Define the convergent parallel design. Describe it, using the case study “School Security and Discipline.”

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Convergent parallel design: The quantitative and qualitative methods are implemented at the same time. The findings are integrated and interpreted together.
Aaron Kupchik (2010) provides an excellent example of triangulation in practice in his book, Homeroom Security. His methodology would be classified as a convergent parallel design because both quantitative and qualitative methods were implemented at the same time and the findings were integrated. The research question was primarily interested in how school security measures, particularly the presence of police officers, affect students. In four high schools, two in a Southwestern state and two in a mid-Atlantic state, Kupchik engaged in more than 100 hours of observation at each school, shadowing administrators and security guards as well as surveying classrooms and common areas. He also conducted more than 100 semi-structured interviews with administrators, security personnel, students, and parents. These interviews “sought to acquire an understanding of the respondents’ views of the school rules and punishments, his or her experiences with school discipline, and his or her perceptions of school violence and appropriate responses to it” (Kupchik, 2010). In addition to these two methods, student survey data were also collected at each school that, among other things, recorded students’ experiences with punishment at school and their perceptions of the fairness of these incidents. Thus, to more fully understand the reality of school discipline, Kupchik used three very different research methods, each providing him with a somewhat different angle to examine the issue, and each method complemented the others’ weaknesses.
The school observations allowed Kupchik to observe the interactions in the school in real time. He observed on numerous occasions how relatively minor problems escalated into larger problems as a result of police involvement, resulting in students unnecessarily being sent to the criminal justice system rather than having their issues dealt with at the school level only. With the in-depth interviews, Kupchik was able to identify how some of the school administrators perceived the behavior of the police officers in their schools.