Sampling

Population is all people we want to investigate.
Sample is a part of the population.
Q: Why should we draw a sample from the population?
A: Because the population is too large and should be reduced to enable investigation.


Types of Sampling

1. Probability sampling
We draw the sample randomly. This type of sampling is used in quantitative research, but never used in qualitative research.

a. Simple random sampling
It means everybody has an equal chance of being selected as a sample. You draw the sample by choosing individual students randomly. For example, you have 100 students in the population so write the students' names on 100 small pieces of paper. Fold the pieces of paper and put them in a bowl. Shake the bowl, then take 30 pieces of paper randomly from the bowl. Now you have 30 students as the sample of your study.

b. Stratified sampling
The population is divided into several strata/levels, then the sample is drawn from each level. For instance, you want to conduct research at SMAN 5. There are three grades: the 10th grade, the 11th grade and the 12 grade. These grades are the levels, which can be used as a basis to draw the sample. List the number of the students from the highest to the lowest level, then draw a sample from each level.

c. Cluster sampling
The population is divided into several clusters/groups, then a sample is drawn from each group. For example, you want to conduct research to the tenth graders. If there are five classes (clusters), list the number of the students in these classes and draw a sample from each class.

d. Systematic sampling
The sample is drawn by selecting the n-th person in the population. For example, there are 150 students in the population and you need 30 students in your sample. Divide the number of students in the population (150) by the number of students in the sample (30), you get 5.

150 : 30 = 5

It means you could draw the sample by choosing every 5th student in the list.

2. Non-probability sampling
We do not draw the sample randomly. It is used in qualitative and quantitative research.

a. Accidental sampling
Choosing any person that you meet as the sample.

b. Purposive sampling
Selecting a sample from the population for a particular reason. This is used in qualitative research, but not quantitative research. For example, you conduct research to find out the strategies of proficient readers in comprehending a narrative text. You need to draw a sample from a reading class, and choose 8 proficient readers by taking the teacher's judgement into account. Ask the reading teacher which students are proficient readers, then you could select 8 out of several students mentioned by the teacher.

c. Quota sampling
Dividing the population into levels, then selecting n % from each level. For example, you list the 11th graders belonging to programs A1, A2, A3 and A4. Because the number of students in these programs varies, it is better to use quota sampling by taking 10% of students in each program as your sample.

How to review the literature

There are three things you should consider in reviewing the literature in Chapter 2.

1. Organization
How do you organize the ideas in Chapter 2? Begin this chapter by explaining the most general ideas, then write the more specific ideas. So the organization is: general --> specific.

For example, I wrote a thesis titled "The Use of Context Cues by the Students of English IKIP Malang in Reading Comprehension". The most general idea is reading comprehension, and the most specific one is context cues, so I organized Chapter 2 in this way:


2. Quoting, Paraphrasing & Summarizing
You have learned about them in the course Academic Writing 1, haven't you? Here is a little review:

• Don’t quote too much, only the sentences that you cannot paraphrase or summarize.
• Restate other authors’ ideas in your own words most of the time. (In other words, paraphrase most of the time.)
• If the texts are too long, summarize the ideas.

3. Taking Notes
Make notes directly as you read books, journal, papers, and theses/dissertations. Usually you read lots of them, so if you find a relevant idea and don't take notes immediately, you may forget which idea in which book.
Softwares are available to help you do this, such as Endnote. The use of cards is not recommended because:

• It takes longer time to make them.
• You use paper, which means more trees have to be cut down. This is not environmentally friendly.

Online resources

In my lectures I mentioned that you may quote relevant texts from online journals or conference proceedings. Here are some journals and proceedings that may be useful for your thesis writing.

Journals

The Internet TESL Journal

English Teaching Forum

Reading in a Foreign Language

The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language


Conference Proceedings

KOTESOL Conference Proceedings

AARE Conference Proceedings

Some terms

There are some terms you need to know when you conduct research and write a thesis. Here they are.

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A concept is a word that refers to an object or an event.
Example: book, table, jump, slow, loud, shiver.
You can perceive them using your senses. You can see a book or a table, you can see someone jump, you can see a slow thing, you can hear something loud, etc.

A construct is a psychological concept.
Example: motivation, intelligence, reading ability, language acquisition.
You cannot perceive them using your senses because they are 'psychological'. Even if you open someone's head, you cannot see their intelligence, motivation, or reading ability. But they exist!

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Constitutive definition: a word is defined by using other words.
Example:
A student is a person studying in a school or a university.
Conference proceedings can be defined as a collection of scientific papers presented in a conference.

Operational definition: a word is defined by mentioning the operation that must be done to measure the concept/construct.
Example:
Intelligence quotient is defined as the scores on the Stanford-Binet Test of Intelligence.
English proficiency is defined as the scores of Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

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A variable is something that varies.
Example:
Age can be 12 years old, 38 years old, 50 years old, etc. Age varies so it is a variable.
Gender can male or female. Gender varies so it is a variable.
English proficiency can be good, average or poor. English proficiency varies so it is a variable.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Quantitative and qualitative are two differrent approaches to research. In fact, they are very, very different, like fire and ice. Theoretically, you cannot do both in a single study. However, in practice sometimes it is possible to use both approaches in a study (see mixed method in a previous entry).

I have explained how the two differ in my 'Research Methodology' lectures, and now I post the table showing their differences below as you said you needed my slides. (If you think the size of the letters is too small and you find it hard to read, just click the image and you will see the larger version. You can save it to your hard drive.)


In general that's how they differ. The procedure of conducting both research is actually also different. Please see the image below.


When you conduct quantitative research, you begin by stating the research questions, and based on them you formulate hypotheses. After that, you collect data, analyze them, and report the findings which result from the analysis. So the process is quite linear, like a straight line.

When you conduct qualitative research, you begin by collecting preliminary data in the field. You have to go to the field to collect data, and based on the data you could state the research questions. Next, you return to the field and collect more data. It is possible (not always) that you do not get the data you want. In this case, you have to revise the research questions. That's why I draw an arrow connecting research questions and data collection in the above picture. After revising the research questions, you can go to the field again and collect data. Then you could analyze the data and report the findings. The process of conducting qualitative research can be (again, not always) like a spiral.


If you have questions, just write them in the comment box. I'll try to answer them as soon as possible.

About the slides

Some students asked me to post the slides I used in Research Methodology classes because they still found it hard to understand the content of the lectures. Well, personally I don't recommend you to study the slides because they only contain the important points without any further explanations. I'll try to write blog entries about them here, and hopefully by this weekend I could finish writing the entries.

Review of Literature

You have to review the literature when conducting research for some good reasons:

1. To define the frontiers of the field.
2. To place your research questions in perspective.
3. To limit your research questions and define the concepts of the study.
4. To understand the contradictory results in an area.
5. To choose the most appropriate methodology.
6. To avoid unintentional replication.
7. To help interpret the significance of the study.

Basically you review theories and previous studies which are relevant to the topic of your research. You could read them in the following scientific texts:
- books
- journals
- conference papers
- theses or dissertations

...BUT NOT the following popular texts:
- newspapers
- magazines
- encyclopedias

One of you asked me, "Can we quote resources from the internet?" Well, yes, you can. However, I usually allow my students to quote two types of online resources only: ebooks and ejournals. These two have been reviewed and edited by experts before being published online, so you could quote them. Quoting websites and blogs are strongly not recommended because no one reviewed the contents before they are published online.