Trí Đức English - IELTS Reading Practice: Research Methods in Education TRÍ ĐỨC ENGLISH - IELTS READING PRACTICE Chuyên đề: Quantitative Research Versus Qualitative Research in Education (Reading Passage 2 - Questions 14–25) Reading Passage 2 Questions 14–25 Quantitative Research Versus Qualitative Research in Education [A] Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist and was the first scientist to undertake experiments based on the theory that children go through four stages of development, and that only when they have reached the necessary stage of development can they perform the most advanced forms of cognitive operation. One of his famous experiments involved children comparing the amounts of liquid held by containers of different shapes, but of the same volume. Even when shown that the same amount of liquid could be poured into both containers, many of the young subjects would still insist that one container was larger than the other. Piaget's interpretation of this was that the children were unable to perform the logical task involved in recognizing that the two containers, while different in shape, were the same in capacity. This is because their cognitive development had not reached the necessary stage. Other scientists, however, disputed his conclusion. For instance, developmental psychologist Margaret Donaldson raised the possibility that the children were simply unwilling to participate in the experimenter's game. Some critics also point out that these experiments involve social situations in which personal interactions take place, and more could be involved than what Piaget had in mind. Piaget's experiments may not only be measuring the children's capacity for logical thinking—their understanding of the requirements and the abilities of the experimenters to communicate, and the children's willingness to comply with the requirements could make a significant difference to the outcomes. [B] Comparable criticisms have been made in relation to other psychological and educational tests. For example, Ed Meehan, a child psychologist, points out how test questions may be interpreted in ways different from those intended by the researcher. In a language development test, children were presented with a picture of a medieval fortress, along with moat, drawbridge, and parapets. Below the picture were three consonants: D, C and G. The children were asked to circle the correct initial consonant for the name of the item in the picture. To select C below the picture of the castle would have been considered correct by the researchers, but many children unexpectedly chose D. When questioned afterwards as to what they thought the picture was of, many children said "Disneyland". These children used the reasoning which the researchers expected, and yet arrived at the wrong substantive answer. The score sheet showing a wrong answer does not document a child's lack of reasoning ability; it only documents that the child indicated an answer different fr...