NMQ 734/745 Foundations of Educational Research Individual Assignment Brief 2025

Section A: Research Questions

A.1

Joan wants to study how bullying modifies emotional and cognitive development. Her research focuses on children (6 years old or younger), their parents, and teachers. Help her by designing a qualitative research question focused on one population and one construct of the study. The question should be straightforward, guide the methodology, and be appropriate for a research study (arguable).

Additional instructions:

• Only write one qualitative research question; no other text is required.

A.2

A group of researchers wants to experiment with the effect of music on achievement. Their intervention is to play classical music during study hours each day for one group and not for the control group (random assignment) and compare their exam marks. Their research question (RQ) is: Can music make children study better? This RQ is an example of a poorly phrased research question. Rephrase the research question to be appropriate for the study described.

Additional instructions:

Only write one quantitative research question; no other text is required.

Section B: Research Methodology

B.1

A researcher is interested in studying lifelong learning in a multi-cultural society. Help design the study by choosing a research methodology (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed). You can choose any one of these. Address the following elements and make sure that B1.1. – B.1.5 are aligned methodologically:

B.1.1

• Explain which research methodology you chose and why in a paragraph.

B.1.2

• Choose an appropriate sampling strategy for your methodology and tell us why you selected this method and how the sample would be drawn (A paragraph followed by a list of steps).

B.1.3

• Give a summary of how data will be collected and analyzed for the study in two distinct paragraphs.

B.1.4

• Describe two ways you will build quality criteria (methodological integrity) into the study based on the design in a paragraph.

B.1.5

• Discuss one limitation and one advantage of the research methodology you have suggested in two separate sentences.

Section C: Instrument Items

C.1

• Design a qualitative interview question that Joan could ask teachers about the problem of bullying. Make sure the question is open-ended, non-threatening, and engaging.

Additional instructions:

• Only write one qualitative interview question; no other text is required.

C.2

Joan also sends a survey to the guardians/parents. Look at the statement below, which guardians must rate on a Likert scale with the following options: disagree strongly, disagree, agree, or agree strongly. Then, rewrite the item so that the problems are removed:

I have zero faith that the teachers and daycare can do anything to prevent the bullying that is prevalent in the learning and playing environments.

Additional instructions:

• Only rewrite the one or two (if split) questionnaire items; no other text is required.

Section D: Quantitative Data Interpretation

D.1.1

Lethabo has collected data and needs your help interpreting the results. The survey asked teachers (n = 2683) to choose their main reason for remaining in the teaching profession (Table 1). Write two paragraphs where you interpret the findings from Table 1. Focus on the main reasons for choosing to remain in the profession OR main reasons with low endorsement.

Table 1: Option chosen by respondents showing counts and percentages per option

D.1.2

Based on the data and results, make two recommendations on how teachers can be retained in the profession and specify to whom you would direct your recommendations.

D.2

The teachers were asked to rate on a scale from 1 to 5 how vital a reason is for remaining in the profession, with 1 being not important and 5 being very important. The statistical test results are shown in Table 2. Less experienced is defined as “less than 10 years of experience,” and senior teachers have “11 years or more experience.”

Table 2: Independent t-test results for younger and older teachers comparison with significance levels

Help Lethabo interpret the inferential statistics to compare less experienced teachers to senior teachers regarding their reasons for staying in the profession. Lethabo set p < 0.05 as the significance level. Write an interpretation of Table 2 where you discuss statistically significant differences between younger and older teachers regarding the reasons for remaining in the profession. Writing should be a paragraph which draws the reader’s attention to statistically significant findings substantiated with values from the table.

D.3

Lethabo wants to defend the integrity of his quantitative study. Advise him on two pieces of evidence he could present that his study was reliable and valid.

Section E: Qualitative Data Analysis and Interpretation

E.1

• Read the transcript, named Limpopo Mathematics Teacher Interview (22 March 2019). Qualitatively analyze the transcript and address the following questions:

E.1.1

Name and describe the qualitative data analysis method you used.

E.1.2

Identify a theme from the interview. Give the theme a descriptive name and write a narrative wherein you describe the theme. Use at least two quotations from the interview to substantiate your claims.

E.1.3

Write a narrative with two recommendations based on your findings and link the findings to the interview.

Section F: Technical Aspects

F.1

Technical aspects:

• The front page contains all required details.
• The assignment layout is neat and according to the style guide.
• The assignment is free of grammar or spelling mistakes.

F.2

Plagiarism score:

• Similarity score is 10% or lower.
• Red flags are absent (no deliberate attempts to throw off similarity).
• AI score below 20%.

Section G: Reflection

G.1

Write a narrative wherein you reflect on how your research methodology skills have evolved since the beginning of the NMQ745 module. How have your experiences during the module contributed (or not) to your personal growth? If you used Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) for your assignment, use this section to discuss how you used the tool and ensured that learning took place while using Gen AI.