Developing Research Skills

Quantitative data is…

• Research information that can be defined or explained by numbers

• i.e. – in 2000, 14 % of all family types were single parent families

• This type of information is often obtained in laboratory type experiments (controlled)

• i.e. – 79 % of all grade 10 students passed the OSSLT in Ontario; 76 % in DSBN

Qualitative data is…

• Research information that is presented using words

• Typically attempts to study behaviour in situations where the behaviour naturally occurs

• i.e. – ‘students are more likely to graduate from high school if they participate in at least 1 extra-curricular activity’

Primary Research Method

• Research that you have completed yourself, and are reporting directly on what you have discovered

• Survey question: How many students today ate breakfast?

• My research shows that today ____ % of students ate breakfast

Secondary Research Method

• Research data that you are using for your own purposes that someone else has gathered

• You are relying on the integrity of their research skills which may or may not be good (results may be untrue)

• i.e. – ‘In 2009, Grimes reported that the RCBHS Breakfast Club provided food for 65 students per day’ (Grimes, 2009).

Research Terminology

• Validity – a research method does actually measure what it was designed to measure– a metre stick has good validity for accurately

measuring height- it is consistent– An I.Q. Test that is poorly developed is not

valid (it also is biased!)• ‘What do these things have in common: a lynx, a

mustang, a pony and a cougar?’

• Reliability – a research method that consistently measures what it was designed to measure– A metre stick has good reliability for

consistently providing the accurate heights of a number of people

• A measure may be reliable but not valid – it consistently measures incorrectly

• Bias – a research method is structured so that some participants may have an unfair advantage or disadvantage over other participants

• I.Q. test questions that are culturally biased give an unfair advantage

• For example…

• If you rearrange the letters UGNAIA, you would have the name of a:

• A. River• B. Planet• C. City• D. Animal• E. Plant• F. I don’t know

• Without prior exposure in some format it is doubtful that a student will know that the answer is

• D. Animal (Iguana)

• since they are not native to our area

• Without opportunities to see pictures or to visit zoos, some children may be unfairly disadvantaged