ASSIGNMENT

_________________________________________________________________________
HMEF 5093
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
SEPTEMBER 2020 SEMESTER

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION

1. Answer in English or Bahasa Malaysia.

1. Number of words: 3000 – 5000 words excluding references for EACH question (Question 1 and
Question 2).

2. Submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file.

3. Submit your assignment ONLINE.

4. Submission date : 7 DECEMBER 2020

5. This assignment accounts for 100% of the total marks for the course.

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 ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

QUESTION 1 (50%)

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this assignment is for students to demonstrate their ability to illustrate the key
aspects of quantitative research methodology.

TASK:
For this assignment you are required to review a quantitative research article and present your
analysis and findings in a report.

Read through the following research article carefully, conduct a review and write a report.

Nilgün Seçken Evrim Ural Alsan (2011). The effect of constructivist approach on students’
understanding of the concepts related to hydrolysis. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 15, pages 235-240

The research article is provided together with this assignment in the file “Assignment 1
Research Article Sept2020”. The article is also available online at

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811002588

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Assignment Guidelines
Use the following questions as a guide to write your review of the research article.

Title
 Does the title reflect the focus of the study, revealing adequate information about the
variables, subjects and research setting?

Background to the study

 Is sufficient background information on the research given?
 Does the background information provide a lead-in to the focus/objective of the
research?
 Is the research focus/objective clearly explained?

Research questions
 Are the research questions appropriately framed to provide clear direction for
measuring the variables investigated?
 Are the research questions in line with the research focus/objective?

Literature Review
 Is the literature cited appropriate and relevant to the research agenda?
 Have the researchers cited adequate current literature to support their research?
 Is there evidence of critical analyses of relevant theory and past research?
 Does the literature review provide adequate content information about the research
topic?

Research Design
 Is the research design clearly described and explained?
 Is the research design appropriate in addressing the research objectives and research
questions?

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Population and Sample
 Is the population from which the sample was drawn defined and described?
 Is the sample properly defined, described and delimited?
 Is the sample size adequate for the study?
 Is the sampling technique appropriate and properly explained?

Instrumentation
 Are the instruments appropriate for the study?
 Are the validity and reliability of the instruments discussed?
 Is there any theoretical and/or past research support for the instruments used?

Research Procedures
 Is there a clear discussion of the research procedure?
 Is the data collection procedure appropriate for the research design used?

Data Analysis & Results

 Are the data analysis techniques appropriate for the research design?
 Do the data analyses provide answers to the research questions/research focus?
 Do the researchers provide justification/explanation for the use of specific analysis
techniques?
 Are the results presented clearly and correctly with accurate and detailed
interpretations?

Findings & Discussion

 Is the discussion in line with the findings and carefully connected to other sections of
the report (e.g. problem statement, research questions, etc)?
 Are the findings judiciously discussed in relation to theory and findings of past research?
Is the discussion substantiated with relevant literature?
 Are implications, recommendations and directions for future research drawn from
research findings?
 Is there adequate discussion on the limitations of the study?

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The above questions merely provide suggested guidelines for writing your review. You may
omit some questions and/or frame additional questions of your own to guide your writing. In
your review, you should constantly quote from the article to substantiate your comments
and wherever relevant, provide explanations and justifications for your comments based on
theory, expert knowledge and/or past research to demonstrate your understanding of the
quantitative research methodology. Your comments should include the strengths and
weaknesses of the research and also suggestions for improvement. Use APA style for all your
citations and references

[TOTAL: 50 MARKS]

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Assessment Guidelines

The assignment will be assessed as follows:

1. Review: 40 marks
2. Overall presentation: 5 marks
3. Writing style & Language use: 5 marks

Submission Guidelines

1. Your assignment should be typed on A4 paper using 12 pt Times New Roman and 1.5
spacing.
2. You are to submit a softcopy of your assignment on-line through myINSPIRE according to
the fixed date.
3. The assignment should be an original piece of work. Plagiarised assignment will be rejected.

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QUESTION 2 (50%)

ASSIGNMENT 2 (Individual Work)

OBJECTIVE

This assignment allows you to demonstrate your ability in planning and devising an appropriate
quantitative research methodology for a survey research study.

The assignment comprises TWO related tasks, the details of which are explained below:

Task 1

You are motivated to investigate the reading attitudes of the students in your institution. You
have found a questionnaire which you can adopt or adapt, depending on the focus of your
research study.

