Quantitative Research

1. Quantitative Research Counting, and reporting

2. Quantitative Research • Numbers-based – Quantitative research refers to the manipulation of numbers to make claims, provide evidence, describe phenomena, determine relationships, or determine causation. • Deductive – usually tests a hypothesis based on previous research. Numbers are important to determine when a hypothesis has been confirmed or not. You are looking FOR something. • Generalizable – through statistical or mathematical modeling, can make predictions about future events.

3. Quantitative Research Ideas and Controversy

4. Goals • The intention of the “empirical/quantitative” part of the research tradition course goal is to consider the rhetorical and research benefits (and drawbacks) of using numbers as evidence. • It is less about advanced quantitative reasoning and more about teaching an appreciation of what it means to produce, analyze, and report numbers in support of an argument or to answer a research question.

5. Quantitative research • Descriptive Research – describe a phenomenon using numbers • Quantitative research is good at this because it shows aggregates (combined instances) in an easy to see way. • Inferential research – make a prediction or comparison about what you found using numbers • Quantitative research is good at this because numbers are precise, they can be used for comparison better than qualitative research (cold v. cool OR 45 v 55)

6. Experimental Research • Experimental – testing whether a “thing” (independent variable) applied to a subject/group has an effect (dependant variable) • Two equal groups, one control, one experimental • Pre-test, post-test • Quasi-experimental – testing whether a “thing” applied to a subject/group has an effect but without being able to • Actively apply the “thing” • Control for other variables

7. Top 4 things • Numbers are a semiotic system. As such, they are arbitrary. They aren’t inherently more “true” than any other sign. • Numbers are precise, which makes them really good for specificity and measuring. • Numbers are mutually exclusive, so they are good for comparisons. • Numbers can be manipulated using formula to discover causes, make predictions, and generalize from samples to populations.

8. Quantitative Controversy • Some scholars believe that human experience, attitudes and beliefs cannot be quantified. • A person’s “feelings” can change from day to day with little conscious thought of the fact • Some scholars believe that quantitative research is trusted more than it should be • Bridges still collapse, spaceships still get lost, new cars still break down, pharmaceutical companies still produce harmful drugs, computers still crash • Some scholars believe that quantitative research is reductive • Statistically speaking, your SAT has already predicted what your final college GPA is going to be. Will you only ever be 1400 or 3.6 smart? • Some scholars believe that quantitative research misses important nuances • In a ChangeWave survey, the iPhone had the highest customer satisfaction with 79% of the sample “very satisfied.”

9. Fieldwork methods • Observations • count the number of people who hold the door open for another at Driscoll or the library • count the number of people looking at their phones while with other people in the dining halls • count the number of people who return shopping carts to the stalls. • Surveys • hand out paper or online surveys related to a research question. • Experiments • use online personality test to find a Meyers-Briggs type and then ask participants to complete a word search, keeping track of how long they take and what words they find first, second, third… • blind, soda taste test or pizza test after giving them different descriptions about what they are about to taste.

11. Designing studies

12. Research Plan • As we follow this scientific method, recognize that it really is just a research plan, but in a more focused manner. You would still benefit much from working out the following BEFORE you conduct your study • Research Question • Method • Plan • Timeline

13. Define the Question • Defining the question, often called your research question, determines the scope of what you are able to research. A good research question should be (FINER): • Feasible – is it a realistic question to ask? • Interesting – will we learn something from it? • Novel – have very few people done it? • Ethical – does it respect the participants? • Relevant – will we be able to do something with the findings? Hulley S, Cummings S. (Eds ) Designing Clinical Research. Willimas & Wilkins: Baltimore, 1988

14. Defining the Question • To create a Quantitative Research Question • Define your participants • Define your issue • Define the variables of that issue • Ask a question of the participants, issue, and variable • Do DU students have part-time jobs that they enjoy? • Are college major and writing anxiety in undergraduatewriters correlated?

15. Gather Information and Resources • Text-Based Research is useful in helping you define your expectation (hypothesis). You want to find what has come before in the topic or related topics. You will rarely find your exact study (if you do, then your research question isn’t novel). You are looking for elements, pieces of your topic that have come before. • Previous studies have determined that experienced female MMORPG players have a primary motivation to play for social reasons (Yee, 2007). Other studies have shown no gender differences when looking at more than a single primary motivation (Tychsen, Hitchens, & Brolund, 2008). In these studies, the intention was to look at motivation in experienced RPG/MMORPG players—in my current study, I intend to look at motivation to play MMORPG World of Warcraft by non-experienced gamers.

16. Gather Information and Resources • Your experiences as well as those experiences of your friends can also be useful in helping you gather information and resources.

17. Form Hypothesis • What is your best guess as to the outcome of your Research Question • The hypothesis is based on your Research Question, but it is not phrased as a question – it is phrased as your best guess as to the outcome of that question • DU students do not enjoy their part-time work • College major and writing anxiety in undergraduate writers is not related. • You might create sub-hypotheses to account for other variables that you might consider relevant (e.g. gender, class-standing). You tag these on to the end of your initial hypothesis. • Seniors tend to enjoy their part-time work more than first-year students enjoy their work. • Female undergraduates experience more anxiety than males.

18. Design Experiment • Determine what best would address the research question you are asking. In quantitative studies, a survey works the best because you can control responses. • Determine triangulation questions or observations for two reasons: • You don’t want it to be obvious what you are asking • Other variables may be affecting the outcome. • Refer to Chapter 8 in Situating Research (or the handout Conducting Surveys) when coming up with your Survey Questions • It’s a good idea to playtest your survey with one or more people so that they can give you feedback about what questions might be confusing.

