Select either a qualitative or quantitative study, then make a critical analysis of it using any eight of the following categories: introduction, abstract, documentation, literature review, aims, context, research design, research methods, reliability.

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Title: select either a qualitative or quantitative study, then make a critical analysis of it using any eight of the following categories: introduction, abstract, documentation, literature review, aims, context, research design, research methods, reliability, validity, mode of analysis.

The purpose of research studies can be seen upon as to explore the information within the given environment and consider their viability and effectiveness and whether these can add value for learners to the overall experience. The term 'Research' can consist of different meanings, research enquires can be defined as; a methodical, formal and precise process employed to gain solutions to problems and to discover and interpret new facts and relationships. (Waltz and Bausell, 1981, p.1). Therefore the ultimate goals of research are to formulate questions and aim to find the answers to those questions. The immediate goals of research are categorised as exploration, description, prediction, explanation and action, where they provide a strategy for figuring out which questions to ask and which answers to seek. (Sarantakos, 1993).

Primarily this assignment will focus on a specific educational research study, based on 'Bullying and racism among Asian schoolchildren in Britain' conducted by Mike Eslea and Kafeela Mukhtar. (Eslea and Mukhtar, 2000.) The study is formulated and conducted upon the Quantitative research methodology. Quantitative research methods were originally developed in the natural sciences to study natural phenomena, (Bryman, 1988) this can be visualized as it uses numerical forms of representation which then can be presented in forms of graphs and tables, (Denscombe ,2003). Quantitative research is associated with many different approaches to data collection; the main fundamental characteristics are as follows; the approach is concerned with obtaining numerical information which can be analysed using statistics, where it does not need to go beyond the use of what is stated as 'Descriptive' (Silverman, 2000). The Aims are to establish cause and affect relationships, where experiments result in high levels of reliability. The research study will be critically examined and analysed in depth on the following eight selected categories; abstract, introduction, literature review, research design, research methods, reliability, validity and documentation.

Abstract:

An abstract can be defined as a paragraph that summarizes the whole study. The abstract is in essence a teaser (Dane, 1990, pp226), as readers will use it to decide whether or not to read the full report based upon the abstract. The abstract of an Quantitative study should provide a succinct, but a thorough overview of the research conducted, and it should specifically describe the objectives of the research; the hypotheses tested, the methods used, the statistical analyses of the data, the results of the study and the conclusions. A carefully crafted abstract is essential because judgments about the quality and validity of the general research can be determined from the written abstract.

Concentrating onto the actual research paper and highlighting critically the abstract. It can be identified clearly that the overall purpose has been stated earlier within the abstract, as the opening sentence begins with a brief description of previous researches within the same field, and how the research problem arose from neglecting issues of racism linked to bullying within Schools. (Eslea and Mukhtar, 2000.) The Abstract sets the scene for the main purpose of the research as it states; in result from the lack of research upon racism within schools there has been little known about bullying linked to ethnic minority children within Britain. So in appraisal to the abstract, according to (Dane, 1990) the objective has been described, and the problem has been addressed. The methodology used, including the research design, and data collection methods should be mentioned within an abstract (Buley, 1991). This has also been set in a concise sentence, through presenting the research method and the use of a survey questionnaire and mentioning the design of the research. In effect to the research method, the study also describes the criteria used to select participants in the research and where the study took place, however the reasons why the survey was carried out within that specific part of Britain is left unmentioned.

Concise discussions of a few significant research findings are included within the abstract, "Results show that bullying was widespread, 57 per cent of boys and 43 per cent of girls had been bullied that school term" (Eslea and Mukhtar, 2000.) So the results have reflected the key findings of the study. Also the results and indifferences had been mentioned within the abstract, which is a point to be praised as data should be included in the abstract. Statistical differences between groups, treatments, or programs should be indicated (May, 1997).
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However the Learning outcomes are not so clear, and a specific learning outcome has not been stated which will be achieved from the research. Also the conclusions established are not so scientifically sound, as it can be questionable if it is a valid interpretation of the data presented. As within the last sentence of the abstract it states that although it is difficult to generalise and make assumptions from such unrepresentative samples, by saying that it ends with the results to show that bullying is clearly a rich and complex problem among ethnic minority children, (Eslea and Mukhtar, ...

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