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READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14  which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Timekeeper: Invention of Marine Chronometer

Up to the middle of the 18th century, the navigators were still unable to exactly identify the position at sea, so they might face a great number of risks such as the shipwreck or running out of supplies before arriving at the destination. Knowing one’s position on the earth requires two simple but essential coordinates, one of which is the longitude.

The longitude is a term that can be used to measure the distance that one has covered from one’s home to another place around the world without the limitations of naturally occurring baseline like the equator. To determine longitude, navigators had no choice but to measure the angle with the naval sextant between Moon centre and a specific star— lunar distance—along with the height of both heavenly bodies. Together with the nautical almanac, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was determined, which could be adopted to calculate longitude because one hour in GMT means 15-degree longitude. Unfortunately, this approach laid great reliance on the weather conditions, which brought great inconvenience to the crew members. Therefore, another method was proposed, that is, the time difference between the home time and the local time served for the measurement. Theoretically, knowing the longitude position was quite simple, even for the people in the middle of the sea with no land in sight. The key element for calculating the distance travelled was to know, at the very moment, the accurate home time. But the greatest problem is: how can a sailor know the home time at sea?

The simple and again obvious answer is that one takes an accurate clock with him, which he sets to the home time before leaving. A comparison with the local time (easily identified by checking the position of the Sun) would indicate the time difference between the home time and the local time, and thus the distance from home was obtained. The truth was that nobody in the 18th century had ever managed to create a clock that could endure the violent shaking of a ship and the fluctuating temperature while still maintaining the accuracy of time for navigation.

After 1714, as an attempt to find a solution to the problem, the British government offered a tremendous amount of £20,000, which were to be managed by the magnificently named ‘Board of Longitude’. If timekeeper was the answer (and there could be other proposed solutions, since the money wasn’t only offered for timekeeper), then the error of the required timekeeping for achieving this goal needed to be within 2.8 seconds a day, which was considered impossible for any clock or watch at sea, even when they were in their finest conditions.

This award, worth about £2 million today, inspired the self-taught Yorkshire carpenter John Harrison to attempt a design for a practical marine clock. In the later stage of his early career, he worked alongside his younger brother James. The first big project of theirs was to build a turret clock for the stables at Brockelsby Park, which was revolutionary because it required no lubrication. Harrison designed a marine clock in 1730, and he travelled to London in seek of financial aid. He explained his ideas to Edmond Halley, the Astronomer Royal, who then introduced him to George Graham, Britain’s first-class clockmaker. Graham provided him with financial aid for his early-stage work on sea clocks. It took Harrison five years to build Harrison Number One or HI. Later, he sought the improvement from alternate design and produced H4 with the giant clock appearance. Remarkable as it was, the Board of Longitude wouldn’t grant him the prize for some time until it was adequately satisfied.

Harrison had a principal contestant for the tempting prize at that time, an English mathematician called John Hadley, who developed sextant. The sextant is the tool that people adopt to measure angles, such as the one between the Sun and the horizon, for a calculation of the location of ships or planes. In addition, his invention is significant since it can help determine longitude.

Most chronometer forerunners of that particular generation were English, but that doesn’t mean every achievement was made by them. One wonderful figure in the history is the Lancastrian Thomas Earnshaw, who created the ultimate form of chronometer escapement—the spring detent escapement—and made the final decision on format and productions system for the marine chronometer, which turns it into a genuine modem commercial product, as well as a safe and pragmatic way of navigation at sea over the next century and half.

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G . Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-G , in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1    a description of Harrison’s background

2    problems caused by poor ocean navigation

3    the person who gave financial support to Harrison

4    an analysis of the long-term importance of sea clock invention

5    the practical usage of longitude

Questions 6-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE                if the statement is true

FALSE               if the statement is false

NOT GIVEN     if the information is not given in the passage

6    In theory, sailors can easily calculate their longitude position at sea.

7    To determine longitude, the measurement of the distance from the Moon to the given star is a must.

8    Greenwich Mean Time was set up by the English navigators.

Questions 9-14

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 9-14 on your answer sheet.

9     Sailors were able to use the position of the Sun to calculate ……………………

10    An invention that could win the competition would lose no more than ……………………. every day.

11    John and James Harrison’s clock worked accurately without ………………………….

12    Harrison’s main competitor’s invention was known as ………………………….

13    Hadley’s instrument can use …………………………. to make a calculation of location of ships or planes.

14    The modem version of Harrison’s invention is called ……………………………

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-27  which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.  

Ancient People in Sahara

On Oct. 13, 2000, Paul Sereno, a professor from the University of Chicago, guided a team of palaeontologists to climb out of three broken Land Rovers, contented their water bottles and walked across the toffee-coloured desert called Tenere Desert. Tenere, one of the most barren areas on the Earth, is located on the southern flank of Sahara. According to the turbaned nomads Tuareg who have ruled this infertile domain for a few centuries, this California-size ocean of sand and rock is a ‘desert within a desert’. In the Tenere Desert, massive dunes might stretch a hundred miles, as far as the eyes can reach. In addition, 120-degree heat waves and inexorable winds can take almost all the water from a human body in less than a day.

Mike Hettwer, a photographer in the team, was attracted by the amazing scenes and walked to several dunes to take photos of the amazing landscape. When reaching the first slope of the dune, he was shocked by the fact that the dunes were scattered with many bones. He photographed these bones with his digital camera and went to the Land Rover in a hurry. ‘I found some bones,’ Hettwer said to other group members, ‘to my great surprise, they do not belong to the dinosaurs. They are human bones.’

One day in the spring of 2005, Paul Sereno got in touch with Elena Garcea, a prestigious archaeologist at the University of Cassino in Italy, asking her to return to the site with him together. After spending 30 years in researching the history of Nile in Sudan and of the mountains in the Libyan Desert, Garcea got well acquainted with the life of the ancient people in Sahara. But she did not know Sereno before this exploration, whose claim of having found so many skeletons in Tenere desert was unreliable to some archaeologists, among whom one person considered Sereno just as a ‘moonlighting palaeontologist’. However, Garcea was so obsessive with his perspective as to accept his invitation willingly.

In the following three weeks, Sereno and Garcea (along with five excavators, five Tuareg guides, and five soldiers from Niger’s army) sketched a detailed map of the destined site, which was dubbed Gobero after the Tuareg name for the area, a place the ancient Kiffian and Tuareg nomads used to roam. After that, they excavated eight tombs and found twenty pieces of artefacts for the above mentioned two civilisations. From these artefacts, it is evidently seen that Kiffian fishermen caught not only the small fish, but also some huge ones: the remains of Nile perch, a fierce fish weighing about 300 pounds, along with those of the alligators and hippos, were left in the vicinity of dunes.

Sereno went back with some essential bones and artefacts, and planned for the next trip to the Sahara area. Meanwhile, he pulled out the teeth of skeletons carefully and sent them to a researching laboratory for radiocarbon dating. The results indicated that while the smaller ‘sleeping’ bones might date back to 6,000 years ago (well within the Tenerian period), the bigger compactly tied artefacts were approximately 9,000 years old, just in the heyday of Kiffian era. The scientists now can distinguish one culture from the other.

In the fall of 2006, for the purpose of exhuming another 80 burials, these people had another trip to Gobero, taking more crew members and six extra scientists specialising in different areas. Even at the site, Chris Stojanowski, bio-archaeologist in Arizona State University, found some clues by matching the pieces. Judged from the bones, the Kiffian could be a people of peace and hardworking. ‘No injuries in heads or forearms indicate that they did not fight too much,’ he said. ‘And they had strong bodies.’ He pointed at a long narrow femur and continued, ‘From this muscle attachment, we could infer the huge leg muscles, which means this individual lived a strenuous lifestyle and ate much protein. Both of these two inferences coincide with the lifestyle of the people living on fishing.’ To create a striking contrast, he displayed a femur of a Tenerian male. This ridge was scarcely seen. ‘This individual had a less laborious lifestyle, which you might expect of the herder.’

Stojanowski concluded that the Tenerian were herders, which was consistent with the other scholars’ dominant view of the lifestyle in Sahara area 6,000 years ago, when the dry climate favoured herding rather than hunting. But Sereno proposed some confusing points: if the Tenerian was herders, where were the herds? Despite thousands of animal bones excavated in Gobero, only three cow skeletons were found, and none of goats or sheep found. ‘It is common for the herding people not to kill the cattle, particularly in a cemetery.’ Elena Garcea remarked, ‘Even the modem pastoralists such as Niger’s Wodaabe are reluctant to slaughter the animals in their herd.’ Sereno suggested, ‘Perhaps the Tenerian in Gobero were a transitional group that had still relied greatly on hunting and fishing and not adopted herding completely.’

Questions 15-18

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2? In boxes 15-18 on your answer sheet, write

15    The pictures of rock engravings found in. Green Sahara is similar to those in other places.

16    Tenere Desert was quite a fertile area in Sahara Desert.

17    Hettwer found human remains in the desert by chance.

18    Sereno and Garcea have cooperated in some archaeological activities before studying ancient Sahara people.

Questions 19-21

Answer the questions below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet.

19    What did Sereno and Garcea produce in the initial weeks before digging work?

20    What did Sereno send to the research centre?

21    How old were the bigger tightly bundled burials having been identified estimated to be?

Questions 22-27

Complete the notes below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet.

A comparative study of two ancient cultures

the Kiffian

—They seemed to be peaceful and industrious since the reseacher did not find 22 …………..……… on their heads and forearms.

—Their lifestyle was 23 ………………………

—Through the observation on the huge leg muscles, it could be inferred that their diet had plenty of 24 ………………………

the Tenerian

—Stojanowski presumed that the Tenerian preferred herding to 25 ………………….…..

—But only the bones of individual animals such as 26 …………..………… were found.

—Sereno supposed the Tenerian in Gobero lived in a 27 …………………….. group at that time

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Quantitative Research in Education

Many education researchers used to work on the assumption that children experience different phases of development, and that they cannot execute the most advanced level of cognitive operation until they have reached the most advanced forms of cognitive process. For example, one researcher Piaget had a well-known experiment in which he asked the children to compare the amount of liquid in containers with different shapes. Those containers had the same capacity, but even when the young children were demonstrated that the same amount of fluid could be poured between the containers, many of them still believed one was larger than the other. Piaget concluded that the children were incapable of performing the logical task in figuring out that the two containers were the same size even though they had different shapes, because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary phase. Critics on his work, such as Donaldson, have questioned this interpretation. They point out the possibility that the children were just unwilling to play the experimenter’s game, or that they did not quite understand the question asked by the experimenter. These criticisms surely do state the facts, but more importantly, it suggests that experiments are social situations where interpersonal interactions take place. The implication here is that Piaget’s investigation and his attempts to replicate it are not solely about measuring the children’s capabilities of logical thinking, but also the degree to which they could understand the directions for them, their willingness to comply with these requirements, how well the experimenters did in communicating the requirements and in motivating those children, etc.

The same kinds of criticisms have been targeted to psychological and educational tests. For instance, Mehan argues that the subjects might interpret the test questions in a way different from that meant by the experimenter. In a language development test, researchers show children a picture of a medieval fortress, complete with moat, drawbridge, parapets and three initial consonants in it: D, C, and G. The children are required to circle the correct initial consonant for ‘castle’. The answer is C, but many kids choose D. When asked what the name of the building was, the children responded ‘Disneyland’. They adopted the reasoning line expected by the experimenter but got to the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet with the wrong answers does not include in it a child’s lack of reasoning capacity; it only records that the children gave a different answer rather than the one the tester expected.

Here we are constantly getting questions about how valid the measures are where the findings of the quantitative research are usually based. Some scholars such as Donaldson consider these as technical issues, which can be resolved through more rigorous experimentation. In contrast, others like Mehan reckon that the problems are not merely with particular experiments or tests, but they might legitimately jeopardise the validity of all researches of this type.

Meanwhile, there are also questions regarding the assumption in the logic of quantitative educational research that causes can be identified through physical and/or statistical manipulation of the variables. Critics argue that this does not take into consideration the nature of human social life by assuming it to be made up of static, mechanical causal relationships, while in reality, it includes complicated procedures of interpretation and negotiation, which do not come with determinate results. From this perspective, it is not clear that we can understand the pattern and mechanism behind people’s behaviours simply in terms of the casual relationships, which are the focuses of quantitative research. It is implied that social life is much more contextually variable and complex.

Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have also inspired more and more educational researchers to adopt qualitative methodologies during the last three or four decades. These researchers have steered away from measuring and manipulating variables experimentally or statistically. There are many forms of qualitative research, which is loosely illustrated by terms like ‘ethnography’, ‘case study’, ‘participant observation’, ‘life history’, ‘unstructured interviewing’, ‘discourse analysis’ and so on. Generally speaking, though, it has characteristics as follows:

Qualitative researches have an intensive focus on exploring the nature of certain phenomena in the field of education, instead of setting out to test hypotheses about them. It also inclines to deal with ‘unstructured data’, which refers to the kind of data that have not been coded during the collection process regarding a closed set of analytical categories. As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes, instead of coding behaviour concerning a pre-determined set of categories, which is what quantitative researchers typically would do when conducting ‘systematic observation’. Similarly, in an interview, interviewers will ask open-ended questions instead of ones that require specific predefined answers of the kind typical, like in a postal questionnaire. Actually, qualitative interviews are often designed to resemble casual conversations.

The primary forms of data analysis include verbal description and explanations and involve explicit interpretations of both the meanings and functions of human behaviours. At most, quantification and statistical analysis only play a subordinate role. The sociology of education and evaluation studies were the two areas of educational research where-criticism of quantitative research and the development of qualitative methodologies initially emerged in the most intense way. A series of studies conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert in a boys’ grammar school, a boys’ secondary modem school, and a girls’ grammar school in Britain in the 1960s marked the beginning of the trend towards qualitative research in the sociology of education. Researchers employed an ethnographic or participant observation approach, although they did also collect some quantitative data, for instance on friendship patterns among the students. These researchers observed lessons, interviewed both the teachers and the students, and made the most of school records. They studied the schools for a considerable amount of time and spent plenty of months gathering data and tracking changes over all these years.

Questions 28-32

Look at the following statements or descriptions (Questions 28-32 ) and the list of people below. Match each statement or description with the correct person or people, A, B , C or D Write the correct letter, A , B , C or D , in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

Lists of People

A   Piaget B   Mehan C   Donaldson D   Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert

28    A wrong answer indicates more of a child’s different perspective than incompetence in reasoning.

29    Logical reasoning involving in the experiment is beyond children’s cognitive development.

30    Children’s reluctance to comply with the game rules or miscommunication may be another explanation.

31    There is an indication of a scientific observation approach in research.

32    There is a detail of flaw in experiments on children’s language development.

Questions 33-36

Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33    In Piaget’s experiment, he asked the children to distinguish the amount of ……………………… in different containers.

