Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of a Course Taught via Classroom and Internet Chatroom

Human services distance education research has traditionally focused on pre-post testing of students to discover if distance education methods are comparable to traditional classroom methods in terms of student learning and satisfaction. This focus on comparability using quantitative research techniques ignores the substantial amount of information automatically captured when using some distance education (DE) methods. By combining quantitative, qualitative, and graphic techniques, educators can not only address comparability issues, but can also identify what classroom or DE methods result in higher or lower student learning and satisfaction. This research uses NUD*IST, SPSS, and Excel to illustrate the type of analysis needed for a masters social work course on administration taught via classroom and chat-room. Findings from the analysis support previous research on the comparability of DE methods to classroom methods and the qualitative and graphic analysis of chatroom text helps explain why this is so. We discuss the potential of this multi-technique DE approach for course improvement and for achieving student-defined quality.