Quarter 2, Week 1

Learning Activity Sheets (LAS) Number 1

Name of Learner: _________________________ Grade and Section: ______________

Date: ___________________

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 2 ACTIVITY SHEET

Quantitative Research Design

I. Learning Competency with Code

Chooses appropriate quantitative research design (CS_RS12-IIa-c-1)

II. Background Information for Learners

According to Trochim (2005), research design "provides the glue that holds the
research project together. A design is used to structure the research, to show how all of
the major parts of the research project work together to try to address the central
research questions." The research design is like a recipe. Just as a recipe provides a
list of ingredients and the instructions for preparing a dish, the research design provides
the components and the plan for successfully carrying out the study. The research
design is the "backbone" of the research protocol.

There are many kinds of research, however, most of them fall into two categories
experimental and non-experimental (descriptive). Descriptive research is considered
non-experimental because it does not manipulate variables. Examples of non-
experimental researches are survey, correlational, and ex-post facto studies.
Experimental research, on the other hand, involves manipulation of variables in order to
determine cause-and-effect relationship. Experimental research has three major
designs: pre-experimental, quasi-experimental, and true experimental. Below is a
diagram of quantitative research designs.

Figure 1. Quantitative Research Design

Prieto, Naval, & Carey (2017)
1
 However, in this lesson, we will only focus on descriptive-survey, correlational,
quasi-experimental, and true experimental designs.

Quantitative Research Designs

I. Descriptive Research
The purpose of descriptive studies is to describe, and interpret, the current status
of individuals, settings, conditions, or events (Mertler, 2014). In descriptive research, the
researcher is simply studying the phenomenon of interest as it exists naturally; no
attempt is made to manipulate the individuals, conditions, or events. It sometimes
involves questions such as “how much?” or “what percentage?” or “how often?”
Descriptive research collects data on the status of things and uses this data to analyze
the research question. Some examples of descriptive research questions are:

- How often do adolescents use social networks on a monthly basis?

- What is the extent of cigarette smoking among 18-25 year old Filipinos?

One commonly used quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive research design

is survey research.

a. Survey Research
The central purpose of survey research is to describe characteristics of a
group or population (Fraenkel et al., 2012). It is primarily a quantitative research
technique in which the researcher administers some sort of survey or
questionnaire to a sample—or, in some cases, an entire population—of
individuals to describe their attitudes, opinions, behaviors, experiences, or other
characteristics of the population (Creswell, 2005).
In most cases, it is not possible or feasible to survey an entire population;
therefore, a sample of respondents must be selected from the population. Since
the purpose of survey research is to describe characteristics of a population, it is
imperative that the sample be selected using a probability sampling technique to
ensure more accurate representation of the population. No sampling technique
will guarantee perfect representation, but probability techniques improve the
odds. Accurate representation is necessary because the survey researcher is
attempting to describe an entire population by collecting and analyzing data from
a smaller subset of the larger group.
When conducting survey research, the researcher can choose among
several modes of data collection, including direct administration of surveys, mail
surveys, telephone surveys, interviews, e-mail surveys, and web-based surveys
(Creswell, 2005; Fraenkel et al., 2012; Mertens, 2005).
For example, a student-researcher wanted to conduct a descriptive-survey
on students’ satisfaction on canteen services using a research questionnaire with
a 5-point satisfaction scale.

2
 b. Correlational Research
Correlational research attempts to determine to what extent two or more
variables are related to each other. This type of study explores patterns and
trends in the data, but may not be able to prove any causal links between the
variables. Because of this, generally speaking, there is no manipulation of
variables in this type of study — they are only studied in their existing states.
Some examples of correlational research questions are:
- What is the relationship between volunteering and self-esteem?
- What is the relationship between smoking and age of the person?
- What is the relationship between malnutrition and family income levels?

