A quantitative research

Quantitative Research is concerned with any method that results in the data being presented in numerical form, often appearing as graphs and pie charts. Students have a tendency towards such methods, as they feel ‘safe’ with such graphs as it gives them a sense of ‘authority’. The main type of data collection within this category is the use of questionnaires but can also include interviews and observation.

 

B QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

 

Qualitative Research is concerned with meanings and the way people understand things and a concern with patterns of behaviour. Some examples of methods that are qualitative are: interviews, focus groups, participant observations and field notes and a research questionnaire. (Lashley and Best 2001).

 

C. SECONDARY RESEARCH.

If students are unable to carry out primary research there is the possibility of submitting a Dissertation based purely on Secondary Data Research.This involves the following:

• The utilisation of existing published data, such as statistical records, Mintel and Keynote reports, trade magazines, television and radio programmes, newspapers, marketing research, financial records all of which were initially collected for the purposes of a prior research study.

Students who are completing such a dissertation need to understand how to complete appropriate analysis of secondary data, which may include discourse or statistical analysis for example. In addition students will be expected to develop their own conceptual framework from the secondary data collected.

 

D. VALIDITY, RELIABILITY AND RESEARCH ETHICS

 

You will need to discuss in the methodology why the method/s chosen for your Dissertation are valid and what steps you took to ensure that they are reliable i.e. repeatable by other scholars. All research type projects require ethical approval before data collection commences. Therefore you may also want to comment on how you ensured that your data collection was ethical and did not contravene any of Cardiff Metropolitan University’s ethical regulations (reference to the project summary and or section A and C of the approved Ethics Application form will assist you here). Please note the following statement adapted from the University’s Academic Board Policy Statement 14 June 2013

 

“All research-type projects (Dissertation, Enterprise Project, Launching a Business, etc.) conducted by students in Cardiff School of Management must comply with the university’s ethical requirements. As from the academic year 2013 – 2014, commencing September 2013,the failure of a student to secure ethical approval for a project prior to commencing data collection will result in the project being ineligible for assessment. A mark of zero will then be entered for the student as failure to have complied with the assessment requirements.

Complying with ethical requirements involves completing and submitting an Application for Ethics Approval together with draft copies of all supporting documents* at a standard suitable for approval. Guidance on completing the ethics application can be sought from module leaders and project supervisors. Copies of the approved Application for Ethics Approval must be bound into the project report as an appendix. Note that for modules with more than one assessment method the zero mark will be given for the research-type element only.”

 

In order to demonstrate compliance with the ethical approval requirements for this module you are required to have submitted a full Ethical Approval Application by 23 November 2015. All amendments must be made two weeks after the ethics committee decision and recommendations. If you fail to do so you will be deemed to have withdrawn from the module and no credits will be awarded for it.

Where students have failed to meet this deadline but have approved Mitigating Circumstances this will be taken into consideration.

 

*supporting documents will include some or all of the following: pilot questionnaire; pilot interview/ focus grouptopics for discussion; informed consent form; participant information sheet; letter to an organisation requesting permission to undertake research on their premises.

 

Many of you will want to complete your ethics form in term 1 so that you may begin your primary research over the Christmas period.This will allow you plenty of time in term 2 to write up the results and conclusion. Staff will support you in this aim and accept submissions for approval as soon as you and your supervisor believe that they are ready for consideration by the Devolved Ethics Panel.   

 

 

RESULTS

 

The different approaches to a methodology will be reflected in the ways the results are presented. The results should be presented in a logical fashion, often using tables and figures as described earlier, to summarise and emphasise the points made. This section is likely to include descriptive data which you have found in the research process from both secondary, primary and tertiary sources. You may prefer to discuss the meaning of the results as you go along but this would then be a Results and Discussion section. Make sure you are clear about what you are trying to do and demonstrate this clearly to the reader. That is you may or may not have a separate Discussion and Analysis chapter in addition to your Results chapter. However it entirely depends on the context and type of your research. Please discuss further with your supervisor for more clarification.

 

 

2.14DISCUSSION, ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA.

 

Key points to consider for this section:

 

· Interpretation of findings.

· What patterns have emerged?

· The difference between your ideas and other people’s

· The difference between the views and various other authors

· Explain how the theory /theoretical framework, that was discussed in the literature review, underpins your results and discussion and analysis.

· How do the main points you are making change the way you think about the topic?

 

Quantitative data, whether derived from questionnaires or from a published source, must be organised before it can be analysed and interpreted. Once this has been done, patterns and possible relationships may be discovered, either by eye or by statistical analysis. The process is made easier still if the data are displayed in graphic form. For small sets of data this can be done by hand calculation but larger data sets are best analysed by computer.

 

Statistics play a key role in and achieving valid research results, in terms of measurement, causal validity and generalisability. Descriptive statistics transform a set of numbers or observations into indices that describe or characterise the data. Inferential statistics, on the other hand, are used to make inferences or predictions about the similarity of a sample to the population from which the sample is drawn. However, to use statistics is not to head off into some strange world of equations and numbers, but rather to investigate the social world with new tools for describing, explaining and exploring. The complexity of the social world and its participants can never be captured entirely with numbers, thus you should use statistics both:

 

a) responsibly which means considering carefully in each application how to strike the right balance between numerical summary and verbal discussion, and

 

b) intelligently which means continuing to focus on the role of theory, the goal of validity and the particular research methods used to generate the numbers for data analysis. Furthermore, as each statistical test is based on certain specific assumptions about a relevant pattern and level of probability, it is important that these assumptions are known and adhered to when using any statistical techniques.