What are the main types of qualitative approaches to research? While there are many different investigations that can be done, a study with a qualitative approach generally can be described with the characteristics of one of the following three types: Historical research describes past events, problems, issues and facts. Data are gathered from written or oral descriptions of past events, artifacts, etc. It describes “what was” in an attempt to recreate the past. It is different from a report in that it involves interpretation of events and its influence on the present. It answers the question: “What was the situation?” Examples of Historical Research:
Ethnographic research develops in-depth analytical descriptions of current systems, processes, and phenomena and/or understandings of the shared beliefs and practices of a particular group or culture. This type of design collects extensive narrative data (non-numerical data) based on many variables over an extended period of time in a natural setting within a specific context. The background, development, current conditions, and environmental interaction of one or more individuals, groups, communities, businesses or institutions is observed, recorded, and analyzed for patterns in relation to internal and external influences. It is a complete description of present phenomena. One specific form of ethnographic research is called a case study. It is a detailed examination of a single group, individual, situation, or site. A meta-analysis is another specific form. It is a statistical method which accumulates experimental and correlational results across independent studies. It is an analysis of analyses. Examples of Ethnographic Research:
Narrative research focuses on studying a single person and gathering data through the collection of stories that are used to construct a narrative about the individual’s experience and the meanings he/she attributes to them. Examples of Narrative Research:
What type of research variable is manipulated to observe its effects on another variable?An independent variable is the variable you manipulate, control, or vary in an experimental study to explore its effects. It's called “independent” because it's not influenced by any other variables in the study.
What type of research is used when the variables are manipulated?An experiment is a type of empirical study that features the manipulation of an independent variable, the measurement of a dependent variable, and control of extraneous variables.
What is the variable called that a researcher manipulated in an experiment?The manipulated variable, also known as the independent variable, is the factor or condition that is purposely changed by the scientist. It is what is being tested, or the cause of a cause and effect relationship.
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