Common Lesson AUDIO Transcript
Audio Lesson:
Hello, and welcome
to another chat about common qualitative
and quantitative data collection tools
today we're going to get into these as
they pertain to mixed methods research
so first let's have a look at different
types of qualitative data of course when
we think about qualitative oftentimes it
comes in a narrative non numerical form
and providing insight into experiences
behaviors interests attitudes and
beliefs that teachers students or other
participants may have sometimes they
seek out to answer questions that start
off with how or why for example that
could include interviews focus groups
and even open-ended surveys for example
questionnaires even so one example of a
qualitative research question could be
how do students engage in online
learning activities another why do
students choose online learning over
traditional face-to-face programs when
we think about the quality quantitative
on the other hand that is in the form of
numerical or ratio scale data and that
can be quantified and analyzed through
the study of statistics that here is
where we draw connections between a
number of factors for example we could
say what is the relationship between
academic achievement and the number of
hours spent studying or we could say
what are the most influential factors
that predict college success that is
looking at a number of factors and even
the relationship between one or more
factors compared to one another when we
think about these different kinds of
methods for quantitative and qualitative
sometimes creating a table to show the
differences in nuances is incredibly
helpful so we think about the types of
data collection tools sometimes they're
more standardized versus semi structured
and oftentimes that aligns itself to a
more quantitative or qualitative base
and as well as whether they are close
ended in a quantitative format such as a
Likert scale 1 to 5
one two four or they could be more
open-ended you know in terms of trying
to come up with more of an emergent
theme per set the date of formats again
are numeric versus narrative primarily
and then the means in which we can
analyze this data set often differs with
respect to statistics or more of a
Content analysis and there are different
types that we can go into later on and
finally the results of quantitative
versus qualitative methods one is a more
descriptive data set that we're going to
look at and another is more exploratory
in inform again the common methods that
we are going to be looking at when we
collect quantitative data one example
could be surveys right and and surveys
can be done from either way but when we
collect data through surveys we can get
an idea of a situation or
characteristics among particular cases
and oftentimes using a standardized
instrument is incredibly helpful towards
validity and reliability issues
oftentimes those standardized
instruments come in a closed-ended
format and that can be administered
through a number of different ways the
most common today is through an online
survey secondly tests quizzes and
assessments all these in terms of
quantitative data are oftentimes
standardized hopefully if not then we we
need to do some kind of pilot testing
ensure that we're actually measuring
data valid in a valid way and that's
going to assess knowledge skills or
performance based assessment these are
typically administered pen and paper but
they're going more to an online format
or electronic format in nature and
programs can also create their own
assessments to ensure that they're
specifically targeted to their group or
their participants with whom they're
studying when we think about qualitative
data on the other hand we can look at
interviews and observations and even
focus groups those are typically for
more people in a focus group and you can
do multiple focus groups even
and then different kinds of document
reviews and that can be existing you
know qualitative data sets it could be
anecdotal records it could be you know
previous information about student work
samples
it could be portfolios all these sorts
of things would fall underneath document
review so we also have to examine the
advantages and disadvantages of each of
these types of data collection first
with respect to surveys it can be quick
and efficient and we can get a lot of
data at once and the responses are
relatively easy and straightforward to
analyze however the disadvantage is is
that they might not actually be
representative of the the sample that we
seek and oftentimes they lack in depth
information on a specific topic and and
and also people are prone to miss
understand or not understand some
questions that we may ask when it comes
to quizzes assessments and tests these
are standardized versions and those are
advantages easy again to compare and
it's relatively objective in nature
although there is you know some room for
discussion with respect to that and and
that really goes into the disadvantage
listed here at the bottom right of your
screen when we talk about they may be
biased or oversimplified in nature with
respect to interviews this you can get a
pretty good response rate in comparison
to surveys because it's typically a
direct one-on-one kind of situation and
people are more likely to to participate
in fact if they know you if they can
relate to you on a one-to-one basis it
also allows some flexibility in
questions and you can probe and then go
in other places if your questions are
emergent in that forum some of the
disadvantages is that it's time
consuming as to you as a researcher as
well as to your participants and
sometimes it's difficult to analyze and
