Quali vs. Quanti Van Rossem, R. &

Quali vs. Quanti Van Rossem, R. & Vermande, M. M (2004). Classroom Roles and School Adjustment. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67(4):396-411. Moje, E.B. (1996). "I Teach Students, Not Subjects": Teacher-Student Relationships as Contexts for Secondary Literacy Reading Research Quarterly, 31(2):172-195. Children require adequate support from their social network's within the classroom setting to improve their academic performance. Van Rossem, and Vermande, (2004) using a longitudinal design operationalize the child's integration into the classroom through an examination of the social roles the child utilizes. The researchers assess 1,241 first grade students from 71 classrooms.

The analysis of the data demonstrated that classroom roles and sociometeric status were associated. When these variables were regressed against "school problems" classroom roles provided greater explanatory power than sociometeric status. The ethnographic work undertaken by Moje (1996) used social networks within the classroom to explore "how and why a high school content area teacher and her students engaged in literacy." The data were collected over a two-year period.

The findings of the research demonstrated that the meanings attached by students to the classroom interaction created relationships, which placed the components of literacy in a specific contextual environment. This contextual knowledge is important to the improvement of student literacy. The problem in Van Rossem, and Vermande, (2004) was clearly developed and the background provided allowed the reader to grasp the nature of the problem.

The practical importance of the problem was apparent in that a solution would produce a reduction in the time taken for students to adjust to a classroom setting. The problem being studied by the researchers is the mechanism for the adjustment of students in the classroom. The major hypothesis was not stated explicitly in the study. However, one apparent hypothesis was; there is a relationship between classroom roles and problems experienced by the student. The key variables were defined in both conceptual and operational ways.

Additionally, the researchers defined the social network and produced an excellent theoretical framework for the study. There was some diffuseness in the definition of behaviors that should be classified as negative or positive. In the Moje (1996) article the problem was possible expressed clearer than in the former article. Additionally, the practical import of the problem of literacy was immediately grasped by the reader.

This may be because of the prevalence of the problem in the media so that the components are easily recognizable There was some confusion over the use of literacy activities and literacy practices. The purpose of the study was to understand what the meaning students attached to the classroom experience and to explore how that meaning created a context for the development of literacy. There were no hypotheses in this study. The author defined the key terms in particular literacy.

The literature cited in Van Rossem, and Vermande, (2004) were mainly pertinent to the study. The challenge however was that there should have been more sources addressing the issue of school adjustment. Many of the references however appear to be dated as some are from the 1970s and 1980s, more recent sources would be a positive addition to the work. There was no evidence of bias in the study. The qualitative work used the literature for providing a definition of literacy and supporting a theoretical perspective (Moje 1996).

There was a clearly stated bias as the researcher noted that they were committed to an interpretive study and this guided the literature used in the study. The works referenced were relevant and recent. Moje (1996) used a qualitative methodology engaging a symbolic interactionism perspective. The study employed an ethnographic design and collected the data through participant observation. The ethnographic design allowed the researcher to discover the cultural context of the institution. The data were collected over a period of two years.

The study also used student data that was collected from a prior exploratory study in the same school. The study was preceded by an initial exploratory study to guide the researcher in terms of understanding the setting and orienting the researcher to the observations to be collected as data. The sample was a purposive sample consisting of 22 students, 14 male and 8 female. The measurement instrument was the researcher. The quantitative study utilized a longitudinal research design. The study was original work but did reference methods used in other studies.

A questionnaire was used as the main instrument for measuring the main independent variables socioeconomic status and classroom roles. An important aspect of the study was the initial interview with a child to determine by using pictures there group of friends. The sample consisted of 1241 students from 71 third grade classes, the sample was randomly selected. The average age of the children was 6 years and 10 months. The quantitative data from the Van Rossem, and Vermande, (2004) study were analyzed using statistical analysis in particular ANOVA and Multiple Classification Analysis.

The findings of the researcher were consistent with the purpose of the study. There was a cursory discussion of the problem and weaknesses of the study. The dominant discussion centered on the adequacy of the model tested and not on practical challenges within the study. Moje (1996) used qualitative data drawn from daily field note observations and semi-structured informal and formal interviews.