Answer to Question 1
Informed consent is the process of obtaining written consent from research
participants before the research begins that explains its purposes and procedures
and states that participation is voluntary, harmless, and confidential. Participants
must consent in writing; if they are children, parents must consent.
Answer to Question 2
Quantitative research includes data that may be ranked, categorized, or numbered,
while qualitative research includes data that is difficult to assign numbers to such as
open-ended questions and descriptions. Two examples of quantitative methods that
could be used when examining snack food choices in middle-school children might
be ranking their favorite snacks and determining the average number of snacks that
they consume daily. Qualitative methods might be asking open-ended questions
about how their favorite snacks make them feel and describing the environment in
which snacking typically takes place.