours to enable police to apprehend suspects immediately.Abanes said she also taught children the many ways to report offensive or violent acts even if they had no immediate access to the police.
Group 7- One Voice
7)MANILA, Philippines -- A local mobile applications developer believes Smart Communications' entry into the mobile instant messaging market indicates the industry's move to providing more data and Internet Protocol (IP)-based services on faster mobile networks.
"They're moving to offering more data services because of the increasing bandwidth of [mobile] networks," said Roger Delgado, vice president for technical operations of local mobile applications developer D3 Systems.
This was Delgado's reaction to the recent unveiling of Smart's new service, dubbed Uzzap, which combines existing short messaging service (SMS) with more Internet-centric instant messaging services that have become a popular messaging platform on the web.
D3 Systems was also among the local companies that developed a mobile application, dubbed Yehba, which offers mobile instant messaging.Other mobile networks have also ventured into mobile instant messaging. Sun Cellular has been providing similar mobile instant messaging service through its Sun iMessenger, while Globe Telecom has myGlobe IM, which is powered by Chikka. Chikka is a local company that has been in the business of providing mobile instant messaging for the past eight years. It also powered a similar service for Smart, dubbed iChat Messenger.
"This is welcome news for us because this initiative will increase awareness on mobile instant messaging," Vince Corpus, director for product development in Chikka Asia.
"We would not think that they [Smart] would compete with us directly since Chikka targets web-based users," he added, when asked to react about Smart Uzzap.
Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs head, agreed. Isberto said the company's entry in the mobile instant messaging market hints the emergence of more IP-based services in mobile networks.
"With the increasing capabilities of both the handset and the networks to handle IP-based applications, this service [Uzzap] is in line with this trend," Isberto said.
With the coming of next-generation mobile networks like High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Isberto said the mobile "IP highway" is expected to become more "robust." In turn, the local market will see more web-like services entering the mobile market.
Group 7- 4 Titans
7)MANILA, Philippines -- A local mobile applications developer believes Smart Communications' entry into the mobile instant messaging market indicates the industry's move to providing more data and Internet Protocol (IP)-based services on faster mobile networks.
"They're moving to offering more data services because of the increasing bandwidth of [mobile] networks," said Roger Delgado, vice president for technical operations of local mobile applications developer D3 Systems.
This was Delgado's reaction to the recent unveiling of Smart's new service, dubbed Uzzap, which combines existing short messaging service (SMS) with more Internet-centric instant messaging services that have become a popular messaging platform on the web.
D3 Systems was also among the local companies that developed a mobile application, dubbed Yehba, which offers mobile instant messaging.Other mobile networks have also ventured into mobile instant messaging. Sun Cellular has been providing similar mobile instant messaging service through its Sun iMessenger, while Globe Telecom has myGlobe IM, which is powered by Chikka. Chikka is a local company that has been in the business of providing mobile instant messaging for the past eight years. It also powered a similar service for Smart, dubbed iChat Messenger.
"This is welcome news for us because this initiative will increase awareness on mobile instant messaging," Vince Corpus, director for product development in Chikka Asia.
"We would not think that they [Smart] would compete with us directly since Chikka targets web-based users," he added, when asked to react about Smart Uzzap.
Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs head, agreed. Isberto said the company's entry in the mobile instant messaging market hints the emergence of more IP-based services in mobile networks.
"With the increasing capabilities of both the handset and the networks to handle IP-based applications, this service [Uzzap] is in line with this trend," Isberto said.
With the coming of next-generation mobile networks like High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Isberto said the mobile "IP highway" is expected to become more "robust." In turn, the local market will see more web-like services entering the mobile market.
Group 8- Ignacios's Angels
8)MANILA, Philippines -- Following separate announcements of the European Union and Malaysia of stricter policies against illegal migrants, South Korea has stepped up its own campaign to chase out illegal migrant workers, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers in the north Asian country said in a statement Thursday.
Pol Bar, president of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (Kasammako), said South Korean immigration authorities use tasers (electroshock weapons) and electric stun guns in rounding up migrant workers.
He also cited instances where even pregnant women and men who are sick were arrested, incarcerated and consequently deported by the police.
Bar, whose Kasammako is a member organization of Migrante, called South Korea's intensified crackdown and deportation "treacherous" and "a contradiction to the well publicized notion that South Korean society is becoming a humane multi-cultural society."
"The intensive crackdown has forcibly deported thousands of migrant workers in spite of their health and family conditions," he said.
As of December 2007, there are a total of 80,715 Filipinos in South Korea, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Of the number, 6,187 are permanent residents, 62,528 are temporary, and an estimated 12,000 are irregular.
Bar's report prompted Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado to urge the Arroyo government to file a diplomatic protest against South Korea for its manner of arresting and deporting undocumented workers.
Regalado said President Lee Myung-Bak's marching orders issued last February were to flush out "unregistered aliens" in their country. She said immigration authorities there were given monthly quota of 3,000 arrests and deportations.
