Quantitative Research
While pursuing my degree in leadership I will be conducting research
on an area of critical thinking that I need the most improvement. For me, that
area was in intellectual virtue. I am required to complete an action research
project in which I will complete several activities as they relate to my topic.
However, I need to first understand exactly what it means to have intellectual
virtue. In order to fully understand my topic, I will scour over as much
quantitative research as I can get my hands on.
So what is quantitative research and how will this help me
with my project? For starters, quantitative research, like most research, is
attempting to explain something. For example, “Why is intellectual virtue
important?” In order for researchers to determine an answer to this question,
they must collect numerical data based on mathematical methods. But it would be
kind of difficult to collect hard, numerical data on intellectual virtue since
virtue would not show up in quantitative form. In order to be able to measure it
statistically, data would be collected on student’s behaviors in class and on how
they respond to questionnaires that would be developed. This would give us the quantitative
data needed to determine how much intellectual virtue a person or a class has.
While this type of research is necessary to gauge something
that is difficult to really determine, it is not the best method for my
particular subject. Intellectual virtue is more of a qualitative research type
of concept. Part of the reason for this is the fact that quantitative research
often predicts scores on a particular factor; which, would be nearly impossible
to do when it comes to virtue. Quantitative research also likes to test the
hypothesis. While it is possible to test a researcher’s hypothesis on
intellectual virtue, it would be considered subjective.
My goal is find out why intellectual virtue is important to
have and whether or not it should be something that is taught in school. From
what I have gathered so far, we all have the ability to be intellectually virtuous within us that can either
be cultivated or extinguished. If it can be cultivated, then it would seem to
me that it should be a vital part of curriculum for students, whether they are
in grade school or college.
I intend to do the research necessary to find the answers to
these questions and hopefully improve this area of critical thinking for
myself.
Reference:
Introduction to quantitative research. 2010. Retrieved February
25, 2016. From
http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/36869_muijs.pdf
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