The basic design for correlational research involves a single group of

people who are quantitatively measured on two (or more) characteristics (i.e.,
variables) that have already happened to them. For example, we might be
interested in measuring if there is a relationship between the number of hours
students spend studying independently and their scores on a unit test (Mertler,
2014). It is important to realize that, at the time we would collect data on these
variables (i.e., “amount of time spent studying” and “test score”), they would have
already occurred.
Remember that in this type of study, although we can determine whether a
relationship (positive or negative) exists between two or more variables, we
cannot prove any causal connections. In order to do that, we would need to
select a different type of study design.

II. Experimental Research

The second category of quantitative research designs is collectively known as
experimental research, a group of techniques where the researcher establishes different
treatments or conditions and then studies their effects on the participants. It is because
of this ability to manipulate the treatment conditions and control for many extraneous
factors that experimental studies are the most conclusive of all research designs. There
are three general categories of experimental research, with each category containing
multiple designs: preexperimental research designs, quasi-experimental research
designs, and true experimental research designs. In this lesson, however, we will focus
on quasi-experimental and true experimental research designs.

a. Quasi-Experimental Research
Quasi-experimental studies aim to establish a causal relationship between
two or more variables. Although this type of study shares some similarities with
Experimental research design, it is different because in this type of study, there is
no randomized assignment of subjects in sample to control and experimental
groups. Instead, researchers focus on comparing groups who have been
exposed to certain treatments/interventions to other groups that have not had this
exposure. Researchers undertaking this type of study have to be very careful in
attributing causal relationships between variables because there may be external
variables (which may or may not be evident to the researchers) which may be
influencing the causal relationship.

3
 The most common subset of quasi-experimental research designs
is nonequivalent control group design. This design is a between-subjects
design in which participants have not been randomly assigned to conditions.
Imagine, for example, a researcher who wants to evaluate a new method
of teaching fractions to third graders. One way would be to conduct a study with
a treatment group consisting of one class of third-grade students and a control
group consisting of another class of third-grade students. This would be a
nonequivalent groups design because the students are not randomly assigned to
classes by the researcher, which means there could be important differences
between them. If at the end of the study there was a difference in the two
classes’ knowledge of fractions, it might have been caused by the difference
between the teaching methods—but it might have been caused by any of these
confounding variables.
Quasi-experimental designs are particularly useful in those cases where it
is not practical or is unethical to conduct an Experimental research. However,
quasi-experimental research studies are also subject to issues of internal validity
because the control and experiment group (or pre intervention group and post
intervention group, as they are sometimes known) may not have been exactly
comparable or equal in their characteristics, and this may have influenced the
study’s results and the causal relationship between the variables.

b. True Experimental Research

Experimental research is often called “true experimentation” or the gold
standard of empirical studies. In these types of studies, the independent variable
is manipulated to assess causal relationships, and to determine that any variation
in the dependent variable is actually caused by the identified variable, and not by
some external variables. Another unique aspect of this type of study is that
subjects are randomly assigned to control or experiment groups. At the start of
the experiment, the identified subjects are as identical in their characteristics as
possible, and then they are randomly assigned to a group that will receive a
treatment or intervention (known as the experimental group) or to a group that
does not receive a treatment or intervention (known as the control group). This
strategy helps to limit or eliminate the presence of any hidden or pre-existing
characteristics (or variables) that may influence the study without the
researchers’ knowledge.
For example, a fitness instructor wants to test the effectiveness of a
performance-enhancing herbal supplement on students in her exercise class. To
create experimental groups that are similar at the beginning of the study, the
students are assigned into two groups at random (they cannot choose which
group they are in). Students in both groups are given a pill to take every day, but
they do not know whether the pill is a placebo (sugar pill) or the herbal
supplement. The instructor gives Group A the herbal supplement and Group B
receives the placebo (sugar pill). The students' fitness level is compared before
and after six weeks of consuming the supplement or the sugar pill.
Experimental research is challenging to conduct in field settings because
of its requirements for equivalent subjects, and because the strict control

4
 required to rule out any external influences may be difficult to achieve outside of
a laboratory. Nevertheless, experimental research is considered the gold
standard precisely because it uses these conditions to rule out an outside
influences on a causal relationship. This makes it possible to generalize the
results of the study to the larger population with a high level of confidence. Thus,
if a certain drug is found to benefit an experimental group of HIV positive
patients, chances are that the drug may prove beneficial to populations who
share the overall characteristics of the subjects in the sample. Because
experimental research has the advantage of proving causality to an extent that
other research designs cannot, social scientists are increasingly using this design
to study causal relationships.