In Seoul and Busan, where Filipinos abound, the quotas are 600 and 250 respectively.
Regalado also criticized the quota system, which has "emboldened [South Korean authorities] to undertake Gestapo-like arrests, indiscriminately raiding work places, train stations, and churches even without a warrant."
Instructions
1) Read and Understand the article assigned to your group
2) Summarize the article assigned to your group (10-15 sentences). Do not copy sentences verbatim. Express them in your own words. Use the "what, who, when, where,why,how" thought-dissecting technique.
3) Be Ready to report your summary to the class. Submit a printed copy to the Professor. Write your report in Manila paper for class presentation.
Group I - Four and a Half
1. MANILA, Philippines—Philippine exports slowed down to a year-on-year growth of 2.3 percent in May to $4.224 billion, as the global surge in oil and food prices led to tighter demand for non-basic items like electronics.
In April, growth in exports was recorded at 4.9 percent.
Electronics exports, the biggest dollar-earner among Philippine-made goods, fell 3.4 percent year-on-year to $2.473 billion in May, the National Statistics Office reported Thursday.
Total exports from January to May reached $21.085 billion, up 3.1 percent from the same period last year.
The government’s revised exports full-year growth target is 5.0 percent.
Jonathan Ravelas, market strategist for Banco de Oro Unibank, said the slowdown in exports was a reflection of the response of consumers worldwide to rising prices of basic commodities.
“The Philippines’ biggest market for electronics is the United States, and we all know that the US economy is undergoing uncertainty,” Ravelas said in a phone interview. “Due to rising inflation and uncertainty, the ability of American consumers to buy electronics is waning.”
The slowdown in export earnings has been one of the reasons stock market prices in the Philippines have been falling, Ravelas added. But he added there was no need for people to take things negatively.
“When prices are low, it is the best time to buy and invest,” he said.
Group 2 - The Researchers
2) MANILA, Philippines—The peso is expected to depreciate further to 48.00 to the dollar in the third quarter as an offshoot of sustained high inflation and weakening exports, according to projections of Banco de Oro Unibank.
The bank said the slowdown in global demand for Philippine exports would continue to widen the trade deficit, which would affect the exchange rate, a bank official said.
“There is still risk for the peso to depreciate some more in the third quarter,” Banco de Oro market strategist Jonathan Ravelas said in an interview.
“Although there is growth in the remittances from overseas Filipino workers, its positive impact on the peso is being outweighed by the increase in dollar spending for imports due to higher oil prices,” he said.
Philippine imports surged 17.9 percent to $19.462 billion in the period from January to April, largely because of the sharp rise in oil prices. The Philippines imports more than 90 percent of its oil.
The trade deficit reached $2.601 billion in the four months, with a slowdown in exports putting downward pressure on the peso, which recently depreciated to the 44-per-dollar level.
Group 3 - High Five
3) Romulo Neri may be sustained by a different self-image, but to many Filipinos he is damaged goods. He has lost the moral standing, and thus the credibility, to discharge the functions of high office. Appointing him to head the Social Security System (SSS), therefore, can only be seen as political payback: payback for him, for keeping his silence about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s role in the anomalies that marked the national broadband network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. and in politicization of the SSS, to meet the Arroyo administration’s increasingly self-serving objectives.
When Neri testified before the Senate that Benjamin Abalos, then the chairman of the Commission on Elections, had offered him a P200-million bribe, in exchange for approving ZTE Corp.’s bid for the NBN project, he popularized a new phrase in the country’s ever-growing dictionary of corruption: “Sec, may 200 ka dito” (meaning, Secretary, you have P200 million for yourself in this deal).
More crucially, he also faced a crossroads: to stop at that damning revelation, or to tell all. He decided not to say anything further. To strengthen the grip he had placed on the hand covering his mouth, he even petitioned the Supreme Court to enjoin the Senate from asking him potentially revelatory questions about what the President knew, and when she knew it.
This decision, however, did not prevent Neri from meeting with opposition senators, ostensibly to discuss our own version of the axis of evil, so to speak, but in actuality, according to the testimony of Jun Lozada, the Neri associate who helped arrange the meeting, to explore the possibility of raising “patriotic money” to tide Neri along, in case he decided to burn his bridges with the President.
In that meeting at the Asian Institute of Management, Neri lectured, among other topics, on the evil of regulatory capture, the phenomenon where a regulatory agency is held hostage or is indirectly controlled by the very parties it is mandated to regulate. In truth, Neri’s detailed lecture missed the big picture. What is happening under the Arroyo administration is institutional capture, the phenomenon where various institutions of government and society—the House of Representatives, the police, the local governments, the military, even (if critics are to be believed) the Catholic bishops—have been co-opted or marginalized by an over-assertive executive. Neri’s appointment to the SSS means we must add it to the lengthening list.
But the SSS is a major institution, with sound financial controls and, especially under its outgoing administrator, Corazon de la Paz, a robust track record. Surely it isn’t possible for one man to put all of that at risk?