34    Subjects with the wrong answer more inclined to answer ‘………………………….’ instead of their wrong answer D in Mehan’s question.

35    Some people criticised the result of Piaget experiment, but Donaldson thought the flaw could be rectified by ……………………….

36    Most qualitative researches conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert were done in a …………………………

Questions 37-39

Choose THREE letters, A-F . Write the correct letters in boxes 37-39 on your answer sheet. The list below includes characteristics of the ‘qualitative research’.

Which THREE are mentioned by the writer of the passage?

A  Coding behavior in terms of predefined set of categories

B  Designing an interview as an easy conversation

C  Working with well-organised data in a closed set of analytical categories

D  Full of details instead of loads of data in questionnaires

E  Asking to give open-ended answers in questionnaires

F Recording the researching situation and applying note-taking

Question 40

Choose the correct letter, A , B , C or D . Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

What is the main idea of the passage?

A  to prove that quantitative research is most applicable to children’s education

B  to illustrate the society lacks of deep comprehension of educational approach

C  to explain the ideas of quantitative research and the characteristics of the related criticisms

D  to imply qualitative research is a flawless method compared with quantitative one

Reading Test 01

Reading test 03, answer reading test 02.

8. NOT GIVEN

9. local time

10. 2.8 seconds

11. lubrication

12. (a/the) sextant

14. marine chronometer

15. NOT GIVEN

19. a detailed map

20. the teeth/teeth of skeletons

21. 9000 years old

22. injuries

23. strenuous

24. protein

25. hunting

27. transitional

34. Disneyland

35. rigorous experimentation

36. grammar school

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Quantitative research in education Ielts Answers and Questions

The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions :

• IELTS reading matching headings
• IELTS academic reading diagram labelling
• IELTS reading matching sentence endings

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IELTS Reading Passage: Quiet Roads Ahead

Quiet Roads Ahead 

Road noise is becoming increasingly problematic. Automobile engineers have made great strides in reducing engine noise, but they have had less luck in other areas. More than half of the noise that automobiles make comes from the tires rolling over the road, and as road construction and vehicle sales continue to rise, especially in Asia and the United States, this is becoming a worldwide problem.

The World Health Organization warns that prolonged exposure to road traffic noise might cause health issues related to stress. In addition, road builders must shell out cash to establish sound barriers and install double glazing in residences where traffic noise is excessive. It’s more challenging to sell a home in a neighborhood with a lot of traffic and construction noise, and workers in those settings are less effective and productive overall.

The Netherlands, one of the most populous countries in the world, is home to scientists who are already at work on methods for making roadways quieter. The Dutch government has set a five-year goal of reducing traffic noise by an average of six decibels across the country. The idea, which was developed by Dutch mechanical engineer Ard Kuijpers, is both revolutionary and extremely promising. He set out to improve the material’s texture, hardness, and sound absorption.

A tire is more prone to vibrate and make noise over a rough surface. Heavy rollers are used by road crews to smooth down freshly laid asphalt, but Kuijpers has come up with a technique that he believes can result in the quietest road possible. It all comes down to a unique mould that’s 3 meters broad and 50 meters long, which is his little secret. Rolling over the asphalt with a heavy roller, rail-mounted equipment spreads the hot asphalt mixture into the mould. As it cures, the 10-millimeter-thick sheet will have a surface smoother than anything that can be made using more traditional techniques.

Then, he puts another layer beneath the asphalt to improve the road’s performance by making it hardwearing while still being soft enough to dampen vibrations. A layer of rubber 30 millimeters thick, along with stones slightly larger than those in the preceding layer, makes up this. Kuijpers compares it to a “big mouse mat,” which softens the pavement.

Since the pores in the road surface are a specified size, the size of the stones used in the two layers is crucial. The upper layers are just around 4 or 5 millimeters across, whereas the lower layers are roughly 9 millimeters across. According to Kuijpers, the tread (the indentations or ridges on the surface of a tire) can act as a sponge, soaking up any air that passes through it and therefore dampening any vibrations that might otherwise cause noise. Moreover, they facilitate water drainage, which can improve the road’s safety in wet conditions.

Despite the complexity of the production process, placing the surface is rather easy. It is rolled onto a drum that is 1.5 meters in diameter like a carpet as it leaves the mill. They unroll it and use bitumen to adhere it to the base on location. The white lines are added at the manufacturer as well.

The actual building of the structure employs a far more advanced method of noise reduction. It’s a concrete base with flask-shaped slots up to 10 mm wide and 30 mm deep, which are open at the top and sealed at the bottom to absorb noise. Similar to Helmholtz resonators, when sound waves of a certain frequency enter the top of a flask, they create resonances within, releasing their kinetic energy as heat in the surrounding concrete. Another crucial function served by the cavities is the removal of water that seeps through the upper surface. Waste will be flushed out, and the pores on the surface will remain clear, thanks to this circulation.

By adjusting the diameters of his resonators, Kuijpers has complete command over the acoustic signals they absorb. Given that various automobiles emit noise at various frequencies, this could be extremely helpful. Noise from car tires, for example, peaks at roughly 1000 Hz, whereas that from trucks drops to around 600 Hz. The frequencies absorbed by the concrete can be adjusted by altering the size of the Kuijpers resonators. The inside lane of a major highway is typically used by trucks, thus resonators installed there could be adjusted to absorb sounds at roughly 600 hertz, while those installed in other lanes could handle noise at higher frequencies caused by cars.

Kuijpers thinks he can reduce road noise by five decibels compared to the quietest roads available today. A one-hundred-meter stretch of his road has been tested on a highway near Apeldoorn, and the Dutch construction firm Heijmans is currently in talks with the Dutch government about selecting the site of the next roll-out road. The ultimate price tag will determine whether or not Kuijpers’ design is a financial success. Those who are disturbed by road noise, however, can look forward to quieter times in the future.

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IELTS Reading Questions: Quiet Roads Ahead

Questions 1-6

Reading Passage has ten paragraphs labelled A-J

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-J in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

• factors that should be taken into account when examining Kuijpers’ proposal.
• here we compile the various factors that contribute to road noise and try to explain them.
• a presentation of how Kuijpers’ road network material is transported.
• a broad statement regarding how people typically use their cars on key roadways.
• there are a number of monetary benefits to lowering road noise.
• demonstrating Kuijpers’ road-making process.

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Questions 7-9

Label the diagram below.

Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7-9 on your answer sheet.

Cross section of Kuijpers’ proposed noise-reducing road.

7. 33- ______________ 8. 34- ______________ 9. 35- ______________

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Questions 10-14

Complete the table below using the list of words (A-K) from the box below.

Write the correct letters in boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet.

Kujipers’ noise-reducing road: components and function

• frequencies
• dissipation
• sound energy

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Quiet Roads Ahead Reading Answers

1. J 2. C 3. G 4. I 5. B 6. D 7. Asphalt 8. 9 9. Concrete 10. C 11. B 12. I 13. E 14. D

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A Practical Guide to Writing Quantitative and Qualitative Research Questions and Hypotheses in Scholarly Articles

Edward barroga.

1 Department of General Education, Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Tokyo, Japan.

Glafera Janet Matanguihan

2 Department of Biological Sciences, Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA.

The development of research questions and the subsequent hypotheses are prerequisites to defining the main research purpose and specific objectives of a study. Consequently, these objectives determine the study design and research outcome. The development of research questions is a process based on knowledge of current trends, cutting-edge studies, and technological advances in the research field. Excellent research questions are focused and require a comprehensive literature search and in-depth understanding of the problem being investigated. Initially, research questions may be written as descriptive questions which could be developed into inferential questions. These questions must be specific and concise to provide a clear foundation for developing hypotheses. Hypotheses are more formal predictions about the research outcomes. These specify the possible results that may or may not be expected regarding the relationship between groups. Thus, research questions and hypotheses clarify the main purpose and specific objectives of the study, which in turn dictate the design of the study, its direction, and outcome. Studies developed from good research questions and hypotheses will have trustworthy outcomes with wide-ranging social and health implications.

INTRODUCTION

Scientific research is usually initiated by posing evidenced-based research questions which are then explicitly restated as hypotheses. 1 , 2 The hypotheses provide directions to guide the study, solutions, explanations, and expected results. 3 , 4 Both research questions and hypotheses are essentially formulated based on conventional theories and real-world processes, which allow the inception of novel studies and the ethical testing of ideas. 5 , 6

It is crucial to have knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative research 2 as both types of research involve writing research questions and hypotheses. 7 However, these crucial elements of research are sometimes overlooked; if not overlooked, then framed without the forethought and meticulous attention it needs. Planning and careful consideration are needed when developing quantitative or qualitative research, particularly when conceptualizing research questions and hypotheses. 4

There is a continuing need to support researchers in the creation of innovative research questions and hypotheses, as well as for journal articles that carefully review these elements. 1 When research questions and hypotheses are not carefully thought of, unethical studies and poor outcomes usually ensue. Carefully formulated research questions and hypotheses define well-founded objectives, which in turn determine the appropriate design, course, and outcome of the study. This article then aims to discuss in detail the various aspects of crafting research questions and hypotheses, with the goal of guiding researchers as they develop their own. Examples from the authors and peer-reviewed scientific articles in the healthcare field are provided to illustrate key points.

DEFINITIONS AND RELATIONSHIP OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

A research question is what a study aims to answer after data analysis and interpretation. The answer is written in length in the discussion section of the paper. Thus, the research question gives a preview of the different parts and variables of the study meant to address the problem posed in the research question. 1 An excellent research question clarifies the research writing while facilitating understanding of the research topic, objective, scope, and limitations of the study. 5

On the other hand, a research hypothesis is an educated statement of an expected outcome. This statement is based on background research and current knowledge. 8 , 9 The research hypothesis makes a specific prediction about a new phenomenon 10 or a formal statement on the expected relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable. 3 , 11 It provides a tentative answer to the research question to be tested or explored. 4

Hypotheses employ reasoning to predict a theory-based outcome. 10 These can also be developed from theories by focusing on components of theories that have not yet been observed. 10 The validity of hypotheses is often based on the testability of the prediction made in a reproducible experiment. 8

Conversely, hypotheses can also be rephrased as research questions. Several hypotheses based on existing theories and knowledge may be needed to answer a research question. Developing ethical research questions and hypotheses creates a research design that has logical relationships among variables. These relationships serve as a solid foundation for the conduct of the study. 4 , 11 Haphazardly constructed research questions can result in poorly formulated hypotheses and improper study designs, leading to unreliable results. Thus, the formulations of relevant research questions and verifiable hypotheses are crucial when beginning research. 12

CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Excellent research questions are specific and focused. These integrate collective data and observations to confirm or refute the subsequent hypotheses. Well-constructed hypotheses are based on previous reports and verify the research context. These are realistic, in-depth, sufficiently complex, and reproducible. More importantly, these hypotheses can be addressed and tested. 13

There are several characteristics of well-developed hypotheses. Good hypotheses are 1) empirically testable 7 , 10 , 11 , 13 ; 2) backed by preliminary evidence 9 ; 3) testable by ethical research 7 , 9 ; 4) based on original ideas 9 ; 5) have evidenced-based logical reasoning 10 ; and 6) can be predicted. 11 Good hypotheses can infer ethical and positive implications, indicating the presence of a relationship or effect relevant to the research theme. 7 , 11 These are initially developed from a general theory and branch into specific hypotheses by deductive reasoning. In the absence of a theory to base the hypotheses, inductive reasoning based on specific observations or findings form more general hypotheses. 10

TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions and hypotheses are developed according to the type of research, which can be broadly classified into quantitative and qualitative research. We provide a summary of the types of research questions and hypotheses under quantitative and qualitative research categories in Table 1 .

Research questions in quantitative research

In quantitative research, research questions inquire about the relationships among variables being investigated and are usually framed at the start of the study. These are precise and typically linked to the subject population, dependent and independent variables, and research design. 1 Research questions may also attempt to describe the behavior of a population in relation to one or more variables, or describe the characteristics of variables to be measured ( descriptive research questions ). 1 , 5 , 14 These questions may also aim to discover differences between groups within the context of an outcome variable ( comparative research questions ), 1 , 5 , 14 or elucidate trends and interactions among variables ( relationship research questions ). 1 , 5 We provide examples of descriptive, comparative, and relationship research questions in quantitative research in Table 2 .

Hypotheses in quantitative research

In quantitative research, hypotheses predict the expected relationships among variables. 15 Relationships among variables that can be predicted include 1) between a single dependent variable and a single independent variable ( simple hypothesis ) or 2) between two or more independent and dependent variables ( complex hypothesis ). 4 , 11 Hypotheses may also specify the expected direction to be followed and imply an intellectual commitment to a particular outcome ( directional hypothesis ) 4 . On the other hand, hypotheses may not predict the exact direction and are used in the absence of a theory, or when findings contradict previous studies ( non-directional hypothesis ). 4 In addition, hypotheses can 1) define interdependency between variables ( associative hypothesis ), 4 2) propose an effect on the dependent variable from manipulation of the independent variable ( causal hypothesis ), 4 3) state a negative relationship between two variables ( null hypothesis ), 4 , 11 , 15 4) replace the working hypothesis if rejected ( alternative hypothesis ), 15 explain the relationship of phenomena to possibly generate a theory ( working hypothesis ), 11 5) involve quantifiable variables that can be tested statistically ( statistical hypothesis ), 11 6) or express a relationship whose interlinks can be verified logically ( logical hypothesis ). 11 We provide examples of simple, complex, directional, non-directional, associative, causal, null, alternative, working, statistical, and logical hypotheses in quantitative research, as well as the definition of quantitative hypothesis-testing research in Table 3 .

Research questions in qualitative research

Unlike research questions in quantitative research, research questions in qualitative research are usually continuously reviewed and reformulated. The central question and associated subquestions are stated more than the hypotheses. 15 The central question broadly explores a complex set of factors surrounding the central phenomenon, aiming to present the varied perspectives of participants. 15

There are varied goals for which qualitative research questions are developed. These questions can function in several ways, such as to 1) identify and describe existing conditions ( contextual research question s); 2) describe a phenomenon ( descriptive research questions ); 3) assess the effectiveness of existing methods, protocols, theories, or procedures ( evaluation research questions ); 4) examine a phenomenon or analyze the reasons or relationships between subjects or phenomena ( explanatory research questions ); or 5) focus on unknown aspects of a particular topic ( exploratory research questions ). 5 In addition, some qualitative research questions provide new ideas for the development of theories and actions ( generative research questions ) or advance specific ideologies of a position ( ideological research questions ). 1 Other qualitative research questions may build on a body of existing literature and become working guidelines ( ethnographic research questions ). Research questions may also be broadly stated without specific reference to the existing literature or a typology of questions ( phenomenological research questions ), may be directed towards generating a theory of some process ( grounded theory questions ), or may address a description of the case and the emerging themes ( qualitative case study questions ). 15 We provide examples of contextual, descriptive, evaluation, explanatory, exploratory, generative, ideological, ethnographic, phenomenological, grounded theory, and qualitative case study research questions in qualitative research in Table 4 , and the definition of qualitative hypothesis-generating research in Table 5 .