TAKE NOTE!
This decision tree would help you decide the kind of research you are going to
pursue.

Figure 2. Decision Tree On Selecting the Correct Type of Quantitative Research Design
Source: http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763780586/80586_CH03_Keele.pdf

III. Accompanying DepEd Textbook and Educational Sites

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Goel, N. (n.d.). Quantitative research methods: Introduction. http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/
epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/social_work_education/
05._research_methodology_and_statistics/06._quantitative_research_methods/et/
6055_et_et.pdf

5
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Research design. Research
Integrity. https://ori.hhs.gov/content/module-2-research-design

IV. Activity Proper

1. Directions
Answer and accomplish the activities on pages 6 to 7.

2. Activity/Exercise

Activity 1. Choose Me Right!

Choose the appropriate research design described in the following research
scenarios. You may choose either descriptive research, correlational research, quasi-
experimental research, or true experimental research as your answer. Use a separate
sheet of paper.

________________ 1. Robert is interested in studying the association between senior

high school students’ birth order and social skills.
________________ 2. Sandra plans to conduct a study that involves cosmetics. She
wanted to know the preference of cosmetic use among
adolescents, young adult, middle adult and the late adult
women.
________________ 3. Sanjo wanted to know the relationship between the level of
anxiety experienced during examinations and the exam
performance among HUMSS students of Pinagpala National
High School.
________________ 4. Alfred randomly grouped the participants into two and tested the
effects of his new product towards their endurance.
________________ 5. Cindy wanted to conduct a research that will delve into knowing
the effects of post traumatic stress disorder towards the
academic performance of teenagers during the first grading of
academic year 2021-2022.
________________ 6. Members of the health team introduce a new admission system
and wishes to study the efficiency of its implementation as
compared to the previous admission system which is still being
practiced in other departments. In this study, it is not feasible to
conduct randomization.
________________ 7. Michael hands out a survey to find out the average age and
schooling level of his class.
________________ 8. Jenny wants to evaluate whether a new technique to teach math
to elementary school students is more effective than the
standard teaching method. She divides the class randomly (by
chance) into two groups and calls them "Group A" and "Group
B." The students cannot choose their own group. In Group A, the

6
 teacher uses a new teaching method to teach the math lesson.
In Group B, the teacher uses a standard teaching method to
teach the math lesson. Jenny then compares test scores at
the end of the semester to evaluate the success of the new
teaching method compared to the standard teaching method.
________________ 9. A group of Grade 12 students is curious about the psychological
well-being of Grade 9 students in the new normal. They intend to
investigate how they are coping through a questionnaire they
prepared.
________________ 10. A student-researcher wants to investigate the relationship
between watching violent television among male students and
their aggressive behavior.

Activity 2. Let’s Decide!

Using the decision tree found in Figure 2, choose the appropriate research
design of your approved study based on your statement of the problem and provide
justification for choosing such design. You may work with your group. Write your
answers on a separate sheet of paper and use this template as your guide.

Research Title: _________________________________________________________

Statement of the Problem: ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Research Design: _______________________________________________________
Justification: ___________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

3. Guide Questions
Answer these guide questions on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What are the characteristics of my chosen study based on my statement of the

problem?
2. Given these characteristics, what research design is appropriate for my study?
Support your answer.

V. Reflection
I have learned that knowing the characteristics of my study and choosing the
right research design are crucial because ____________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________.

7
8
Activity 1
1. Correlational
2. Descriptive
3. Correlational
4. True Experimental
5. Quasi-experimental
6. Quasi-experimental
7. Descriptive
8. True Experimental
9. Descriptive
10. Correlational
Activity 2
Answers may vary.
VI. Answer Key