Variables in Research
1. View the Video on different types of quantitative data. – Nominal, Ordinal, Interval/Ratio Types of Data (Links to an external site.)
2. Note in the discussion on “nominal” or “categorical” variables, the speaker also refers to it as “qualitative” variable. This is not to be confused with “Qualitative Research” data, but is only referring to a type of data used in quantitative analysis that is either “named” or “categorized” or descriptive in a “qualitative way,” thus the terms nominal, categorical or qualitative. In the Cook, (2001), study – a Cook, 2001.pdf for instance, the variable “attitude” has 4 nominal/categorical values: attachment, concern, indifference and attachment. This is a quantitative, non-experimental study – using Large N (70+ teachers) “randomly” selected and relationships asserted based on a statistical analysis (chi square). We will talk about these features later, but as far the the type of variable – both “attitude” and “type of disability” (“hidden” or “obvious”), in this study are nominal/categorical, or as they term in the video, qualitative. Let’s stick with categorical or nominal as terms.
3. Once you have reviewed the video, read this article abstract:
This study was designed to compare the efficacy of two instructional methods, oral recitation and transcription, on the spelling accuracy of five students with learning disabilities. During oral recitation, the student orally spelled the words presented by the experimenter. Transcription was similar to the recitation method except that the students were also required to write the word as they spelled it. Results showed that all students achieved higher accuracy with the transcription method.
and answer the following questions.
1. What is the independent variable? What are the levels of the independent variable?
2. What is the dependent variable?
3. Give an example of how spelling accuracy could be operationally defined?
4. What is a research hypothesis relevant to this problem? What is the null hypothesis?
4. Once you have completed this, search out an article abstract and identify the same concepts, providing the abstract and responses to the questions noted here.