Qualitative studies usually pose at least one central research question and several subquestions starting with How or What . These research questions use exploratory verbs such as explore or describe . These also focus on one central phenomenon of interest, and may mention the participants and research site. 15

Hypotheses in qualitative research

Hypotheses in qualitative research are stated in the form of a clear statement concerning the problem to be investigated. Unlike in quantitative research where hypotheses are usually developed to be tested, qualitative research can lead to both hypothesis-testing and hypothesis-generating outcomes. 2 When studies require both quantitative and qualitative research questions, this suggests an integrative process between both research methods wherein a single mixed-methods research question can be developed. 1

FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

Research questions followed by hypotheses should be developed before the start of the study. 1 , 12 , 14 It is crucial to develop feasible research questions on a topic that is interesting to both the researcher and the scientific community. This can be achieved by a meticulous review of previous and current studies to establish a novel topic. Specific areas are subsequently focused on to generate ethical research questions. The relevance of the research questions is evaluated in terms of clarity of the resulting data, specificity of the methodology, objectivity of the outcome, depth of the research, and impact of the study. 1 , 5 These aspects constitute the FINER criteria (i.e., Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, and Relevant). 1 Clarity and effectiveness are achieved if research questions meet the FINER criteria. In addition to the FINER criteria, Ratan et al. described focus, complexity, novelty, feasibility, and measurability for evaluating the effectiveness of research questions. 14

The PICOT and PEO frameworks are also used when developing research questions. 1 The following elements are addressed in these frameworks, PICOT: P-population/patients/problem, I-intervention or indicator being studied, C-comparison group, O-outcome of interest, and T-timeframe of the study; PEO: P-population being studied, E-exposure to preexisting conditions, and O-outcome of interest. 1 Research questions are also considered good if these meet the “FINERMAPS” framework: Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant, Manageable, Appropriate, Potential value/publishable, and Systematic. 14

As we indicated earlier, research questions and hypotheses that are not carefully formulated result in unethical studies or poor outcomes. To illustrate this, we provide some examples of ambiguous research question and hypotheses that result in unclear and weak research objectives in quantitative research ( Table 6 ) 16 and qualitative research ( Table 7 ) 17 , and how to transform these ambiguous research question(s) and hypothesis(es) into clear and good statements.

a These statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

b These statements are direct quotes from Higashihara and Horiuchi. 16

a This statement is a direct quote from Shimoda et al. 17

The other statements were composed for comparison and illustrative purposes only.

CONSTRUCTING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES

To construct effective research questions and hypotheses, it is very important to 1) clarify the background and 2) identify the research problem at the outset of the research, within a specific timeframe. 9 Then, 3) review or conduct preliminary research to collect all available knowledge about the possible research questions by studying theories and previous studies. 18 Afterwards, 4) construct research questions to investigate the research problem. Identify variables to be accessed from the research questions 4 and make operational definitions of constructs from the research problem and questions. Thereafter, 5) construct specific deductive or inductive predictions in the form of hypotheses. 4 Finally, 6) state the study aims . This general flow for constructing effective research questions and hypotheses prior to conducting research is shown in Fig. 1 .

Research questions are used more frequently in qualitative research than objectives or hypotheses. 3 These questions seek to discover, understand, explore or describe experiences by asking “What” or “How.” The questions are open-ended to elicit a description rather than to relate variables or compare groups. The questions are continually reviewed, reformulated, and changed during the qualitative study. 3 Research questions are also used more frequently in survey projects than hypotheses in experiments in quantitative research to compare variables and their relationships.

Hypotheses are constructed based on the variables identified and as an if-then statement, following the template, ‘If a specific action is taken, then a certain outcome is expected.’ At this stage, some ideas regarding expectations from the research to be conducted must be drawn. 18 Then, the variables to be manipulated (independent) and influenced (dependent) are defined. 4 Thereafter, the hypothesis is stated and refined, and reproducible data tailored to the hypothesis are identified, collected, and analyzed. 4 The hypotheses must be testable and specific, 18 and should describe the variables and their relationships, the specific group being studied, and the predicted research outcome. 18 Hypotheses construction involves a testable proposition to be deduced from theory, and independent and dependent variables to be separated and measured separately. 3 Therefore, good hypotheses must be based on good research questions constructed at the start of a study or trial. 12

In summary, research questions are constructed after establishing the background of the study. Hypotheses are then developed based on the research questions. Thus, it is crucial to have excellent research questions to generate superior hypotheses. In turn, these would determine the research objectives and the design of the study, and ultimately, the outcome of the research. 12 Algorithms for building research questions and hypotheses are shown in Fig. 2 for quantitative research and in Fig. 3 for qualitative research.

EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS FROM PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Descriptive research question (quantitative research)
• - Presents research variables to be assessed (distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes)
• “BACKGROUND: Since COVID-19 was identified, its clinical and biological heterogeneity has been recognized. Identifying COVID-19 phenotypes might help guide basic, clinical, and translational research efforts.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Does the clinical spectrum of patients with COVID-19 contain distinct phenotypes and subphenotypes? ” 19
• EXAMPLE 2. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Shows interactions between dependent variable (static postural control) and independent variable (peripheral visual field loss)
• “Background: Integration of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive sensations contributes to postural control. People with peripheral visual field loss have serious postural instability. However, the directional specificity of postural stability and sensory reweighting caused by gradual peripheral visual field loss remain unclear.
• Research question: What are the effects of peripheral visual field loss on static postural control ?” 20
• EXAMPLE 3. Comparative research question (quantitative research)
• - Clarifies the difference among groups with an outcome variable (patients enrolled in COMPERA with moderate PH or severe PH in COPD) and another group without the outcome variable (patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH))
• “BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in COPD is a poorly investigated clinical condition.
• RESEARCH QUESTION: Which factors determine the outcome of PH in COPD?
• STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed the characteristics and outcome of patients enrolled in the Comparative, Prospective Registry of Newly Initiated Therapies for Pulmonary Hypertension (COMPERA) with moderate or severe PH in COPD as defined during the 6th PH World Symposium who received medical therapy for PH and compared them with patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) .” 21
• EXAMPLE 4. Exploratory research question (qualitative research)
• - Explores areas that have not been fully investigated (perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment) to have a deeper understanding of the research problem
• “Problem: Interventions for children with obesity lead to only modest improvements in BMI and long-term outcomes, and data are limited on the perspectives of families of children with obesity in clinic-based treatment. This scoping review seeks to answer the question: What is known about the perspectives of families and children who receive care in clinic-based child obesity treatment? This review aims to explore the scope of perspectives reported by families of children with obesity who have received individualized outpatient clinic-based obesity treatment.” 22
• EXAMPLE 5. Relationship research question (quantitative research)
• - Defines interactions between dependent variable (use of ankle strategies) and independent variable (changes in muscle tone)
• “Background: To maintain an upright standing posture against external disturbances, the human body mainly employs two types of postural control strategies: “ankle strategy” and “hip strategy.” While it has been reported that the magnitude of the disturbance alters the use of postural control strategies, it has not been elucidated how the level of muscle tone, one of the crucial parameters of bodily function, determines the use of each strategy. We have previously confirmed using forward dynamics simulations of human musculoskeletal models that an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. The objective of the present study was to experimentally evaluate a hypothesis: an increased muscle tone promotes the use of ankle strategies. Research question: Do changes in the muscle tone affect the use of ankle strategies ?” 23

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESES IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES

• EXAMPLE 1. Working hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - A hypothesis that is initially accepted for further research to produce a feasible theory
• “As fever may have benefit in shortening the duration of viral illness, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response when taken during the early stages of COVID-19 illness .” 24
• “In conclusion, it is plausible to hypothesize that the antipyretic efficacy of ibuprofen may be hindering the benefits of a fever response . The difference in perceived safety of these agents in COVID-19 illness could be related to the more potent efficacy to reduce fever with ibuprofen compared to acetaminophen. Compelling data on the benefit of fever warrant further research and review to determine when to treat or withhold ibuprofen for early stage fever for COVID-19 and other related viral illnesses .” 24
• EXAMPLE 2. Exploratory hypothesis (qualitative research)
• - Explores particular areas deeper to clarify subjective experience and develop a formal hypothesis potentially testable in a future quantitative approach
• “We hypothesized that when thinking about a past experience of help-seeking, a self distancing prompt would cause increased help-seeking intentions and more favorable help-seeking outcome expectations .” 25
• “Conclusion
• Although a priori hypotheses were not supported, further research is warranted as results indicate the potential for using self-distancing approaches to increasing help-seeking among some people with depressive symptomatology.” 25
• EXAMPLE 3. Hypothesis-generating research to establish a framework for hypothesis testing (qualitative research)
• “We hypothesize that compassionate care is beneficial for patients (better outcomes), healthcare systems and payers (lower costs), and healthcare providers (lower burnout). ” 26
• Compassionomics is the branch of knowledge and scientific study of the effects of compassionate healthcare. Our main hypotheses are that compassionate healthcare is beneficial for (1) patients, by improving clinical outcomes, (2) healthcare systems and payers, by supporting financial sustainability, and (3) HCPs, by lowering burnout and promoting resilience and well-being. The purpose of this paper is to establish a scientific framework for testing the hypotheses above . If these hypotheses are confirmed through rigorous research, compassionomics will belong in the science of evidence-based medicine, with major implications for all healthcare domains.” 26
• EXAMPLE 4. Statistical hypothesis (quantitative research)
• - An assumption is made about the relationship among several population characteristics ( gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD ). Validity is tested by statistical experiment or analysis ( chi-square test, Students t-test, and logistic regression analysis)
• “Our research investigated gender differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of adults with ADHD in a Japanese clinical sample. Due to unique Japanese cultural ideals and expectations of women's behavior that are in opposition to ADHD symptoms, we hypothesized that women with ADHD experience more difficulties and present more dysfunctions than men . We tested the following hypotheses: first, women with ADHD have more comorbidities than men with ADHD; second, women with ADHD experience more social hardships than men, such as having less full-time employment and being more likely to be divorced.” 27
• “Statistical Analysis
• ( text omitted ) Between-gender comparisons were made using the chi-squared test for categorical variables and Students t-test for continuous variables…( text omitted ). A logistic regression analysis was performed for employment status, marital status, and comorbidity to evaluate the independent effects of gender on these dependent variables.” 27

EXAMPLES OF HYPOTHESIS AS WRITTEN IN PUBLISHED ARTICLES IN RELATION TO OTHER PARTS

• EXAMPLE 1. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “Pregnant women need skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, but that skilled care is often delayed in some countries …( text omitted ). The focused antenatal care (FANC) model of WHO recommends that nurses provide information or counseling to all pregnant women …( text omitted ). Job aids are visual support materials that provide the right kind of information using graphics and words in a simple and yet effective manner. When nurses are not highly trained or have many work details to attend to, these job aids can serve as a content reminder for the nurses and can be used for educating their patients (Jennings, Yebadokpo, Affo, & Agbogbe, 2010) ( text omitted ). Importantly, additional evidence is needed to confirm how job aids can further improve the quality of ANC counseling by health workers in maternal care …( text omitted )” 28
• “ This has led us to hypothesize that the quality of ANC counseling would be better if supported by job aids. Consequently, a better quality of ANC counseling is expected to produce higher levels of awareness concerning the danger signs of pregnancy and a more favorable impression of the caring behavior of nurses .” 28
• “This study aimed to examine the differences in the responses of pregnant women to a job aid-supported intervention during ANC visit in terms of 1) their understanding of the danger signs of pregnancy and 2) their impression of the caring behaviors of nurses to pregnant women in rural Tanzania.” 28
• EXAMPLE 2. Background, hypotheses, and aims are provided
• “We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate and compare changes in salivary cortisol and oxytocin levels of first-time pregnant women between experimental and control groups. The women in the experimental group touched and held an infant for 30 min (experimental intervention protocol), whereas those in the control group watched a DVD movie of an infant (control intervention protocol). The primary outcome was salivary cortisol level and the secondary outcome was salivary oxytocin level.” 29
• “ We hypothesize that at 30 min after touching and holding an infant, the salivary cortisol level will significantly decrease and the salivary oxytocin level will increase in the experimental group compared with the control group .” 29
• EXAMPLE 3. Background, aim, and hypothesis are provided
• “In countries where the maternal mortality ratio remains high, antenatal education to increase Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness (BPCR) is considered one of the top priorities [1]. BPCR includes birth plans during the antenatal period, such as the birthplace, birth attendant, transportation, health facility for complications, expenses, and birth materials, as well as family coordination to achieve such birth plans. In Tanzania, although increasing, only about half of all pregnant women attend an antenatal clinic more than four times [4]. Moreover, the information provided during antenatal care (ANC) is insufficient. In the resource-poor settings, antenatal group education is a potential approach because of the limited time for individual counseling at antenatal clinics.” 30
• “This study aimed to evaluate an antenatal group education program among pregnant women and their families with respect to birth-preparedness and maternal and infant outcomes in rural villages of Tanzania.” 30
• “ The study hypothesis was if Tanzanian pregnant women and their families received a family-oriented antenatal group education, they would (1) have a higher level of BPCR, (2) attend antenatal clinic four or more times, (3) give birth in a health facility, (4) have less complications of women at birth, and (5) have less complications and deaths of infants than those who did not receive the education .” 30

Research questions and hypotheses are crucial components to any type of research, whether quantitative or qualitative. These questions should be developed at the very beginning of the study. Excellent research questions lead to superior hypotheses, which, like a compass, set the direction of research, and can often determine the successful conduct of the study. Many research studies have floundered because the development of research questions and subsequent hypotheses was not given the thought and meticulous attention needed. The development of research questions and hypotheses is an iterative process based on extensive knowledge of the literature and insightful grasp of the knowledge gap. Focused, concise, and specific research questions provide a strong foundation for constructing hypotheses which serve as formal predictions about the research outcomes. Research questions and hypotheses are crucial elements of research that should not be overlooked. They should be carefully thought of and constructed when planning research. This avoids unethical studies and poor outcomes by defining well-founded objectives that determine the design, course, and outcome of the study.