Group 4- Hep, Hep Kids
4) MANILA, Philippines—Nothing that Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr. said Thursday about the food crisis is new. The observations made by the former politician, who remains active in (backroom) politics, had been noted before by every government official who spoke on the issue. The big difference, however, is that Cojuangco is putting his money where his mouth is. [See story]
“There is no more important issue today than food security,” said the chair of San Miguel Corp. (SMC), one of Asia’s biggest food and beverage conglomerates. “The defining challenge of the future is to guarantee that people have access to food.” Noting that soaring food prices have forced many millions more of the world’s poor to go hungry, Cojuangco said that “guaranteeing an adequate supply is an important strategic goal for everyone, not just government.”
Ramon Ang, SMC president, added: “We need to boost agricultural production and help insulate our countrymen from the continued volatility of the commodities market.”
How? SMC has a big idea and it is willing to spend big bucks to bring it about. Cojuangco said that the government has identified three million hectares of idle lands that can be planted to various crops, particularly rice, corn, sugarcane, coconut and vegetables. SMC, together with the Malaysian food giant Kuok Group, wants to develop one-third of that, or one million hectares. They plan to invest as much as $1,000 per hectare for their project called “Feeding our Future.” And they guarantee to buy all the produce from the farms that will be developed under the program.
Group 5- Titik-O
5)MANILA, Philippines—As the nation braces itself for another economic storm, we might do well to remember that even in the most adverse of circumstances, the rich and the privileged will continue to live in luxury, almost as if nothing has happened.
Conversely, there will be people who are more vulnerable to the adverse impact of the crisis. Collectively, we say it’s the poor who suffer the most. But even among the poor, there will be differences in vulnerability. I’m thinking of the elderly and the children, and between the two populations, it’ll probably be the children who will take the brunt. This is because the elderly can still fight for their rights within a household or a community. Just look at the feisty senior citizens working to keep their benefits such as discounts from drugstores. Within households, the elderly will also often invoke the cultural premium placed on respect for parents to get their share of the family budget.
Children, on the other hand, are often the first to be sacrificed when families begin to scrimp on budgets with children unable to complain. Food seen to be nutritious will go first to adult males, who are perceived as the breadwinners, then to women, and last to the children.
When an economic crisis strikes, it’s also the children’s education that is often sacrificed. The current crisis could worsen the already serious dropout rate because the spiraling oil prices will mean more increases in public transport fares. Even if public elementary and secondary schools do not charge tuition, an increase in “baon” [food allowance] and transportation could force parents to pull out their children from school.
So far, the national government’s response to the vulnerability of the poor has been subsidies, but the approach is only a stop-gap measure, and could lead to more problems in the future, for several reasons. First, subsidies are doles with no incentive to get people to participate in working out longer-term solutions. Second, subsidies can lead to more expectations of doles. If the subsidies stop, as they have to eventually, people will take this against the administration. Third, there is no guarantee the subsidies go to basic needs. Even if the subsidy is specified for food, it can still go to junk snacks and other products of dubious nutritional quality. Finally, and this goes back to my earlier point, subsidies often add to inequities within households, the expenditures prioritizing adults over the children.
Group 6- 69ers
6)MANILA, Philippines – Marikina’s women police officers are leaving their desks temporarily to teach the city’s young students about their rights and how they can protect themselves from abuse.
The Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) of Marikina will hold free lectures and seminars in the city’s 27 public schools on children’s rights, crime prevention, and provisions of certain laws like the Anti-Child Abuse Law (R.A. 7610), Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (R.A. 9344), and the Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
PO4 Nenita Abanes, Marikina WCPD assistant chief, told the Inquirer Thursday that they were going directly to the students because they want to keep the youth aware of their rights and what they could do if these were violated.
“The number of crimes against children is not going down,” said Abanes. She said many cases of child molestation went unreported.
Abanes said almost 85 percent of crimes against children occurred in homes or involved people kids knew. “Offenders often take advantage of a child’s trust. That’s why we want these children to know what constitutes abuse,” said Abanes.
Abanes said in her lectures, she explained to students the importance of reporting abusive behavior like lascivious touching.She added that she stressed the importance of reporting crimes within 24 hours to enable police to apprehend suspects immediately.Abanes said she also taught children the many ways to report offensive or violent acts even if they had no immediate access to the police.
Group 7- One Voice
7)MANILA, Philippines -- A local mobile applications developer believes Smart Communications' entry into the mobile instant messaging market indicates the industry's move to providing more data and Internet Protocol (IP)-based services on faster mobile networks.
"They're moving to offering more data services because of the increasing bandwidth of [mobile] networks," said Roger Delgado, vice president for technical operations of local mobile applications developer D3 Systems.
This was Delgado's reaction to the recent unveiling of Smart's new service, dubbed Uzzap, which combines existing short messaging service (SMS) with more Internet-centric instant messaging services that have become a popular messaging platform on the web.
