Inquiry Approach, Design, Method Alignment: Student's Guide

1. L9:Big Idea 1-Question and Explore-Aligning the Inquiry Approach, Design, and Method

2. Lesson 9: Focus • Describe what you think is meant by the following terms as they pertain to a student’s inquiry: • Approach • Design • Method • Revise your definitions after the lesson if necessary.

3. Misconception Alert #1 • You may think you need to be an expert in every discipline-specific method of inquiry. • This is not true. You simply need to be able to access information, sources and evidence to help you choose or develop an aligned method of inquiry to collect and analyze data appropriate to the field of your topic of inquiry. • You also need to be able to use other’s studies and evidence (within the discipline) to provide rationale for your choices.

4. Misconception Alert #2 • You may think that good research collects only primary data. This is not true. • Many great studies or meta-studies collect secondary data/information and add their own interpretation to that data in a new context, which is a valid form of research.

5. Approach: Exploratory, Explanatory, or Create • Explore a phenomenon/event/thing and look for themes, variables, and trends (this usually takes place when variables, trends, and/or themes are not known or not well understood). • Explain connections between and patterns within phenomena, events, variables (this usually takes place when variables about a phenomena are known but the connections between them are not). • Create or design a solution to a problem (this could be a new understanding under “explore” or “explain” but in this sense, its meant too be a process, design, or additional piece of scholarly work as a result of the research).

6. Design: Experimental or Non-experimental • Experimental Design usually involves pre-test, post-test, identifying correlations between variables, random assignment, control groups etc. • Non experimental Design does not include a large measure of control and is usually assigned to case studies, interviews, and largely qualitative studies (although some qualitative studies may be highly experimental). • Regardless, both designs must be explicit and clear so as to be reproducible.

7. Research Method: Qualitative, Quantitative, or Mixed • Qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods are explicit in: • what data/information is collected • Primary • Secondary • Text, numbers, images, etc. • how data/information is collected • how data/information is interpreted/analyzed

9. When in Doubt, Check the Course and Exam Description • EK 1.5 B5-provides general descriptions of qualitative and quantitative methods. • Students don’t have to memorize these methods. • Students MUST know how to choose which method to govern their research and provide effective rationale for why that method is appropriate/aligned as opposed to others.

10. Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Purposes

11. Comparing Data Collection Methods Quantitative research methods include: • Surveys • Laboratory experiments • Questionnaires Qualitative research methods include: • Case study research - a case study is an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context • Ethnography- the ethnographer immerses her/himself in the life of people s/he studies and seeks to place the phenomena studied in its social and cultural context • Observations • Interviews • Focus Groups

12. Differences in Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis and Reporting Methods

13. Primary and Secondary Research • Primary research involves collecting data through fieldwork, trials or experiments • Secondary research synthesizes existing research.

14. Example (Purpose, Data Collection, Data Analysis) Amount of orange juice consumed associated with number of times you smiled in the morning (survey 900 people) • versus Your explanation of how you felt in the morning associated with what you ate (interview 20 people)

15. L9: Practice I

16. Aligning Approach, Design, and Method in the Inquiry Process • After reviewing the different types of research approaches, designs, and general methods with your instructor, look at the Research Methods in a Nutshell table. • Use the description of the various methods to complete the data table below by indicating the approach, design, method, and type of data typically associated with each type of inquiry process.

19. Decision Tree for Methods

20. L9: Practice II

21. The Importance of Alignment • The purpose (approach) of the inquiry is the basis for the research question. • The narrow context/variables/scope of the research question as well as the purpose (approach) of the inquiry should point to the design of the inquiry process. • Finally, the design of the inquiry process provides the foundation needed for the students to choose and then implement an aligned method. If any of these components are misaligned, it may be very difficult for the reader to interpret a researcher’s results and could even hamper the validity of the research as well as the credibility of the researcher.

22. Case and Point • If the purpose of the inquiry is to explore the variables and themes within a phenomenon and the design is experimental requiring a pre-test and post test of unknown variables, the research will ultimately fail (seeing as the variables to be tested are not even known to exist). • If the purpose of the inquiry is to create a new design or process yet the researcher wants to explain whether or not the new process/design was effective as an intervention…students need to know this is misaligned. An intervention strategy is an “explain” purpose with an “experimental” design.

23. Check Your Alignment Your instructor will assign you one of the excerpts below. Use your assigned excerpt (1–4) to identify the research question, approach, design, and method. • Evaluate the extent to which the excerpt presents an aligned research question, approach, design, and method. Use the questions below to guide your evaluation: 1. Is the method clearly articulated? (Provide evidence.) 2. Is the method congruent/aligned with the approach inherent in the research question? (Provide rationale.) 3. Is the design aligned to the research question, approach, and method? (Provide evidence.) 4. What if any components are not clear or are missing from the excerpt in reference to: • a. a well-formed, focused research question; • b. a clearly articulated method for collecting data/information to answer the research question; and • c. an aligned approach, design, and method to the research question/purpose of the study

24. L9: Reflect

25. Reflection-Include your response in your workbook. • What criteria or rules will you use to determine whether or not the method you designed or chose for your research is aligned with the purpose of your question? • Where can you look to get ideas about aligned research methods to help you choose or develop your own?