A Comparative…

Quantitative Research: A Comparative Analysis

Victoria L. Howard

March 30, 2020

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ABSTRACT

Educational research utilizes experimental methods and designs that are in contrast to other
forms of research design and surrounding activities in other fields of study that allow educational
researchers to implement professional development systems for their teaching staff, their
administrative staff, and their school principals, while fostering improved learning experiences
for the students, and maintaining state, local and federal assessment requirements for their
perspective school districts. Knowing when the quasi–experimental design verses a true
experimental design’s usage would be most effective in retrieving the data necessary to
substantiate the modifications that the study’s inferences produce will help educators and their
policymakers shape learning models for today’s student and instructor base, while enduring the
inevitable changes in education in years to come.
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Introduction

The two peer reviewed articles chosen for this assignment discuss research and its effect on

school leadership and the professional development of school leadership in the classroom with

frameworks for a high-quality teaching model, representative of its data findings. The scholastic

articles chosen are, “Developing Tools for Research on School Leadership Development” and

“Instructional Technology Professional Development Evaluation: A High-Quality Model”.

The following articles will be also identified as article I and article II, for ease of flow and

understandability, as noted below:

Article I

“Developing tools for research on school leadership development”, (Showanasai, P., Lu, J., &

Hallinger, 2013)

Article II

“Instructional Technology Professional Development Evaluation: A High Quality Model”,

(Gaytan, J. A., & McEwen, B. C. 2010).

1. Discuss the purpose of the experimental/quasi-experimental research in the articles you

found.

Article I –

Examines in detail the professional development practices of today with emphasis of the

training utilized through computer simulation in comparison to other professional development

methodologies used to critique the learning and learning parameters of teaching leadership. The

area of particular focus within this article delved into by the researcher was studied for a better

understanding of current design disparities in school governance and headship, knowledge of

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gaps in the development of school leadership (Showanasai et at., 2013, p. 4), and the use of

prototypes virtually as tools in learning and research (Showanasai et at., 2013, p. 5).

Through the research methodologies and various experimental designs practiced and described in

this missive, the data collected was then analyzed to construct developing tools for research

practices with school leaders and the implementation and development of them professionally

(Showanasai, P., Lu, J., & Hallinger, 2013, p. 2).

Article II-

Examines current professional development writings and teachings to better understand

measuring and assessment methodologies used to gauge professional development learning

outcomes from instructional technology and its conceptual investigative results and findings used

previously in training practices; those currently in use, with an optimistic viewpoint based on the

results of varied experimental research initiatives, to improve future leadership development for

an improved leadership professional development template for training instructors and

educational staff members to ultimately improve student educational outcomes (Gaytan, J. A., &

McEwen, B. C. 2010, p. 1).

Understanding that there is limited data that has taken a closer look at the effect of these

practices used to quantify professional development learning results, this research project

approached the research design arena from an end user result of increased student learning verses

a linear examination from the research participants perspective and/or the expected outcome.

2. There are three weak designs that are occasionally used in experimental research. For

the article you selected that had a weak design, summarize these features of weakness

and explain how you would make stronger these specific issues.

Weak/why Article II –
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The ability to answer the research question(s) asked within the research model are the

fundamental bases for determining whether or not the research’s design is weak or strong

(Experimental research designs, 2014, p. 1). In examining article II, the pretest section of the

research design which encompassed participant’s perception and the weight and influences their

self-efficacy placed on the single-subject research method created a climate of doubt and

generality within study (Gaytan et al., 2010, p. 15). The posttest section of this one-group failed

to consider answering the questions surrounding what if any learning occurred in the classroom.

The One-Group posttest-only design failed to address why the volunteer participants volunteered

to partake in the study and why other teachers who needed the professional development

coursework did not volunteer, nor addressed the criteria for making a choice to learn improved

ways to introduce information technology instruction into their classrooms.

In summation, the three weakly designed flaws in the research project could have potentially

fostered another criteria segment verifying the importance of professionally developing one’s

educational career portfolio for the primary reason of this research initiative – to improve student

learning outcomes in the classroom. Also, to include the importance of each research participant

who chose to volunteer in the research project to emphasize the value of their nonprofessional

learning from external sources such as societal influences and everyday learning that occurs

during life and living. Lastly, posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups were a factor in

this project due to its lack of variety in participants and subject matter within the study (Gaytan

et al., 2010, p. 7), which was apparent as the researcher noted that each model failed to quantify

real student learning as a result of the professional development. Retooling the research models

design to include point of measure to track instructor learning and assessment practices,

certifying the professional development attained was actually incorporated into the teachers
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teaching process and style, and is student learning outcomes improved. Improving the

quantifying process would assist in the clarification of the research goals and if they were

achieved.

Strong Article I –

Essentially, it was determined through the effective design(s) of the research models and it was

discovered that an above average, relatively, well-designed computer simulations create a system

rather of sorts of “virtual reality” that challenges the human subjects who actively participated in

the studies to solve the apparent instructional and managerial issues within the school system

(Showanasai et at., 2013, p. 5). Thus, the design(s) of this article’s format for research and

discovery as the stronger of the two articles examined.

3. There are numerous threats to internal validity in all research. Discuss two such threats.

Provide examples to support your responses. Analyze the two research articles and

identify ways that the researchers avoided threats to internal validity in their study.

Support your answers with two references from your textbooks readings.

Article I –

The independent variable of this study/research conducted on the development of professional

development of the leadership of their school district shows internal validity threats throughout

the project via the control groups that were selected to participate in the study; the computer

simulation material, which had the ability to be manipulated. By that, an example of said

manipulation would be the different course material that would be loaded into the computer

simulation apparatus to provide the instructors (participants in the research) with data related to

the disparity that was being examined.

