This is a North Central University course (EDR8205-1) essay: Week 1 Assignment: Analyze the Basics of a Quantitative Research Design. It is written in APA format, includes references, and has been graded (A).

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Student: Orlanda Haynes Date: 05/13/2018
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EDR8205-1
Week 1 Assignment: Analyze the Basics of a Quantitative ResearchDesign
Instructor: Dr. Vance
Faculty Only

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Analyze the Basics of a Quantitative Research Design
The purpose of this assignment is to advance Ed D students’ knowledge and skills about
the research process as it applies to quantitative research designs. For illustration purpose, this
paper includes an overview of Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) research including the design,
methodology, and results. Education policy makers highly emphasize the importance of hiring
highly qualified teachers, especially since the passing of the No Child Left Behind law. In
addition, (to the extent possible), the Disabilities Education Improvement Act hold schools
responsible for implementing educational practices that include students with disabilities (SWD)
in regular classrooms (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010; Lucas & Frazier, 2014). Therefore,
the definition of “highly qualified teachers” includes skills and abilities needed to teach SWD
(Lucas & Frazier, 2014). Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) asserted that, “Pre-service teachers must be
armed with the tools necessary for addressing the increasing diversity within the public- school
classroom” (p. 1). As such, the purpose of their research was to explore and understand some of
the issues and problems that inexperience teachers might have when it comes to teaching special
needs students (e.g., those with intellectual, learning, and emotional disabilities) and culturally
diverse students in regular classrooms and, secondly, to recommend practical solutions.
ResearchDesign
Research has two core categories: basic and applied. Researchers use the latter to answer
specific questions or to solve real-world problems. Best practice recommends conducting
studies in the settings where the phenomena occur, or in similar, naturalistic environments.
Comparatively, the primary aim of basic research is to expand scientific knowledge through
theoretical means, which excludes setting restraints (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010; Long,
2010). Lucas and Frazier (2014) used an applied framework to create a quasi-experimental

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nonrandomized control group posttest design. Except for excluding one or more components
(e.g., pre-post-tests, treatment and control groups, and random assignment of participants), the
frameworks are comparative to regular experimental designs.
Researchers, in most cases, use the design to evaluate the effects of intervention
programs (Lodico, Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010). Lucas and Frazier wanted to know what
effects, if any, would a three-hours cultural diversity course have on inexperience pre-service
teachers’ attitudes about the inclusion of both students with disabilities and culturally diverse
students in standard classrooms. Their research foundation was based on Lev Vygotsky’s theory
of social constructivism, which included cognitive dissonance, scaffolding, zone of proximal
development, and psychological tools (e.g., written, and oral communication skills). This
school of thought posits that students’ prior knowledge, experiences, and skills will affect how
they perceive new learning including positively or negatively. Lucas and Frazier (2014),
therefore, needed to know what current beliefs the participants had.
Method
The research team conducted the study at a small private liberal arts university in North
Carolina (general Education classrooms), which included a survey of 110 students who were
either enrolled in a Teacher Education program or had declared it as their major and were either
completing or near completion of an introductory class on cultural diversity. Lucas and Frazier
(2014) noted that
Of the 110 respondents, 70% (77) were 18-25 years of age, 43% (47) had taken the
service-based introductory class in diversity, 60% (65) identified Elementary Education
as their licensure area, 92% (101) identified as white/Caucasian, and 77% (85) were
female. (p. 21).

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It is relevant to note that the research subjects did not receive compensation for their
participation in the study. Researchers divided the participants into two group: Experimental
(Pre-service teachers who were completing or near completion of an introductory class on
cultural diversity [course work and hands-on field experiences].) and control group (Students
who had not taken the class on cultural diversity and were randomly selected.). Deciding
whether to use randomization depends, in part, on consideration for participants (Çaparlar, &
Dönmez, 2016). For example, in school settings, moving students around for randomization
purpose could pose disruptions in normal classroom activities.
Variables. If an object, event, idea, feeling or category can be measured, it can be
labeled a variable, and there are two types: Independent and dependent (Black, 2012; Lodico,
Spaulding, & Voegtle, 2010). The latter, for example, is changeable and the independent
variable would have been the cause of or related to the change (e.g., by implementing XYZ math
intervention program, students’ standardized test scores increased by 50%). In Lucas and
Frazier’s (2014) study, diverse learners, some aspects of participants’ background data, and the
service-based introductory diversity course were labeled independent variables. Research
Participants were dependent variables, and gender, age, and race were demographic variables.
Data Collection. Tools included a service-based diversity training course, a posttest
design (to control for pretest sensitization) rather than both pretests and posttest, a survey to
gather demographic data, and the Opinions Relative to Integration instrument (ORI) (designed to
measures attitudes, has a 7-point Likert scale, and four subscale categories).
Data Analysis. Researchers used an independent samples T-test (means variations
between the posttests the ORI and statistically significant differences between means of the
posttest and the 3 hours diversity course), the Cronbach coefficient (instrument validity), and the

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the Levene Homogeneity of Variance test, which indicates if the assumption of equal variance is
valid.
Limitations
Lucas and Frazier (2014) noted that (a) the study relied too heavily on self-assessments,
(b) the sample size was small and convenience, (c) the sample participants lacked adequate
diversity, and (d) the attitudinal surveys had fewer questions than those of a similar nature.
Results
Researchers suggested that the overall results showed that students who took the cultural
diversity course had some statistical significant differences in their attitudes and understanding
about potential benefits of including students with disabilities in regular classrooms than their
counterpart did. That demographic data played a significant role in some students’ resistance to
including students with disabilities. However, the data had no affect on students’ attitudes about
including diverse student populations. And that education communities could use their research
findings, in part, to help educators improve their knowledge about teaching diverse populations
and students with disabilities, to address problems related to the high turnover rate of teachers,
and to address how professional development programs could further advance teacher education.
Conclusion
The aim of this assignment is to identify and to discuss components of a quantitative
research design. For illustration purpose, the paper includes Lucas and Frazier’s (2014) article:
The Effects of a Service-Learning Introductory Diversity Course on Pre-Service Teachers’
Attitudes Toward Teaching Diverse Students Populations. Headings include the research design,
method, variables, data collection and analysis, limitations, and results.

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References
Black, T. (2012). Doing quantitative research in the social sciences: An integrated approach to
research design, measurement, and statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Çaparlar, C. Ö., & Dönmez, A. (2016). What is Scientific Research and How Can it be
Done? Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, 44(4), 212–218.
http://doi.org/10.5152/TJAR.2016.34711
Creswell, John W. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating
quantitative and qualitative research (5th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Lodico, M., Spaulding, D., & Voegtle, K. (2010). Methods in educational research: From theory
to practice (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). San Francisco: John Wiley &Sons.
Long, N. (2010). A personal connection to research: Survey research. [Media]. Walden
University: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/53028/CRS-EDUC8000-
4449580/presentation2/2-2/index.htm.
Lucas, D., & Frazier, B. (2014). The effects of a service-learning introductory diversity course
on pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward teaching diverse students populations. Academy
of Educational Leadership Journal, 18(2),91-124.