D3 Systems was also among the local companies that developed a mobile application, dubbed Yehba, which offers mobile instant messaging.Other mobile networks have also ventured into mobile instant messaging. Sun Cellular has been providing similar mobile instant messaging service through its Sun iMessenger, while Globe Telecom has myGlobe IM, which is powered by Chikka. Chikka is a local company that has been in the business of providing mobile instant messaging for the past eight years. It also powered a similar service for Smart, dubbed iChat Messenger.
"This is welcome news for us because this initiative will increase awareness on mobile instant messaging," Vince Corpus, director for product development in Chikka Asia.
"We would not think that they [Smart] would compete with us directly since Chikka targets web-based users," he added, when asked to react about Smart Uzzap.
Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs head, agreed. Isberto said the company's entry in the mobile instant messaging market hints the emergence of more IP-based services in mobile networks.
"With the increasing capabilities of both the handset and the networks to handle IP-based applications, this service [Uzzap] is in line with this trend," Isberto said.
With the coming of next-generation mobile networks like High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Isberto said the mobile "IP highway" is expected to become more "robust." In turn, the local market will see more web-like services entering the mobile market.
Group 7- 4 Titans
7)MANILA, Philippines -- A local mobile applications developer believes Smart Communications' entry into the mobile instant messaging market indicates the industry's move to providing more data and Internet Protocol (IP)-based services on faster mobile networks.
"They're moving to offering more data services because of the increasing bandwidth of [mobile] networks," said Roger Delgado, vice president for technical operations of local mobile applications developer D3 Systems.
This was Delgado's reaction to the recent unveiling of Smart's new service, dubbed Uzzap, which combines existing short messaging service (SMS) with more Internet-centric instant messaging services that have become a popular messaging platform on the web.
D3 Systems was also among the local companies that developed a mobile application, dubbed Yehba, which offers mobile instant messaging.Other mobile networks have also ventured into mobile instant messaging. Sun Cellular has been providing similar mobile instant messaging service through its Sun iMessenger, while Globe Telecom has myGlobe IM, which is powered by Chikka. Chikka is a local company that has been in the business of providing mobile instant messaging for the past eight years. It also powered a similar service for Smart, dubbed iChat Messenger.
"This is welcome news for us because this initiative will increase awareness on mobile instant messaging," Vince Corpus, director for product development in Chikka Asia.
"We would not think that they [Smart] would compete with us directly since Chikka targets web-based users," he added, when asked to react about Smart Uzzap.
Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs head, agreed. Isberto said the company's entry in the mobile instant messaging market hints the emergence of more IP-based services in mobile networks.
"With the increasing capabilities of both the handset and the networks to handle IP-based applications, this service [Uzzap] is in line with this trend," Isberto said.
With the coming of next-generation mobile networks like High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), Isberto said the mobile "IP highway" is expected to become more "robust." In turn, the local market will see more web-like services entering the mobile market.
Group 8- Ignacios's Angels
8)MANILA, Philippines -- Following separate announcements of the European Union and Malaysia of stricter policies against illegal migrants, South Korea has stepped up its own campaign to chase out illegal migrant workers, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers in the north Asian country said in a statement Thursday.
Pol Bar, president of the Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Migranteng Manggagawa sa Korea (Kasammako), said South Korean immigration authorities use tasers (electroshock weapons) and electric stun guns in rounding up migrant workers.
He also cited instances where even pregnant women and men who are sick were arrested, incarcerated and consequently deported by the police.
Bar, whose Kasammako is a member organization of Migrante, called South Korea's intensified crackdown and deportation "treacherous" and "a contradiction to the well publicized notion that South Korean society is becoming a humane multi-cultural society."
"The intensive crackdown has forcibly deported thousands of migrant workers in spite of their health and family conditions," he said.
As of December 2007, there are a total of 80,715 Filipinos in South Korea, according to the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Of the number, 6,187 are permanent residents, 62,528 are temporary, and an estimated 12,000 are irregular.
Bar's report prompted Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado to urge the Arroyo government to file a diplomatic protest against South Korea for its manner of arresting and deporting undocumented workers.
Regalado said President Lee Myung-Bak's marching orders issued last February were to flush out "unregistered aliens" in their country. She said immigration authorities there were given monthly quota of 3,000 arrests and deportations.
In Seoul and Busan, where Filipinos abound, the quotas are 600 and 250 respectively.
Regalado also criticized the quota system, which has "emboldened [South Korean authorities] to undertake Gestapo-like arrests, indiscriminately raiding work places, train stations, and churches even without a warrant."
Friday, July 4, 2008
WHAT IS QUALITATVE RESEARCH?
WHAT IS RESEARCH?
This series of exchanges, posted to the Qualitative Research List in 1996, address the following questions:
What is research?
What constitutes good research?
What constitutes a research problem?
Why do research?