Disclosure: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author Contributions:

• Conceptualization: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Methodology: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - original draft: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.
• Writing - review & editing: Barroga E, Matanguihan GJ.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research: Comparing the Methods and Strategies for Education Research

No matter the field of study, all research can be divided into two distinct methodologies: qualitative and quantitative research. Both methodologies offer education researchers important insights.

Education research assesses problems in policy, practices, and curriculum design, and it helps administrators identify solutions. Researchers can conduct small-scale studies to learn more about topics related to instruction or larger-scale ones to gain insight into school systems and investigate how to improve student outcomes.

Education research often relies on the quantitative methodology. Quantitative research in education provides numerical data that can prove or disprove a theory, and administrators can easily share the number-based results with other schools and districts. And while the research may speak to a relatively small sample size, educators and researchers can scale the results from quantifiable data to predict outcomes in larger student populations and groups.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research in Education: Definitions

Although there are many overlaps in the objectives of qualitative and quantitative research in education, researchers must understand the fundamental functions of each methodology in order to design and carry out an impactful research study. In addition, they must understand the differences that set qualitative and quantitative research apart in order to determine which methodology is better suited to specific education research topics.

Generate Hypotheses with Qualitative Research

Qualitative research focuses on thoughts, concepts, or experiences. The data collected often comes in narrative form and concentrates on unearthing insights that can lead to testable hypotheses. Educators use qualitative research in a study’s exploratory stages to uncover patterns or new angles.

Form Strong Conclusions with Quantitative Research

Quantitative research in education and other fields of inquiry is expressed in numbers and measurements. This type of research aims to find data to confirm or test a hypothesis.

Differences in Data Collection Methods

Keeping in mind the main distinction in qualitative vs. quantitative research—gathering descriptive information as opposed to numerical data—it stands to reason that there are different ways to acquire data for each research methodology. While certain approaches do overlap, the way researchers apply these collection techniques depends on their goal.

Interviews, for example, are common in both modes of research. An interview with students that features open-ended questions intended to reveal ideas and beliefs around attendance will provide qualitative data. This data may reveal a problem among students, such as a lack of access to transportation, that schools can help address.

An interview can also include questions posed to receive numerical answers. A case in point: how many days a week do students have trouble getting to school, and of those days, how often is a transportation-related issue the cause? In this example, qualitative and quantitative methodologies can lead to similar conclusions, but the research will differ in intent, design, and form.

Taking a look at behavioral observation, another common method used for both qualitative and quantitative research, qualitative data may consider a variety of factors, such as facial expressions, verbal responses, and body language.

On the other hand, a quantitative approach will create a coding scheme for certain predetermined behaviors and observe these in a quantifiable manner.

Qualitative Research Methods

• Case Studies : Researchers conduct in-depth investigations into an individual, group, event, or community, typically gathering data through observation and interviews.
• Focus Groups : A moderator (or researcher) guides conversation around a specific topic among a group of participants.
• Ethnography : Researchers interact with and observe a specific societal or ethnic group in their real-life environment.
• Interviews : Researchers ask participants questions to learn about their perspectives on a particular subject.

Quantitative Research Methods

• Questionnaires and Surveys : Participants receive a list of questions, either closed-ended or multiple choice, which are directed around a particular topic.
• Experiments : Researchers control and test variables to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships.
• Observations : Researchers look at quantifiable patterns and behavior.
• Structured Interviews : Using a predetermined structure, researchers ask participants a fixed set of questions to acquire numerical data.

Choosing a Research Strategy

When choosing which research strategy to employ for a project or study, a number of considerations apply. One key piece of information to help determine whether to use a qualitative vs. quantitative research method is which phase of development the study is in.

For example, if a project is in its early stages and requires more research to find a testable hypothesis, qualitative research methods might prove most helpful. On the other hand, if the research team has already established a hypothesis or theory, quantitative research methods will provide data that can validate the theory or refine it for further testing.

It’s also important to understand a project’s research goals. For instance, do researchers aim to produce findings that reveal how to best encourage student engagement in math? Or is the goal to determine how many students are passing geometry? These two scenarios require distinct sets of data, which will determine the best methodology to employ.

In some situations, studies will benefit from a mixed-methods approach. Using the goals in the above example, one set of data could find the percentage of students passing geometry, which would be quantitative. The research team could also lead a focus group with the students achieving success to discuss which techniques and teaching practices they find most helpful, which would produce qualitative data.

Learn How to Put Education Research into Action

Those with an interest in learning how to harness research to develop innovative ideas to improve education systems may want to consider pursuing a doctoral degree. American University’s School of Education online offers a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Education Policy and Leadership that prepares future educators, school administrators, and other education professionals to become leaders who effect positive changes in schools. Courses such as Applied Research Methods I: Enacting Critical Research provides students with the techniques and research skills needed to begin conducting research exploring new ways to enhance education. Learn more about American’ University’s EdD in Education Policy and Leadership .

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Table of Contents

The first area of criticism concerns the extent to which the results of ‘scientific’ educational research are valid. It has often been argued that, although the numerical evidence produced by such research has the appearance of being ‘ hard data’ of the kind used in the natural sciences, there are, in fact, fundamental doubts about its validity; about whether it represents accurately what it claims to represent. We can get a sense of these criticisms by looking briefly at the work of Piaget, mentioned earlier. Interestingly, this was not strongly quantitative in character, and it has been criticized by some for being insufficiently rigorous from an experimental point of view; reflecting, at least in part, a difference between Piaget and commentators on his work about the requirements of scientific research. This highlights the point we made earlier: that although it is convenient to refer to the ‘scientific method’, there is, in fact, a variety of interpretations of what is involved in a scientific approach to research and of how it should be applied to the study of human beings and their behaviours.

A Piaget carried out a number of experiments on the basis of which he developed the idea that children go through different stages of development, and that only when they have reached the necessary stage of development can they carry out the most advanced forms of cognitive operation. A famous experiment of his requiring children to compare the amount of liquid held by different shaped containers. The containers had the same capacity, and even when young children were shown that the same amount of liquid could be poured between the two containers, many claimed that one was larger than the other. Piaget’s interpretation of this was that the children were unable to perform the logical task involved in recognizing that the two containers, while different in shape, were the same in capacity; this being because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary stage. Critics of his work have questioned this conclusion, for instance, Donaldson. They raise the possibility that the children were simply unwilling to play the experimenter’s game, or that the children misunderstood what the experimenter was asking. These criticisms point to the fact, obvious enough, but important in its implications that experiments are social situations in which interpersonal interactions take place. The implication is that Piaget’s work and attempts to replicate it are not only measuring the children’s capacities for logical thinking, but also the extent to which they have understood what was required , their willingness to comply with these requirements, the experimenters’ success in communicating what was required, in motivating the children, etc.

B Similar criticisms have been applied to psychological and educational tests. For example, Mehan points out how test questions may be interpreted in ways different from those intended by the researcher. In all language development test, children are presented with a picture of a medieval fortress, complete with moat, drawbridge, and parapets and three initial consonants: D, C, and G. The child is supposed to circle the correct initial consonant C for ‘castle’ is correct, but many children choose D. After the test, when I asked those children what the name of the building was, they responded ‘Disneyland’. These children used the same line of reasoning intended by the tester, but they arrived at the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet showing a wrong answer does not document a child’s lack of reasoning ability; it only documents that the child indicated an answer different from the one the tester expected.

C Here we have questions being raised about the validity of the sort of measurements on which the findings of quantitative research are typically based. Some, including for example Donaldson, regard these as technical problems that can be overcome by more rigorous experimentation. Others, however, including Mehan, believe them to be not simply problems with particular experiments or tests, but serious threats to validity that potentially affect all research of this kind.

D At the same time, questions have also been raised about the assumption built into the logic of quantitative educational research that causes can be identified by physical and/or statistical manipulation of variables. Critics suggest that this fails to take account of the very nature of human social life, assuming it to consist of fixed, mechanical causal relationships, whereas in fact it involves complex processes of interpretation and negotiation that do not have determinate outcomes. From this point of view, it is not clear that we can understand why people do what they do in terms of the simple sorts of causal relationships on which quantitative research focuses. Social life, it is suggested, is much more contextually variable and complex.

E Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have been the stimulus for an increasing number of educational researchers, over the past thirty or forty years, to adopt more qualitative approaches. These researchers have generally rejected attempts to measure and control variables experimentally or statistically. Qualitative research can take many forms; loosely indicated by such terms as ‘ethnography’, ‘case study’, ‘participant observation’, ‘life history’, ‘unstructured interviewing’, ‘discourse analysis’, etc. In general, though, it has the following characteristics:

F A strong emphasis on exploring the nature of particular educational phenomena, rather than setting out to test hypotheses about them. A tendency to work with ‘unstructured data’: that is, data that have not been coded at the point of collection in terms of a closed set of analytical categories. When engaging in observation, qualitative researchers therefore audio-or video-record what happens or write detailed open-ended field-notes, rather than coding behaviour in terms of a predefined set of categories, as would a quantitative researcher employing ‘systematic observation’. Similarly when interviewing, open-ended questions will be asked rather than questions requiring predefined answers of the kind typical, for example, of postal questionnaires. In fact, qualitative interviews are often designed to be close in character to casual conversations.

G Typically, a small number of cases will be investigated in detail, rather than any attempt being made to cover a large number, as would be the case in most quantitative research, such as systematic observational studies or social surveys. The analysis of the data involves explicit interpretations of the meanings and functions of human actions, and mainly takes the form of verbal descriptions and explanations. Quantification and statistical analysis play a subordinate role at most. The two areas of educational research where criticism of quantitative research and the development of qualitative approaches initially emerged most strongly were the sociology of education and evaluation studies. The trend towards qualitative research in the sociology of education began in the UK in the l960s with studies of a boys’ grammar school, a boys’ secondary modern school, and a girls’ grammar school by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambart. They employed an ethnographic or participant observation approach, though they also collected some quantitative data on, for example, friendship patterns among the pupils. These researchers observed lessons, interviewed teachers and pupils, and drew on school records. They studied the schools for relatively long periods, spending many months collecting data and tracing changes over time.

Questions 14-17  Use the information in the passage to match the people(listed A-C) with experiment or explanation below. Write the appropriate letters A-C in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet.

C Donaldson

14 a wrong answer indicate more of a child’s different perspective than incompetence in reasoning.

15 logical reasoning involving in the experiments is beyond children’s cognitive development.

16 Children’s reluctance to comply with game rules or miscommunication may be another explanation.

17 Kinds of experiments or tests are flawed essentially and will not justify by a more rigorous approach.

Questions 18-21 Complete the following summary of the paragraphs of Reading Passage, using no more than two words from the Reading Passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.

 Quantitative research in education has sparked debate that whether it is 18 ………………. in scientific area. Piaget’s experiment involved on children’s steps on development, which used equal amount of 19 ………………. in a couple of containers, to test if student would be able to judge their size. Another quantitative research was carried out by Mehan, he showed children a 20 ………………. , and requested children to make answers, but ultimately most of them failed. In 1960s, another method emerged along with quantitative research, 21 ………………. in the UK were taken as experiment sites in application of the combined approach.

Questions 22-24 Choose the correct letter, A to F. Write your answers in boxes 22-24 on your answer sheet. Choose THREE correct statements of “qualitative research” features below:

A work with well-organised data in a closed set of analytical categories

B record researching situations and apply note taking

C design the interview to be in an atmosphere like easy conversation

D questionnaires full with details instead of loads of data

 E questionnaires full of requiring open-ended answers

F code behaviour in terms of a predefined set of categories

Question25 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 25 on your answer sheet.

What is the main idea of this passage?

A to educate children that quantitative research are most applicable

B to illustrate the society lack of deep comprehension of educational approach

C to explain that quantitative research ideas, characteristics from related criticisms

D to imply that qualitative research is a flawless method compared with quantitative one

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Quantitative and Qualitative Research

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Quantitative methodology is the dominant research framework in the social sciences. It refers to a set of strategies, techniques and assumptions used to study psychological, social and economic processes through the exploration of numeric patterns . Quantitative research gathers a range of numeric data. Some of the numeric data is intrinsically quantitative (e.g. personal income), while in other cases the numeric structure is  imposed (e.g. ‘On a scale from 1 to 10, how depressed did you feel last week?’). The collection of quantitative information allows researchers to conduct simple to extremely sophisticated statistical analyses that aggregate the data (e.g. averages, percentages), show relationships among the data (e.g. ‘Students with lower grade point averages tend to score lower on a depression scale’) or compare across aggregated data (e.g. the USA has a higher gross domestic product than Spain). Quantitative research includes methodologies such as questionnaires, structured observations or experiments and stands in contrast to qualitative research. Qualitative research involves the collection and analysis of narratives and/or open-ended observations through methodologies such as interviews, focus groups or ethnographies.

Coghlan, D., Brydon-Miller, M. (2014).  The SAGE encyclopedia of action research  (Vols. 1-2). London, : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781446294406

What is the purpose of quantitative research?

The purpose of quantitative research is to generate knowledge and create understanding about the social world. Quantitative research is used by social scientists, including communication researchers, to observe phenomena or occurrences affecting individuals. Social scientists are concerned with the study of people. Quantitative research is a way to learn about a particular group of people, known as a sample population. Using scientific inquiry, quantitative research relies on data that are observed or measured to examine questions about the sample population.

Allen, M. (2017).  The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods  (Vols. 1-4). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc doi: 10.4135/9781483381411

How do I know if the study is a quantitative design?  What type of quantitative study is it?

Quantitative Research Designs: Descriptive non-experimental, Quasi-experimental or Experimental?

Studies do not always explicitly state what kind of research design is being used.  You will need to know how to decipher which design type is used.  The following video will help you determine the quantitative design type.

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When Does a Researcher Choose a Quantitative, Qualitative, or Mixed Research Approach?

• Published: 26 November 2021
• Volume 53 , pages 113–131, ( 2022 )

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In educational studies, the paradigm war over quantitative and qualitative research approaches has raged for more than half a century. The focus in the late twentieth century was on the distinction between the two approaches, and the motivation was to retain one of the approaches’ supremacy. Since the early twenty-first century, there has been a growing interest in situating in the middle position and combining both approaches into a single study or a series of studies. Despite these signs of progress, when it comes to using the appropriate research approach at the right time, beginner educational researchers remain perplexed. This paper, therefore, provides useful guidelines that facilitate the choice of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research approaches in educational inquiry. To achieve this objective, this article comprises three distinct and underlying areas of interest, which have been structured into three sections. The first section highlights the distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. The second section discusses the paradigm views that underpin the choice of a particular research approach. Finally, an effort has been made to determine the appropriate time to opt for any of the research approaches that facilitate successful educational investigations. Since truth and the means used to discover it are both dynamic, it is also essential to foresight innovative approaches to research with distinguishing features of applications to educational research.

