The Different Perceptions of General Students - Essay Example

RESEARCH CRITIQUE INTRODUCTION The research paper is about understanding the different perceptions of general students and talented students simultaneously attending an exemplary CTE center and a traditional high school. The research is criticized by identifying various criteria. The research misses a lot of vital points of a good research. RESEARCH CRITIC There is no Title for the research work. The abstract clearly summarizes the key components involved in the study. The keywords are not mentioned though. The aim of the research is clearly stated and is elaborated in the purpose section. The literature review is totally absent and the researcher failed to express projects that were carried out in the same discipline. The various criteria identified to critic the research are as follows: 1. Systematic Systematic adopts specified rules and procedure to accomplish the task. This research has no specified rules and is highly unsystematic. 2. Purpose clearly defined: The purpose of the research is to understand the different perceptions of general students and talented students simultaneously attending an exemplary CTE center and a traditional high school. There are no objectives for the research as it tries to bring something unknown. The decision to be made is clear and unambiguous stating the research to be qualitative in nature. So, the purpose of the project is clearly defined. 3. Research process details: The research is identified to be descriptive and qualitative in nature and there are no process details in the research. The following are the shortcomings: Descriptive studies describe the characteristics of an individual or group. Here, it describes the characteristics of two groups. Diagnostic research determines the frequency with which some thing occurs. The research doesn’t provide this. It identifies the factors associated with the problem. Here the factors are draw ability and demonstrability. The researcher must define clearly what he wants to measure and must find adequate means to measure it. In this research, nothing is measured. The design must be rigid and not flexible. There is no design in the research. A descriptive study requires a clear specifications of who, what, when, where, why and how aspects of the research. Nothing of this sort has been mentioned here. - Cooper, Donald and Schindler, Pamela, Business Research Methods, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2003. Pg. 32, Pg. 179, Pg 184-187, Pg 190-193, Pg 221-231. 4. Research design thoroughly planned: In this research, no variables are defined but this could be considered less important because the research is qualitative in nature. SAMPLING DESIGN The research uses a clustered sample design and there are no quantitative aspects in the research. It is highly qualitative in nature. Details of the sample design in the research: Universe: 800 students and 20 Programs Sample: 54 students and 9 programs The research uses a 4-point scale to collect data from the respondents. There is no rationale behind the sampling. The methods used to collect data are identified to be Field study: It emphasizes inter-relationship of number of factors – Interview (Semi-structured interview protocols). 5. Analysis Open, axial, and selective coding of data was completed as suggested by Strauss and Corbin (1990). Axial codes were designed with individual spokes creating a more detailed description of student comments. This forms the part of analysis. The information is analyzed properly and the research comes out with four new findings. 6. Logical conclusion: The inferences and conclusion drawn from the analysis must be rational. The conclusion of the research does not provide any substantiating factors. There is no logic behind the conclusion but the conclusion is justified. 7. Empirical evidence: The results must be based on experimentation of real life situation (ie) the findings must be supported by the data analysis. The research does not provide empirical evidence of the previous done works in the same area except that it says that this research is the third of its type. Qualitative research does not need empirical evidence. 8. Limitations frankly revealed: Weakness and limitation in the procedure and estimation should be frankly told. This research does not talk about limitations as there was no research conducted. 9. Findings presented unambiguously: Report of the research should be made in simple, clear and precise language. Generalizations should be reasonable and recommendations should be appropriate. The research presents the findings very clearly. The findings include: 1. Autonomy - Students appreciated the ability to choose courses and determine the order or type of assignments, to self-pace the curriculum, and to experiment with a profession 2. Teachers with high expectations 3. Students with similar interests who demonstrated mature and committed behaviors, showed interest in their course of study, and participated in Career and Technical Student Organizations. 4. The learning environment at the CTE center offered curricular connections to the profession, hands-on learning, and professional treatment of students in a job-like setting (relevant content in an applied setting). The drawback here is the research does not state how the open ended questions and the findings are related.- Kothari.C.R. Research Methodology, Wishwa Prakashan, Pg. 39, 40,117-119, 277-279,300,301 10. Questionnaire: Any type of research involves data collection. In this research, the data is collected through interviews and observations but the type of questions asked during interviews is never mentioned anywhere in the study. Generally these types of questions are used for schedule: 1. Open-ended questions: Allowed freedom to the respondent to give his own answer. 2. Closed ended question: Restricts the respondents answer to the given choice. 3. Dichotomous questions: Answers are positive or negative [yes/no] 4. Multiple choice questions: Respondents can select any one out of many answers. Eg: How do you like the class a) Like very much b) Like much c) Dis-like much d) Dis-like very much 5. Rank order question: Respondents are asked to rank the preference Eg: Rank your choice of drinks in your canteen a) Pepsi b) Coke c) Boost d) Tea e) Coffee. In this research, open ended questions are asked and the time to complete the interview with each participant ranges from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. 13. The Ethical Aspects of a Study The ethical aspects are not stated explicitly. Anyhow, the study participants are not subjected to any physical harm, discomfort, or psychological distress. The participants are not deceived in any way. They were fully aware of participating in a study, and had understood the purpose of the research. There was no appropriate consent procedures implemented. There were no appropriate steps taken to safeguard the privacy of participants. The research was not approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board or other similar ethics review committee. GENERAL MISTAKES IN THE RESEARCH: The research suffers for factors of Subjectivity like 1. Personal bias 2. Emotion 3. Motives 4. Customer 5. Superstitions 6. Misunderstanding of the concept 7. External pressure. 8. Defective sampling 9. Wrong analysis, and interpretation 10. Faulty conclusions SUGGESTION A good research must possess the following characteristics: 1. Less dependence on investigator. 2. Researcher’s involvement in research process. 3. Use of statistical tools. 4. Standardization of terms use of acceptance concept 5. Use of questionnaire Questions relevant to objective To conduct pilot survey. Structuring the questionnaire will helps avoiding subjectivity. 6. Counter-checking of data - Cross questions to respondents will ensure accuracy. 7. Random sampling method: Avoid subjectivity and convenience When census sampling is not possible 8. Extensive use of machines. Avoid manual processing of data. It helps avoiding subjectivity - Yukako Sunaoshia,1, Masaaki Kotab, Janet Y. Murray, How technology transfer really occurs on the factory floor: a case of a major Japanese automotive die manufacturer in the United States - http://www.managementhelp.org/research/research.htm REFERENCE 1. Cooper, Donald and Schindler, Pamela, Business Research Methods, Tata McGraw-Hill Edition, 2003. Pg. 32, Pg. 179, Pg 184-187, Pg 190-193, Pg 221-231. 2. Kothari.C.R. Research Methodology, Wishwa Prakashan, New Delhi, Reprint 2002, Page number: 39, 40,117-119, 277-279,300,301 3. Yukako Sunaoshia,1, Masaaki Kotab, Janet Y. Murray, How technology transfer really occurs on the factory floor: a case of a major Japanese automotive die manufacturer in the United States 4. http://www.managementhelp.org/research/research.htm 5. Norman K. Denzin, Yvonna S. Lincoln, The Landscape of Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues Read More