Theme 4: Quantitative research

Podcast a technology for all. 

This study examines the potential of podcast as a social inclusive technology for non-traditional students. The study took place at a large University of Technology in South Africa and operated for 2 years. Population consisted of 696 students, whereof 434 completed the study. The aim of the research was to see if podcast works as social inclusive technology. A quantitative research method was used. The theoretical framework and research questions determines which research method should be used. Which data and where to collect data are also based of the research question (Bryman & Bell s. 26, 2010). To perform a survey study on a university that offers lower study fees than other university was important in order to be able to answer the research questions and to measure what this study claim to measure. A university with lower fees is more likely to have a higher number of non-traditional students which is necessary to be able to study if podcasts are social inclusive. To observe the phenomena (demographic use of podcasting, experience of podcasting, and podcast as a learning tool) they used questionnaires as observations technique. Their study fits well within a survey research design, because they use a large sample (434 students), the study conducted over 2 years (a specific time period), and they examine more than one variable. For example they looked at use of podcasts in relation with demographics (gender, age and English or Afrikaan as home language) but also which devices students access podcasts with and uses of podcasts in different courses. For this use surveys are a god choice 

With a quantitative method its is possible to find correlations between variables, in this case, if there were any relationship between technological adoption and demographics, course context and course design. With selected quantitative method they obtain correlations but not an understanding for the context. When you test several variables is possible to observe patterns, which they did. They could state that if podcasts was well integrated in the course ALL students did engage. With a qualitative research design on the other hand it would be possible to describe why concepts differ. As mentioned above the intention of this study was to examine if podcasts can been seen as a social inclusive technology (not how or why), therefore I think their research design fits very well for their aim. They have no intention to explain why. However a qualitative research could have added some good description for observed data. The construction of the study (data was collected from a large sample) enabling conclusions and generalize of their findings on a bigger population. However of 696 students only 434 students completed the survey and the average response rate was 64%. Therefor I believe they could have done some improvement with their questionaries’ and implementation. If they hade none open questions in the end, shorter or less complicated question maybe more student would have completed the survey. It’s not uncommon to have a bigger loss of respondents when using survey than with use of structured interviews, for example. So structured interviews could be used to improve their study. 

References: 

Bryma A, Bell.E. 2005. Företagsekonomiska forskningsmetoder. Upplaga 1:2. Liber AB 

Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality: The Body Shapes the Way We Play 

Using a quantitative method in this study could cause problem, the researcher would be more involved in the participants and likely to have difficulties with being objective, also the participants would more likely behave as expected. An advantage could be that fewer participants are need and its possible to explore the context and discuses the meaning of the relationships between body ownership and behavior. It would be interesting to now more about the participant’s mindsets of being some else. Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality is an interesting research although I believe a bigger sample of the population is needed, 36 people divided in two groups are to few to make any generalization of. 

The procedure of the research was good; the participants were given both an information sheet and explained to theme verbally, which decrease the chance to lose participants with read- and write difficulties. A quantitative method, allows the researchers to measure and analyze data. In this case they measured and analyzed the movements from the motion capture suit. Through a statistical analyze they could translated the experiment into number. 

The researcher argues that it was not a difference in the result with respect to age, but I can’t find how old the participants were. I think an additional study identifying if result differ according to age would be interesting. Should it be possible to make same conclusion if the participants were children, or old people +80? Do they have the same preconceptions? The study does not tell us about the population or selected sample “Initially 38 participants were recruited from the university campus”, with this information it’s hard to judge if the sample is representative or not.

The way the study portrait dark skin and light skin stereotypes could bee problematical. It’s some danger with doing this study, it can potential increase serotypes and expectations, which can cause dominant ideologies to prevail. However this study could also illuminate stereotypes.