The document discusses a study seeking to determine whether giving digital badges (the intervention) impacts students' motivation to participate in classroom discussions. It recommends using a phenomenological qualitative research design to understand students' experiences and feelings about the intervention. This design involves in-depth interviews to understand students' perspectives without regard to social norms. It would help answer the instructors' additional questions about how students feel about and view the influence of the intervention on their learning.

1. Wk. 3 Discussion
For this week’s discussion we have been tasked with comparing
the characteristics of appropriate research designs and
recommend a qualitative research design that would facilitate
answering the instructor’s additional questions: : (a) How do
their students actually feel about the intervention? and (b) How
do students view the influence of the intervention on their
learning inside and outside of the classroom (if applicable)?
When it comes to qualitative research methods there are several,
however the three most common are participant observation, in-
depth interviews and focus groups. Participant observation in a
social setting tends to aim to gain a means of better
understanding within a given group of individuals, their
experiences and observations and collects data. In-depth
interviews are utilized for collecting data on individual’s
personal history, perspectives, and experiences. This is used
particularly with sensitive information. Focus groups allow for
data collection through group interview processes and tend to
related to specific topics. (Frost, 2011)
In addition to our week two scenario the instructors would like
to answer additional questions of how the students actually feel
about the intervention as well as how the students view the
influence of the intervention on their learning in the classroom
as well as outside of the classroom. This relates to the
phenomenology research design. Phenomenology focuses on
individual thoughts and feelings and its purpose is to dive in
and determine what feelings or experiences the students have in
relation to the intervention. This method has several different
characteristics:
· It seeks to understand how people experience a particular
situation or phenomenon.
· It is conducted primarily through in-depth conversations and
interviews; however, some studies may collect data from
diaries, drawings, or observation.

2. · Small samples sizes, often 10 or less participants, are common
in phenomenological studies.
· Interview questions are open-ended to allow the participants to
fully describe the experience from their own view point.
· Phenomenology is centered on the participants’ experiences
with no regard to social or cultural norms, traditions, or
preconceived ideas about the experience.
· It focuses on these four aspects of a lived experience: lived
spaced, lived body, lived time, and lived human relations.
· Data collected is qualitative and analysis includes an attempt
to identify themes or make generalizations regarding how a
particular phenomenon is actually perceived or experienced.
(CIRT, 2019)
Phenomenological research studies tend to be interested in the
life experiences of human and would relate directly to
answering the instructors additional research questions. (CIRT,
2019) According to CIRT 2019, “A phenomenological study
attempts to set aside biases and preconceived assumptions about
human experiences, feelings, and responses to a particular
situation. It allows the researcher to delve into the perceptions,
perspectives, understandings, and feelings of those people who
have actually experienced or lived the phenomenon or situation
of interest. Therefore, phenomenology can be defined as the
direct investigation and description of phenomena as
consciously experienced by people living those experiences.”
(pg. 1)
For the scenario we were provided last week by Murphy 2014, I
chose the Pretest-Posttest Control-Group Design. This particular
design allows the researchers to test for equality of groups on
the variable of interest prior to the intervention in order to make
sure the experimental design will be able to meet the needs of
the study. (Murphy, 2014) This particular philosophical
paradigm was utilized in order to randomly assign the students
to either the experimental or control group which removed any

3. concern for bias. This process provided the ability to control the
variables and see how the posting behaviors were prior to the
intervention process offering data prior to the study that is
important for further assessing if any changes transpired after
the intervention ends. This ultimately answered the hypothesis.
The instructors only wanted to determine the effects of the
intervention. The additional questions proved this week relate
directly to the participants ultimate experience and determining
their thoughts related to the intervention which are completely
different results than the Pretest-Posttest Control-Group Design
chosen for last week. Each design provides specific results
depending upon required goals and study requirements. In this
scenario incorporating a mixed approach to the research would
be beneficial by collecting and analyzing both quantitative
(closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data. For this
particular scenario by adding the mixed approach to the
research process a survey instrument that could be developed to
support the appropriate quantitative study that ultimately
improves the intervention. The mixed approach provides
participants point of view. (Wisdom, & Creswell, 2013)
ReferencesCIRT. (2019). Phenomenology Research Overview.
Grand Canyon University, Center for Innovation in Research
and Teaching. Retrieved from
https://cirt.gcu.edu/research/developmentresources/research_rea
dy/phenomenology/phen_overview
Frost, N. (2011). Qualitative research methods in
psychology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Murphy, P. (2014). PSY635 Week two discussion scenario.
Ashford University: San Diego, CA.Wisdom, J. & Creswell, J.
W. (2013). Mixed Methods: Integrating Quantitative and
Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis While Studying
Patient-Centered Medical Home Models. Retrieved from
https://pcmh.ahrq.gov/page/mixed-methods-integrating-
quantitative-and-qualitative-data-collection-and-analysis-while

