ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on some points students may want to note regarding research methodology in quantitative studies. The guidelines are common ways recommended for evaluating quantitative research, which students should consider when evaluating and synthesizing in order to prepare a literature review. The guidelines are: note whether the research is quantitative or qualitative; note whether a study is experimental or nonexperimental; note attempts to examine cause-and-effect issues in nonexperimental studies and consider the test-retest reliability of the measure. The guidelines also include: consider the internal consistency reliability of the measure; consider the validity of the measure; consider whether a measure is valid for a particular research purpose and note differences in how a variable is measured across studies. The guidelines further include: note how the participants were sampled; make notes on the demographics of the participants; note how large a difference is—not just whether it is statistically significant and presume that all quantitative studies are flawed.
