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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper focusing on qualitative research in distance education, particularly in the online environment. Quantitative research has come into its own over largely since the last half of the 1990s. Certainly qualitative research existed before that time, but it often failed to adhere to the principles of serious research. The purpose here is to analyze historical, experimental, case study and survey research. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSeduDistRes.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
come into its own over largely since the last half of the 1990s. Certainly qualitative research existed before that time, but it often failed to adhere to the principles
of serious research. The purpose here is to analyze historical, experimental, case study and survey research. Types of Research For the quantitative
purist, qualitative research methods were used any time that the researcher could not fit desired questions into firm hypothesis and then set out to collect data that could be absolutely
measured and still be replicatable by other researchers given the same conditions. Creswells (2003) definition of a quantitative analysis is: A quantitative approach is one in which the investigator
primarily uses postpositivist claims for developing knowledge (i.e., cause and effect thinking, reduction to specific variables and hypotheses and questions, use of measurement and observation, and the test of theories),
employs strategies of inquiry such as experiments and surveys, and collects data on predetermined instruments that yield statistical data (Creswell, 2003; p. 18).
Qualitative methods are more useful when the researcher seeks to determine attitudes and perceptions. Cresswell (2003) speaks to the former view of qualitative research as suspicious for lack of
scientific method: For many years, the researcher "had to discuss the characteristics of qualitative research and convince faculty and audiences as to their legitimacy" (p. 179-180). Some of
those characteristics are that qualitative research * "Takes place in the natural setting" (Cresswell, 2003; p. 183); * Uses "multiple methods that are interactive and humanistic" (Cresswell, 2003; p. 183);
* "Is emergent rather than tightly prefigured" (Cresswell, 2003; p. 183); * Is fundamentally interpretive; * "Views social phenomena holistically" (Cresswell, 2003; p. 183); and * "Uses one or more
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