Research Methods: Comparing 2 Articles PDF

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Part 1 - looking at research methods through two articles
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Research Methods: Comparing 2 Articles The two articles that I am going to be comparing are both on the same topic: Tuition fees in the UK. Since the government increased tuition fees in 2012, this topic has been central to the debate on higher education. This means that, there have been many articles written on the subject. The first article that I am going to focus on is entitled “Choosing a University: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012” and the second is entitled “Fear and loathing of tuition fees: an American perspective on higher education finance in the UK”. For the purpose of this essay, I will be calling the two article’s that I am comparing Article A and Article B. The first article, Article A, “Choosing a university: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012”, was written by Andrew Dunnett , Jan Moorhouse , Caroline Walsh & Cornelius Barry in 2012. We can see that, as 2012 was when tuition fees were raised by the government, this article is in direct response to that policy and, indeed, the article states that “In the light of the forthcoming policy shift to full-cost fees for English undergraduates, this study examines the impact of fee changes on how students weigh up their university choices.”, (Dunnett, Moorhouse, Walsh and Barry, 2012). The second article, Article B, “Fear and loathing of tuition fees: an American perspective on higher education finance in the UK” was written by Dr Bruce Johnstone in 2005 so, although both of the articles are on the same topic, they were written at very different times. This is one way that I can compare these articles as, as one was written before the other and, before the legislation that came into force in 2012 while the other was written in response to the legislation. Another way in which the articles are different is that one is quantitative and the other is qualitative, Article A is quantitative as, although it uses focus groups to gain its data, the data that is produced and exhibited in the article is facts and figures. Article B is qualitative as it deals with impressions and observations, as shown by the authors opinion being a central focus of the article. Quantitative means that the article deals primarily with numbers, when we are talking about research, quantitative research would include questionnaires and closed questions, such as questions with yes or no answers. Within essays, quantitative data would be data such as bar charts, percentages and any other figures. C.R. Kothari, in Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques describes quantitative research as “based on the measurement of quantity and amount” (Kothari, 2004), this clearly backs up the my point stating that quantitative research deals primarily with numbers. Qualitative means that the research and outcome is very much focused on interviews and the “quality” of the work, rather than having vast amounts of it, when we are looking at qualitative research, we are looking at research like interviews and or open ended questions, where lots of ideas and debates are able to be constructed. C.R. Kothari describes qualitative research as“ concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behaviour” and, as I have mentioned that the main form of qualitative research is interviews, Kothari’s quote supports that. One thing that strikes me about the two articles is that Article A is written by an English professor and article B is written by an American professor. Although both of the article’s deal with the topic of tuition fees in higher education, because they are written in two different countries, they both approach said topic very differently. One very important thing to consider when researching and writing up your research is the question of ethics. Ethics, simply put, “encompasses concepts and principles of right conduct”, (Singh, 2012), this means that, ethics is concerned with the process of conducting research being fair and safe. Ethics is extremely important and, every piece of research undertaken has to be ethical. Having read both articles, I can see that there is no mention of ethics in either article, this could be a problem as, readers may not know 100% weather the research undertaken in the article was ethical or not however, I believe that the research undertaken in Article A has been undertaken ethically as they fully explain the research and the methodology that they undertook.

