Dissertation Methodology Example on the English Learners in Chatter and Public Schools in New Jersey

Research Design

The researcher will use a descriptive research design, which is the most appropriate for this kind of study since it will be collecting data directly from the respondents. The data will be obtained through questionnaires and focused group discussions. This research design entails techniques and approaches for collecting data from the subjects and the procedure for collecting the information on how the English learners in Chatter schools are underrepresented as compared to those in traditional public school in New Jersey. Descriptive survey design is a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering questionnaires to a sample of individuals to obtain information about people's attitudes, opinion or habits on social issues (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).

Research Site and target population

The actual environ within which data will be collected from is the research site or the area where the researcher peers to obtain his or her data from towards the achievement of the study goals and objectives and it describes the actual geographical location and why it is the most esteemed area by the researcher. The study location will be in new jersey since the researcher targets a site where both charter schools and traditional public schools are located. New Jersey gives the researcher the perfect representation of the researcher's target population and site. The researcher's esteemed respondents are the students, teachers and other school staff who might be useful in providing relevant data that will assist in meeting the study objectives and answering the research questions.Sampling ProcedureThis study will use multiple sampling procedures in which a combination of probability and non-probability sampling methods to select the sample required for the study. A sample size is a section of a larger part representing the larger part. According to Patten & Newhart (2017), the research population, a sample size is the number of residents that the researcher chooses to represent the entire population of the area of study since it is nearly impossible to collect data from every resident in the study area. Sampling, on the other hand, is the process of determining which participants that represent the entire population of the research area. In this study, a multi-stage sampling technique will be used first to make sure that the numbers of participants in each subdivision are equally selected. Thereafter, a random sampling technique is used to give every single individual a chance to participate in the research and give out his or her views. This procedure helps the researcher to come up with the most desired participants for the research. In this study, the researcher will first use a proportionately stratified sampling procedure in order to determine the number of respondents to be selected from each school where the research will be conducted in New Jersey. This sampling procedure will assist the researcher to come up with the number of respondents to be selected from each division from the targeted number of schools.

Thereafter, the researcher will use a simple random sampling technique to reach the individual respondents after knowing the number of individuals to be selected from each school either chatter or traditional public schools. In this method, respondents are selected randomly regardless of age, gender and employment status. This will give the residents an equal chance to state their experience.

Data Collection Measures

Data collection is the actual process of obtaining the real information from the target population to enable the researcher to make a decision about the study objectives. Data can either be qualitative or quantitative as collected from the respondents where quantitative data are normally used for scientific research as it purely entails numeric measurement of events while qualitative data entails descriptive responses from the respondents, not in a numeric form (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2017). This study will obtain both qualitative and quantitative data.

Questionnaires

This study will use a questionnaire to collect the main data required to meet the objectives of the study. The questionnaire will be directed to the students from both the two types of schools that will be selected. The questionnaires will be designed using self-administered questionnaire methods where respondents will be asked to complete the questions by themselves, they will be hand-delivered to the respondents.

Focused Group Discussion (FGDS)

From each of the schools, the researcher will involve the key informants like the teachers in a form of discussion in a group of two to four in each school. The researcher will use some designed questions to guide him through the discussion which will enable him to come up with the most relevant data for the study. An advantage of using a focused group discussion is that the respondents will be sharing their experiences and are able to freely respond without tension.

Data Processing and Analysis

The process of converting raw numeric data to some information that makes some sense is referred to as quantitative analysis. Data will be analyzed through numeric and quantitative methods. Quantitative analysis entails the processing of data collected and represented in the questionnaires in numeric form while qualitative analysis it the process of vividly interpreting descriptive data into a form that it makes sense to the target audience of the study (Creswell & Creswell, 2017).

The researcher will use a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze the quantitative data where various results will be obtained in terms of descriptive and inferential statistics. Under descriptive statistics, the researcher will analyze simple data and produce simple output like used mean, mode, STD deviation, frequency and percentage to describe the data sets while in inferential statistics the researcher will be comparing the means to determine the relationship between the variables.

Instrument validity and reliability

Instrument validity is the ability or the quality of the data-gathering instrument or method that enables the researcher to be able to collect and measure the correct data that he is supposed to measure. Instrument validity is thus a concern if the data gathering instruments are relevant to collect the required data for the study.

The researcher will ensure the validity of his research instruments by presenting the instruments to the research expertise in the research department and the supervisor of the study. All the comments and corrections that might be suggested by the department will be useful to the researcher enabling him to improve the validity of the instrument. A pilot study will also be done prior to the real study to ensure that the instruments are valid to conduct the real study.

Instrument reliability is the ability of the research instrument to collect consistent data that is close to a minimum range and can be used to represent the characters of the entire population. This will be ensured by conducting a pre-research and data collection to ensure that the instruments are able to collect the right data required. The data that will be obtained from the pilot study will be analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain Cronbachs alpha coefficient to assess reliability.

Legal and Ethical Considerations

According to Patten & Newhart (2017), ethics is a critical factor in research. The researcher will endeavor to abide by the ethical and legal principles of conducting research. In view of this, the researcher first will seek permission from the school administration to allow him to go ahead and collect data from the various research sites. Additionally, the researcher will keep the identity of the respondents anonymous. Secondly, information yielded for the research will be treated in confidence and will only to be used for academic purposes in order to address both legal and ethical requirements.

A voluntary participation and informed consent will be obtained from the participants and respondents and a guarantee will be given to them that their responses will only be used for the stated purposes. Data and information obtained from other people's work in the literature review are professionally acknowledged in the references and in addition, the privacy and confidentiality of the respondents and their information will be upheld and secured.

References

Alvesson, M., & Skoldberg, K. (2017). Reflexive methodology: New vistas for qualitative research. Sage.

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Sage publications.

Patten, M. L., & Newhart, M. (2017). Understanding research methods: An overview of the essentials. Taylor & Francis.