Many researchers ask, "Qualitative or quantitative research?" This paper will look at both types of study and the controversy surrounding which study type is better. It will also give the research student some guidelines about which to use.
What is Qualitative research?
There is no universal definition of qualitative research. In the literature of social science and applied professional fields, such terms as interpretive, naturalistic, constructivist, ethnographic, and fieldwork are variously employed to designate the broad collection of approaches that we call simply qualitative research. Qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomena . It is data that is usually not in the form of numbers. Qualitative research is an inductive approach, and its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of a person's or group's experience. Qualitative approaches to research are based on a "world view" which is holistic and has the following beliefs: 1) there is not a single reality. 2) reality based upon perceptions that are different for each person and change over time. 3) what we know has meaning only within a given situation of context.
There is no intervention, or control group used in qualitative research. It is naturalistic so that field researchers know what to ask and can change their line of questioning depending on the participant and his/ her response. The researcher uses inductive reasoning which is reasoning "from particular instances to general principles… One starts from observed data and develops a generalization which explains the relationship between the objects observed.
Qualitative research does not necessarily mean interpretive. It can be used in different paradigms. Qualitative research can be positivist, interpretive, or critical. This exemplifies the dynamic characteristics of this method. A study can be changed if a person or subject changes. For example, if a student is interviewing victims of sexual assault and one of the interviewees presents a journal to be read because he or she feels uncomfortable about the subject matter. The researcher can change the constraints of the study and still extract necessary contextual information about the victim's experience.
Qualitative research has alternative research methods and date collection methods. Examples of qualitative research methods are action research, case study, grounded theory, historical methods, and ethnography. Ethnography is the study of cultures in their natural settings . Grounded theory is designed to develop theory through a highly inductive but systematic process of discovery. A major focus is on the observation of similarities and differences in social behavior across social situations . Some examples of data collection methods are interviews, field of observations, diaries, and letters.
Scientists have some criticisms of qualitative research.Some experts believe that "the untrained observer or the practitioner whose day to day involvement in intervention hinders objective analysis may base conclusions on vivid recollection of unrepresentative events, may misinterpret what really happened and may care so deeply about clients that judgement is clouded." He assumes that social work practitioners are unable to think like a researcher and unable to realize their own biases. He seems to conclude that a practitioner is too subjective to evaluate their interventions.
Some scientists argue that reliability and validity are difficult to prove when doing qualitative research. For the qualitative study, this basic issue (reliability and validity) was addressed in three ways: prolonged engagement, persistent observation, and triangulation Others point out that "confrontational situations can arise. Participants might say (to the researcher), 'Don't write this down,' 'Just between you and me,' or I shouldn't have said that.'" . Depending on the researcher's response, the subject or interviewee could shy away from the interview or observation and change the outcome of the study.
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative research is the time honored scientific method. It is about prediction, generalizing a sample to a larger group of subjects, and using numbers to prove or disprove a hypothesis. For a typical study using quantitative methods, researchers tend to draw a sample of persons at random from a broader population, if possible . This method utilizes strict control of variables and the focus is on static reality. The researchers are interested in generating data from a large sample of study subjects so they can generalize the conclusion to others . Quantitative research uses data that are structured in the form of numbers or that can be immediately transported into numbers. It is a very controlled, exact approach to research.
Quantitative research methods were originally developed in the natural sciences to study natural phenomena . This type of research is used in many different fields, such as insurance, medicine, government, education, psychology, and law. The social work profession was built on these other disciplines, so it has historically used the quantitative approach to research. Examples of quantitative methods include survey methods, laboratory experiments, formal methods, and numerical methods. These methods are now being used in almost all social sciences.
There are three primary types of quantitative research designs, experimental, quasi-experimental, descriptive, and correlational. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies are designed to examine cause and effect. They study the effects of treatments by using tests or scales. Descriptive and correlational studies examine variables in their natural environments and do not include researcher imposed treatments . They examine the relationship between two variables using tests or scales. In quantitative research, validity and reliability can be measured numerically using such tests as inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability.
This type of research also receives some criticism. Qualitative research is often criticized for being value-bound versus value free. Feminists evaluators have attacked what they call the 'myth' of value-free scientific inquiry. All quantitative data is based on qualitative judgement…Numbers in and of themselves can't be interpreted without understanding the assumptions which underlie them .
Similarities and Differences
Despite the either/ or approach to this thus far, qualitative and quantitative research have some shared aspects. Each type of research generally follows the steps of scientific method. Those steps are 1) Choosing research topics 2) Constructing hypotheses 3) Selecting methods 4) Collecting data 5) Analyzing data 6) Interpreting data and drawing conclusion . They have the same beginnings. Each begins with qualitative judgements or a hypothesis based on a value judgement. These judgements can be applied or transferred to quantitative terms with both inductive and deductive reasoning abilities. Both can be very detailed, although qualitative research has more flexibility with its amount of detail.
