QUESTION 1: Discuss the three main approaches to research.

Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods are three approaches of research. Unquestionably,
the three approaches are not as discrete as they first appear. Qualitative and quantitative
approaches should not be viewed as rigid, distinct categories, polar opposites, or dichotomies.
Instead, they represent different ends on a continuum. A study tends to be more qualitative than
quantitative or vice versa. Mixed methods research resides in the middle of this continuum
because it incorporates elements of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Often the
distinction between qualitative research and quantitative research is framed in terms
questions (quantitative hypotheses) rather than open-ended questions (qualitative interview
questions).

Qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals
or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. The process of research involves emerging
questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participants setting, data analysis
inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making
interpretations of the meaning of the data. The final written report has a flexible structure.

Quantitative research is an approach for testing objective theories by examining the

relationship among variables. These variables, in turn, can be measured, typically on
instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures. The final
written report has a set structure consisting of;
introduction,
literature and theory,
methods,
results, and
Discussion.

Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry involving collecting both quantitative and
qualitative data, integrating the two forms of data, and using distinct designs that may involve
philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks. The core assumption of this form of
inquiry is that the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches provides a more
complete understanding of a research problem than either approach alone.

Question 2
The component involved in an approach

Philosophical world views: This is the basic set of beliefs that guide an action. They are ideas
that are hidden research and need to be identified in other to choose research method in a
research.
There are four major Philosophical world view
1. The Postpositivist Worldview - The postpositivist assumptions have represented the
traditional form of research, and these assumptions hold true more for quantitative
research than qualitative research. This worldview is sometimes called the scientific
method, or doing science research. Postpositivists hold a deterministic philosophy in
which causes (probably) determine effects or outcomes.

2. The Constructivist Worldview - Constructivism or social constructivism (often

combined with interpretivism) is such a perspective, and it is typically seen as an
approach to qualitative research. Social constructivists believe that individuals seek
understanding of the world in which they live and work.

3. The Transformative Worldview It holds that research inquiry needs to be intertwined

with politics and a political change agenda to confront social oppression at whatever
levels it occurs (Mertens, 2010). Thus, the research contains an action agenda for
reform that may change lives of the participants, the institutions in which individuals
work or live, and the researchers life.

4. The Pragmatic - Pragmatism is not committed to any one system of philosophy and
reality. It applies to mixed methods research in that inquirers draw liberally from both
quantitative and qualitative assumptions when they engage in their research. Individual
researchers have a freedom of choice. In this way, researchers are free to choose the
methods, techniques, and procedures of research that best meet their needs and
purposes.
Pragmatists do not see the world as an absolute unity. In a similar way, mixed methods
researchers look to many approaches for collecting and analysing.
Research Designs
The researcher not only selects a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods study to conduct;
the inquirer also decides on a type of study within these three choices. Research designs are
types of inquiry within qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide
specific direction for procedures in a research design. Others have called them strategies of
inquiry. The designs available to the researcher have grown over the years as computer
technology has advanced our data analysis and ability to analyze complex models and as
individuals have articulated new procedures for conducting social science research. #
Quantitative Designs

Question 5:
Researchers need to protect their research participants; develop a trust with them; promote the
integrity of research; guard against misconduct and impropriety that might reflect on their
organizations or institutions; and cope with new, challenging problems.
Question 6: What are the two main forms of hypothesis? Discuss with examples.

Hypotheses are used in 2 forms: (a) null and (b) alternative.

A null hypothesis represents the traditional approach: It makes a prediction that in the general
population, no relationship or no significant difference exists between groups on a variable.
The wording is, There is no difference (or relationship) between the groups. The following
example illustrates a null hypothesis.
Example: A Null Hypothesis
An investigator might examine three types of reinforcement for children with autism: (a) verbal
cues, (b) a reward, and (c) no reinforcement. The investigator collects behavioral measures
assessing social interaction of the children with their siblings. A null hypothesis might read as
follows:
There is no significant difference between the effects of verbal cues, rewards, and no
Reinforcement in terms of social interaction for children with autism and their siblings.
Alternative or directional hypothesis.
The second form, popular in journal articles, is the alternative or directional hypothesis. The
investigator makes a prediction about the expected outcome, basing this prediction on prior
literature and studies on the topic that suggest a potential outcome. For example, the researcher
may predict that scores will be higher for Group A than for Group B on the dependent
variable or that Group A will change more than Group B on the outcome. These examples
illustrate a directional hypothesis because an expected prediction (e.g., higher, more change) is
made. The following illustrates a directional hypothesis.
Example: Directional Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: Publicly traded firms will have higher growth rates than privately held firms.
Hypothesis 2: Publicly traded enterprises will have a larger international scope than state
owned and privately held firms.
Hypothesis 3: State-owned firms will have a greater share of the domestic market than publicly
traded or privately held firms.
Hypothesis 4: Publicly traded firms will have broader product lines than state-owned and
privately held firms.
Hypothesis 5: State-owned firms are more likely to have state-owned enterprises as customers
overseas.
Hypothesis 6: State-owned firms will have a higher customer-base stability than privately held
firms.
Hypothesis 7: In less visible contexts, publicly traded firms will employ more advanced
technology than state-owned and privately held firms.
Another type of alternative statement is the non-directional hypothesisa prediction is made,
but the exact form of differences (e.g., higher, lower, more, less) is not specified because the
researcher does not know what can be predicted from past literature. Thus, the investigator
might write, There is a difference between the two groups. An example follows that
incorporates both types of hypothese.

Example Non-directional and Directional Hypotheses

Sometimes directional hypotheses are created to examine the relationship among variables
rather than to compare groups because the researcher has some evidence from past studies of
the potential outcome of the study. For example, Moore (2000) studied the meaning of gender
identity for religious and secular Jewish and Arab women in Israeli society. In a national
probability sample of Jewish and Arab women, the author identified three hypotheses for study.
The first is non-directional and the last two are directional.
H1: Gender identity of religious and secular Arab and Jewish women are related to different
sociopolitical social orders that reflect the different value systems they embrace.
H2: Religious women with salient gender identity are less socio-politically active than secular
women with salient gender identities.
H3: The relationships among gender identity, religiosity, and social actions are weaker among
Arab women than among Jewish women.

Question 8