Reference no: EM131522330

For this discussion, you will consider the use of mixed methods for the topic you have chosen for your Research Proposal. In your initial post, apply the scientific method to your research topic by defining your research question and determining the method(s) necessary to answer that question.

Needing to find out where children are beginning to have problems reading in the elementary level, and figure out what can be done to begin improving the student's literacy and language skills. Believe there would be a need for testing the students, before and after the intervention to see if any new skill has been gained. So, the pretest and posttest method seems to be the best fit, along with exploratory research. Exploratory research will help connect ideas to understand the issues we are seeing, and explain why.

Research question - What will have the most impact to help ELL students, gain more English in a preschool classroom setting to improve reading skills in Elementary school?

Compare the characteristics and appropriate uses of the different methods and explain if your research question could best be answered through qualitative or quantitative methods, or a mix of both.

I see it as needing both methods. The pretest and posttest will give an idea of what the students are learning and what areas need to be worked on. The skills the students need to reach a certain reading level by the third grade, would come from the exploratory research. Exploratory will help us get the answers we need even if we have to look in a variety of directions, but it will help explain why we are seeing what we are seeing.

I believe that a mix method research would be best. It would give a wider view point, and help point to answers that can change during the research. I do believe that the qualitative research is the dominant method. Complementarity allows the researcher to gain a fuller understanding of the research problem and/or to clarify a given research result (Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2010).

Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2010). Mixed methods research: merging theory with practice/ Sharlene

Nagy Hesse-Biber, New York: Guilford Press, c2010.

Discussion : Mixed Methods

Apply the scientific method to your research topic by defining your research question and determining the method(s) necessary to answer that question.

The methods used for my research on Early Onset Dementia would be Grounded Theory because the research wants to know what is happening to the caregivers and how they can best be helped. The Narrative Analysis is used because it is a study of case stories based on the caregivers experiences, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis because the caregivers and the caregivers gives accounts and answers questions as to how they feel about their situations. The research question would be " Will additional resources for caregivers of Early Onset Dementia help to maintain their health and emotional well being" All of the methods above apply to the research question, so therefore we will be using mixed methods because it applies too this research and what we are trying to find out.

Compare the characteristics and appropriate uses of the different methods and explain if your research question could best be answered through qualitative or quantitative methods, or a mix of both. The research question uses an qualitative method because we are not looking for statistics, or anything numerical within our research which would be quantitative. Grounded theory, Phenomenological Analysis, and Narrative Analysis will be used in conjunction with the study. The information gathered will help to identify the information wanted and help to get to the hypothesis, which is yes it will help the caregivers by providing them with additional resources by individual need.

Identify the dominant method (quantitative or qualitative) for your proposed study. The dominant method is qualitative for this study. We are using the patient and the caregivers statements, and their own words as to describe what they are going through in their lives. The narratives and interviews that were done were to provide some insight into how they may be helped, and what they need for them to stay healthy, emotionally and physically.

Explain whether or not a mixed methods approach is the best way to study the topic, demonstrating that the second method is not added as an afterthought or merely to impress journal editors who favor mixed methods. A mixed methods approach is a good way to get different types of data based on the type of research being done.

The mixed method approach is a good way to collect the information that will be used in coming to your conclusive hypothesis, the more methods that are used, the more information you will have pertaining to your research participants, and you can get a better picture focusing on the data for the results but if there are numbers that are needed can it be quantitative as well. The research should be done according to what data needs collecting, not to satisfy others who favor other means and methods.

If you have decided not to use mixed methods, explain why the study is best completed with either a quantitative or qualitative focus. It was best to focus on the narrative and the visions of the participants. The researchers were not looking for any quantitative research at all. The results were all methods used in qualitative research.

Justify your design choice and support your position with scholarly sources. Include a discussion explaining how you would apply ethical principles to your design to address concerns which may impact your research.According to Hess-Biber (2010) " Mixed Methods is a rich field for the combination of data because with this design " words, pictures and narratives can be used to add meaning to numbers."

The mixed methods does not apply to my research, but mixed methods works in a combination of when needing numerical information and qualitative data. The qualitative method and the designs that best fit the research will provide the study with the answers that we will need to answer the question that we want answered and will show hat the data collected will best fit the hypothesis that was formed.

Hesse-Biber, S.N. (2010). Mixed methods research: Merging Theory with practice. New York:Guilford Press.