Theme 4: Quantitative research

The paper I read and the journal it belongs to:

• Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (1.778)
• Peers, Predators, and Porn: Predicting Parental Underestimation of Children's Risky Online Experiences. Sahara Byrne, Sherri Jean Katz, Theodore Lee, Daniel Linz, Mary McIlrath. Article first published online: 10 OCT 2013. DOI: 10.1111/jcc4.12040

Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

First of, the definition quantitative method can be described as: “Quantitative methods emphasise on objective measurements and numerical analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires or surveys. Quantitative research focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people”. (Babbie, Earl R. 2010). In this paper, they did a survey, online, using email as a confirmation tool if the parents and child would participate in the online survey. They got answers from 454 matched parent and child pairs. I think that this is not a very high amount of participants, but nonetheless according to the definition this is a quantitative method. The benefits with this method is that you get much data that can be analyzed and generalized or even see a pattern that could be useful for getting people aware and maybe have to change their behaviour, in this paper the example is that some parents might think about changing their parenting-style. The limitations with quantitative method is the opposite, you get a bunch of data to analyze but maybe this isn’t the way to go to completely understand why or how to change a behavior. All you have is numbers, statistics, to look at. You have to be more “hands on” so to speak to get a better understanding of behaviour-styles, were the qualitative method comes in.

What did you learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper?

Well as I mentioned they used the online survey for gathering information and statistics, something very common these days. I didn't really learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper, more from googling it and reading about the method itself and it’s definition.

Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?

First of, methodological problems can be explained as: “Methodology means logic of methods including the rationale for the adoption of a particular method over the other(s), the appropriateness of a method in a research etc. Methodological issues are therefore issues/problems/questions that are consequences (related to) of the dimensions specified in the first statement. They involve concerns such as reliability, validity and dependability of data, results, conclusions and generalisations in a research enterprise. For example, if the result of a quantitative research is doubtful, the issue might be in the methods adopted in collecting the data, or those of analysing the same data”.  And in the paper they have their own “Limitations” part where they write: “...while we asked participants to report falsities, we are subject to the same risks as many other large sample surveys, such as social desirability and response sets. Second, we make no confident claim about causality due to the correlational design of this study. Third, while parent–child paired samples have many strengths, the exact question wording is slightly different for an adult versus child sample and may lead to variations in reporting. Finally, while we were able to explain a percent of variance that closely resembles many social scientific inquiries employing this type of design, we clearly have more work to do before we determine the majority of factors involved.”  The biggest problem here I believe is the social desirability, because we are talking about being cyberbullied, porn and internet usage.

Fondell, E and colleagues (2010). Physical activity, stress, and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 43(2), 272-279.

That exercise, moderate to high, keeps us more healthy in general is something I think everyone knows, so it’s not that surprising that people with a total amount of physical activity - moderate to high, had a lower risk of URTI. Also that stress (mostly men they found) might be more beneficial from exercise. This is also not surprising to me. The thing I found interesting, and this is not positive, is that people seek primary care for a regular cold, I.E. they go to “vårdcentralen” or a hospital I figure. Why is that? That’s a question I would like an answer to.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative/quantitative methods?

What is qualitative methods? Well: “Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior.” The benefits is that you get the: “why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often used than large samples.”

So you must always think about what the report is about, or if you are going to do a study/research yourself, what kind of method, qualitative or quantitative, that best suits your needs.

Qualitative is obviously beneficial when it comes to finding behaviour-styles and you want to know the why and how, and it can therefore answer a more complex question; just like human behaviour is. Qualitative methods are used in smaller groups/numbers.

Quantitative is better when trying to get a more generalised picture of something, therefore the bigger number of people asked using for example a survey. Often of what, where and when for something. For example when people do something; like being online and cyberbullying. Or if you buy regular vs eko-milk. To find statistics/large numbers to analyze I would say.