Some might argue that, "which came first, the chicken or the egg?", is the most baffling age-old question. For a good 27 years, I could say I fell into that same camp, but I'm off the band wagon! After two weeks of this Research Methods course, I think the chicken/egg question has been replaced by, "which kind of study will produce more legitimate results: ninjas or pirates?" Though the verdict is still out on which is a better method, let's take some time to discuss the ins and the outs of each by using a topic that interests us all (and if it does not interest you now, it probably should)--the role of the family system in the academic achievement of an adolescent.
I am aware that this topic is one that is still too broad to adequately develop a research question from it, so while I am still "thinning" out ideas for my own research proposal, for the purposes of this blog entry we will specifically look at the marital status of parents. To examine this topic in a quantitative (or as we affectionately know it, "ninja") manner, the proposed research question is: "Does the lack of a father in an adolescent female's life influence her academic achievement? " In exploring this question, I would collect data by examining the GPAs of a random sample of adolescent girls who have a stable father figure and those who do not in the same (or similar demographic) school. Additionally, I would also measure graduation rates of the two subsets of adolescent girls to compare the academic achievement in this aspect. These measures would be objective, according to the grading standards of the school. Not only is objectivity a hallmark of quantitative research, but the emphasis on numerical data (like the data in this study) is as well. Because I will be analyzing this data after these girls have received their GPAs from the previous year and have graduated, this research study can be categorized as a nonexperimental one. Since sets of data will be looked at and compared to conclude a relationship between the lack of a father and academic achievement, this study can more specifically be considered a correlational study.
To take a spin on the same issue: lack of a father and its effect on an adolescent girl's academic
achievement of an adolescent girl, the research question will be tweaked a bit to fit into a
qualitative (or fondly called "pirate") research framework. The question posed for this type
of study is, "How do adolescent girls without a present father figure view themselves as
academic students?" The goal in this study would be to interview adolescent girls without a
father and through intensive, individual interviews gather data. This data will not be taking
the form of numbers this time around, but themes that comes from their mentioned thoughts
and feelings. These interviews would occur in a natural environment, and the goal would be
to gain understanding of the multiple realities that these girls live in as students without a
father. Specifically, this qualitative study would be considered a phenomenological study since
the goal is a better comprehension of self-perception. Because this method of gathering data is
a longer, more targeted approach, a smaller, more strategically selected sample of participants
is a better option, as opposed to a larger sample for the quantitative study.
And the question still remains...pirate >, <, or = to ninja???