compare data because people are so
different especially when you get them
talking to you one-on-one with focus
groups you can collect multiple
perspectives in a short duration of time
and oftentimes provide greater insight
however at the same time it can be
time-consuming
and requiring somebody else to act as a
facilitator if if you can't be there and
so again it's more of a time issue and
sometimes being a group setting as you
know whether it be a school format or
work format people sometimes are
influenced by others in the group with
respect to observations these can be
viewed in real time which is incredibly
helpful however sometimes people only
remember some aspects of the observation
right the highlights are the low lights
are the ones that we remember most if we
think about our day in general if we
observe a lesson in the field for
example those are the things that kind
of stand out the things that are more or
less normal oftentimes go underneath
your radar even if you're right there
these can also be time-consuming and
difficult to observe several things
going on at once
without the use of multiple cameras or
other types of data collection devices
and then with document review here's
where the data already exists so it's
easy to access you can not necessarily
interrupt what's going on right now you
can do this in the comfort of your own
home or in the Library Archives or
something like that but it is
time-consuming and the data is limited
to whatever already exists since you
won't be creating your own data set some
things to remember again we're trying to
combine these by combining elements of
qualitative and quantitative research
these data collection tools and
strategies are very helpful as
stand-alones but we're trying to think
about ways that we can combine these and
unique pairings to be able to suit our
research questions and our research
agenda so some things to remember your
evaluation purpose questions design and
resources those are the things that help
determine the best data collection
method for your particular evaluation
there's also these common methods that
we've that we've talked about today feel
free to look back at the video there and
that each method distinctly has
advantages and disadvantages so we
really want to consider those when
thinking about is a focus group perfect
for this research question how is it
better or different or worse than
one-on-one interviews or then surveys to
teachers for example and finally that a
mixed methods approach to your data
collection can provide the most
comprehensive perspective to a program
evaluation or a study in general and so
that's my perspective I hope you have
gleaned some information from this
PowerPoint discussion on data collection
methods across quantitative and
qualitative fields I wish you all the
best in your research
Hello, and welcome
to another chat about common qualitative
and quantitative data collection tools
today we're going to get into these as
they pertain to mixed methods research
so first let's have a look at different
types of qualitative data of course when
we think about qualitative oftentimes it
comes in a narrative non numerical form
and providing insight into experiences
behaviors interests attitudes and
beliefs that teachers students or other
participants may have sometimes they
seek out to answer questions that start
off with how or why for example that
could include interviews focus groups
and even open-ended surveys for example
questionnaires even so one example of a
qualitative research question could be
how do students engage in online
learning activities another why do
students choose online learning over
traditional face-to-face programs when
we think about the quality quantitative
on the other hand that is in the form of
numerical or ratio scale data and that
can be quantified and analyzed through
the study of statistics that here is
where we draw connections between a
number of factors for example we could
say what is the relationship between
academic achievement and the number of
hours spent studying or we could say
what are the most influential factors
that predict college success that is
looking at a number of factors and even
the relationship between one or more
factors compared to one another when we
think about these different kinds of
methods for quantitative and qualitative
sometimes creating a table to show the
differences in nuances is incredibly
helpful so we think about the types of
data collection tools sometimes they're
more standardized versus semi structured
and oftentimes that aligns itself to a
more quantitative or qualitative base
and as well as whether they are close
ended in a quantitative format such as a
Likert scale 1 to 5
one two four or they could be more
open-ended you know in terms of trying
to come up with more of an emergent
theme per set the date of formats again
are numeric versus narrative primarily
and then the means in which we can
analyze this data set often differs with
respect to statistics or more of a
Content analysis and there are different
types that we can go into later on and
finally the results of quantitative
versus qualitative methods one is a more
descriptive data set that we're going to
look at and another is more exploratory
in inform again the common methods that
we are going to be looking at when we
collect quantitative data one example
could be surveys right and and surveys
can be done from either way but when we
collect data through surveys we can get
an idea of a situation or
characteristics among particular cases
and oftentimes using a standardized
instrument is incredibly helpful towards
