Priyal Morjaria

Both research articles discuss the importance of parental involvement in a childs

education and the impact school administrators have on parental involvement. Even though both
articles address the importance of parental involvement one article looks at a specific influence
while the other looks at various influences. The research presented by Sheldon, Angell, Stoner
and Roseland (2010) addresses the role a principle plays on building trust among mothers of
children with disabilities. A principles personal and professional attributes played a key role in
building trustworthy relationships with parents of children with disabilities, other teachers, and
administrators. In their research article, Deslandes and Bertrand (2005) look at motivational
factors that influence parental involvement in a childs schooling. The researchers in this article
investigated what factors shape a parents likelihood to involve themselves in their childrens
secondary level schooling. The focused on parents assumption of the role they play in their
childrens education, parents self-efficacy, invitation from a teacher and invitation from children
as motivating factors. Authors of both articles agree that parental involvement plays a very
important role in a childs overall academic success. Authors of both articles relied on other
studies as tools to conduct their research.
Sheldon et al. (2010) relied on prior research conducted on education and children with
disabilities. The authors rely heavily on books, journals, reviews and even a training manual on
various physical and developmental disabilities. Educational research journals are a main focus
as well, especially while examining school leadership and building trust with parents. Another
common trend with this specific article is the use of literature on qualitative research techniques.
Deslandes and Bertrand (2005) conducted quantitative research and used informative literary
tools on applied linear statistical models. Along with books and journals Delandes and Bertrand
also accessed a questionnaire on high schools and family partnerships as well as a paper
presented at a research association. Previous studies and literary materials are useful in
developing research questions or hypotheses in both qualitative and quantitative research
formats.
Both the qualitative research article and the quantitative research article posed a research
question as an intent of study. The quantitative research question was more specific and
identified parents of children in grades 7, 8, and 9 as their target population. They also identified
four factors of motivation in parents in their research question. The qualitative research question
was broad with regards to target population since the authors wanted to identify mothers of
disabled children from a larger range of grades. The qualitative research question did not identify
the various components of trust.
Along with using a research question instead of hypotheses both articles started with an
abstract summarizing the topic, research conducted and the outcome of the study. Authors of
both the qualitative article on parents of disabled children and quantitative article on
motivational influences on parental involvement introduced their topic of interest before
discussing their research methodology. Both studies relied on some format of questionnaires as
part of their research. Another common factor in both studies is that authors for both articles
included a section on limitations and the outcomes (scope or implications) of their study
findings.

Priyal Morjaria
Along with similarities, both articles also had some differences in the way their
information was organized. The quantitative research article went into great detail to introduce
the four major influences on motivation and parental involvement in secondary education. The
qualitative article briefly mentioned the components of trust without going into each factor and
explaining it in great detail. Sheldon et al. (2010) provided a section specifically for the purpose
of study where as Deslandes and Bertrand (2005) included their research question at the end of
their introduction of motivational factors.
There were very few similarities in the way research was conducted in both studies. Both
studies required parental participation and parents were the target population. One apparent
similarity in both studies is the use of questions to determine or identify the outcome. Both
articles concluded that parental involvement is significant to a childs academic success and that
school staff, teachers and administrators also play a role in motivating parents.
Even though both studies used questions as a part of their research design the way the
questions are implemented and measured is significantly different. The qualitative research study
used interviews as their method and the quantitative research study relied on a survey based
questionnaire that was measured with statistical analysis. Another prevalent difference was
apparent in the number of participants. Sheldon et al. (2010) interviewed 16 mothers of disabled
children. Deslands and Bertrand (2005) had 770 parents participate. School administrators in the
quantitative research study were given token payments which may have motivated them to reach
out to parents. One study only looked at mothers while the other one included all types of
parents.