4. Week 2 discussion
The study seeks to determine whether there is a relationship
between the dependent variable, which is students’ motivation
and getting digital badges (intervention) as the independent
variable.
Hypotheses
To explore this relationship two hypothesis are developed.
· Null hypothesis: Giving digital badges (intervention) did not
affect students’ motivation for increased participation in class
discussion activities measured through student responses.
· Alternative Hypothesis: Giving digital badges had an effect on
students’ motivation for increased participation in classroom
discussion activities.
In conducting the study, the pretest-posttest experimental
research design is selected for use in testing the hypothesis.
This design is considered most suitable for the study for several
reasons. First, the design enables the instructors to measure the
initial performance of the students in class discussions.
Secondly, the instructor makes experimental interventions to the
experimental group and finally measure changes to the
performance of students after the intervention. Accordingly, the
instructor will be able to observe clearly any changes that may
result due to administering the intervention.
Experimental research designs
These are scientific research designs aimed at finding or
establishing the relationship between two variables.
Experimental research design requires the researcher to
manipulate one variable and compare it with a control variable
or a variable that is measurable without the researcher’s
manipulation (Skidmore, 2008).
In addition, there are three research designs for experimental
studies. These are:
1. Pretest-Posttest Control-Group Design

5. This type of experimental design is characterized by the random
selection of participants, two groups i.e. the control group and
the experimental group. An intervention is given to the
experimental group but no interventions for the control group.
Finally, there is a measurement at the end of the intervention.
2. Posttest-Only Control Group Design.
This design fits the characteristics of a true experiment as it
involves random selection of participants, interventions to the
experimental group and post-intervention measurement It,
however, does not have a pre-intervention measurement stage.
3. Solomon Four-Group Design
This design also fits the characteristics of random sampling and
intervention required for any true experiment. However, unlike
the previous designs Solomon Four-Group design categorizes its
sample into four groups such that there are two control groups
(one for pretest and the other for posttest only) and two
experimental groups (one for pretest and the other for posttest
only), due to this, the method requires a larger sample to cover
all four groups (Skidmore, 2008).
Internal validity
Internal validity measures whether an independent variable,
intervention in our case, indeed is responsible for causing a
corresponding change in the dependent variable or not. Internal
validity can be influenced by factors such as:
Sampling techniques: The process through which participants
are chosen to participate in the study also affects the validity of
the results. This can be solved through a random assignment
which ensures that all the participants had an equal chance of
being elected to either group making the two groups randomly
similar.
Attrition: Attrition occurs when some of the participants
withdraw from the study before completion, which significantly
alters the validity of results obtained from an experimental
study by changing the composition of the sample or groups. To
prevent attrition from the study, the instructor can enlarge the
sample and provide incentives for participation in the study.

6. Maturation and history: involves any changes that may occur to
the subjects as a result of time passage. This may directly affect
the internal validity of a study. In our case, for instance, other
factors outside the instructor’s intervention may affect the
students’ motivation to increase their participation in classroom
discussions. To solve/eliminate this, the instructors need to
ensure that the time taken between the first measurement and
the second measurement is not very long (Skidmore, 2008).
Ethics in Research
Experimental research involves many interactions between the
researchers and human participants- in our case instructors and
students. This calls for the need to ensure some degree of
research ethics consideration to ensure that the human
participants are protected from any harm due to their
participation in the study. In this case, the following ethical
issues need to be considered
Voluntary Participation:The instructors need to ensure that
participants in the study do so voluntarily. In other words, all
participants in the research participate without any form of
influence or coercion. Further, the instructors need to assure the
students that no one will be victimized for failing to participate
in the study
Informed consent: informed consent ensures that participants
make the decision to participate in a study from an informed
position. This requires that all participants be provided with
sufficient information on both the aims, expectations and
beneficiaries of the research as well as any risks that may occur
to them (Skidmore, 2008).
Anonymity and confidentiality: Anonymity and confidentiality
ensure that participants’ responses and their identities are
protected before the research findings are made public. To
achieve this, the instructors conducting the study need to have
mechanisms through which they protect the students' details and
that they do not share information or data between the
participants.

7. Cultural consideration: Human beings exhibit differences in
many areas. These differences and diversities are responsible
for human and society value syatems and require due
consideration when conducting experiments. Experimental
research take place with numerous interaction among human
subjects. This implies that subjects in a particular study may
have different attitudes towards certain topics ar research
procedures. It is therefore imperative that people conducting
experimental studies consider, the implications of cultural
differences when conducting a study. For example, cultural
differences may result in different reactions to a similar
intervention among different people.
To capture sufficient information through the experiment while
avoiding research bias, the instructors ensured that they had an
adequate/ large sample by including two sections for each of the
instructors as detailed in the experiment scenario. Further, to
ensure the equal chance of selection to either group the
participants were selected to the groups through random
assignment techniques. The selected sample was not only
sufficient but was representative In other words; the study
eliminated any bias on the treatment effect