Question1. Compare and Contrast between Qualitative and Quantitative research.

Answer :

Question2: Discuss Experimental Research design and its various types with relevant example.

Answer : Experimental

Research

The purpose of experimental research is to study cause and effect relationships. Its defining characteristic is active manipulation of an independent variable (i.e., it is only in experimental research that manipulation is present). Also, random assignment (which creates "equivalent" groups) is used in the strongest experimental research designs

Within the realm of experimental research, there are three major types of design:
1. TRUE-EXPERIMENTAL 2. QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL 3. PRE-EXPERIMENTAL

TRUE-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS must employ the following:

Random selection of subjects Use of control groups Random assignments to control and experimental groups Random assignment of groups to control and experimental conditions

In order for an experiment to follow a true-experimental design, it must meet the preceding criteria. There is some variation in true-experimental designs, but that variation comes in the time(s) that the treatment is given to the experimental group, or in the observation or measurement (pre-test, posttest, mid-test) area. Advantages of the true-experimental design include:

Greater internal validity Causal claims can be investigated

Disadvantages:

Less external validity (not like real world conditions) Not very practical

QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS are usually constructions that already exist in the real world. Those designs that fall into the quasi-experimental category fall short in some way of the criteria for the true experimental group. A quasi-experimental design will have some sort of control and experimental group, but these groups probably weren't randomly selected. Random selection is usally where true-experimental and quasi-experimental designs differ. Quasi-experimental designs came about because of: 1) difficulty of applying the classical natural science method to the social sciences 2) overemphasis on theory testing and development

3) high cost of classic natural science methods 4) development of new statistical tools that allowed for statistical control There are several types of quasi-experimental designs, including: time series design equivalent time series samples equivalent samples materials design non-equivalent control group counterbalanced designs Some advantages of the quasi-experimental design include:

Greater external validity (more like real world conditions) Much more feasible given time and logistical constraints

Disadvantages:

Not as many variables controlled (less causal claims)

PRE-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS are lacking in several areas of the true-experimental criteria. Not only do they lack random selection in most cases, but they usually just employ a single group. This group receives the "treatment," there is no control group. Pilot studies, one-shot case studies, and most research using only one group, fall into this category. The advantages are:

Very practical Set the stage for further research

Disadvantages:

Lower validity

Question3 : what are the various levels of measurement. Discuss using relevant example. Answer : In statistics and quantitative research methodology, levels of measurement or scales of measure are types of data that
arise in the theory of scale types developed by the psychologistStanley Smith Stevens. The types are nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio

1. Nominal scale
The nominal type, sometimes also called the qualitative type, differentiates between items or subjects based only on their names or (meta-)categories and other qualitative classifications they belong to. Examples include gender, nationality, ethnicity, language, genre, style, biological species, and form.

Central tendency
The mode, i.e. the most common item, is allowed as the measure of central tendency for the nominal type. On the other hand, the median, i.e. the middle-ranked item, makes no sense for the nominal type of data since ranking is not allowed for the nominal type.

2. Ordinal scale
The ordinal type allows for rank order (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) by which data can be sorted, but still does not allow for relative degree of difference between them. Examples include, on one hand,dichotomous data with dichotomous (or dichotomized) values such as 'sick' vs. 'healthy' when measuring health, 'guilty' vs. 'innocent' when making judgments in courts, 'wrong/false' vs. 'right/true' when measuring truth value, and, on the other hand, non-dichotomous data consisting of a spectrum of values, such as 'completely agree', 'mostly agree', 'mostly disagree', 'completely disagree' when measuring opinion.

Central tendency
The median, i.e. middle-ranked, item is allowed as the measure of central tendency; however, the mean (or average) as the measure of central tendency is not allowed. The mode is allowed. In 1946, Stevens observed that psychological measurement, such as measurement of opinions, usually operates on ordinal scales; thus means and standard deviations have no validity, but they can be used to get ideas for how to improve operationalization of variables used in questionnaires. Most psychological data collected by psychometric instruments and tests, measuring cognitiveand other abilities, are ordinal, although some theoreticians have argued they can be treated as interval or ratio scales. However, there is little prima facie evidence to suggest that such attributes are anything more than ordinal (Cliff, 1996; Cliff & Keats, 2003; Michell, [2] [3] [4][5][6] 2008). In particular, IQ scores reflect an ordinal scale, in which all scores are meaningful for comparison only. There is no [7][8] absolute zero, and a 10-point difference may carry different meanings at different points of the scale.

3. Interval scale
The interval type allows for the degree of difference between items, but not the ratio between them. Examples include temperature with the Celsius scale, which has an arbitrarily-defined zero point (the freezing point of a particular substance under particular conditions), and date when measured from an arbitrary epoch (such as AD). Ratios are not allowed since 20C cannot be said to be "twice as hot" as 10C, nor can multiplication/division be carried out between any two dates directly. However, ratios of differences can be expressed; for example, one difference can be twice another. Interval type variables are sometimes also called "scaled variables", but the formal mathematical term is an affine space (in this case an affine line).

Central tendency and statistical dispersion

The mode, median, and arithmetic mean are allowed to measure central tendency of interval variables, while measures of statistical dispersion include range and standard deviation. Since one cannot divide, one cannot define measures that require a ratio, such as the studentized range or the coefficient of variation. More subtly, while one can define moments about the origin, only central moments are meaningful, since the choice of origin is arbitrary. One can define standardized moments, since ratios of differences are meaningful, but one cannot define the coefficient of variation, since the mean is a moment about the origin, unlike the standard deviation, which is (the square root of) a central moment.

4. Ratio scale
The ratio type takes its name from the fact that measurement is the estimation of the ratio between a magnitude of a continuous quantity and a unit magnitude of the same kind (Michell, 1997, 1999). A ratio scale possesses a meaningful (unique and non-arbitrary) zero value. Most measurement in the physical sciences and engineering is done on ratio scales. Examples include mass,length, duration, plane angle, energy and electric charge. Ratios are allowed because having a non-arbitrary zero point makes it meaningful to say, for example, that one object has "twice the length" of another. Very informally, many ratio scales can be described as specifying "how much" of something (i.e. an amount or magnitude) or "how many" (a count). The Kelvin temperature scale is a ratio scale because it has a unique, non-arbitrary zero point called absolute zero. The zero point of the Celsius scale is at 273.15 kelvins, so Celsius is not a ratio scale.

Central tendency and statistical dispersion

The geometric mean and the harmonic mean are allowed to measure the central tendency, in addition to the mode, median, and arithmetic mean. The studentized range and the coefficient of variation are allowed to measure statistical dispersion. All statistical measures are allowed because all necessary mathematical operations are defined for the ratio scale.