Читать книгу Social Work Research Methods - Reginald O. York - Страница 13

The nature and phases of descriptive research are the key themes of this chapter, which begins with a summary of how descriptive, explanatory, evaluative, and exploratory research are similar and different. Qualitative and quantitative description are distinguished, and the reader sees how the quantitative study illustrates how to describe people through statistics such as the mean, median, mode, and standard deviation. The level of measurement of the variable is presented as a necessity for selecting the proper descriptive statistic. The learning-by-doing exercise in this chapter calls on readers to undertake a descriptive study of the traits of the good work manager. They collect and analyze data on this theme to see (a) what traits are most valued and (b) whether the study subjects exhibit a sex-role stereotype about what it takes to be a good work manager. They employ statistical tests in the examination of the data using Internet sites. Thus, in this chapter the reader implements the research process in brief form, from A to Z, with help on the nature of the issue and the measurement tools to be employed.