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Home » Quantitative Research – Methods, Types and Analysis

Quantitative Research – Methods, Types and Analysis

Table of Contents

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is a type of research that collects and analyzes numerical data to test hypotheses and answer research questions . This research typically involves a large sample size and uses statistical analysis to make inferences about a population based on the data collected. It often involves the use of surveys, experiments, or other structured data collection methods to gather quantitative data.

Quantitative Research Methods

Quantitative Research Methods are as follows:

Descriptive Research Design

Descriptive research design is used to describe the characteristics of a population or phenomenon being studied. This research method is used to answer the questions of what, where, when, and how. Descriptive research designs use a variety of methods such as observation, case studies, and surveys to collect data. The data is then analyzed using statistical tools to identify patterns and relationships.

Correlational Research Design

Correlational research design is used to investigate the relationship between two or more variables. Researchers use correlational research to determine whether a relationship exists between variables and to what extent they are related. This research method involves collecting data from a sample and analyzing it using statistical tools such as correlation coefficients.

Quasi-experimental Research Design

Quasi-experimental research design is used to investigate cause-and-effect relationships between variables. This research method is similar to experimental research design, but it lacks full control over the independent variable. Researchers use quasi-experimental research designs when it is not feasible or ethical to manipulate the independent variable.

Experimental Research Design

Experimental research design is used to investigate cause-and-effect relationships between variables. This research method involves manipulating the independent variable and observing the effects on the dependent variable. Researchers use experimental research designs to test hypotheses and establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Survey Research

Survey research involves collecting data from a sample of individuals using a standardized questionnaire. This research method is used to gather information on attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals. Researchers use survey research to collect data quickly and efficiently from a large sample size. Survey research can be conducted through various methods such as online, phone, mail, or in-person interviews.

Quantitative Research Analysis Methods

Here are some commonly used quantitative research analysis methods:

Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis is the most common quantitative research analysis method. It involves using statistical tools and techniques to analyze the numerical data collected during the research process. Statistical analysis can be used to identify patterns, trends, and relationships between variables, and to test hypotheses and theories.

Regression Analysis

Regression analysis is a statistical technique used to analyze the relationship between one dependent variable and one or more independent variables. Researchers use regression analysis to identify and quantify the impact of independent variables on the dependent variable.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis is a statistical technique used to identify underlying factors that explain the correlations among a set of variables. Researchers use factor analysis to reduce a large number of variables to a smaller set of factors that capture the most important information.

Structural Equation Modeling

Structural equation modeling is a statistical technique used to test complex relationships between variables. It involves specifying a model that includes both observed and unobserved variables, and then using statistical methods to test the fit of the model to the data.

Time Series Analysis

Time series analysis is a statistical technique used to analyze data that is collected over time. It involves identifying patterns and trends in the data, as well as any seasonal or cyclical variations.

Multilevel Modeling

Multilevel modeling is a statistical technique used to analyze data that is nested within multiple levels. For example, researchers might use multilevel modeling to analyze data that is collected from individuals who are nested within groups, such as students nested within schools.

Applications of Quantitative Research

Quantitative research has many applications across a wide range of fields. Here are some common examples:

• Market Research : Quantitative research is used extensively in market research to understand consumer behavior, preferences, and trends. Researchers use surveys, experiments, and other quantitative methods to collect data that can inform marketing strategies, product development, and pricing decisions.
• Health Research: Quantitative research is used in health research to study the effectiveness of medical treatments, identify risk factors for diseases, and track health outcomes over time. Researchers use statistical methods to analyze data from clinical trials, surveys, and other sources to inform medical practice and policy.
• Social Science Research: Quantitative research is used in social science research to study human behavior, attitudes, and social structures. Researchers use surveys, experiments, and other quantitative methods to collect data that can inform social policies, educational programs, and community interventions.
• Education Research: Quantitative research is used in education research to study the effectiveness of teaching methods, assess student learning outcomes, and identify factors that influence student success. Researchers use experimental and quasi-experimental designs, as well as surveys and other quantitative methods, to collect and analyze data.
• Environmental Research: Quantitative research is used in environmental research to study the impact of human activities on the environment, assess the effectiveness of conservation strategies, and identify ways to reduce environmental risks. Researchers use statistical methods to analyze data from field studies, experiments, and other sources.

Characteristics of Quantitative Research

Here are some key characteristics of quantitative research:

• Numerical data : Quantitative research involves collecting numerical data through standardized methods such as surveys, experiments, and observational studies. This data is analyzed using statistical methods to identify patterns and relationships.
• Large sample size: Quantitative research often involves collecting data from a large sample of individuals or groups in order to increase the reliability and generalizability of the findings.
• Objective approach: Quantitative research aims to be objective and impartial in its approach, focusing on the collection and analysis of data rather than personal beliefs, opinions, or experiences.
• Control over variables: Quantitative research often involves manipulating variables to test hypotheses and establish cause-and-effect relationships. Researchers aim to control for extraneous variables that may impact the results.
• Replicable : Quantitative research aims to be replicable, meaning that other researchers should be able to conduct similar studies and obtain similar results using the same methods.
• Statistical analysis: Quantitative research involves using statistical tools and techniques to analyze the numerical data collected during the research process. Statistical analysis allows researchers to identify patterns, trends, and relationships between variables, and to test hypotheses and theories.
• Generalizability: Quantitative research aims to produce findings that can be generalized to larger populations beyond the specific sample studied. This is achieved through the use of random sampling methods and statistical inference.

Examples of Quantitative Research

Here are some examples of quantitative research in different fields:

• Market Research: A company conducts a survey of 1000 consumers to determine their brand awareness and preferences. The data is analyzed using statistical methods to identify trends and patterns that can inform marketing strategies.
• Health Research : A researcher conducts a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a new drug for treating a particular medical condition. The study involves collecting data from a large sample of patients and analyzing the results using statistical methods.
• Social Science Research : A sociologist conducts a survey of 500 people to study attitudes toward immigration in a particular country. The data is analyzed using statistical methods to identify factors that influence these attitudes.
• Education Research: A researcher conducts an experiment to compare the effectiveness of two different teaching methods for improving student learning outcomes. The study involves randomly assigning students to different groups and collecting data on their performance on standardized tests.
• Environmental Research : A team of researchers conduct a study to investigate the impact of climate change on the distribution and abundance of a particular species of plant or animal. The study involves collecting data on environmental factors and population sizes over time and analyzing the results using statistical methods.
• Psychology : A researcher conducts a survey of 500 college students to investigate the relationship between social media use and mental health. The data is analyzed using statistical methods to identify correlations and potential causal relationships.
• Political Science: A team of researchers conducts a study to investigate voter behavior during an election. They use survey methods to collect data on voting patterns, demographics, and political attitudes, and analyze the results using statistical methods.

How to Conduct Quantitative Research

Here is a general overview of how to conduct quantitative research:

• Develop a research question: The first step in conducting quantitative research is to develop a clear and specific research question. This question should be based on a gap in existing knowledge, and should be answerable using quantitative methods.
• Develop a research design: Once you have a research question, you will need to develop a research design. This involves deciding on the appropriate methods to collect data, such as surveys, experiments, or observational studies. You will also need to determine the appropriate sample size, data collection instruments, and data analysis techniques.
• Collect data: The next step is to collect data. This may involve administering surveys or questionnaires, conducting experiments, or gathering data from existing sources. It is important to use standardized methods to ensure that the data is reliable and valid.
• Analyze data : Once the data has been collected, it is time to analyze it. This involves using statistical methods to identify patterns, trends, and relationships between variables. Common statistical techniques include correlation analysis, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing.
• Interpret results: After analyzing the data, you will need to interpret the results. This involves identifying the key findings, determining their significance, and drawing conclusions based on the data.
• Communicate findings: Finally, you will need to communicate your findings. This may involve writing a research report, presenting at a conference, or publishing in a peer-reviewed journal. It is important to clearly communicate the research question, methods, results, and conclusions to ensure that others can understand and replicate your research.

When to use Quantitative Research

Here are some situations when quantitative research can be appropriate:

• To test a hypothesis: Quantitative research is often used to test a hypothesis or a theory. It involves collecting numerical data and using statistical analysis to determine if the data supports or refutes the hypothesis.
• To generalize findings: If you want to generalize the findings of your study to a larger population, quantitative research can be useful. This is because it allows you to collect numerical data from a representative sample of the population and use statistical analysis to make inferences about the population as a whole.
• To measure relationships between variables: If you want to measure the relationship between two or more variables, such as the relationship between age and income, or between education level and job satisfaction, quantitative research can be useful. It allows you to collect numerical data on both variables and use statistical analysis to determine the strength and direction of the relationship.
• To identify patterns or trends: Quantitative research can be useful for identifying patterns or trends in data. For example, you can use quantitative research to identify trends in consumer behavior or to identify patterns in stock market data.
• To quantify attitudes or opinions : If you want to measure attitudes or opinions on a particular topic, quantitative research can be useful. It allows you to collect numerical data using surveys or questionnaires and analyze the data using statistical methods to determine the prevalence of certain attitudes or opinions.

Purpose of Quantitative Research

The purpose of quantitative research is to systematically investigate and measure the relationships between variables or phenomena using numerical data and statistical analysis. The main objectives of quantitative research include:

• Description : To provide a detailed and accurate description of a particular phenomenon or population.
• Explanation : To explain the reasons for the occurrence of a particular phenomenon, such as identifying the factors that influence a behavior or attitude.
• Prediction : To predict future trends or behaviors based on past patterns and relationships between variables.
• Control : To identify the best strategies for controlling or influencing a particular outcome or behavior.

Quantitative research is used in many different fields, including social sciences, business, engineering, and health sciences. It can be used to investigate a wide range of phenomena, from human behavior and attitudes to physical and biological processes. The purpose of quantitative research is to provide reliable and valid data that can be used to inform decision-making and improve understanding of the world around us.

Advantages of Quantitative Research

There are several advantages of quantitative research, including:

• Objectivity : Quantitative research is based on objective data and statistical analysis, which reduces the potential for bias or subjectivity in the research process.
• Reproducibility : Because quantitative research involves standardized methods and measurements, it is more likely to be reproducible and reliable.
• Generalizability : Quantitative research allows for generalizations to be made about a population based on a representative sample, which can inform decision-making and policy development.
• Precision : Quantitative research allows for precise measurement and analysis of data, which can provide a more accurate understanding of phenomena and relationships between variables.
• Efficiency : Quantitative research can be conducted relatively quickly and efficiently, especially when compared to qualitative research, which may involve lengthy data collection and analysis.
• Large sample sizes : Quantitative research can accommodate large sample sizes, which can increase the representativeness and generalizability of the results.

Limitations of Quantitative Research

There are several limitations of quantitative research, including:

• Limited understanding of context: Quantitative research typically focuses on numerical data and statistical analysis, which may not provide a comprehensive understanding of the context or underlying factors that influence a phenomenon.
• Simplification of complex phenomena: Quantitative research often involves simplifying complex phenomena into measurable variables, which may not capture the full complexity of the phenomenon being studied.
• Potential for researcher bias: Although quantitative research aims to be objective, there is still the potential for researcher bias in areas such as sampling, data collection, and data analysis.
• Limited ability to explore new ideas: Quantitative research is often based on pre-determined research questions and hypotheses, which may limit the ability to explore new ideas or unexpected findings.
• Limited ability to capture subjective experiences : Quantitative research is typically focused on objective data and may not capture the subjective experiences of individuals or groups being studied.
• Ethical concerns : Quantitative research may raise ethical concerns, such as invasion of privacy or the potential for harm to participants.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 , which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

The Innovation of Grocery Stores

A. At the very beginning of the 20th century, the American grocery stores offered comprehensive services: the customers would ask help from the people behind the counters (called clerks) for the items they liked, and then the clerks would wrap the items up. For the purpose of saving time, customers had to ask delivery boys or go in person to send the lists of what they intended to buy to the stores in advance and then went to pay for the goods later. Generally speaking, these grocery stores sold only one brand for each item. Such early chain stores as A&P stores, although containing full services, were very time-consuming and inefficient for the purchase.

B. Born in Virginia, Clarence Saunders left school at the age of 14 in 1895 to work first as a clerk in a grocery store. During his working in the store, he found that it was very inefficient for people to buy things there. Without the assistance of computers at that time, shopping was performed in a quite backward way. Having noticed that this inconvenient shopping mode could lead to tremendous consumption of time and money, Saunders, with great enthusiasm and innovation, proposed an unprecedented solution—let the consumers do self-service in the process of shopping—which might bring a thorough revolution to the whole industry.

C. In 1902, Saunders moved to Memphis to put his perspective into practice, that is, to establish a grocery wholesale cooperative. In his newly designed grocery store, he divided the store into three different areas: A 'front lobby’ served as an entrance, an exit, and included checkouts at the front. ‘A sales department’ was deliberately designed to allow customers to wander around the aisle and select their needed groceries. In this way, the clerks would not do the unnecessary work but arrange more delicate aisle and shelves to display the goods and enable the customers to browse through all the items. In the gallery above the sales department, supervisors can monitor the customers without disturbing them. ‘Stockroom’, where large fridges were placed to maintain fresh products, is another section of his grocery store only for the staff to enter. Also, this new shopping design and layout could accommodate more customers to go shopping simultaneously and even lead to some unimaginable phenomena: impulse buying and later supermarket.

D. On September 6, 1916, Saunders performed the self-service revolution in the USA by opening the first Piggly Wiggly featured by the turnstile at the entrance store at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Quite distinct from those in other grocery stores, customers in Piggly Wiggly chose the goods on the shelves and paid the items all by themselves. Inside the Piggly Wiggly, shoppers were not at the mercy of staff. They were free to roam the store, check out the products and get what they needed by their own hands. There, the items were clearly priced, and no one forced customers to buy the things they did not need. As a matter of fact, the biggest benefit that the Piggly Wiggly brought to customers was the money-saving effect. Self-service was optimistic for the improvement. ‘It is good for both the consumer and retailer because it cuts costs,’ noted George T. Haley, a professor at the University of New Haven and director of the Centre for International Industry Competitiveness, ‘if you look at the way in which grocery stores (previous to Piggly Wiggly and Alpha Beta) were operated, what you can find is that there are a great number of workers involved, and labour is a major expense.’ Fortunately, the chain stores such as Piggly Wiggly cut the fat.