The first thing that I am going to focus on is the abstract. Article A has a very detailed abstract which clearly outlines the purpose of the article. Judith Ball and Stephen Waters say that “it is quite difficult to say in a few words what your project sets out to do” (Ball and Waters, 2014) however I believe that Article A achieves this very well, by using words such as “undergraduates” and “higher fees”, the abstract clearly informs the reader of the content of the article. In contrast, Article B places less of an impact on the abstract with only a brief description being given. In my opinion, the abstract is one of the most important pieces of an article as, from reading the abstract, people will be able to confidently tell whether the article they have looked up is worth reading or, worth using for their piece of writing. The next thing that I will be looking at is the introduction. Having a good, strong introduction, in my opinion, solidifies the topic of discussion in the article, in this case the topic is tuition fees. Article A’s introduction clearly sets out the specific points that they are going to be focusing on in the article, as this article uses quantitative research, the introduction mentions percentages and averages. In contrast to this, Article B’s introduction is very much about the words used. It is much more free flowing and it places a great importance on the writer’s own experiences, for example, the article talks about his experiences working as a teacher and writer of economics. As well as this, the introduction to Article B is much more fluid and free flowing than the introduction to Article A, Article A’s introduction is much more focused on the figures, hence why the sentences are shorter. Even though both introductions are very different, I believe that they both get their point and the purpose of the article across extremely well. What I find particularly strong about Article A is that it has included a paragraph on the “research aim” of the article. In this paragraph, the writers set out the aims of the research and what, specifically, the research is going to be about, I feel that this really enhances the article as, it helps the reader to understand the purpose of the research and why it was conducted. In contrast, Article B doesn’t include this paragraph or, a similar one, the article moves straight on from “introduction” to “UK Policies towards higher education finance and cost sharing”. Article A also has paragraphs entitled “Research questions”, in this paragraph, the writers address some of the questions that they are going to attempt to answer by undertaking research. Questions that they have written include “Are patterns of utility significantly different from students from lower socioeconomic groups compared to higher socio-economic groups?” and “Are patterns of utility significantly different for female students compared to male students?”, not only do these questions give the reader precise information on what the research is going to be about but, as the questions are along the same lines of enquiry, it shows us that the research is very precise and deals with a specific topic. We can see from this paragraph in Article A that the research that they are going to undertake is focused on “the probable impact of the fee increases on students’ choice of university” (Dunnett, Moorhouse, Walsh and Barry, 2012), this means that their research is centred around weather the increase of tuition fees is a factor in which university students choose to attend to complete their degree. Although Article B doesn’t have a paragraph focusing on exactly the research aims, it does have a paragraph where the author gives his views on the topic. (An American perspective on the English tuition fees) – In this paragraph, the author explains his understanding of the tuition fee policy’s in the UK, citing several historical and political This brings me on to my next paragraph, the methodology of the two articles. J. Mahoney and D. Rueschemeyer say this about methodology: “I use the term “methodology” to refer to the means scholars employ to increase confidence that the inferences they make about the social and political world are valid”, J. Mahoney, D. Rueschemeyer, 2003. Here, Mahoney and Rueschemeyer are saying that they believe “Methodology” is used in order for scholars to prove their research, which I believe that Article A does very well. In Article A, the writers state that they used a focus group in order to obtain their research, the focus group was conducted at a state school in an area which had students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and where there was “no pattern of participation in higher education” (Dunnett, Moorhouse, Walsh and Barry, 2012). Already, from gaining an insight into the research that they did, I knew that Article A was going to be extremely interesting. The main outcome of their research was

that “price was seen as a relatively low criterion”, (Dunnett, Moorhouse, Walsh and Barry, 2012), as their research was conducted on the impact of higher tuition fees and students applying for university, the results clearly correlate with this although, in my opinion, I would have thought that the price of university would deter students from applying however this research clearly states otherwise. Article B mainly uses’ other people’s research however the writer does offer his comments on the topic- this is interesting as not only is it another person’s opinion but, as the writer is American, he is bring an outsider’s view on the topic, making the article all that more interesting. As Article B uses mainly research from other papers, it didn’t mention any specific results although it does offer “observations and impressions” (Johnstone, 2005). In this section, the author offers his personal views on the topic. He states 4 observations, the first one being - “The first is the continuing opposition to tuition fees (and to academic markets and university entrepreneurialism and student loans) by the UK’s well-organised National Union of Students” (Johnstone, 2006). This paragraph, although not as in-depth as Article A’s paragraph, does offer some research in the form of the author’s opinions on the topic of the article. In Article A, the writers reviewed a piece of literature in order to see if the results of their focus groups supported what the literature’s findings were. The literature reviewed was entitled “Higher Education: A highly involved decision and complex service”. The article states that the results of their focus group did correlate with the findings of the literature, this shows us that Article A used sources to back up its research, making the article an incredibly strong and well researched article. The conclusions of Article B focus on the fact that America and England are different countries, the author talks about the “difference in the financial structures for higher education in the US and UK”, (Johnstone, 2005), this shows us that the author has rounded up all of his findings and opinions and come to a clear and understandable conclusion. In contrast to this, Article A in its conclusion reminds the reader again of what it’s study was and what it set out to do. It then goes on to explain the results and outcomes of the study- the main outcome being that the “course and university reputation are by far the most important factors influencing student’s choice of university”. (Dunnett, Moorhouse, Walsh and Barry, 2012). In conclusion, I feel that Article A is a much stronger article, It clearly outlines its research and produces successful outcomes.

Bibliography Bell, J. and Waters, S. (2014) Doing your research project: A guide for First-Time researchers. Maidenhead, United Kingdom: Open University Press. Dunnett , A. Moorhouse , J. Walsh, C. and Barry, C. (2012) Choosing a University: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012, Tertiary Education and Management, 18:3, 199-220, DOI: 10.1080/13583883.2012.657228 Johnstone, B(2005) Fear and loathing of tuition fees: an American perspective on higher education finance in the UK, Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 9:1, 12-16, DOI: 10.1080/1360310052000342893 Kothari, C.R. (2009) Research methodology: Methods and techniques. 2nd edn. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers. Mahoney, J. and Rueschemeyer, D. (eds.) (2003) Comparative historical analysis in the social sciences (Cambridge studies in Comparative politics series). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Singh S. Ethics in research. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 2012;78:411-3...