All research (quantitative or qualitative) is based on some underlying assumptions about what constitutes 'valid' research and which research methods are appropriate. In quantitative research, methods of observation are submitted to the tests of reliability and validity to establish the credibility of these observations . This can be done by inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, criterion validity, content validity, etc.. Qualitative research checks reliability and validity in the form of prolonged treatment, triangulation, and persistent observation, as mentioned earlier.
Both methods also have ways of sampling. Random sampling is preferred in quantitative research. This allows the researcher to pick a representation of a larger group and the results can be generalized to the larger group. In qualitative research, sampling is not random. The researcher is trying to find a subject or group that are especially suited to the topic area. For example, studying attitudes about a county's service delivery to a certain recipients, the researcher might seek out families that receive that certain benefits in the county. It would be futile to get a random sample of all families in the county.
Qualitative and quantitative research have more differences than similarities. The quantitative approach is objective, which means that it tries to be unbiased toward its subjects and has no interaction with a study's participants. The qualitative approach is just the opposite. The researcher or observer wants to be "in the shoes" of the participant, to understand the participant's experience. Qualitative research tries to understand the subject's viewpoint, and quantitative research counts and measures behavior with scales, tools, or interventions. As we see, their approach and methods are different. The research design of these two vary, as well.
Quantitative focuses on tightly controlled variables in a structured setting to provide an explanation of laws. Its emphasis is on gathering and validating knowledge through systematic, objective observations. On the other hand, qualitative research can have more flexible variables and is more dynamic. Qualitative researchers provide students with an in-depth description of a topic or participant. Experience cannot be quantified into fundamental elements.
The Debate
Most research texts and literature discuss the debate or controversy over using qualitative or quantitative research. Some point out that certain departments (and even whole institutions) do not consider qualitative research as an acceptable form of inquiry. It is possible that some agencies and organizations may not wholeheartedly accept qualitative research because it is not traditional. The student or researcher writing a proposal for one of these agencies or organizations would be wise to check into this. Some researchers equate the dominant, traditional view as patriarchal and masculine. This is the same paradigm where the scientific method belongs.
According to Bertrand Russell, "the scientific attitude of mind… involves a sweeping away of all other desires in the interests of the desire to know- it involves the suppression of hopes and fears, loves and hates, and the whole subjective emotional life, until we became subdued to the material, able to see frankly, without preconceptions, without biases, without any wish except to see it as it is." One could hypothesize that the traditional or quantitative approach could be sexist or that the researchers presenting the data in past studies were sexist. Quantitative research has no value or place for hermeneutics or interpretation. Alternative ways of knowing and of evaluating what is worth knowing offer essential avenues for social workers to gain a more complete understanding of humans, our behaviors, and the social environments we construct and inhabit.
The debate between these two types of research is similar to the differences between the positivist and naturalist paradigm. Positivist, like traditional research, believes that the researcher and subject are independent, a dualism (Schriver, 2001). The naturalist axiom believes that there is no way to separate the researcher and participant, and that people and relationships are always in a state of change. Many researchers doubt that structured questionnaires capture consumer or implementers' attitudes toward the quality or nature of the services they receive or provide.
Quantitative research focuses on the norm. Qualitative can focus on more unusual situations, focus on the "standard deviation." Generally, social workers do not work with only norms, but work with people that have unusual circumstances or hardships. Qualitative research may have a better fit in the social work field that focuses on families and individuals. However, quantitative research can help evaluate practice interventions. Which should be used?
Many resources say both. While some evaluators and researchers believe that qualitative and quantitative methods are mutually exclusive, evaluators are increasingly combining the two methods to yield findings that provide a better understanding of program dynamics than either approach can provide by itself
Qualitative research may give us a rich, multi-dimensional view of a topic or phenomena. We may need to have numbers to support our reasoning for delving into a project and obtaining the financial resources necessary for a study. There is little point in proposing any research that would be unable to be carried out for lack of funds. Because qualitative research takes an enormous amount of time, is very labor intensive, and yields results that may not be as generalizable for policy-making or decision-making, many funding sources view it as a "frill" or as simply too expensive.Hence, the need for quantitative research.
Guidelines about choosing qualitative or quantitative approach
The choice of qualitative or quantitative means of observation (measurement) should be guided by the nature of the research question and the existing knowledge about it . Some points out that selecting an appropriate design for a study involves following a logical thought process… A calculating mind is required to explore all possible consequences of using a particular design in a study. A student researcher should first pick a topic and do a literature review to explore all facets of the topic. Some literature on qualitative research suggests the timing of a literature review be flexible. This way your data collection can be less subjective. However, this could be risky if you do not know much about your selected topic. You may want to check with an advisor about this.
The student researcher should familiarize himself or herself with both methods of research. Some social work students may be quick to jump to qualitative research out of fear of statistics. It may be a better idea to challenge one's self. The student researcher should also be prepared to defend the paradigm and chosen research method.
This series of exchanges, posted to the Qualitative Research List in 1996, address the following questions:
What is research?
What constitutes good research?
