Components of the Research Process Free Essay Example, 1000 words

Sample size and sampling strategy are important to the stage because of reliability and validity concerns that differ between quantitative and qualitative research. For a quantitative study, reliability and validity are significant and applied sampling strategies and size must ensure adequate representation of a study’s population for inferencing purposes(Mackey & Gass, 2011). Once a sample is selected, data collection stage follows and this involves implementation of developed design at stage two of a study. Identified data collection tools, at the design stage, are implemented at this stage and through data collection procedure that the design stage also outlines (Brennen, 2012). Once data is collected, research process moves into its fifth stage, data analysis stage. At the stage, collected data is evaluated for meanings on characteristics of investigated variables and possible relationships between the variables. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics such as regression analysis are important to the step (Stangor, 2014; Zackmund, et al. , 2012). Once data is analyzed, results are compared with derived information from background study and research questions answered or decision made on stated hypothesis. We will write a custom essay sample on Components of the Research Process or any topic specifically fo r you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now This forms the discussion stage that also includes conclusion. Alignments of the Articles with the Six Steps The article, ‘The impact of white boarding on learning by secondary school biology students, ’ which Bush Diandra and Kelly Martin authored, exhibits the various steps of a research paper. Its introduction is one of the aligning features and corresponds to the first research step of definitions of research objectives through development of background information and establishment of significance of the study and its problem statement. Primary research, for example, established a problem in teaching and influenced the study on effectiveness of white boarding. The study’s methodology also outlines the research design, sampling, and data collection stages of a research. The article’s results section that depicts analysis outcomes also corresponds to the data analysis step of the research process while the discussion section corresponds with conclusion stage of research. The article therefore assumes the six stages of a research process (Bush & Kelly, 2004). C riswell’s article on ‘New dimensions in white’ however identifies with only the conclusion stage of the research process in which research results are discussed and conclusion made (Criswell, 2008).