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Analyzing Basic Quantitative Research Design

The purpose of this assignment is to advance Ed D students’ knowledge and skills about

the research process as it applies to quantitative research designs. For illustration purpose, this

paper includes an overview of Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) research including the design,

methodology, and results. Education policy makers highly emphasize the importance of hiring

highly qualified teachers, especially since the passing of the No Child Left Behind law. In

addition, (to the extent possible), the Disabilities Education Improvement Act hold schools

responsible for implementing educational practices that include students with disabilities (SWD)

in regular classrooms (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010; Lucas & Frazier, 2014). Therefore,

the definition of “highly qualified teachers” includes skills and abilities needed to teach SWD

(Lucas & Frazier, 2014). Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) asserted that, “Pre-service teachers must be

armed with the tools necessary for addressing the increasing diversity within the public- school

classroom” (p. 1). As such, the purpose of their research was to explore and understand some of

the issues and problems that inexperience teachers might have when it comes to teaching special

needs students (e.g., those with intellectual, learning, and emotional disabilities) and culturally

diverse students in regular classrooms and, secondly, to recommend practical solutions.

Research

Design Research has two core categories: basic and applied. Researchers use the latter to

answer specific questions or to solve real-world problems. Best practice recommends conducting

studies in the settings where the phenomena occur, or in similar, naturalistic environments.

Comparatively, the primary aim of basic research is to expand scientific knowledge through

theoretical means, which excludes setting restraints (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010; Long,

2010). Lucas and Frazier (2014) used an applied framework to create a quasi-experimental
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nonrandomized control group posttest design. Except for excluding one or more components

(e.g., pre-post-tests, treatment and control groups, and random assignment of participants), the

frameworks are comparative to regular experimental designs. Researchers, in most cases, use the

design to evaluate the effects of intervention programs (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010).

Lucas and Frazier wanted to know what effects, if any, would a three-hours cultural diversity

course have on inexperience pre-service teachers’ attitudes about the inclusion of both students

with disabilities and culturally diverse students in standard classrooms. Their research foundation

was based on Lev Vygotsky’s theory of social constructivism, which included cognitive

dissonance, scaffolding, zone of proximal development, and psychological tools (e.g., written,

and oral communication skills).

This school of thought posits that students’ prior knowledge, experiences, and skills will

affect how they perceive new learning including positively or negatively. Lucas and Frazier

(2014), therefore, needed to know what current beliefs the participants had. Method The research

team conducted the study at a small private liberal arts university in North Carolina (general

Education classrooms), which included a survey of 110 students who were either enrolled in a

Teacher Education program or had declared it as their major and were either completing or near

completion of an introductory class on cultural diversity. Lucas and Frazier (2014) noted that of

the 110 respondents, 70% (77) were 18-25 years of age, 43% (47) had taken the service-based

introductory class in diversity, 60% (65) identified Elementary Education as their licensure area,

92% (101) identified as white/Caucasian, and 77% (85) were female. (p. 21).

It is relevant to note that the research subjects did not receive compensation for their

participation in the study. Researchers divided the participants into two group: Experimental

(Pre-service teachers who were completing or near completion of an introductory class on

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cultural diversity [course work and hands-on field experiences].) and control group (Students

who had not taken the class on cultural diversity and were randomly selected.). Deciding whether

to use randomization depends, in part, on consideration for participants (Çaparlar, & Dönmez,

2016). For example, in school settings, moving students around for randomization purpose could

pose disruptions in normal classroom activities. Variables. If an object, event, idea, feeling or

category can be measured, it can be labeled a variable, and there are two types: Independent and

dependent (Black, 2012; Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010). The latter, for example, is

changeable and the independent variable would have been the cause of or related to the change

(e.g., by implementing XYZ math intervention program, students’ standardized test scores

increased by 50%). In Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) study, diverse learners, some aspects of

participants’ background data, and the service-based introductory diversity course were labeled

independent variables. Research Participants were dependent variables, and gender, age, and race

were demographic variables.

Data Collection

Tools included a service-based diversity training course, a posttest design (to control for

pretest sensitization) rather than both pretests and posttest, a survey to gather demographic data,

and the Opinions Relative to Integration instrument (ORI) (designed to measures attitudes, has a

7-point Likert scale, and four subscale categories). Data Analysis. Researchers used an

independent samples T-test (means variations between the posttests the ORI and statistically

significant differences between means of the posttest and the 3 hours diversity course), the

Cronbach coefficient (instrument validity), and the Levene Homogeneity of Variance test, which

indicates if the assumption of equal variance is valid.

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Limitations

Lucas and Frazier (2014) noted that (a) the study relied too heavily on self-assessments,

(b) the sample size was small and convenience, (c) the sample participants lacked adequate

diversity, and (d) the attitudinal surveys had fewer questions than those of a similar nature.

Results Researchers suggested that the overall results showed that students who took the cultural

diversity course had some statistically significant differences in their attitudes and understanding

about potential benefits of including students with disabilities in regular classrooms than their

counterpart did. That demographic data played a significant role in some students’ resistance to

including students with disabilities.

However, the data had no effect on students’ attitudes about including diverse student

populations. The education communities could use their research findings, in part, to help

educators improve their knowledge about teaching diverse populations and students with

disabilities, to address problems related to the high turnover rate of teachers, and to address how

professional development programs could further advance teacher education.

Conclusion

The aim of this assignment is to identify and to discuss components of a quantitative

research design. For illustration purpose, the paper includes Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) article:

The Effects of a Service-Learning Introductory Diversity Course on Pre-Service Teachers’

Attitudes Toward Teaching Diverse Students Populations. Headings include the research design,

method, variables, data collection and analysis, limitations, and results.

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Resources

Black, T. (2012). Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated

approach to research design, measurement, and statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications.

Çaparlar, C. Ö., & Dönmez, A. (2016). What is Scientific Research and How Can it be

Done? Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, 44(4), 212–218.

Creswell, John W. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating

quantitative and qualitative research (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Lodico, M., Spaulding, D., & Voegtle, K. (2010). Methods in educational research:

From theory to practice (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). San Francisco:

John Wiley &Sons. Long, N. (2010). A personal connection to research: Survey

research. [Media]. Walden University:

Lucas, D., & Frazier, B. (2014). The effects of a service-learning introductory diversity

course on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward teaching diverse students’ populations. Academy

of Educational Leadership Journal, 18(2),91-124.