Jeff Patty

The major topic addressed in the qualitative article is centered around engaging students,
collaborative learning, and the success of teaching and learning when using mobile devices, such
as smartphones used for completing coursework. Additionally, the research attempted to provide
insight into students learning via mobile devices and how social media impacted the participants
in completing these tasks. The article on quantitative research, in contrast, was focused on
identifying the factors that enabled persistent learners to achieve while dropouts failed to
complete their pursuit of obtaining a degree. The studys research was aimed at finding key
differences in three important areas. The study looked at internal characteristics such as age,
gender, and educational level. The study also looked at external factors affecting potential
learners such as family and organizational supports. Finally, the study also examined possible
internal factors that might lead to dropouts such as satisfaction and motivation, particularly as
they relate specifically to these online courses.
The primary reference type used in the qualitative article was mainly from online sources, books,
dissertations, conference papers, websites, and contributions by individuals writing on the
various aspects of online learning, mobile computing, and social media. There were significantly
more resources used in the qualitative study. In contrast, the quantitative articles references
focused on educational journals and other higher education academic research sources. These
types of sources are typically more rigorous in terms of academic research, as a generality. Also,
the references in the quantitative study did not provide direct hyperlinks to their online sources.
In the qualitative study, the researchers intent for the study was described by a statement of
purpose in the introduction. Furthermore, the introduction also stated the primary research
question for this study. The qualitative article provides an explanation and background
framework of other supporting data, which provides a focus for the items to be analyzed in this
study. The quantitative article also provides the statement of purpose in the introduction for this
study. The quantitative article provides the reader with a background relating to the focus of this
study, explaining the need for additional research surrounding this very important topic to higher
education. The quantitative article also specified two research questions that would be
concentrated on during the study.
As for similarities, both research articles begin with an abstract and an introduction that outlines
the purpose of each study and a background surrounding each studys focus. This helps to
provide a framework for the studies to be conducted. In addition, both articles present a
statement of the problem and the research questions to be used in the studies. Both articles
utilized previous research and references to assist in providing a framework for their new studies,
although to a lesser extent with the quantitative study. Both the qualitative and quantitative
studies outline the specifics relating to the participants and how they will be identified and
utilized for the research components. Both articles present the methodologies for how the
studies will be conducted and data obtained. Each article presents a conclusion. Both articles
present the results of the study and attempt to relate their findings to previous research conducted
around the subject matter of these studies. Both studies utilized a large number of references to
aid in their research.

Although the research articles are organized in similar ways, there are multiple differences
between the presentations of the articles as well. The qualitative article has three more sections
prior to the methodology section than the quantitative article. These other sections of the
qualitative article include the review of literature. The authors of the quantitative article included
the review of literature in the introduction. The authors of the quantitative article explain their
results in statistical terms using tables, graphs, and numbers; however, the authors of the
qualitative article explain their results narratively. The qualitative article also includes several
quotes from their participants in the results section. The quantitative article has a subsection
included in the methodology section to explain the instruments it used to analyze results, while
the qualitative article does not. The qualitative article has a section for discussion and
implications prior to the conclusion, as well as an appendix to show the interview questions used
during data collection before stating the references. The qualitative article was much longer than
the quantitative article. The qualitative article also utilized a two-column format, while the
quantitative article presented the material in a traditional one-column page format. Additionally,
the qualitative article broke the content down into a narrative format with many sections
containing different labels and topics. The qualitative article generally provided more detail and
contained more cited examples to illustrate their findings. In contrast, the quantitative article
was written substantially utilizing scientific criteria. The quantitative article also utilized many
formulas, charts, and graphs to display the results, as opposed to the qualitative article that only
contained one small table. The two articles utilized different reference types to conduct their
analysis and provide research insight. The qualitative study utilized more traditional journals
and academic research backed sources while the quantitative study utilized more web related
sources for this purpose. The qualitative reference section also was presented in more of an APA
type of format, while the quantitative study was not. Both articles presented to the reader the
participant target audience for each study. The methods for collection and analysis of the data
were also detailed in each study. Finally, both studies presented their outcomes and attempted to
relate their findings to previous research findings.
The two articles utilized significantly different research design methods for these two studies.
The qualitative article utilized focus group interviews for data collection, while the quantitative
article used survey instruments to conduct their analysis. For the qualitative article, an inductive
analysis was used to determine patterns interpreted from not only analyzing participants answers
but also their non-verbal body language. The qualitative article presented their findings in
paragraph format, grouping their findings into a number of sections of generalizations that the
study revealed. The quantitative article utilized a completely different approach for their study.
Participants in this study were selected from a small number of online courses at one university.
These participants were emailed a survey questionnaire due to the geographic differences in
participant locations. Some of the questions in the quantitative survey were simple check box
answers, but others required the participant to relate their perceptions of various elements of the
online course experience. For these types of questions, the researchers employed a couple of
different data analysis tools, such as (MANOVA), chi-square, and two-way factorial design. The
quantitative article utilized complex formulas to present their findings in the forms of statistical
analysis, complex graphs, and charts.