ARAŞTIRMA YÖNTEMLERİ - Deneme Sınavı - 14

The researchers can use the convergent design in order to make people understand the topic more completely or validate the quantitative scales. While the explanatory design is being used to explain quantitative results, the exploratory design is selected to test qualitative exploratory findings. The embedded design is preferred in experimental study for preliminary exploration or follow-up explanation or more complete understanding of the experimental trial. On the other hand, in case of the social injustice, the transformative mixed methods research is conducted to describe the phenomonolgy. Lastly, multiple phase design is implemented to develop, adapt or evaluate program, multilevel statewide studies.

Convergent design can be explained as:

Identical sampling: Exactly the same participants are involved in both the and qualitative phases of the study.

Parallel sampling: Sample for the quantitative and qualitative components of the study are different but are drawn from the same population of interest.

Nested sampling: Sample members selected for one phase of the study represent a subset of those sample members selected for the previous phase of the research.

Multilevel sampling: Use of two or more sets of samples that are extracted from different levels of the population of interest.

Purposeful sampling is not specific to mixed methods research.

an interpretive framework which includes ten aspects of quality is drafted by Teddlie and Tashakkori (2009, pp. 301-302):

Appropriateness of design (i.e. ‘Are the methods of study appropriate for answering the research questions?’; ‘Does the design match the research questions?’; ‘Does the mixed methods design match the stated purpose for conducting an integrated study?’; ‘Do the strands of the mixed methods study address the same research questions [or closely related aspects of the research question]?’).

Reliability of design (i.e. ‘Are the qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods procedures or design components... capturing the meanings, effects, or relationships?’).

Coherence inside the design (i.e. ‘Do the components of the design t together in a seamless manner?’; ‘Do the strands of the mixed methods study follow each other [or are they linked] in a logical and seamless manner?’).

Analytical competence (i.e., ‘Are the data analysis procedures/strategies appropriate and adequate to provide possible answers to research questions?’; ‘Are the mixed methods strategies implemented effectively?’).

Analytical cohesion (i.e., ‘Do the inferences closely follow the relevant findings in terms of type, scope, and intensity?’; ‘Are multiple inferences made on the basis of the same findings consistent with each other?’).

Conceptual coherence (i.e., ‘Are the inferences consistent with theory and state of knowledge in the eld?’);

Explicative concurrence (i.e., ‘Are other scholars likely to reach the same conclusions on the basis of the same results?’; ‘Do the inferences match participants’ constructions?’).

Analytical uniqueness (i.e., ‘Is each inference distinctively more credible/plausible than other possible conclusions that might be made on the basis of the same results?’).

Combining efficiency (i.e., ‘Do the meta-inferences adequately incorporate the inferences that are made in each strand of the study?’; ‘If there are credible inconsistencies between inferences made within/across strands, are the theoretical explanations for these inconsistencies explored, and possible explanations offered?’).

Exploratory agreement (i.e., ‘Do the inferences correspond to the stated purpose/questions of the study?’; ‘Do the inferences made in each strand address the purposes of the study in that strand?’; ‘Do the meta-inferences meet the stated need for using a mixed methods design?’)

Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie (2003) present a seven-stage conception of the mixed methods data analysis process within the MMR model. These stages are respectively data reduction, data display, data transformation, data correlation, data consolidation, data comparison, and data integration. Data display, the second stage, comprises defining the qualitative data visually through charts, graphs, lists etc. and quantitative data through tables and graphs.

A literature review can be performed in seven steps (Fink, 2014, 3):

1. Identification of research questions. This step guides the review.

2. Selecting the databases and sources. There are numerous bibliographic or article databases, websites, and other resources that can be utilized.

3. Specifying the key terms. Key terms are the words that are used to search and get the related documents.

4. Applying practical screening criteria. Literature reviewer can set the criteria to include or exclude the documents from the review among the numerous articles.

5. Applying methodological screening criteria. Methodological criteria incorporate criteria for assessing scientific quality.

6. Doing the review. To ensure the reliability and validity of the literature review, a standardized form should be used for abstracting data from papers. Besides, reviewers should be trained for abstracting the data and pilot testing of the process should be reported.

7. Synthesizing the results. Literature review results may be synthesized expressively. An uncommon sort of synthesis-a metaanalysis involves the utilization of statistical results of two or more research.

The correct answer is Choice C.

