Respond to discussion #1

Respond in one or more of the following ways:

Ask a probing question.

Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.

Offer and support an opinion.

Validate an idea with your own experience.

Make a suggestion.

Expand on your colleague's posting.

Researchers prefer to use quantitative methods to support evidentiary findings. According to Creswell (2009), the purpose of a survey design is to provide numerical trends to sample a population's belief and or opinion regarding a specific study. Based on the outcome of the study, the researcher derives supportive arguments to validate his or her claim to support the outcome of the study. In contrast to a survey inquiry, a researcher develops an experimental design to test the impact of the proposed outcome. The researcher takes extreme care in controlling the internal and or external factors that may influence the outcome of the study. An example of an experimental design is having two participant groups that are given medication to validate a specific outcome. One group may be administered a drug, while the other group may be given a placebo. The outcome of both groups will determine the validity of the study based on the controls as a variable set forth by the researcher. According to Keppel (1191) when dealing with a true experiment, the procedures eliminates the possibility of systematic differences among characteristics of the participants that may impact and or influence the controlled environment of the study.

The survey and the experimental method are both quantitative approaches that use scientific data The data sets are numerical representation than can be used as a form of measurement. Due to the mathematical expressions in the research, these input serves as variables. These variables can influence the questions that relates to the study as part of analysis to the actual research. These variables can be either dependent and or independent. With respect to surveys, they can be used in an interview format or as questions to the participants in the study. Based on the total of participants, statistical analysis can be interpreted by the researcher. There are several threats to validity that may pose some concern about the researcher's ability to determine whether or not intervention may have an effect on the outcome of the study; Internal and external validity threats.

Reference

Creswell, J. ( 2009). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, Ca. Sage Publications.