Based on the questionnaire, plan and design an appropriate quantitative research study. You
should use the questionnaire in its original form without changing or leaving out any items.
However, you may include additional information such as demographic factors and/or any
other appropriate constructs to be investigated with reading attitudes. In such a case, you
should include additional information in your questionnaire form. If you have included other
constructs in the investigation, you should provide the relevant instruments. All instruments to
be used should be attached as appendices.

Provide an appropriate research title for your research study and a list of research questions
and/or hypotheses.

Before planning and designing your research study, you should read and understand fully the
following topics in your module:

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Topic 3 Constructs Variables and Data Types,
Topic 6 Survey research methodology, and
Topic 7 Instrumentation

The example of the questionnaire is available in your HMEF5093 Quantitative Research

Methodology Module, Topic 3 Constructs, Variables and Data Types, Activity 3.1, p.37 - 38.
(6 marks)

Task 2

In this task, you are required to describe and explain the methodology of your research study
using the questionnaire and instruments you have designed in Task 1, focusing on the following
sections:

(1) Research design

(2) Population and sample
(3) Instrumentation
(4) Data collection procedures
(5) Framework of data analysis

You can refer to the HMEF5093 Quantitative Research Methodology module, Topic 10: Writing
the research report, as a guide to write the different sections.

(44 marks)

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Assessment Guidelines

Your response to the tasks will be graded based on the scoring scheme attached. For maximum
credit, be sure that your response addresses each of the scoring criteria components.

Allocation of marks:

Task 1 (6 marks)

(1) Research title (2 marks)

(2) List of research questions and/or hypotheses (4 marks)

Task 2 (44 marks)

(1) Research design (8 marks)

(2) Population and sample (8 marks)
(3) Instrumentation (12 marks)
(4) Data collection procedures (8 marks)
(5) Framework of data analysis (8 marks)

[TOTAL: 50 MARKS]

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Submission Guidelines

 Your assignment should be typed on A4 paper using 12 pt Times New Roman and 1.5
spacing.
 You are to submit a softcopy of your assignment on-line through myInspire.
 The document submitted should have the following:
(1) Research title
(2) List of research questions and/or hypotheses
(3) Methodology
 Research design
 Population and sample
 Instrumentation
 Data collection procedures
 Framework of data analysis
(4) Appendices
 The assignment should be an original piece of work. Plagiarised assignment will be rejected.

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 ATTACHMENT
ASSIGNMENT RUBRIC
HMEF 5093 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY / SEPTEMBER 2020
QUESTION 1 (50%)
*QN CL Unsatisfactory
O Excellent Good Fair Poor Or
Max
No response
Criteria Weight Marks
4 3 2 1 0
1 3 2.5 Very relevant with constant Relevant with some Fairly relevant with little Hardly relevant with Irrelevant 10
Relevance reference to the article and reference to the article reference to the article and hardly any reference to response
covering all the key and covering most of the covering some of the key the article and covering
aspects. key aspects. aspects. only a few key aspects.

1 3 Analysis 2.5 Ample evidence of analyses Some evidence of Little evidence of analyses of Hardly any evidence of No evidence of 10
of the relevant aspects with analyses of the relevant the relevant aspects with analyses of the relevant analysis
numerous appropriate aspects with some few appropriate comments. aspects with very few or
comments. appropriate comments. no appropriate
comments.
Review

1 3 Research support 2.5 Comments provided are
very in-depth with ample
support from theory,
expert knowledge and/or
related past research.
1 3 Knowledge of 2.5 Demonstrates very good
research knowledge and in-depth
understanding of the
research.
1 3 Overall Presentation 1.25 Presentation format is very
clear and appropriate, with
very well developed and
organised ideas.
All sources are cited
Comments provided are Comments provided are Comments provided are No research 10
in-depth with some superficial with little support very superficial with very support
support from theory, from theory, expert little or no support from
expert knowledge knowledge and/or related theory, expert
and/or related past past research. knowledge and/or
research. related past research.
Demonstrates good Demonstrate poor Demonstrate very poor No knowledge 10
knowledge and in-depth knowledge and superficial knowledge and of research
understanding of the understanding of the superficial
research. research. understanding of the
research.
Presentation format is Presentation format is poor Presentation format is No submission 5
clear and appropriate and inappropriate, with very poor and
with well-developed and poorly developed and inappropriate with very
organised. organised ideas. poorly developed and
Most sources are cited Some sources are cited organised ideas.