19. Design Experiment • Likert-type scale (1-5) will allow you to “quantify” human beliefs, attitudes, and experiences. Likert-type scales are used often in social science, descriptive studies. • Usually ask positive questions, and then follow with whether the person agrees or disagrees. • Usually scaled so that higher numbers are positive/agreement, lower numbers negative/disagreement “A good writing class should consist of lectures on grammar” 1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-agree, 4-strongly agree “How satisfied are you with University of Denver’s dorms” 1-very unsatisfied, 2-unsatisfied, 3-satisfied, 4-very satisfied

20. Design Experiment • Planning your survey, your hypothesis, your plan is vital BEFORE you conduct your survey because you only get one shot at the survey.

21. The Final Four • Collect Data (Perform Experiment, conduct survey, conduct observation) – remember to be professional, take notes (you never know what might effect your results), and ethical. • Analyze Data – Keep track of your data, put it in a spreadsheet, and work the numbers. We will be talking a bit about statistics here, but really, all you will be expected to do is descriptive analysis • Interpret Data and Draw Conclusions • Publish Results (see IMRAD PowerPoint)

22. Very Short Guide to Stats for Quantitative Research Papers Basics of aggregate and statistical data

23. Inferential v. Descriptive • Descriptive statistics “describe” the data of a sample or population. They are usually aggregate data • Average (Mean) GPA • Standard Deviation of SAT score • Inferential statistics “infer” (i.e. conclude) relationships between a sample AND a population, or “infer” past, present or future results of a sample/population based on its data. • Regression/correlation analysis of GPA and SAT (relationship between SAT and GPA, and SAT can be used to predict GPA)

24. N = number of participants • In inferential statistics, you would refer to the number of participants in your survey as N. If it is a sample or part of a whole, it is n (lowercase), and if it is a total population, it is N (uppercase). • Population: N = 4,432 • Sample: n = 100 • In descriptive studies and descriptive statistics, it is common to refer to participants as N, subgroups of those participants as n • Of the total students surveyed (N = 100), only 10% (n = 10) were male.

25. Measures of central tendency • Central Tendency measures common “middles” • Mean is the arithmetic average of items or values • Mode is the most occurring item or value • Median is the item or value of which 50% are greater and 50% are less. • Sometimes GPA or time can be used as a measure, but another measure is one of attitudes and beliefs using a Likert-type scale. • Standard Deviation is a measure of the spread of items or values in a series. Understanding the variation can help you see how close a particular item or value is to other numbers. • Distribution (Histogram) is a visual representation of the number of a particular result in an array of numbers. In this series (number of hours I played WoW over break):8, 0, 0, 3, 2, 10, 0 • Mean = 3.29, Mode = 0, Median = 2, SD = 4.11 In this series (number of hours I worked this week):8, 8, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5 • Mean = 7, Mode = 8, Median = 8, SD = 1.29

26. Correlations and comparisons Student’s t-test The “basic” comparison test between a sample and a population. Designed at Guinness beer in 1908. T Tests are reported like, t(degrees of freedom) = t statistic P = significance level. The t-statistic is less important than the significance level. Pearson Correlation The “basic” correlation test between two samples. Designed by publisher Pearson to compare test scores. Pearson correlations are reported like, r = correlation score between 1.00 (positive correlation) and -1.00 (negative correlation).

27. Using Excel to do your stats • Mean { =average(range) } • You can compute mode { =mode(range) } or median {=median(range) }, but they might not be as useful in this project. • Standard Deviation { =stdev(range) } • You can also count the number of instances of a value including instances of text: { =countif(range,”value”) } • The following example would count every instance of “male” in the range: =countif(A2:A7,”male”) • Pearson’s correlation { =correl(range1,range2) } • Student’s t-test { =ttest(range1,range2,tails,type) } • You can create frequency distribution histograms by using Tools -> Data Analysis, then Historgram. Histograms count the number of instances of a result in a given array. You can also find these commands by using Insert -> Function. There are also far more complex inferential statistics available in Excel • You can do a complete Descriptive Stats Summary by selecting Tools > Data Analysis (If you don’t see a Data Analysis, then (Excel 2003) Tools > Add-ins > Analysis ToolPak; (Excel 2007) Excel Options > Add-ins > Manage Add-ins > Analysis ToolPak

28. Writing Stats in APA • Standard Deviation = SD • Mean = M • Descriptive statistics are often written in parentheses after an item that the statistic refers to, and symbols and numbers should be separated by a space • In a survey of DU students, participants (N = 100) responded that money was more important (M = 4.2, SD = .9) than experience (M = 3.5, SD = .76) in selecting a summer job. • In a survey of computer game addicts, females (n = 15) were more likely to be depressed during withdrawal (M = 5.2, SD = .45) than males were (n = 78, M = 3.2, SD = .98) • Chapter 8 in Situating Research has more about this.

29. Charts and Graphs It’s important in doing graphs that you compute an aggregate (sum, average, SD, something) before graphing information. You cannot just Select All of data and make a graph out of it. • Pie graphs – good for showing distributions of a total population (you will have to compute aggregates first) • Line graphs – good for showing time-based, linear progression • Column/Bar graphs – good for showing distribution of individual responses (you will have to create aggregates first) • Y-Axis (vertical) for variables, X-Axis (horizontal) for participants.