What constitutes a research problem?
Why do research?
Many researchers ask, "Qualitative or quantitative research?" This paper will look at both types of study and the controversy surrounding which study type is better. It will also give the research student some guidelines about which to use.
What is Qualitative research?
There is no universal definition of qualitative research. In the literature of social science and applied professional fields, such terms as interpretive, naturalistic, constructivist, ethnographic, and fieldwork are variously employed to designate the broad collection of approaches that we call simply qualitative research. Qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomena . It is data that is usually not in the form of numbers. Qualitative research is an inductive approach, and its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of a person's or group's experience. Qualitative approaches to research are based on a "world view" which is holistic and has the following beliefs: 1) there is not a single reality. 2) reality based upon perceptions that are different for each person and change over time. 3) what we know has meaning only within a given situation of context.
There is no intervention, or control group used in qualitative research. It is naturalistic so that field researchers know what to ask and can change their line of questioning depending on the participant and his/ her response. The researcher uses inductive reasoning which is reasoning "from particular instances to general principles… One starts from observed data and develops a generalization which explains the relationship between the objects observed.
Qualitative research does not necessarily mean interpretive. It can be used in different paradigms. Qualitative research can be positivist, interpretive, or critical. This exemplifies the dynamic characteristics of this method. A study can be changed if a person or subject changes. For example, if a student is interviewing victims of sexual assault and one of the interviewees presents a journal to be read because he or she feels uncomfortable about the subject matter. The researcher can change the constraints of the study and still extract necessary contextual information about the victim's experience.
Qualitative research has alternative research methods and date collection methods. Examples of qualitative research methods are action research, case study, grounded theory, historical methods, and ethnography. Ethnography is the study of cultures in their natural settings . Grounded theory is designed to develop theory through a highly inductive but systematic process of discovery. A major focus is on the observation of similarities and differences in social behavior across social situations . Some examples of data collection methods are interviews, field of observations, diaries, and letters.
Scientists have some criticisms of qualitative research.Some experts believe that "the untrained observer or the practitioner whose day to day involvement in intervention hinders objective analysis may base conclusions on vivid recollection of unrepresentative events, may misinterpret what really happened and may care so deeply about clients that judgement is clouded." He assumes that social work practitioners are unable to think like a researcher and unable to realize their own biases. He seems to conclude that a practitioner is too subjective to evaluate their interventions.
Some scientists argue that reliability and validity are difficult to prove when doing qualitative research. For the qualitative study, this basic issue (reliability and validity) was addressed in three ways: prolonged engagement, persistent observation, and triangulation Others point out that "confrontational situations can arise. Participants might say (to the researcher), 'Don't write this down,' 'Just between you and me,' or I shouldn't have said that.'" . Depending on the researcher's response, the subject or interviewee could shy away from the interview or observation and change the outcome of the study.
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative research is the time honored scientific method. It is about prediction, generalizing a sample to a larger group of subjects, and using numbers to prove or disprove a hypothesis. For a typical study using quantitative methods, researchers tend to draw a sample of persons at random from a broader population, if possible . This method utilizes strict control of variables and the focus is on static reality. The researchers are interested in generating data from a large sample of study subjects so they can generalize the conclusion to others . Quantitative research uses data that are structured in the form of numbers or that can be immediately transported into numbers. It is a very controlled, exact approach to research.
Quantitative research methods were originally developed in the natural sciences to study natural phenomena . This type of research is used in many different fields, such as insurance, medicine, government, education, psychology, and law. The social work profession was built on these other disciplines, so it has historically used the quantitative approach to research. Examples of quantitative methods include survey methods, laboratory experiments, formal methods, and numerical methods. These methods are now being used in almost all social sciences.
There are three primary types of quantitative research designs, experimental, quasi-experimental, descriptive, and correlational. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies are designed to examine cause and effect. They study the effects of treatments by using tests or scales. Descriptive and correlational studies examine variables in their natural environments and do not include researcher imposed treatments . They examine the relationship between two variables using tests or scales. In quantitative research, validity and reliability can be measured numerically using such tests as inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability.
This type of research also receives some criticism. Qualitative research is often criticized for being value-bound versus value free. Feminists evaluators have attacked what they call the 'myth' of value-free scientific inquiry. All quantitative data is based on qualitative judgement…Numbers in and of themselves can't be interpreted without understanding the assumptions which underlie them .
Similarities and Differences
Despite the either/ or approach to this thus far, qualitative and quantitative research have some shared aspects. Each type of research generally follows the steps of scientific method. Those steps are 1) Choosing research topics 2) Constructing hypotheses 3) Selecting methods 4) Collecting data 5) Analyzing data 6) Interpreting data and drawing conclusion . They have the same beginnings. Each begins with qualitative judgements or a hypothesis based on a value judgement. These judgements can be applied or transferred to quantitative terms with both inductive and deductive reasoning abilities. Both can be very detailed, although qualitative research has more flexibility with its amount of detail.