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A countermeasure to the manipulation of this material could have been managed if the

researcher/examiner selected video material representative of previous course material that did or

did not yield a deeper understanding of the subject matter in the professional development course

being taught to the teachers and school leadership. Through the manipulation of the material

being reviewed by the participating study group and the careful selection of the subject matter to

foster developing the school leadership including the administrators and the principals, the

researcher may have avoided a less than desirable reserve outcome (Fraenkel, Wallen, & Hyun,

2016, p. 177).

Article II –

Internal threats of professional maturation, the historical makeup of the volunteered

percipients, and improved research instrumentation were vaguely evident in article II as the

experimental methods were open to internal threats based on the frameworks criteria and

foundation for improving the professional levels of the instructors without a system to validate if

the education acquired would be applied in the classroom. The methods in which the research

tools were used posed threat to the project at the inception of the study (Fraenkel et al., 2016,

p. 170). The five-tiered model posed an additional threat to its validity and true experimental

worth, as its scientific efficacy was based on a research replicators ability to conduct the

experiment in sequential order (Gaytan et al., 2010, p. 7), including the use of questionnaires,

focus groups and interviewer self-efficacy.

4. Compare the research design of the strong and weak research studies you picked. What

makes the strong one better? Be specific and provide examples that are supported by

your course readings.

Article I –
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The dual forces of accountability and globalization that have shifted the professional

movement in education of administrators and educators was the framework upon which this

missive was benchmarked against, as were the various levels of developing tools used virtually

and simultaneously within the research projects. Although the evidence compiled resulted in

improved learning strategies for professionally developing educational staffers evidence from the

content designs of the experimental methods such as the quasi-experimental methods that

involved cross-cultural human subjects of Asian and American descent for example, left more

than its fair share of gaps on the project that could be manipulated to yield the researchers

intended and anticipated outcomes (Showanasai, P., Lu, J., & Hallinger, P. 2013, p. 14). The

researcher supports its own claims that their mixed methodologies utilized could influence the

efficacy of the experimental conditions of and within the research project through ploughing or

the insertion of superfluous variables such as maturation or historical information, thus

threatening and or compromising the internal validity of the research findings (Showanasai et al.,

2013, p. 15).

As mentioned earlier, in my opinion, the framework encasing this study and the methodologies

used were the stronger of the two articles, because of the resolve determined through the

strengths of this project and the effectiveness of the designs of the research models utilized. The

strength of this project was built into the research models with an above average, reliability

score; customized to emulate the computer simulations that currently exist within its system that

currently cultivate the environment of “virtual reality” that challenged the human subjects who

actively participated in the study to solve the disproportionate instructional and managerial

concerns within the school system (Showanasai et at., 2013, p. 5). Thus, the design(s) of this
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article’s format for research and discovery serve this report as the stronger of the two articles

examined.

5. Based on the conclusions of the weak study, what claims by the researchers could be

compromised as a result of the design’s shortcomings? Explain why these claims might

be insubstantial. What are some alternative explanations for their conclusions?

Article II -

Selecting a research design that would yield a more factual outcome with quantifiable figures

that would support the proposed $47.7 billion of dollars allocated for professional development

research, activities, certifications with measurable results that could be measured in the learning

improvements in accordance with the ever-increasing assessment requirements mandated at the

state and federal educational levels would have been a more viable approach for the researchers.

The one-group pretest-posttest design method for majority of the project which was voluntary

only produced 20 volunteers that gauged their professional knowledge and interest in learning

more on their current perceptions of themselves and self-efficacy, which according to the

researcher in article II was not the best method for examination in this case where there was little

documented information that the impact of professional development was evident in the

classroom (Gaytan et al., 2010, p. 7), as there was not a quantifiable timeframe allocated to

measure the research findings against.

Although there was a need for a more simplistic format for research conductivity that would be

basic in nature and would give a truer illustration of the impact of professional development of

the instructor who practiced information technology principles learned and utilized in student

learning arenas (classroom) this project’s participants, evaluation rubrics, and other tools, if more

effectively selected and applied, could have proven to be more useful (Gaytan et al., 2010, p. 6).
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Conclusion

The advantages of utilizing experimental design works effectively when the research criteria is

governed via experimental control and management for the purposes, as described in these two

scholarly articles to examine and understand historical and current professional developmental

scenarios, for various improvement models of simulation to facilitate change. Potential outcomes

have advantages and disadvantages that can potentially be misconstrued as improvements for

advancing student and instructional learning and learning systems. Through controlling the

extraneous variables the myriad of research results can propel education forward and achieve

instructional success.
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References

Experimental research designs. (2014). Retrieved from

http://iihsdphy.weebly.com/uploads/8/0/2/4/8024844/topic_4_experimental_research_des

igns.pdf

Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2016). The nature of research. In How to Design

and Evaluate Research in Education (9th ed., p. 12). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Education.

Gaytan, J. A., & McEwen, B. C. (2010). Instructional Technology Professional Development

Evaluation: Developing a high quality model.  Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 52(2), 77-94.

Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/763169028?accountid=34574

Kazdin, A. E. (1982). Single-case Research Designs: Methods for Clinical and Applied Settings.

Retrieved from Oxford University Press, USA website:

file:///C:/Users/Owner/Downloads/Attachment%20L%20-%20Strengths%20and

%20Limitations%20of%20the%20Single%20Subject%20Multiple%20Baseline

%20Design.pdf

Showanasai, P., Lu, J., & Hallinger, P. (2013). Developing tools for research on school

leadership development. Journal of Educational Administration, 51(1), 72-91.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09578231311291440