A500.7.3.RB - Quantitative Research Reflection_MullBrandon

     A quantitative research project is not only a survey but a quest for the truth regardless of the researcher’s feelings. The quality of a quantitative research, in my opinion, is the most important aspect of the research. If the researcher manipulates the finds to go along with their thesis, that researcher needs to find a different carrier. The researcher is an important part of the quality of  a quantitative research because they have the ability to interpret the data and skew the results. For example, if a survey was done by sending out surveys by mail and the researcher took the times that the survey was respond to then said that the later someone replied to a survey they less motivated they were to do the survey it would skew the results of the survey.

     Quantitative research, I think, is easier to follow when explaining the results. It is easy to understand a percentage rather than try to interpret the findings of a qualitative study. The findings of a quantitative research are always in the form of an explanation of the question and the results in a number form. It is not left up to the interpretation of the reader to figure out if the research finding was conclusive to the theory or not. The only problem with the quantitative research is that the population size is never big enough to justify that the entire population is in conclusion of the results. I find that this is a problem with any quantitative statistic. Not everyone was in the results and not everyone’s voice was heard.

     Another problem with quantitative research is that it is so simplistic; the results are always that it does or does not. It can't capture the voice of the people survived, it can only explain that some do it this way and others don't. This doesn't always pose a problem when trying to compare associations and trying analyze simple things, but if you are trying to see what people think, quantitative research doesn't have a voice.

     Overall quantitative research is my preferred way to analyze data. Quantitative research is easy to read, it is flowing, there is no interpretation of the data , and as long as the survey group was large enough you can have an accurate reflection on the population. It also has its downsides as well. The results don't have give the right voice to the issue, it only gives a comparison, and the survey size isn't always big enough.

A500.6.3.RB - Qualitative Research_MullBrandon

Qualitative research can be described as a type of exploration research rather than a quantifiable research. The major reason for using any type of qualitative research is because the study goes deeper than number and needs to be explained more than a percent. In a qualitative research study, one can get a kind of voice to the results.

One of the many different elements to this style of research is the researcher. The researcher has to take in the data and put it into his or her own different style to analyze the results. The results are not always going to be the same researcher to researcher. It's all about how the person said or did something that gives a result and that can be looked at differently. Not having a direct result can sometimes be confusing about the results to a qualitative research. It gives results but it can also lead to new questions.

Reading the results is also one of the other interesting elements that makes qualitative different from quantitative research. In qualitative research the results can be similar outcomes while the quantitative have defined results that one did better than another. Quantitative research can give reader a view of the results insted of information. The reader takes away his or her own interpretation of the results.  For example, one reader might focus on the results that it was useful while another might be focused on if the context was applicable to the situation.

I can see a lot of different applications for qualitative research but it doesn't always give a final answer. It gives a feel for what the results may be but it's not a number than someone can quickly look at and understand that there is a depth to the results that can't be formed from a quantitative research.

A500.5.3.RB - Critical Thinking about Critical Thinking_ Mull Brandon

The thinking process is not only something to consider, but it is also an art. With all art, it takes a lot of practice to prefect in order to reach a master piece. Critical thinking is not a simple task that can be picked up and on the contrary it is not an easy thing to put down.

My critical thinking skills have made me pause in my everyday conversation. With the weight of what I now know about critical thinking, it makes me pause to gather and review what I want to say. I have to make sure it is exactly how I want to say it. The precision I want to convey has always been a struggle for me because of the specific and numerous terms and acronyms  in aviation. I used to sputter around my meaning and words until the recipient would understand what I meant to say. Now I think about the precision and my disciplines vocabulary that is involved in my everyday work. I still struggle but it is an ongoing practice. I want what I say to be fluent to what I mean the first time.  

The depth of the meaning of what I have to say also has had a noticeable impact on my everyday conversation. It has not just been my words that are different now. I see a new depth to what other people say. The depth of what people say has new meaning but I find it hard to not over analyze what they have to say. The lack of precision of what others have to say is something that I notice now to have impacts and consequences.

One other new skill that I have now is reasoning through something I don't understand. I work through the process of reasoning through a problem. I think it is a great asset to have the understanding of how to work through my problem without getting frustrated and being able to come to a result. Being in a field that much of what I do is left up to interpretation from the engineer can be frustrating and not always straight forward. Being able to reason out all of my problems and present a straight forward question is a huge leap in my carrier.   

Making critical thinking a long lasting art is the common practice and challenging myself with new thinking processes. The art of critical thinking comes from continual practice and a continual review. I think that critical thinking will always be an ongoing practice to me. It will be something that can be mastered but it must be practiced and improved on with new and challenging knowledge.

A500.4.3.RB - Ballet Slippers or Adorable_MullBrandon

The assumptions that are made every day on choices are as common as stumbling walking down the sidewalk. The light that Dr. Lyengar’s gives to the subject of choices is not what I had thought it to be.  

I never thought that there was that big of a gap between how happy we are in choosing something and when our mom chooses something for us. The fact that just because something was decided before you  got there makes us as Americans unhappy. The opposite was true for people of different nations, like the Chinese. I thought about this question for a more grown up scenario. If my mom gave me a free car that she picked out compared to me picking out a car that I had to pay for, I would choose to pick out my own car. The car my mom picked out may be free but I want to pick out my own car. The option is that it is free is fine when you first look at the situation but you grow tired of the car soon because you would see the other cars that you could have.

I thought the most interesting fact that Dr. Lyengar said was that of the parents of children who were prematurely born wanted the decision to “pull the plug”, rather than having the doctors say that’s what he was going to do. I can’t rightly put myself in the place of those parents because I’m not one yet, but I would rather blame the doctor the rest of my life than struggle with the reality that I put my child to death and the question of if. Blame is a much easier sentence than if. I can blame the doctor even though I know given that option I would have done the same thing. The worry of if in our lives will undoubtedly eat away at us forever, while blame leaves no regrets or if’s.

Given the implication on leadership, we can reason that people given the choice of a task they want to do from a list will make them happier than a choice forced on them. I think that if you have a list of things that need done and you give the choice to the people and let them choose what task they want to do, you would then have happier subordinates. Some would still get the nasty job that no one wants to do but still need done, but you let them choose first next time and people would get along slightly better. There are several problem with this theory. People think that there is a hierarchy just because they have been doing the same job for longer. I don't believe that just because someone has been doing something for a longer time than someone else that they shouldn't still have to do the nasty jobs. As a leader, we need to implement the idea that everyone is equal and that there are no favorites.