Dennis and O'Connor (2013) Utilized Mixed Design

Dennis and O'Connor (2013) utilized mixed design consisting of a correlational design (a non-experimental quantitative study) and two qualitative case studies to answer the following three research questions: Is there an association between the classroom process quality and the organizational climate? Are there different associations between classroom process quality and the overall organizational climate vs.

The relational organizational climate? Do associations between the overall organizational climate, the relational organizational climate, and the classroom process quality vary as a function of the teacher (specifically the teacher's education and experience)? Thus the variables in the study were measures of classroom process quality, organizational climate, relational organizational climate, and teacher's education and experience. The participants were 37 teachers and 40 directors from community-based preschool centers. Classroom quality was measured by 23 items from The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale -- Revised.

The survey requires raters (five were used) and inter-rater reliability was established with a master coder (86% agreement). Validity of the measure has been previously established with factor-analytic studies. Organizational climate was measured with two measures: The Early Childhood Work Environment Survey. This measure has reported excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .93) as well as good discriminant validity between the subscales (.33 < r < .53). The second measure used was The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools. Reported alphas for the subscales ranged from .78 to .94 and validity has been established via factor analytic studies.

Two demographic surveys were administered to the teachers. All descriptive statistics and much of the inferential analysis results were presented in tables. Multiple regression models were used with quality of classroom results as the dependent variable and organizational climate scores as the predictors (thus significance and measures of magnitude). Control variables consisted of teacher education, director experience, director education, and teacher-child ratio. Four models were run: Model one included just the control variables. Model two consisted of the control variables plus a variable for relational organizational climate.

Model three included the control variables and a variable for overall organizational climate. Model four included the control variables, relational climate, and overall organizational climate (full model). Finally two teachers were selected based on their demographic data and used as descriptive case studies expand on the quantitative findings be means of qualitative descriptions of their experiences.

Study Two LaForett and Mendez (2010) utilized a longitudinal correlational design (hence it is a non-experimental quantitative study) to answer several questions regarding the relationship between parental depression and satisfaction with a Head Start program for their children. The researchers sought to address four specific research questions: 1. What is the prevalence of chronic depressive symptoms in the sample? 2. Does the prevalence of depressive symptoms impact parent involvement in school activities? 3.

Does the prevalence of depressive symptoms in parents predict the likelihood of their satisfaction with the services provided by Head Start and is the relationship moderated by parent involvement? The independent variable was depression and the dependent variables were the likelihood that parents were involved in school activities and parental satisfaction with the head start program. The longitudinal design looked at different measurements of depression and its effect on the dependent variables in both the Fall and Spring of the academic year.

The participants were families from two Head Start Centers from a midsized city in the southeastern United States. The majority of the families were African-American, the majority of the parents were single or divorced mothers, and the majority of the parents were employed. Most of the parents in the sample had graduated from high school and 41% had completed at least some college. The measures included the Center for Epidemiologic Studies -- Depression scale (CES-D).

The researchers reported an internal consistency for this measure within their sample at two measurements of the longitudinal design (Cronbach's alphas, .81 for Fall and .85 for Spring). The measured to determine parental involvement was the Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ). The researchers report three different .Cronbach's alphas for the FIQ (home involvement = .84, school involvement = .86, and home -- school conferencing = .85). The measures for ascertaining frontal satisfaction included a four item measure of helping the child to grow and.