E. Piggly Wiggly and this kind of self-service stores soared at that time. In the first year, Saunders opened nine branches in Memphis. Meanwhile, Saunders immediately applied a patent for the self-service concept and began franchising Piggly Wiggly stores. Thanks to the employment of self-service and franchising, the number of Piggly Wiggly had increased to nearly 1,300 by 1923. Piggly Wiggly sold $100 million (worth $1.3 billion today) in groceries, which made it the third-biggest grocery retailer in the nation. After that, this chain store experienced company listing on the New York Stock Exchange, with the stocks doubling from late 1922 to March 1923. Saunders contributed significantly to the perfect design and layout of grocery stores. In order to keep the flow rate smooth, Saunders even invented the turnstile to replace the common entrance mode.

F. Clarence Saunders died in 1953, leaving abundant legacies mainly symbolised by Piggly Wiggly, the pattern of which spread extensively and lasted permanently.

READING PASSAGE 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27 , which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

The Study of Chimpanzee Culture

A After studying the similarities between chimpanzees and humans for years, researchers have recognised these resemblances run much deeper than anyone first thought in the latest decade. For instance, the nut cracking observed in the Tai Forest is not a simple chimpanzee behaviour, but a separate adaptation found only in that particular part of Africa, as well as a trait which is considered to be an expression of chimpanzee culture by biologists. These researchers frequently quote the word ‘culture’ to describe elementary animal behaviours, like the regional dialects of different species of songbirds, but it turns out that the rich and varied cultural traditions chimpanzees enjoyed rank secondly in complexity only to human traditions.

B During the past two years, the major research group which studies chimpanzees collaborated unprecedentedly and documented some distinct cultural patterns, ranging from animals’ use of tools to their forms of communication and social customs. This emerging picture of chimpanzees affects how human beings ponder upon these amazing creatures. Also, it alters our conception of human uniqueness and shows us the extraordinary ability of our ancient ancestors to create cultures.

C Although we know that Homo sapiens and Pan Troglodytes have coexisted for hundreds of millennia and their genetic similarities surpass 98 per cent, we still knew next to nothing about chimpanzee behaviour in the wild until 40 years ago. All this began to change in the 1960s when Toshisada Nishida of Kyoto University in Japan and renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall launched their studies of wild chimpanzees at two field sites in Tanzania. (Goodall’s research station at Gombe—the first of its kind—is more famous, but Nishida’s site at Mahale is the second oldest chimpanzee research site in the world.)

D During these primary studies, as the chimpanzees became more and more accustomed to close observation, the remarkable discoveries emerged. Researchers witnessed a variety of unexpected behaviours, ranging from fashioning and using tools, hunting, meat eating, food sharing to lethal fights between members of neighbouring communities.

E In 1973, 13 forms of tool use and 8 social activities which appeared to differ between the Gombe chimpanzees and chimpanzee species elsewhere were recorded by Goodall. She speculated that some variations shared what she referred to as a ‘cultural origin’. But what exactly did Goodall mean by ‘culture’? According to the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary, culture is defined as ‘the customs. . .and achievements of a particular time or people.’ The diversity of human cultures extends from technological variations to marriage rituals, from culinary habits to myths and legends. Of course, animals do not have myths and legends, but they do share the capacity to pass on behavioural traits from one generation to another, not through their genes but via learning. From biologists’ view, this is the fundamental criterion for a cultural trait—something can be learnt by observing the established skills of others and then passed on to following generations.

F What are the implications for chimpanzees themselves? We must place a high value upon the tragic loss of chimpanzees, who are decimated just when finally we are coming to appreciate these astonishing animals more completely. The population of chimpanzees has plummeted and continued to fall due to illegal trapping, logging and, most recently, the bushmeat trade within the past century. The latter is particularly alarming because logging has driven roadways, which are now used to ship wild animal meat—including chimpanzee meat to consumers as far afield as Europe, into forests. Such destruction threatens not only the animals themselves but also a host of fascinatingly different ape cultures.

G However, the cultural richness of the ape may contribute to its salvation. For example, the conservation efforts have already altered the attitudes of some local people. After several organisations showed videotapes illustrating the cognitive prowess of chimpanzees, one Zairian viewer was heard to exclaim, ‘Ah, this ape is so like me, I can no longer eat him.’

H How did an international team of chimpanzee experts perform the most comprehensive survey of the animals ever attempted? Although scientists have been delving into chimpanzee culture for several decades, sometimes their studies contained a fatal defect. So far, most attempts to document cultural diversity among chimpanzees have solely relied upon officially published accounts of the behaviours reported at each research site. But this approach probably neglects a good deal of cultural variation for three reasons.

I First, scientists normally don’t publish an extensive list of all the activities they do not see at a particular location. Yet this is the very information we need to know—which behaviours were and were not observed at each site. Second, there are many reports describing chimpanzee behaviours without expressing how common they are; without this information, we can’t determine whether a particular action was a transient phenomenon or a routine event that should be considered part of its culture. Finally, researchers’ description of potentially significant chimpanzee behaviours often lacks sufficient detail, which makes it difficult for scientists from other spots to report the presence or absence of the activities.

J To tackle these problems, my colleague and I determined to take a new approach. We asked field researchers at each site to list all the behaviours which they suspected were local traditions. With this information, we assembled a comprehensive list of 65 candidates for cultural behaviours.

K Then we distributed our list to team leaders at each site. They consulted with their colleagues and classified each behaviour regarding its occurrence or absence in the chimpanzee community. The major brackets contained customary behaviour (occurs in most or all of the able-bodied members of at least one age or sex class, such as all adult males), habitual (less common than customary but occurs repeatedly in several individuals), present (observed at the site but not habitual), absent (never seen), and unknown.

READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40 , which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

Quantitative Research in Education

Many education researchers used to work on the assumption that children experience different phases of development, and that they cannot execute the most advanced level of cognitive operation until they have reached the most advanced forms of cognitive process. For example, one researcher Piaget had a well-known experiment in which he asked the children to compare the amount of liquid in containers with different shapes. Those containers had the same capacity, but even when the young children were demonstrated that the same amount of fluid could be poured between the containers, many of them still believed one was larger than the other. Piaget concluded that the children were incapable of performing the logical task in figuring out that the two containers were the same size even though they had different shapes, because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary phase. Critics on his work, such as Donaldson, have questioned this interpretation. They point out the possibility that the children were just unwilling to play the experimenter’s game, or that they did not quite understand the question asked by the experimenter. These criticisms surely do state the facts, but more importantly, it suggests that experiments are social situations where interpersonal interactions take place. The implication here is that Piaget’s investigation and his attempts to replicate it are not solely about measuring the children’s capabilities of logical thinking, but also the degree to which they could understand the directions for them, their willingness to comply with these requirements, how well the experimenters did in communicating the requirements and in motivating those children, etc.

The same kinds of criticisms have been targeted to psychological and educational tests. For instance, Mehan argues that the subjects might interpret the test questions in a way different from that meant by the experimenter. In a language development test, researchers show children a picture of a medieval fortress, complete with moat, drawbridge, parapets and three initial consonants in it: D, C, and G. The children are required to circle the correct initial consonant for ‘castle’. The answer is C, but many kids choose D. When asked what the name of the building was, the children responded ‘Disneyland’. They adopted the reasoning line expected by the experimenter but got to the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet with the wrong answers does not include in it a child’s lack of reasoning capacity; it only records that the children gave a different answer rather than the one the tester expected.

Here we are constantly getting questions about how valid the measures are where the findings of the quantitative research are usually based. Some scholars such as Donaldson consider these as technical issues, which can be resolved through more rigorous experimentation. In contrast, others like Mehan reckon that the problems are not merely with particular experiments or tests, but they might legitimately jeopardise the validity of all researches of this type.

Meanwhile, there are also questions regarding the assumption in the logic of quantitative educational research that causes can be identified through physical and/or statistical manipulation of the variables. Critics argue that this does not take into consideration the nature of human social life by assuming it to be made up of static, mechanical causal relationships, while in reality, it includes complicated procedures of interpretation and negotiation, which do not come with determinate results. From this perspective, it is not clear that we can understand the pattern and mechanism behind people’s behaviours simply in terms of the casual relationships, which are the focuses of quantitative research. It is implied that social life is much more contextually variable and complex.

Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have also inspired more and more educational researchers to adopt qualitative methodologies during the last three or four decades. These researchers have steered away from measuring and manipulating variables experimentally or statistically. There are many forms of qualitative research, which is loosely illustrated by terms like ‘ethnography’, ‘case study’, ‘participant observation’, ‘life history’, ‘unstructured interviewing’, ‘discourse analysis’ and so on. Generally speaking, though, it has characteristics as follows:

Qualitative researches have an intensive focus on exploring the nature of certain phenomena in the field of education, instead of setting out to test hypotheses about them. It also inclines to deal with ‘unstructured data’, which refers to the kind of data that have not been coded during the collection process regarding a closed set of analytical categories. As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes, instead of coding behaviour concerning a pre-determined set of categories, which is what quantitative researchers typically would do when conducting ‘systematic observation’. Similarly, in an interview, interviewers will ask open-ended questions instead of ones that require specific predefined answers of the kind typical, like in a postal questionnaire. Actually, qualitative interviews are often designed to resemble casual conversations.

The primary forms of data analysis include verbal description and explanations and involve explicit interpretations of both the meanings and functions of human behaviours. At most, quantification and statistical analysis only play a subordinate role. The sociology of education and evaluation studies were the two areas of educational research where-criticism of quantitative research and the development of qualitative methodologies initially emerged in the most intense way. A series of studies conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert in a boys’ grammar school, a boys’ secondary modem school, and a girls’ grammar school in Britain in the 1960s marked the beginning of the trend towards qualitative research in the sociology of education. Researchers employed an ethnographic or participant observation approach, although they did also collect some quantitative data, for instance on friendship patterns among the students. These researchers observed lessons, interviewed both the teachers and the students, and made the most of school records. They studied the schools for a considerable amount of time and spent plenty of months gathering data and tracking changes over all these years.

Questions 1-5

Reading Passage 1 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A-F , in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

1. A B C D E F     layout of Clarence Saunders’ store

2. A B C D E F     a reference to a reduction by chain stores in labour costs

3. A B C D E F     how Clarence Saunders’ idea had been carried out

4. A B C D E F     how people used to shop before Clarence Saunders’ stores opened

5. A B C D E F     a description of economic success brought by Clarence Saunders’s stores

Questions 6-10

Complete the sentences below.

Choose  NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS  from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

Clarence Saunders’ first job was as  in a grocery store.

In Clarence Saunders’ store, people should pay for goods in the

Customers would be under surveillance when shopping in the

Another area in his store was called ' ’, which was only accessible to the internal staff.

In Clarence Saunders’ shopping design, much work was done by the  .

Questions 11-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D ,

Write the correct letter in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

Questions 14-18

Reading Passage 2 has eleven paragraphs, A-K.

Write the correct letter, A-K , in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

14. A B C D E F G H I J K     an approach to research on chimpanzees' culture that is only based on official sources

15. A B C D E F G H I J K     mention of a new system designed by two scientists who aim to solve the problem

16. A B C D E F G H I J K     reasons why previous research on ape culture is problematic

17. A B C D E F G H I J K     new classification of data observed or collected

18. A B C D E F G H I J K     an example showing that the cultural traits of chimpanzees can lead to a change in local people’s attitude towards their preservation

Questions 19-23

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?

In boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet, write

19. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN     The research found that scientists can make chimpanzees possess the same complex culture as human beings.

20. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN     Humans and apes lived together long time ago and shared most of their genetic substance.

21. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN     Even Toshisada Nishida and Jane Goodall’s beginning studies observed many surprising features of civilised behaviours among chimpanzees.

22. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN     Chimpanzees, like humans, have the ability to deliver cultural behaviours mostly from genetic inheritance.

23. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN     For decades, researchers have investigated chimpanzees by data obtained from both unobserved and observed approaches.

Questions 24-27

Answer the questions below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 24-27 on your answer sheet.

When did the unexpected discoveries of chimpanzee behaviour start?

Which country is the researching site of Toshisada Nishida and Jane Goodall?

What did the chimpanzee have to get used to in the initial study?

What term did Jane Goodall suggest to describe chimpanzees in different regions using different tools in 1973?

Questions 28-32

Look at the following statements or descriptions (Questions 28-32 ) and the list of people below.

Match each statement or description with the correct person or people, A, B, C or D

Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D , in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet.

28. A B C D     A wrong answer indicates more of a child’s different perspective than incompetence in reasoning.

29. A B C D     Logical reasoning involving in the experiment is beyond children’s cognitive development.

30. A B C D     Children’s reluctance to comply with the game rules or miscommunication may be another explanation.

31. A B C D     There is evidence of a scientific observation approach to research.

32. A B C D     There is a flawed detail in experiments on children's language development.

Questions 33-36

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

In Piaget’s experiment, he asked the children to distinguish the amount of  in different containers.

In response to Mehan’s question, subjects are more inclined to answer with the wrong answer '‘ ’' instead of the correct answer C.

Some people criticised the result of Piaget experiment, but Donaldson thought the flaw could be rectified by

Most qualitative research conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert was done in a

Questions 37-39

Choose THREE letters, A-F.

Write the correct letters in boxes 37-39 on your answer sheet.

The list below includes characteristics of the ‘qualitative research’.

Which THREE are mentioned by the writer of the passage?

Question 40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

IELTS Reading practice - Quantitative Research in Education

Nội dung chính, reading passage.

Quantitative Research in Education

Many education researchers used to work on the assumption that children experience different phases of development, and that they cannot execute the most advanced level of cognitive operation until they have reached the most advanced forms of cognitive process. For example, one researcher Piaget had a well-known experiment in which he asked the children to compare the amount of liquid in containers with different shapes. Those containers had the same capacity, but even when the young children were demonstrated that the same amount of fluid could be poured between the containers, many of them still believed one was larger than the other. Piaget concluded that the children were incapable of performing the logical task in figuring out that the two containers were the same size even though they had different shapes, because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary phase. Critics on his work, such as Donaldson, have questioned this interpretation. They point out the possibility that the children were just unwilling to play the experimenter's game, or that they did not quite understand the question asked by the experimenter. These criticisms surely do state the facts, but more importantly, it suggests that experiments are social situations where interpersonal interactions take place. The implication here is that Piaget's investigation and his attempts to replicate it are not solely about measuring the children's capabilities of logical thinking, but also the degree to which they could understand the directions for them, their willingness to comply with these requirements, how well the experimenters did in communicating the requirements and in motivating those children, etc.

