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Test Scores: Qualitative Research Interpretation

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Assume the role of a chief researcher for the state Department of Education who is examining two groups with similar educational deficiencies. One group involved in the study is a rural, ethnically-defined, aboriginal group with a high rate of health issues including diabetes, vision impairment, and heart disease. The other group is also a rural group living on family-owned farms (as opposed to corporate farms) that are in severe decline as a result of years of decreasing rainfall and drought. Both groups exhibit achievement test scores that are more than one standard deviation below the mean at all grade levels, and excessive high school drop-out rates. address the use of qualitative research as a means of studying the two groups in the scenario.

What is a rationale for using qualitative research methods instead of quantitative research.
What is a statement of how the worldviews and paradigms of the researcher may create bias when applying qualitative research to the given scenario.

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Solution Summary

The solution presents information, assistance and advise in tackling the task (see above) on the topic of using qualitative research to study a group who scores low in achievement. Bias and worldviews are also discussed in relation to doing research. Resources are listed for further exploration of the topic.

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Test Scores and Qualitative Research

Tests are administered to determine a respondent's knowledge on a topic, or to determine skills, aptitude, physical fitness, mental fitness as well as to determine classification in a host of subjects and concerns (i.e. beliefs, habits, values). In this task, there are 2 groups under examination - is a rural, ethnically-defined, aboriginal group with a high rate of health issues including diabetes, vision impairment, and heart disease and a also a rural group living on family-owned farms (as opposed to corporate farms) that are in severe decline as a result of years of decreasing rainfall and drought. There test scores are low in terms of all grade levels as they are 1 standard deviation below the mean or 1sd. If the average or mean score of a 20-point test is 10, then it means that a majority of test takers from this group score 3 points below or 7 out of 20. But this is how far statistics tells us about the group. It tells us the number of high school drop outs, the scores achieved, the number of test-takers, the frequency of scoring at each deviation from the mean, both above it and below. Qualitative research is not about measuring however, it is about describing and exploring using text-data so as to investigate why test-takers from these groups ...

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  • MPhil/PhD (IP), Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • MA, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
  • Certificate, Geva Ulpan (via Universita Tel Aviv)
  • BA, University of the Philippines
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