Discipline: State Laws on Corporal Punishment/students conduct in U.S Public Schools - Research Paper Example

Research methods The appropriate research methodology in this respect is qualitative research methodology. The choice of this method is based on the goal of the research, which highlights on the state laws on corporal punishment, and students conduct in public schools. The hypothesis of the research necessitates an investigation into the issue and therefore a qualitative approach best suits the situation. Monique, Inge, & Ajay (2011) provide that “qualitative research is an approach that allows you to examine people’s experiences in detail, by using a specific set of research methods which include in-depth interviews, biographies, discussions, focus group, content analysis, and life histories or observation.

” The application of qualitative research should be applied in the study with a core objective of providing a good understanding of the situation. This implies that the methodology should endeavor to shed some light into the issue in question as well as explanation. On the other hand, the quantitative approach, which follows a systematic and objective approach towards obtaining information regarding the research, is not preferred. A quantitative approach involves the analysis of data and presentation of results in order to arrive at a conclusion on a research topic or question.

This approach would not be appropriate in this circumstance since the complexity associated to the procedure especially on sampling, provides a limitation. This is because the requirements of the research in question require an analysis into the situation and not test, or examine the results of the cause and effect of the scenario. Furthermore, a quantitative approach is time consuming and requires expertise in order to provide valid and reliable results. Statistical tools as well as the entire procedure for a quantitative research pose a big challenge; hence require much time in the development of the research results.

The appropriate research design for the qualitative methodology is the grounded theory, which looks into the problems of the situation and how these problems are handled as well as test and develop a theory with respect to the issue at hand. According to Monique, Inge, & Ajay (2011) “grounded theory is… an approach to qualitative research… that provides a rigorous and ‘scientific’ approach yet it also remains faithful to the interpretive nature of qualitative analysis.” Concerning the research question the grounded theory provides a comparative review of literature relevant to the research question then provide an analysis of this information with an aim of developing a theory on the issue of corporal punishment and the conduct of students in public schools.

It is however, imperative that the analysis of data available on the subject supports theory developed. On the contrary, a phenomenology design that examines the uniqueness of an issue or an individual or the subjective approach to research seems inappropriate for these circumstances. The phenomenology approach involves the use of direct observations, description of the phenomena, and providing experiences on the same. Additionally the findings of this approach stem from the subject’s point of view while the researcher identifies themes and develops a structural explanation of these findings.

With these characteristics of the approach in mind, it becomes inapplicable in providing a research on discipline; corporal punishment and the conduct of students in public schools as the research on these require the development of a theory. The observations of the subjects play as mere role as the research aims to analyze the issues in question in order to obtain the findings.Reference listMonique H., Inge H., & Ajay B. (2011). Qualitative Research Methods. Sage.