The purpose of the research conducted by Yob and Brewer (n.d.) was to determine the participation extent of the higher education sector in creating social change. In the literature review section, the authors define social change as incremental move towards creating a positive long-term change in issues of race, gender, social class, ethnicity, equity, social justice, and diversity. According to the authors, many higher education learning institutions centralize their attention on designing curricular and student services that teach social change but fail to actualize the same through collaboration with close communities. Therefore, the authors sought to examine the experiences of study subjects from an online university concerning social change and their understanding of the same.
Research Question
The article’s research question aligns to its purpose, which is to examine the experiences and conceptualization of members of the higher education sector on social change. Yob and Brewer (n.d.) designed the research question to include key words of the research purpose to increase the reader’s understanding of the goal of the study. As such, the research question that manifests from the article is, “What is the current understanding and practice around social change at one online university with geographically dispersed student faculty?” As evidenced, the research question aligns with the goal of the study perfectly.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Site Selection
The study’s researchers picked an online university as the most appropriate site to conduct their investigation. The site selection was purposeful as it reflects the purpose of the study and the associated research question comprehensively. Considering the research is based on examining the experiences of members of the higher education sector, the site selection is appropriate ( Ravitch & Carl, 2020) . Additionally, the purpose of the study is to evaluate how members of the mentioned sector understand the social change aspect, from their experiences. The choice of an online university fits the site selection best because it has members who can narrate their interactions with enhancing social change today. Therefore, the site selection is appropriate, purposeful, and reflects the research question and purpose comprehensively.
Sampling Strategy
Yob and Brewer (n.d.) used the purposeful sampling technique to select their study subjects. Considering the study was qualitative, purposeful sampling was the best fit for their research design. In purposeful sampling, the researchers select a small group of people who can give the most accurate and extensive responses, which are easy to assess and give results ( Patton, 2015) . The study’s sample comprised ten faculty members, eight current students, 12 graduates, and five alumni. The sample selected by the researchers aligns to the goal of the study because it comprises participants from the higher education sector, as mentioned in the “purpose of study and research question” sections. Additionally, all the participants had experiences concerning social change, which reflects the study objective and research question.
Alternative Data Collection
One alternative sampling the researchers would have used is high impact case. Under the mentioned sampling technique, the researchers assess one case where online college fraternity influenced social change and then examine their experiences on the same. High impact cases are a best fit for phenomenology study as that of Yob and Brewer (n.d.), and can comprise a small sample size for gaining maximum information from participants. The use of a high impact case sampling strategy would still mandate the use of participants from the online university, which aligns with the purpose of the study. Additionally, the examination of a high impact case would mandate the researchers to use the social change experience scenario, which reflects Yob and Brewer (n.d.) research question. Therefore, the researchers would also have used the high impact case sampling strategy to complete the study.
Saturation
Saturation is the extent to which a selected research design provides data for completing it adequately. The sample selection strategy used by Yob and Brewer (n.d.) is purposeful because it selects participants who have firsthand information about social change. Moreover, the selected participants are from the higher education sector, which aligns with the research question and purpose. Participants are also from diverse fields and have different experience lengths. Therefore, the subject choices of Yob and Brewer (n.d.) have rich information on social change from their diverse experience extents. The selected alumni may have engaged in activities that influence social change since their admission at the online university, making them a rich source of data when interviewed. Further, the researchers used the interviewing method of data collection, which does not limit information extraction extents from participants ( Guest, Bunce, & Johnson, 2006) . Considering the study subjects signed confidentiality forms and were informed their identities would remain anonymous, they must have provided rich information because they did not have fear of repercussions that may have ensued later.
One alternative technique the researchers may have used to achieve study saturation would be by using open-ended questionnaires. The study participants would have been asked to write a narrative of their experiences influencing social change in the society in the capacity as members of the higher education sector in an open-ended questionnaire ( Mason, 2010) . If the researchers assured the participants of their remaining anonymous even after submitting data, they would receive extensive narratives on the experiences of the latter on involving themselves in activities that promote social change. The questionnaires would then be analyzed for recurrent themes and ideas, as was applied in the interviewing technique selected by the researchers. Therefore, one method of achieving information saturation for the study would be by using open-ended questionnaires to collect data.
References
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability.
Mason, M. (2010). Sample size and saturation in P.H.D. studies using qualitative interviews. Forum: Qualitative Social Research , 11 (3), 1-20.
Patton, M. (2015). Chapter 5, Module 30: Purposeful sampling and case selection: Overview of strategies and options. In Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (4th ed., pp. 264-315). Sage Publications.
Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2020). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological . SAGE Publications.
Yob, I., & Brewer, P. (n.d.). Working towards a common good: An online university's perspective on social change.
