Approaches to Research: A Critical Review of Two Articles

This report critically reviews two articles related to qualitative and quantitative research methods. The first article evaluates a web-based professional development program for teachers of children with autism spectrum disorders, while the second article focuses on orienting pre-service teachers towards gifted education. The report discusses the research problems, questions, scope, design, data collection, analysis, ethical considerations, and limitations of both articles.

Running Head: Research 1
Approaches to Research

Research 2
Contents
Overview..........................................................................................................................................3
Research Topic................................................................................................................................3
Research Problem............................................................................................................................3
Justification of the problem.............................................................................................................4
Research Questions and Hypothesis................................................................................................4
Scope and construction of the Literature review.............................................................................4
Research Design..............................................................................................................................5
Data collection.................................................................................................................................5
Data analysis method.......................................................................................................................6
Ethical consideration.......................................................................................................................6
Study limitations..............................................................................................................................7
Summary..........................................................................................................................................8

Research 3
Overview
The main aim of this report is to review the critically two articles related to the qualitative and
quantitative research method. Both methods have its own significance and it depends on the
nature of the topic or the researcher that which kind of research would be good for the research.
Two articles will be reviewed critically in an appropriate manner under this report.
Research Topic
Article 1: Rakap, S., Jones, H.A. and Emery, A.K., 2015. Evaluation of a web-based
professional development program (Project ACE) for teachers of children with autism spectrum
disorders. Teacher Education and Special Education, 38(3), pp.221-239.
Article 2: Watters, J.J., Hudson, S. and Hudson, P., 2013. Orienting preservice teachers towards
gifted education: Schooluniversity partnerships. Australasian Journal of Gifted Education, 22(2),
p.32.
Research Problem
The research problem in first article is to elaborate the improvement. Execution and the
evaluation of the second year project Autism Competencies for Endorsement (ACE) which is the
web based professional development program. It is designed to train teachers who is working in
the field of teaching for the purpose of meeting the needs of children with autism spectrum
disorders. The main issue in this article is found that there is a lack of teachers trained to work
with children with ASDs. In the context of the second article, it has been found that evaluating
the requirements of the gifted student is predicated on an effective understanding of number of
aspects. Lack of knowledge regarding managing the gifted students is the major concern of this

Research 4
article. There is a lack of awareness of the student giftedness around models of prospectus
sponsor for gifted education.
Justification of the problem
The description of the ACE has been provided under first article. Along with that the research
question has been involved under this research so that the issues regarding the research problem
can be elaborated in an effective manner by which the solutions can be drawn. The main motive
of the second article is to elaborate the research issue which is related to the lack of awareness of
gifted students. The two case studies have been taken for this research for the purpose of
describing the intervention constructed by partnerships with schools for the purpose of increasing
the awareness of the feature of giftedness.
Research Questions and Hypothesis
The first article has entailed three research questions which cover the specific knowledge
regarding the teacher’s skills and knowledge regarding ASDs and amplify the level of comfort in
utilizing the evidence-based instructional practices at the time of working with ASDs. The third
question is related to the satisfaction of the teacher with the four web-based courses. The
research questions are made under the second article related to the children’s experiences.
Scope and construction of the Literature review
The first article is related to the ASD in which the six components have been recognized for
executing the effective educational program for children with ASD such as systematic
instruction, structured environments, specialized curriculum focusing specifically on social and
communication skill development. It is the research which has the nature of the quatitiave data

Research 5
method for which the 140 project was considered. The scope of the second article in the context
of the literature review is wide as it covers inclusive education policies which entail the method
of preparing teachers for teaching gifted students. The construction of the literature review is
related to the qualitative approach in which two case studies has been considered under this
research. The partnerships have been mentioned under this research along with that core content
and time commitment.
Research Design
The first article covered the course instructors, program participants, and course content and
delivery and evaluation instruments. It shows that the research design in the first article was
grounded theory which can be considered as the systematic methodology that entails the
construction of the theories by methodical meeting and analysis of the data. It helped researcher
to attain the objectives in an adequate manner by operative inductively. In the context of the
second article’ research design, it has been found that this research has taken the case study and
the findings have been mentioned at the last of the research paper. Along with that this paper has
focused on the appropriate curriculum design and specialist pedagogical practices.
Data collection
The primary and secondary both data approaches are considered under this research for the
prupose of collecting the information related to the proposed topic. The data collection strategies
in the second article are live or video-based classroom observations, portfolio evaluations. To
examine child results as the final objective of these PD programs to get better services children
with ASDs receive and this research is entailed more data periodically to recognize the impacts
of exact program aspects on implementation of the teacher of teaching strategies.

Research 6
Data analysis method
Data analysis method is related to the function which helps to analyze the data in an effecinet
manner in which the competency based self assessment pretest and post test data has been
analyzed in which paired samples and t-tests are using for participants in Project and PDP.
Independent samples have been used under this research to analyze the data in order to get
reliable and valid data. Along with that Likerttype scales have been using which is recommended
to calculate and report Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal constancy dependability at sub-
scale or scale level. To get data from the primary data, the case study was focused. While various
journal articles, books, and online sources were considered under this research to collect
information from secondary sources. Content data analysis technique has been applied by the
researcher to analyze the collected data.
In the context of the second article, it has been found that the content analysis method was chose
by the researcher to analyse the data for which tables have been made with the description of the
module and topic. Along with that the anticipated teaching strategies have been focused under
this research in order to bring better understanding regarding the proposed research topic.
Ethical consideration
In the context of the ethical consideration, it can be said that the researchers of both article kept
huge importance of ethics as they avoided treating people in an unfair manner and collected
information was not being used by the researcher to harm other people. It has been critically
reviewed that in the conclusion part, this article has mentioned the summary of overall research
in an efficient manner in order to bring a better understanding regarding the research topic. the
researcher has taken an appropriate references to elaborate the genuine information about the

Research 7
proposed data. In-text citations are given by the researcher for the purpose of avoiding the issue
of plagiarism. The description of an entire research has been critically reviewed that in the
conclusion part, this article has mentioned the summary of overall research in an efficient
manner in order to bring a better understanding regarding the research topic.
Study limitations
The limitations of the research were lack of time, access of resources and limited research on a
specific topic. In the context of the first article, There are constraints related with the assessment
contemplate revealed in this article should be viewed at the time of anticipating the data. To
begin with, information revealed in this article was based just on self-report and the members'
observations about the adjustments in their insight, abilities, and practices. Second, information
as to utilization of information practically speaking was gathered just toward the finish of the
program. With respect to the second article, it has been reviewed critically that the research has
focused towards collecting the data in which the university courses are developed without ant
restrictions of regulating bodies but there are some limitations. Along with that there are some
challenges in so far as program needs some data of accreditation.

Research 8
Summary
It can be summarized that the role of the qualitative and quantitative approach is relied on the
research topic and the researcher. Second article which is related to the qualitative method is
considered under this summary section as it entailed depth information related to the quantitative
method. This article is related to the school orienting pre-service teachers towards gifted
education. The researcher of this article has entailed both method of collection that is primary
and secondary. The qualitative research has been done in huge manner under this research in
order to collect information regarding the proposed topic. The objective of this paper is to
portray two approaches for creating preservice educators' understandings of the necessities of
skilled understudies. A basic component of the two methodologies is the noteworthy job of the
college school partnership. The strategic planning is implemented under this research in the form
of the methodology. The elective subjects are considered under this research i.e. ‘Understanding
and Educating Gifted Learners’ and second consider the Cluster Network program.