Child Abuse, Educational Performannce Of Secondary School Students (Coursework Sample)

RESEARCH METHODS
1. An investigation on ‘AN ASSESSMENT ON THE EFFECTSOF CHILD ABUSE ON THE EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANNCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS” From this topic;
a)      What is the research design for the study? (3 marks)
Causal Design:
Causality studies may be thought of as understanding a phenomenon in terms of conditional statements in the form, “If X, then Y.” This type of research is used to measure what impact a specific change will have on existing norms and assumptions. Most social scientists seek causal explanations that reflect tests of hypotheses.
b)     State null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis        (2 marks)
Null hypothesis: child abuse has no effects on the educational performance of secondary school students.
Alternative hypothesis: child abuse affects the educational performance of secondary school students
c)      Identify three research questions for the study    (3 marks)
* What is the prevalence of abuse on children in secondary schools?
* How has the performance of the secondary schools been over the past years?
* How can the abuse on the secondary school students be reduced/avoided?
d)      State the dependent variable (1 mark)
Educational performance of secondary school students
e)      List three independent variables.  (3 marks)
* Child abuse
* Secondary school students
* Education at secondary schools
* Secondary schools
f)     What is the delimitation of the study?  (3 marks)
Delimitations are boundaries that are set by the by the researcher in order to control the range of a study. They are created before any investigations are carried out, in order to reduce the amount of time spent in certain areas that may be seen to be unnecessary, and perhaps even unrelated, to the overall study.An example of this would be that the study is delimited to questioning people within a certain age group only, i.e. only secondary school students.The questionnaires that will be used in collection of information and also the geographical position where I will choose the participants.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY
VIRTUAL CAMPUS
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT CODE: SCCU001 C.A.T 2
UNIT TITLE: RESEARCH METHODS
1. Define the following terms as used in research.
    a) Problem                     (2 marks)
A research problem is a statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or in practice that points to the need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation.
 b)  Research design         (2 marks)
The research design refers to the overall strategy that you choose to integrate the different components of the study in a coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring you will effectively address the research problem; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of data. Note that your research problem determines the type of design you should use
2. Differentiate between a parameter andvariable in research.  (2 marks)
A parameter is a numerical quantity or attribute of a population that is estimated using data collected from the population. Population parameters, also termed population characteristics, are numerical expressions summarizing various aspects of the entire population.
A variable is the characteristic or attribute of an individual, group, educational system, or the environment that is of interest in a research study. 
3. State two types of classification of research by purpose.  (2 marks)
Exploratory/Formulative Research: You may be exploring a new topic or issue in order to learn about it. If the issue was new or the researcher has written little on it, you began at the beginning. This is called exploratory research. The researcher's goal is to formulate more precise questions that future research can answer. Exploratory research may be the first stage in a sequence of studies. A researcher may need to know enough to design and execute a second, more systematic and extensive study.
Descriptive Research
Descriptive research presents a picture of the specific details of a situation, social setting, or relationship.  The major purpose of descriptive research, as the term implies, is to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon. Descriptive research seeks to determine the answers to who, what, when, where, and how questions. 
Explanatory Research
When we encounter an issue that is already known and have a description of it, we might begin to wonder why things are the way they are. The desire to know "why," to explain, is the purpose of explanatory research. It builds on explor...