Portfolio Item 3

Project Details
Quantitative Study
Engl 7702 - Research Design in TPC, Fall 2012
These documents discuss the research behind the need to change user guide setup
on touch screen phones. This set of documents is 1) Based on research conducted
at the same time, 2) divided between the qualitative and the quantitative research,
and 3) shows growth in writing a literature review.

Critical Refl ection

This course taught me how to design the research to test a hypothesis. This was
probably my most difficult course, partially because I took this course before Engl
7701 Research and Composition. I was playing catchup from the beginning. Ive
included the last assignment, the Quantitative Study, as the main document for this
part of my portfolio because it focuses on the part I found most difficult, the
quantitative analysis. It also shows the rewritten literature review from the
Qualitative Study. This course, particularly the work to analyze data via Excel,
caused me no end of headache and confusion. Im still not sure if I used the correct
calculations for the results in the Quantitative Study. I have a very wide gap to fill in
attempting to understand this aspect of research. Positively, this experience did
help me to relate to my students who get frustrated with work they do not
understand. Another reason I included both documents is that I feel the topic would
be better explored through a mixed methods approach. Since all methods have
limitations, researchers felt that biases inherent in any single method could
neutralize or cancel the biases of other methods (Creswell 14). If I were to
continue the research started with the topic covered in the two studies, I think the
research would be better served combined.

References
Creswell, John. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2009. Print.

A 1-7 rating of the overall satisfaction with the item

Quantitative Study A: 3 I think it has strength in its literature review, but the
results area is lacking in detail and significance.
Qualitative Study: 5 The literature review is too short and almost pointless but I
improved upon it with the next assignment (Quantitative Study); I think the

qualitative analysis of observations and interview data is stronger than my work

with the quantitative data.