The same kinds of criticisms have been targeted to psychological and educational tests. For instance, Mehan argues that the subjects might interpret the test questions in a way different from that meant by the experimenter. In a language development test, researchers show children a picture of a medieval fortress, complete with moat, drawbridge, parapets and three initial consonants in it: D, C, and G. The children are required to circle the correct initial consonant for 'castle'. The answer is C, but many kids choose D. When asked what the name of the building was, the children responded 'Disneyland'. They adopted the reasoning line expected by the experimenter but got to the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet with the wrong answers does not include in it a child's lack of reasoning capacity; it only records that the children gave a different answer rather than the one the tester expected.

Here we are constantly getting questions about how valid the measures are where the findings of the quantitative research are usually based. Some scholars such as Donaldson consider these as technical issues, which can be resolved through more rigorous experimentation. In contrast, others like Mehan reckon that the problems are not merely with particular experiments or tests, but they might legitimately jeopardise the validity of all researches of this type.

Meanwhile, there are also questions regarding the assumption in the logic of quantitative educational research that causes can be identified through physical and/or statistical manipulation of the variables. Critics argue that this does not take into consideration the nature of human social life by assuming it to be made up of static, mechanical causal relationships, while in reality, it includes complicated procedures of interpretation and negotiation, which do not come with determinate results. From this perspective, it is not clear that we can understand the pattern and mechanism behind people's behaviours simply in terms of the casual relationships, which are the focuses of quantitative research. It is implied that social life is much more contextually variable and complex.

Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have also inspired more and more educational researchers to adopt qualitative methodologies during the last three or four decades. These researchers have steered away from measuring and manipulating variables experimentally or statistically. There are many forms of qualitative research, which is loosely illustrated by terms like 'ethnography', 'case study', 'participant observation', 'life history', 'unstructured interviewing', 'discourse analysis' and so on. Generally speaking, though, it has characteristics as follows:

Qualitative researches have an intensive focus on exploring the nature of certain phenomena in the field of education, instead of setting out to test hypotheses about them. It also inclines to deal with 'unstructured data', which refers to the kind of data that have not been coded during the collection process regarding a closed set of analytical categories. As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes, instead of coding behaviour concerning a pre-determined set of categories, which is what quantitative researchers typically would do when conducting 'systematic observation'. Similarly, in an interview, interviewers will ask open-ended questions instead of ones that require specific predefined answers of the kind typical, like in a postal questionnaire. Actually, qualitative interviews are often designed to resemble casual conversations.

The primary forms of data analysis include verbal description and explanations and involve explicit interpretations of both the meanings and functions of human behaviours. At most, quantification and statistical analysis only play a subordinate role. The sociology of education and evaluation studies were the two areas of educational research where-criticism of quantitative research and the development of qualitative methodologies initially emerged in the most intense way. A series of studies conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert in a boys' grammar school, a boys' secondary modem school, and a girls' grammar school in Britain in the 1960s marked the beginning of the trend towards qualitative research in the sociology of education. Researchers employed an ethnographic or participant observation approach, although they did also collect some quantitative data, for instance on friendship patterns among the students. These researchers observed lessons, interviewed both the teachers and the students, and made the most of school records. They studied the schools for a considerable amount of time and spent plenty of months gathering data and tracking changes over all these years.

1. Questions 28-32

Look at the following statements or descriptions (Questions 28-32) and the list of people below. Match each statement or description with the correct person or people, A, B, C or D

Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 28-32 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.

Lists of People

C Donaldson

D Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert

28________ A wrong answer indicates more of a child's different perspective than incompetence in reasoning.

29________ Logical reasoning involving in the experiment is beyond children's cognitive development. 30 Children's reluctance to comply with the game rules or miscommunication may be another explanation.

31________ There is evidence of a scientific observation approach to research.

32________ There is a flawed detail in experiments on children's language development.

2. Questions 33-36

Complete the sentences below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 33-36 on your answer sheet.

33 In Piaget's experiment, he asked the children to distinguish the amount ________ of in different containers.

34 In response to Mehan's question, subjects are more inclined to answer with the wrong answer ''________ '' instead of the correct answer C.

35 Some people criticised the result of Piaget experiment, but Donaldson thought the flaw could be rectified by ________

36 Most qualitative research conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert was done in a ________

3. Questions 37-39

Choose THREE letters, A-F.

Write the correct letters in boxes 37-39 on your answer sheet. The list below includes characteristics of the 'qualitative research'. Which THREE are mentioned by the writer of the passage?

A Coding behaviour in terms of a predefined set of categories

B Designing an interview as an easy conversation

C Working with well-organised data in a closed set of analytical categories

D Full of details instead of loads of data in questionnaires

E Asking to give open-ended answers in questionnaires

F Recording the researching situation and applying note-taking

4. Question 40

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

40 What is the main idea of the passage?

A to prove that quantitative research is most applicable to children's education

B to illustrate the society lacks of deep comprehension of educational approach

C to explain the ideas of quantitative research and the characteristics of the related criticisms

D to imply qualitative research is a flawless method compared with quantitative one

Answer keys

34 Disneyland

35 rigorous experimentation

36 grammar school

Bản dịch tham khảo Quantitative Research in Education

Nhiều nhà nghiên cứu giáo dục từng giả định rằng trẻ em trải qua các giai đoạn phát triển khác nhau và chúng không thể thực hiện hoạt động nhận thức ở cấp độ cao nhất cho đến khi đạt đến những hình thức nhận thức tiên tiến nhất. Ví dụ, một nhà nghiên cứu Piaget đã thực hiện một thí nghiệm nổi tiếng, trong đó ông yêu cầu bọn trẻ so sánh lượng chất lỏng trong các bình chứa có hình dạng khác nhau. Những thùng chứa đó có dung tích như nhau, nhưng ngay cả khi trẻ nhỏ được chứng minh rằng có thể đổ cùng một lượng chất lỏng vào giữa các thùng chứa, nhiều em vẫn tin rằng cái này lớn hơn cái kia. Piaget kết luận rằng bọn trẻ không có khả năng thực hiện nhiệm vụ logic trong việc tìm ra hai thùng chứa có cùng kích thước mặc dù chúng có hình dạng khác nhau, bởi vì sự phát triển nhận thức của chúng chưa đạt đến giai đoạn cần thiết. Các nhà phê bình về tác phẩm của ông, chẳng hạn như Donaldson, đã đặt câu hỏi về cách giải thích này. Họ chỉ ra khả năng là bọn trẻ không muốn chơi trò chơi của người thí nghiệm hoặc chúng không hiểu rõ câu hỏi mà người thí nghiệm đưa ra. Những lời chỉ trích này chắc chắn đã nêu lên sự thật, nhưng quan trọng hơn, nó gợi ý rằng các thí nghiệm là những tình huống xã hội diễn ra sự tương tác giữa các cá nhân. Hàm ý ở đây là cuộc điều tra của Piaget và những nỗ lực của ông để nhân rộng nó không chỉ nhằm đo lường khả năng tư duy logic của trẻ mà còn là mức độ chúng có thể hiểu được những hướng dẫn dành cho mình, mức độ sẵn sàng tuân thủ những yêu cầu này của chúng, mức độ thực hiện tốt như thế nào. những người thực nghiệm đã làm trong việc truyền đạt các yêu cầu và động viên những đứa trẻ đó, v.v.

Những lời chỉ trích tương tự đã được nhắm vào các bài kiểm tra tâm lý và giáo dục. Ví dụ, Mehan lập luận rằng các đối tượng có thể diễn giải các câu hỏi kiểm tra theo cách khác với cách mà người thử nghiệm nghĩ. Trong một bài kiểm tra về khả năng phát triển ngôn ngữ, các nhà nghiên cứu cho trẻ xem bức tranh về một pháo đài thời Trung cổ, hoàn chỉnh với hào nước, cầu kéo, lan can và ba phụ âm đầu trong đó: D, C và G. Trẻ được yêu cầu khoanh tròn phụ âm đầu chính xác của 'lâu đài' '. Câu trả lời là C, nhưng nhiều em chọn D. Khi được hỏi tên của tòa nhà là gì, các em trả lời “Disneyland”. Họ đã áp dụng cách lập luận mà người thí nghiệm mong đợi nhưng lại đưa ra câu trả lời sai về nội dung. Bảng điểm có câu trả lời sai không bao hàm việc trẻ thiếu năng lực suy luận; nó chỉ ghi lại rằng bọn trẻ đã đưa ra một câu trả lời khác với câu trả lời mà người kiểm tra mong đợi.

Ở đây, chúng tôi liên tục nhận được câu hỏi về mức độ hiệu lực của các biện pháp mà các phát hiện của nghiên cứu định lượng thường dựa trên. Một số học giả như Donaldson coi đây là những vấn đề kỹ thuật có thể được giải quyết thông qua những thử nghiệm chặt chẽ hơn. Ngược lại, những người khác như Mehan cho rằng các vấn đề không chỉ nằm ở những thí nghiệm hoặc thử nghiệm cụ thể, mà chúng có thể gây nguy hiểm một cách hợp pháp cho tính hợp lệ của tất cả các nghiên cứu thuộc loại này.

Trong khi đó, cũng có những câu hỏi liên quan đến giả định trong logic của nghiên cứu giáo dục định lượng rằng nguyên nhân có thể được xác định thông qua thao tác vật lý và/hoặc thống kê của các biến số. Các nhà phê bình cho rằng điều này không tính đến bản chất của đời sống xã hội con người bằng cách cho rằng nó được tạo thành từ các mối quan hệ nhân quả tĩnh, máy móc, trong khi trên thực tế, nó bao gồm các thủ tục giải thích và đàm phán phức tạp, không mang lại kết quả xác định. Từ góc độ này, không rõ liệu chúng ta có thể hiểu mô hình và cơ chế đằng sau hành vi của con người một cách đơn giản dưới dạng các mối quan hệ thông thường, vốn là trọng tâm của nghiên cứu định lượng. Điều này ngụ ý rằng đời sống xã hội có nhiều biến đổi và phức tạp theo ngữ cảnh hơn.

Những lời chỉ trích như vậy đối với nghiên cứu giáo dục định lượng cũng đã truyền cảm hứng cho ngày càng nhiều nhà nghiên cứu giáo dục áp dụng các phương pháp định tính trong suốt ba hoặc bốn thập kỷ qua. Những nhà nghiên cứu này đã tránh xa việc đo lường và thao tác các biến số bằng thực nghiệm hoặc thống kê. Có nhiều hình thức nghiên cứu định tính, được minh họa một cách lỏng lẻo bằng các thuật ngữ như 'dân tộc học', 'nghiên cứu trường hợp', 'quan sát người tham gia', 'lịch sử cuộc đời', 'phỏng vấn phi cấu trúc', 'phân tích diễn ngôn', v.v. Tuy nhiên, nhìn chung nó có những đặc điểm sau:

Các nghiên cứu định tính tập trung chuyên sâu vào việc khám phá bản chất của một số hiện tượng nhất định trong lĩnh vực giáo dục, thay vì đặt ra mục tiêu kiểm tra các giả thuyết về chúng. Nó cũng thiên về xử lý 'dữ liệu phi cấu trúc', đề cập đến loại dữ liệu chưa được mã hóa trong quá trình thu thập liên quan đến một tập hợp các danh mục phân tích khép kín. Kết quả là, khi tham gia quan sát, các nhà nghiên cứu định tính sử dụng thiết bị âm thanh hoặc video để ghi lại những gì xảy ra hoặc viết chi tiết các ghi chú thực địa mở, thay vì mã hóa hành vi liên quan đến một tập hợp các danh mục được xác định trước, đó là điều mà các nhà nghiên cứu định lượng thường làm. sẽ làm gì khi tiến hành 'quan sát có hệ thống'. Tương tự, trong một cuộc phỏng vấn, người phỏng vấn sẽ hỏi những câu hỏi mở thay vì những câu hỏi yêu cầu những câu trả lời cụ thể được xác định trước theo kiểu thông thường, như trong bảng câu hỏi qua đường bưu điện. Trên thực tế, các cuộc phỏng vấn định tính thường được thiết kế giống với những cuộc trò chuyện thông thường.

Các hình thức phân tích dữ liệu chính bao gồm mô tả và giải thích bằng lời nói, đồng thời liên quan đến việc diễn giải rõ ràng cả ý nghĩa và chức năng của hành vi con người. Cùng lắm, việc định lượng và phân tích thống kê chỉ đóng vai trò thứ yếu. Xã hội học về giáo dục và nghiên cứu đánh giá là hai lĩnh vực nghiên cứu giáo dục trong đó sự phê phán nghiên cứu định lượng và phát triển các phương pháp định tính ban đầu xuất hiện một cách gay gắt nhất. Một loạt nghiên cứu được thực hiện bởi Lacey, Hargreaves và Lambert tại một trường ngữ pháp dành cho nam sinh, một trường trung học hiện đại dành cho nam sinh và một trường ngữ pháp dành cho nữ sinh ở Anh vào những năm 1960 đã đánh dấu sự khởi đầu của xu hướng nghiên cứu định tính trong xã hội học giáo dục. . Các nhà nghiên cứu đã sử dụng phương pháp quan sát dân tộc học hoặc quan sát người tham gia, mặc dù họ cũng thu thập một số dữ liệu định lượng, chẳng hạn như về mô hình tình bạn giữa các sinh viên. Những nhà nghiên cứu này đã quan sát các bài học, phỏng vấn cả giáo viên và học sinh, đồng thời tận dụng tối đa hồ sơ của trường. Họ đã nghiên cứu các trường học trong một khoảng thời gian đáng kể và dành nhiều tháng để thu thập dữ liệu và theo dõi những thay đổi trong suốt những năm qua.

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Quantitative Research in Education – IELTS Academic Reading Passage

Many education researchers used to work on the assumption that children experience different phases of development, and that they cannot execute the most advanced level of cognitive operation until they have reached the most advanced forms of cognitive process. For example, one researcher Piaget had a well-known experiment in which he asked the children to compare the amount of liquid in containers with different shapes. Those containers had the same capacity, but even when the young children were demonstrated that the same amount of fluid could be poured between the containers, many of them still believed one was larger than the other. Piaget concluded that the children were incapable of performing the logical task in figuring out that the two containers were the same size even though they had different shapes, because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary phase. Critics on his work, such as Donaldson, have questioned this interpretation. They point out the possibility that the children were just unwilling to play the experimenter’s game, or that they did not quite understand the question asked by the experimenter. These criticisms surely do state the facts, but more importantly, it suggests that experiments are social situations where interpersonal interactions take place. The implication here is that Piaget’s investigation and his attempts to replicate it are not solely about measuring the children’s capabilities of logical thinking, but also the degree to which they could understand the directions for them, their willingness to comply with these requirements, how well the experimenters did in communicating the requirements and in motivating those children, etc.

