QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A.     Qualitative research design

According to Young (2003), the research methodology is one of the most important of a research. It consists of rules and procedures that require consistent applications. It determines the tools and techniques by which a researcher can systematically come to a solution of statement of problem.

In this occasion, we would like to elaborate the quantitative design. Principally all researches are started from the problem. In qualitative design, problem must be clear whereas in qualitative design, problem is temporary and will develop after researcher comes to the field.

Having identified and restricted the problem, henceforth it is formulated usually by proposing questions. The questions are useful as a guide for the further research. Based on the research questions, the researcher then employs some theories to answer it. Thus, theories are used to answer the formulated research questions and they become a hypothesis.

Hypothesis is a temporary answer that will be empirically tested to know its truth. Therefore, the researcher collects the data from a certain population. If the population is too large, he/she can take samples from it. Again if he/she wants to make generalization, he/she should take the representative samples by employing random sampling.

To assess the data, researcher needs instruments. And to be accountable instruments, they must be tested its validity and reliability. Instruments can be questionnaire, observation and interview. The collected data then are analyzed to answer the research questions and hypothesis. In quantitative design, we use statistic. It can be descriptive and inferential/inductive statistic. The data that have been analyzed then presented and discussed. The discussion of data analysis is an explanation and interpretation deeply toward presented data.

 The last step is conclusion. After discussion and interpretation of the data, then we take conclusion from findings and what have been discussed and analyzed. Conclusion is the concise answer to ward every research question based on the collected data. The conclusion is based on the research question then he/she gives the suggestion as the solution from the problem.       

A.     The forms of formulating problem.

Formulating problem is questions that will be answered through collecting data. It can be divided into three research formulations. Namely:

1.      Descriptive

Descriptive formulation of problem is a formulation of problem which concerned with questions toward autonomous variable. This research does not make any comparison among variables.    

2.      Comparative

Comparative formulation of problem is a formulation of problem which compares among variables of different samples.

3.      Associative

Associative formulation of problem is a formulation of problem which asks the correlation between two variables or more that appear together.

The difference between quantitative and qualitative.

(Arikunto: 2002)

No.	Quantitative Research	Qualitative research
1	Clarity element: Goal, approach, subject, sample, fixed and detail resource data from the beginning.	Clarity element:: subject, sample, unfixed and detail resource data, flexible, emergent.
2	Steps in research: everything is planned well when preparation is arranged.	Steps in research: it will be known clearly after accomplishing research.
3	Hypothesis: (if necessary) a.       Proposing hypothesis that will be tested in research. b.      Hypothesis determines predicted result (a priori)	Hypothesis: a.       There is no hypothesis in advance, but can appear during research in progress (tentative)
4	Design: steps and expected results are clear	Design: the research design is flexible with the steps and results that can be determined before.
5	Data collection: the activity of collecting data can be represented.	Data collection: the activity of collecting data is always done by researcher himself.
6	Data analysis: it is done after all data is collected	Data analysis: it is done together with collecting data.