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 accurately to demonstrate accurately to accurately to demonstrate Few sources are cited
the credibility of the demonstrate the the credibility of the accurately to
information presented. credibility of the information presented. demonstrate the
information presented. credibility of the
information presented.
1 3 Writing Style & Language 1.25 Very appropriate for Appropriate for Poor and inappropriate for Very poor and No submission. 5
use. academic writing with few academic writing with academic writing with inappropriate for
serious grammatical errors. some serious numerous serious academic writing with
grammatical errors. grammatical errors. lots of serious
grammatical errors.
Total 12.5 50
*QN = Question Number

QUESTION 2 (50%)

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Award a maximum of 6 marks for Task 1 using the following rubric.
Unsatisfactory
Excellent Good Fair Low Or
Max
No response
Criteria Weightage Marks
4 3 2 1 0
Research Title. 0.5 The title clearly reflects The title fairly clearly The title partially reflects The title hardly reflects No response. 2
the focus of the study, reflects the focus of the the focus of the study, the focus of the study,
revealing adequate study, revealing fairly revealing some information revealing little
information about the adequate information about the variables, subjects information about the
variables, subjects & about the variables, & research setting. variables, subjects &
research setting. subjects & research research setting.
setting.
Research 1.0 Research Irrelevant 4
Research Research Research
Questions questions/hypotheses response.
questions/hypotheses questions/hypotheses questions/hypotheses are
and/or are hardly focused,
are highly focused and are focused, providing fairly focused, providing
hypotheses. providing only vague
providing very clear clear direction for fairly clear, direction for
direction for measuring
direction for measuring measuring relationships measuring relationships
relationships between
relationships between between variables. between variables.
variables.
variables.

Total 1.5 6

Award a maximum of 44 marks for Task 2

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Excellent
Criteria Weightage
4 3
2 The research design is
Research Design
very appropriate.
The explanation is very
clear with adequate
relevant justification.
Population & 2 The description of the
Sample target population and
the sample very clear.
The sampling technique
proposed is very
appropriate.
Instrumentation 3 The instrument(s) to be
used is very
appropriately
adapted/designed.
Validity and reliability
issues are very well
addressed
The description is very
clear with lots of details.
2 Very clear description
Data Collection
data collection
Procedures.
procedures.
Threats to validity and
reliability are very well-
Good
The research design is
appropriate.
The explanation is clear
with quite adequate
relevant justification.
The description of the
target population and
the sample is clear.
The sampling technique
proposed is appropriate.
The instrument(s) to be
used is appropriately
adapted/ designed.
Validity and reliability
issues are well
addressed.
The description is clear
with most of the details.
Clear description of data
collection procedures.
Threats to validity and
reliability are well-
addressed.
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Unsatisfactory
Fair Low Or
Max
No response
Marks
2 1 0
The research design is The research design is Response is not 8
fairly appropriate. hardly appropriate. relevant.
The explanation is fairly The explanation is rather
clear with some relevant vague with minimal or
justification. no relevant justification.
The description of the The description of the No description 8
target population and target population and of population
the sample is fairly clear. the sample is rather and sample.
vague.
The sampling technique
proposed is fairly The sampling technique
appropriate. proposed is hardly
appropriate.
The instrument(s) to be The instrument(s) to be Response not 12
used are fairly used is somewhat relevant.
appropriately adapted/ inappropriately
designed. adapted/designed.
Validity and reliability Validity and reliability
issues are fairly well issues are rather poorly
addressed. or hardly addressed.
The description is fairly The description is rather
clear with some details. vague with hardly any
details.
Fairly clear description of Vague description of No description 8
data collection data collection of data
procedures. procedures. collection
procedures.
Threats to validity and Threats to validity and
reliability are fairly well- reliability are poorly or
 addressed. addressed. hardly addressed.

2 Very Appropriate
Framework of
methods of analysis are
data analysis.
suggested.
Very clear and adequate
description of the
method of analysis.
Total 11
Appropriate methods of Fairly appropriate Rather inappropriate Framework not 8
analysis are suggested. methods of analysis are methods of analysis are available.
suggested. suggested.
Clear and adequate
description of the Fairly clear and adequate Vague and inadequate
method of analysis. description of the description of the
method of analysis. method of analysis.
44

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