validity and reliability issues
oftentimes those standardized
instruments come in a closed-ended
format and that can be administered
through a number of different ways the
most common today is through an online
survey secondly tests quizzes and
assessments all these in terms of
quantitative data are oftentimes
standardized hopefully if not then we we
need to do some kind of pilot testing
ensure that we're actually measuring
data valid in a valid way and that's
going to assess knowledge skills or
performance based assessment these are
typically administered pen and paper but
they're going more to an online format
or electronic format in nature and
programs can also create their own
assessments to ensure that they're
specifically targeted to their group or
their participants with whom they're
studying when we think about qualitative
data on the other hand we can look at
interviews and observations and even
focus groups those are typically for
more people in a focus group and you can
do multiple focus groups even
and then different kinds of document
reviews and that can be existing you
know qualitative data sets it could be
anecdotal records it could be you know
previous information about student work
samples
it could be portfolios all these sorts
of things would fall underneath document
review so we also have to examine the
advantages and disadvantages of each of
these types of data collection first
with respect to surveys it can be quick
and efficient and we can get a lot of
data at once and the responses are
relatively easy and straightforward to
analyze however the disadvantage is is
that they might not actually be
representative of the the sample that we
seek and oftentimes they lack in depth
information on a specific topic and and
and also people are prone to miss
understand or not understand some
questions that we may ask when it comes
to quizzes assessments and tests these
are standardized versions and those are
advantages easy again to compare and
it's relatively objective in nature
although there is you know some room for
discussion with respect to that and and
that really goes into the disadvantage
listed here at the bottom right of your
screen when we talk about they may be
biased or oversimplified in nature with
respect to interviews this you can get a
pretty good response rate in comparison
to surveys because it's typically a
direct one-on-one kind of situation and
people are more likely to to participate
in fact if they know you if they can
relate to you on a one-to-one basis it
also allows some flexibility in
questions and you can probe and then go
in other places if your questions are
emergent in that forum some of the
disadvantages is that it's time
consuming as to you as a researcher as
well as to your participants and
sometimes it's difficult to analyze and
compare data because people are so
different especially when you get them
talking to you one-on-one with focus
groups you can collect multiple
perspectives in a short duration of time
and oftentimes provide greater insight
however at the same time it can be
time-consuming
and requiring somebody else to act as a
facilitator if if you can't be there and
so again it's more of a time issue and
sometimes being a group setting as you
know whether it be a school format or
work format people sometimes are
influenced by others in the group with
respect to observations these can be
viewed in real time which is incredibly
helpful however sometimes people only
remember some aspects of the observation
right the highlights are the low lights
are the ones that we remember most if we
think about our day in general if we
observe a lesson in the field for
example those are the things that kind
of stand out the things that are more or
less normal oftentimes go underneath
your radar even if you're right there
these can also be time-consuming and
difficult to observe several things
going on at once
without the use of multiple cameras or
other types of data collection devices
and then with document review here's
where the data already exists so it's
easy to access you can not necessarily
interrupt what's going on right now you
can do this in the comfort of your own
home or in the Library Archives or
something like that but it is
time-consuming and the data is limited
to whatever already exists since you
won't be creating your own data set some
things to remember again we're trying to
combine these by combining elements of
qualitative and quantitative research
these data collection tools and
strategies are very helpful as
stand-alones but we're trying to think
about ways that we can combine these and
unique pairings to be able to suit our
research questions and our research
agenda so some things to remember your
evaluation purpose questions design and
resources those are the things that help
determine the best data collection
method for your particular evaluation
there's also these common methods that
we've that we've talked about today feel
free to look back at the video there and
that each method distinctly has
advantages and disadvantages so we
really want to consider those when
thinking about is a focus group perfect
for this research question how is it
better or different or worse than
one-on-one interviews or then surveys to
teachers for example and finally that a
mixed methods approach to your data
collection can provide the most
comprehensive perspective to a program
evaluation or a study in general and so
that's my perspective I hope you have
gleaned some information from this
PowerPoint discussion on data collection
methods across quantitative and
qualitative fields I wish you all the
best in your research