Quantitative research, or also called scientific research method, is a way of obtaining information that provides the researcher with accurate and reliable data that is numeric in nature and has been obtained through testing or comparing ideas in the public arena. Quantitative research, as part of empirical research, enables to describe populations and phenomena in a detailed tradition based on figures or data, and enables the political scientist to make propositions out of relationships between two or more variables. Observation and experimentation are the strategies that can be employed to test an assumption or a theory. Observation is the most used strategy by political scientists for international relations, or other social sciences while experimentation is not that commonly used due to its nature of testing. For instance, in experimentation if the political scientist is interested in understanding the relationship of a political theory and humans social well-being, there needs to be two equivalent groups to understand the relationship or to verify the theory. Consequently, experimental research earns to be explained thoroughly and rigorously due to its complex nature of working with humans and the many social, cultural, anthropological, economic, political or historical factors that need to be considered in designing experimental research for social sciences. The correct answer is D.

Correlational studies enable the researcher to identify how one or a set of variables are related to another or enable the researcher to make predictions. Especially in the case where it is difficult to conduct an experimental study, the researcher can make use of the available data to analyze the relationships among different variables. Correlational research contradicts with experimental research in the sense that no variable is manipulated in this method. In the hypothetical example, the researcher is interested in exploring if there is a correlation between the number of daily study hour and school grades average.  Using scatterplots enable the researcher to see the regression line and interpret the correlation between these two variables of interest. The correct answer is B.

Causal comparative research which is also called as ex post facto (after the fact for Latin) attempts to determine the cause or consequences of differences that already exist between identified set of subjects. These sample variables (e.g. gender, personality traits, etc.) do not allow the researcher for manipulation and they attempt to explore causation. The correct answer is C.

Coverage refers to drawing samples form a list of irrelevant samples to represent the population. The correct answer is A.

Choice A has more than one objective. Choice B implies a preferred way to answer through a leading question. Choice C contains double negative expressions. Choice D is too technical. The best answer is E.

One of the earliest, yet most expensive approach could be the face-to-face interviews. It is advantageous in that it increases the likelihood for participation. However, it has the longest duration for data collection. The correct answer is D.

Research questions should be feasible so that there is available time, energy, and even sufficient budget to investigate them. For instance, rather than administering a questionnaire to the entire population, a random sampling strategy could be selected and generalized to the population. The correct answer is E.

In order to prepare good research questions or identify hypotheses it is essential to understand the difference between independent and dependent variables. Through an independent variable, a researcher can study its effect on one or more variables. Thus how the independent variable affects the dependent variable is studied. In the example, the daily amount of caffeine consumption of adults may or may not affect the blood pressure, but not vice versa physiologically. Thus, blood pressure is the dependent variable. The correct answer is A.

Variables can be defined as ‘quantitative variables’ and ‘categorical variables., Quantitative variables are mostly able to be divided into smaller chunks such as weight in kilograms, or height in centimeters, or age in numbers, or as magnitude of interest represented in figures like 1 for little interest or 5 for high interest, or 1 for disagreement and 5 for agreement. All those ratings hold a continuum in themselves and therefore are called quantitative. Categorical variables, on the other hand, are not varying in degrees, or amounts or quantity, they rather are part of a category such as gender, one is either male or female; or marital status, married, single, divorced, or other, or such as nationality, or school type, either public school or private school. The correct answer is B.

Convenience sampling does not enable the researcher to generalize the findings from the sample to the targeted population and it is the least suggested sampling strategy (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2010). In this situation the sampling strategy selected may cause internal validity threat because the sample the researcher reached may consist of a group of volunteers and they may feel to please the data collector and this is likely to cause bias related to the field studied, and the results will not be reliable. The correct answer is C.

When writing a structured abstract, consider the following sub-headings:

The correct answer is C.

The topic sentence is the main idea of each paragraph. It contains the focus of the paragraph and tells readers what the paragraph is going to be about. A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the paragraph is going to deal with. It is good to start a new paragraph with an argument or a claim. The correct answer is D.

While ‘arguing against,’ the verb indicates that the source is responding critically to another source or with the position you are advancing. Common signal phrases to introduce a quote, paraphrase, or summary for an ‘argument against’ include:

The correct answer is A.

APA style requires the use of the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research (Example: “Smith (1992) found…” or “Smith (1992) has found. The correct answer is D.

The method shows exactly how you conducted your research. It describes actions to be taken to investigate a research problem and the rationale for the application of specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information applied to understanding the problem, thereby, allowing the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall validity and reliability. The method section of a research paper answers two main questions: How was the data collected or generated? And, how was it analyzed? In general, we should provide detailed information on the research design/ model, research samples/participants, data gathering instruments/equipment, materials and procedure, validity and reliability of the research instruments and data analysis. Therefore, Elif is writing the Methodology section. The correct answer is E.