All research (quantitative or qualitative) is based on some underlying assumptions about what constitutes 'valid' research and which research methods are appropriate. In quantitative research, methods of observation are submitted to the tests of reliability and validity to establish the credibility of these observations . This can be done by inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, criterion validity, content validity, etc.. Qualitative research checks reliability and validity in the form of prolonged treatment, triangulation, and persistent observation, as mentioned earlier.
Both methods also have ways of sampling. Random sampling is preferred in quantitative research. This allows the researcher to pick a representation of a larger group and the results can be generalized to the larger group. In qualitative research, sampling is not random. The researcher is trying to find a subject or group that are especially suited to the topic area. For example, studying attitudes about a county's service delivery to a certain recipients, the researcher might seek out families that receive that certain benefits in the county. It would be futile to get a random sample of all families in the county.
Qualitative and quantitative research have more differences than similarities. The quantitative approach is objective, which means that it tries to be unbiased toward its subjects and has no interaction with a study's participants. The qualitative approach is just the opposite. The researcher or observer wants to be "in the shoes" of the participant, to understand the participant's experience. Qualitative research tries to understand the subject's viewpoint, and quantitative research counts and measures behavior with scales, tools, or interventions. As we see, their approach and methods are different. The research design of these two vary, as well.
Quantitative focuses on tightly controlled variables in a structured setting to provide an explanation of laws. Its emphasis is on gathering and validating knowledge through systematic, objective observations. On the other hand, qualitative research can have more flexible variables and is more dynamic. Qualitative researchers provide students with an in-depth description of a topic or participant. Experience cannot be quantified into fundamental elements.
The Debate
Most research texts and literature discuss the debate or controversy over using qualitative or quantitative research. Some point out that certain departments (and even whole institutions) do not consider qualitative research as an acceptable form of inquiry. It is possible that some agencies and organizations may not wholeheartedly accept qualitative research because it is not traditional. The student or researcher writing a proposal for one of these agencies or organizations would be wise to check into this. Some researchers equate the dominant, traditional view as patriarchal and masculine. This is the same paradigm where the scientific method belongs.
According to Bertrand Russell, "the scientific attitude of mind… involves a sweeping away of all other desires in the interests of the desire to know- it involves the suppression of hopes and fears, loves and hates, and the whole subjective emotional life, until we became subdued to the material, able to see frankly, without preconceptions, without biases, without any wish except to see it as it is." One could hypothesize that the traditional or quantitative approach could be sexist or that the researchers presenting the data in past studies were sexist. Quantitative research has no value or place for hermeneutics or interpretation. Alternative ways of knowing and of evaluating what is worth knowing offer essential avenues for social workers to gain a more complete understanding of humans, our behaviors, and the social environments we construct and inhabit.
The debate between these two types of research is similar to the differences between the positivist and naturalist paradigm. Positivist, like traditional research, believes that the researcher and subject are independent, a dualism (Schriver, 2001). The naturalist axiom believes that there is no way to separate the researcher and participant, and that people and relationships are always in a state of change. Many researchers doubt that structured questionnaires capture consumer or implementers' attitudes toward the quality or nature of the services they receive or provide.
Quantitative research focuses on the norm. Qualitative can focus on more unusual situations, focus on the "standard deviation." Generally, social workers do not work with only norms, but work with people that have unusual circumstances or hardships. Qualitative research may have a better fit in the social work field that focuses on families and individuals. However, quantitative research can help evaluate practice interventions. Which should be used?
Many resources say both. While some evaluators and researchers believe that qualitative and quantitative methods are mutually exclusive, evaluators are increasingly combining the two methods to yield findings that provide a better understanding of program dynamics than either approach can provide by itself
Qualitative research may give us a rich, multi-dimensional view of a topic or phenomena. We may need to have numbers to support our reasoning for delving into a project and obtaining the financial resources necessary for a study. There is little point in proposing any research that would be unable to be carried out for lack of funds. Because qualitative research takes an enormous amount of time, is very labor intensive, and yields results that may not be as generalizable for policy-making or decision-making, many funding sources view it as a "frill" or as simply too expensive.Hence, the need for quantitative research.
Guidelines about choosing qualitative or quantitative approach
The choice of qualitative or quantitative means of observation (measurement) should be guided by the nature of the research question and the existing knowledge about it . Some points out that selecting an appropriate design for a study involves following a logical thought process… A calculating mind is required to explore all possible consequences of using a particular design in a study. A student researcher should first pick a topic and do a literature review to explore all facets of the topic. Some literature on qualitative research suggests the timing of a literature review be flexible. This way your data collection can be less subjective. However, this could be risky if you do not know much about your selected topic. You may want to check with an advisor about this.
The student researcher should familiarize himself or herself with both methods of research. Some social work students may be quick to jump to qualitative research out of fear of statistics. It may be a better idea to challenge one's self. The student researcher should also be prepared to defend the paradigm and chosen research method.
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