The same kinds of criticisms have been targeted to psychological and educational tests. For instance, Mehan argues that the subjects might interpret the test questions in a way different from that meant by the experimenter. In a language development test, researchers show children a picture of a medieval fortress, complete with moat, drawbridge, parapets and three initial consonants in it: D, C, and G. The children are required to circle the correct initial consonant for ‘castle’. The answer is C, but many kids choose D. When asked what the name of the building was, the children responded ‘Disneyland’. They adopted the reasoning line expected by the experimenter but got to the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet with the wrong answers does not include in it a child’s lack of reasoning capacity; it only records that the children gave a different answer rather than the one the tester expected.

Here we are constantly getting questions about how valid the measures are where the findings of the quantitative research are usually based. Some scholars such as Donaldson consider these as technical issues, which can be resolved through more rigorous experimentation. In contrast, others like Mehan reckon that the problems are not merely with particular experiments or tests, but they might legitimately jeopardise the validity of all researches of this type.

Meanwhile, there are also questions regarding the assumption in the logic of quantitative educational research that causes can be identified through physical and/or statistical manipulation of the variables. Critics argue that this does not take into consideration the nature of human social life by assuming it to be made up of static, mechanical causal relationships, while in reality, it includes complicated procedures of interpretation and negotiation, which do not come with determinate results. From this perspective, it is not clear that we can understand the pattern and mechanism behind people’s behaviours simply in terms of the casual relationships, which are the focuses of quantitative research. It is implied that social life is much more contextually variable and complex.

Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have also inspired more and more educational researchers to adopt qualitative methodologies during the last three or four decades. These researchers have steered away from measuring and manipulating variables experimentally or statistically. There are many forms of qualitative research, which is loosely illustrated by terms like ‘ethnography’, ‘case study’, ‘participant observation’, ‘life history’, ‘unstructured interviewing’, ‘discourse analysis’ and so on. Generally speaking, though, it has characteristics as follows:

Qualitative researches have an intensive focus on exploring the nature of certain phenomena in the field of education, instead of setting out to test hypotheses about them. It also inclines to deal with ‘unstructured data’, which refers to the kind of data that have not been coded during the collection process regarding a closed set of analytical categories. As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes, instead of coding behaviour concerning a pre-determined set of categories, which is what quantitative researchers typically would do when conducting ‘systematic observation’. Similarly, in an interview, interviewers will ask open-ended questions instead of ones that require specific predefined answers of the kind typical, like in a postal questionnaire. Actually, qualitative interviews are often designed to resemble casual conversations.

The primary forms of data analysis include verbal description and explanations and involve explicit interpretations of both the meanings and functions of human behaviours. At most, quantification and statistical analysis only play a subordinate role. The sociology of education and evaluation studies were the two areas of educational research where-criticism of quantitative research and the development of qualitative methodologies initially emerged in the most intense way. A series of studies conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert in a boys’ grammar school, a boys’ secondary modem school, and a girls’ grammar school in Britain in the 1960s marked the beginning of the trend towards qualitative research in the sociology of education. Researchers employed an ethnographic or participant observation approach, although they did also collect some quantitative data, for instance on friendship patterns among the students. These researchers observed lessons, interviewed both the teachers and the students, and made the most of school records. They studied the schools for a considerable amount of time and spent plenty of months gathering data and tracking changes over all these years.

Questions 28-32 Look at the following statements or descriptions (Questions 28-32) and the list of people below. Match each statement or description with the correct person or people, A, B, C or D. NB You may use any letter more than once.

Lists of People A  Piaget B  Mehan C  Donaldson D  Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert

28. A wrong answer indicates more of a child’s different perspective than incompetence in reasoning. 29. Logical reasoning involving in the experiment is beyond children’s cognitive development. 30. Children’s reluctance to comply with the game rules or miscommunication may be another explanation. 31. There is evidence of a scientific observation approach to research. 32. There is a flawed detail in experiments on children’s language development.

Questions 33-36 Complete the sentences below. Choose  NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS  from the passage for each answer.

In Piaget’s experiment, he asked the children to distinguish the amount of (33)………………..in different containers.

In response to Mehan’s question, subjects are more inclined to answer with the wrong answer ‘‘(34)…………………..’’ instead of the correct answer C.

Some people criticised the result of Piaget experiment, but Donaldson thought the flaw could be rectified by (35)…………………………….

Most qualitative research conducted by Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert was done in a (36)…………………………

Questions 37-39 Choose  THREE  letters, A-F.

The list below includes characteristics of the ‘qualitative research’.

Which  THREE  are mentioned by the writer of the passage?

A  Coding behaviour in terms of a predefined set of categories B  Designing an interview as an essay conversation C  Working with well organised data in a closed set of analytical categories D  Full of details instead of loads of data in questionnaires E  Asking to give open ended answers in questionnaires F  Recording the researching situation and applying note taking

Question 40 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.

40. What is the main idea of the passage? A  to prove that quantitative research is most applicable to children’s education B  to illustrate the society lacks of deep comprehension of educational approach C  to explain the ideas of quantitative research and the characteristics of the related criticisms D  to imply qualitative research is a flawless method compared with quantitative one

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Question 28-32: quantitive research in education, question 28.

Vị trí thông tin: For instance, Mehan … by the experimenter.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết Mehan tranh luận rằng học sinh (subjects - người tham gia thí nghiệm = học sinh) có thể diễn giải câu hỏi kiểm tra theo cách khác với cách mà người thử nghiệm nghĩ (“interpret the test questions in a way different from that meant by the experimenter” khớp với “a child's different perspective” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là B. Mehan.

Question 29

Vị trí thông tin: For example, one researcher Piaget .. the necessary phase.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết Piaget kết luận rằng trẻ không có khả năng thực hiện nhiệm vụ có tính logic (“logical task” khớp với “logical reasoning”) bởi vì sự phát triển nhận thức của chúng chưa đạt đến giai đoạn đó (“their cognitive development had not reached the necessary phase” khớp với “beyond children's cognitive development” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là A. Piaget.

Question 30

Vị trí thông tin: Critics on his work, … by the experimenter.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết những nghiên cứu như Donaldson chỉ ra rằng có khả năng là bọn trẻ không muốn chơi trò chơi của người thí nghiệm hoặc chúng không hiểu rõ câu hỏi mà người thí nghiệm đưa ra (“unwilling to play the experimenter's game” khớp với “children's reluctance to comply with the game rules”, “did not quite understand the question asked by the experimenter” khớp với “miscommunication” ở đề bài. Vì vậy đáp án là C. Donaldson.

Question 31

Vị trí thông tin: A series of studies … among the students.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết trong chuỗi nghiên cứu của Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert, họ áp dụng một cách tiếp cận dân tộc học hoặc quan sát người tham gia (“participant observation approach” khớp với “scientific observation approach” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là D. Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert.

Question 32

Vị trí thông tin: In a language development test, … all researches of this type.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết nhà nghiên cứu Mehan cho rằng kiểu thí nghiệm về mức độ phát triển ngôn ngữ của trẻ có vấn đề (“problems” khớp với “a detail of flaw” ở đề bài. Vì vậy đáp án là B. Mehan

Question 33-36: Quantitive Research in Education

Question 33.

Đáp án: liquid

Vị trí thông tin: For example, one researcher … with different shapes.

Giải thích:

Từ loại cần điền: danh từ

Nội dung: Một thứ được đựng trong các chai lọ khác nhau

Giải thích: Trong thí nghiệm của Piaget, anh ấy yêu cầu học sinh so sánh lượng dung dịch trong các lọ có hình dáng khác nhau (“compare” khớp với “distinguish”, “containers with different shapes” khớp với “different containers” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là “liquid”.

Question 34

Đáp án: Disneyland

Vị trí thông tin: The children are required … responded 'Disneyland'.

Nội dung: Câu trả lời của đối tượng nghiên cứu trả lời sai

Giải thích: Khi được yêu cầu khoanh tròn phụ âm đầu tiên chính xác của từ 'lâu đài', nhiều em chọn D thay vì câu trả lời đúng là C. Khi được hỏi tên của tòa nhà là gì, các em trả lời 'Disneyland' (“The answer is C, many kids choose D” khớp với “subjects with the wrong answer”, “responded" khớp với “answer” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là “Disneyland”.

Question 35

Đáp án: rigourous experimentation

Vị trí thông tin: Critics on his work, … rigorous experimentation.

Nội dung: Thứ có thể khắc phụ lỗi trong nghiên cứu của Piaget

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết một số học giả như Donaldson coi đây là những vấn đề kỹ thuật có thể được giải quyết thông qua những thử nghiệm chặt chẽ hơn (“technical issues” khớp với “flaw”, “resolved” khớp với “rectified”). Vì vậy đáp án là “rigourous experimentation”.

Question 36

Đáp án: grammar school

Vị trí thông tin: A series of studies conducted … sociology of education.

Từ loại: danh từ

Nội dung: Điạ điểm mà Lacey, Hargreaves and Lambert thực hiện các nghiên cứu định tính của họ.

Giải thích: Bài đọc cho biết một loạt nghiên cứu được thực hiện bởi Lacey, Hargreaves và Lambert tại một trường ngữ pháp dành cho nam sinh, một trường trung học hiện đại dành cho nam sinh và một trường ngữ pháp dành cho nữ sinh ở Anh vào những năm 1960 (“a series of studies” khớp với “most qualitative researches” ở đề bài). Vì vậy đáp án là “grammar school”.

Question 37-39: Quantitive Research in Education

Câu hỏi: Xác định 3 đặc điểm của nghiên cứu định tính.

Đáp án: B, D, E

Đáp án A: Bài đọc cho biết mã hóa hành vi liên quan đến một tập hợp các danh mục được xác định trước là đặc điểm của nghiên cứu định lượng. As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes, instead of coding behaviour concerning a pre-determined set of categories, which is what quantitative researchers typically I would do when conducting 'systematic observation' => Không chọn

Đáp án B: Bài đọc cho biết các cuộc phỏng vấn định tính thường được thiết kế giống với những cuộc trò chuyện thông thường (qualitative interviews are often designed to resemble casual conversations: “casual conversations” khớp với “easy conversation”). => Chọn B

Đáp án C: Xử lý 'dữ liệu phi cấu trúc' - loại dữ liệu chưa được mã hóa trong quá trình thu thập liên quan đến một tập hợp các danh mục phân tích khép kín là đặc điểm của nghiên cứu định lượng (Qualitative researches…. also inclines to deal with 'unstructured data', which refers to the kind of data that have not been coded during the collection process regarding a closed set of analytical categories.) => Không chọn.

Đáp án D: các nhà nghiên cứu định tính sử dụng thiết bị âm thanh hoặc video để ghi lại những gì xảy ra hoặc viết chi tiết các ghi chú cho câu trả lời của câu hỏi mở (As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes: “detail open-ended field-notes” khớp với “full of details”) => Chọn D

Đáp án E: Bài đọc cho biết trong một cuộc phỏng vấn của nghiên cứu định tính, người phỏng vấn sẽ hỏi những câu hỏi mở thay vì những câu hỏi yêu cầu những câu trả lời cụ thể được xác định trước theo kiểu điển hình (Similarly, in an interview, interview- ers will ask open-ended questions instead of ones that require specific predefined answers of the kind typical: “ask open-ended questions” khớp với “asking to give open-ended answers”) => Chọn E

Đáp án F: Các nhà nghiên cứu ghi âm và ghi chép quá trình quan sát chứ không phải quá trình nghiên cứu (As a result, when engaging in observation, qualitative researchers use audio or video devices to record what happens or write in detail open-ended field-notes) => Không chọn

Question 40

Phương án A: Bài viết không có dữ liệu về số lượng hay chi tiết cho thấy nghiên cứu định tính thường được áp dụng cho giáo dục trẻ em. => Không chọn.

Phương án B: Không nhắc đến xã hội thiếu hiểu biết sâu sắc về phương pháp giáo dục. => Không chọn.

Phương án C: Bài viết đề cập đến một số nghiên cứu định tính và các chỉ trích về nó (Here we are constantly getting questions about how valid the measures are where the findings of the quantitative research are usually based… Such criticisms of quantitative educational research have also inspired more and more educational researchers to adopt qualitative methodologies during the last three or four decades.) => Chọn C

Phương án D: Nửa sau của bài giới thiệu nghiên cứu định tính và cho biết nhiều nhà nghiên cứu đã áp dụng phương pháp này, đồng thời lấy ví dụ, không ám chỉ nó là là phương pháp hoàn hảo => Không chọn.

Xem tiếp: Giải đề IELTS Reading Actual Test Vol 6 Test 3, Passage 1: Timekeeper: Invention of Marine Chronometer

Trên đây là phần đáp án và giải thích cho Reading Recent Actual Tests Vol 6, Test 2, Reading Passage 3: Quantitive Research in Education , hy vọng sẽ có ích cho quá trình ôn tập của người học. Nếu có thắc mắc về câu hỏi hay các phương pháp ôn thi, người học có thể tham gia diễn đàn ZIM Helper để được giải đáp cặn kẽ.

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Bình luận - Hỏi đáp

Question 1 - 5

Match each statement or description with the correct person or people A , B, C or D . NB You may use any letter more than once.

ĐÁP ÁN & GIẢI THÍCH CÂU 1

So sánh các cụm ở câu hỏi với bài đọc , ta có:

 A wrong answer = wrong answers

 child’s different perspective = children gave a different answer rather than the one the tester expected

 incompetence in reasoning = lack of reasoning capacity 

Step 1: Đọc hiểu câu hỏi 

Hiểu cấu trúc câu hỏi: wrong answer indicates more of A than B: wrong answer cho thấy A hơn là B

=> Hiểu cả câu: Children trả lời sai cho thấy chúng có quan điểm khác nhau, hơn là do chúng thiếu khả năng lập luận

 1 Mehan  argues that  the subjects  might interpret  the test questions  in a way  different from  that meant by the experimenter  

 5 The score sheet  with the wrong answers  does not include  a child’s lack of reasoning capacity  ; it  only records  that  the children gave  a different answer  rather than the one  the tester expected  

=> Câu 5 giúp làm rõ câu 1 hơn khi nhắc lại việc trẻ em đưa ra câu trả lời khác với sự mong đợi của tester/ experimenter

=> Các câu 2 + 3 + 4 chỉ là ví dụ cho 2 ý chính này thôi nên mình bỏ qua

=> Tóm lại: Mehan cho rằng trẻ em có different answers không phải vì chúng lack reasoning capacity, mà vì chúng có cách suy nghĩ khác

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