The purpose of this paper is to identify several methodological elements in the following article:
Ostrove, J. M. (2003). Belonging and wanting: Meanings of social class and background for women's constructions of their college experiences. Journal of Social Issues, 59(4), 771-784.
Nature of Research Approach and Design
Ostrove (2003) used a mixed method strategy (see: Creswell, 1998) involving both quantitative and qualitative traditions. The qualitative aspect of the study examined whether several dependent measures (sense of alienation, tradition/expectations and social mobility) significantly differed as a function of differences in social class (working class vs. middle class vs. upper class).
The qualitative element of the design consisted of using content analysis to find and analyze meanings in responses to four open-ended questions asked during an interview. All of the questions asked were related to participants' perceptions of their class background and its role in their college experience.
The study's researcher-designed survey instrument was mailed to the Smith College Class of 1964. The return rate was small (only 35 percent) and missing data required even further reduction of the sample size. This is problematic and means that findings may not be representative of the entire class (see: Creswell, 1998).
The researcher mailed questionnaires and collated, analyzed and interpreted those that were returned without missing data.
A researcher-designed survey instrument was used for the quantitative element of the study. No psychometric testing of this instrument was reported, nor was there a report of any steps taken to boost the return rate of completed instruments (e.g., sending a second mailing, contacting by phone those who had not returned their completed instruments, etc.). For the qualitative element, recording materials were used
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