Quantitative Study Abroad Research: Challenges and Recommendations

This chapter explores quantitative research in second language study abroad (SA) contexts. It sketches out common research objectives, methods, and design options without attempting to take stock of all possible approaches to quantitative study abroad research (SAR). Instead, it raises seven issues that quantitative SAR is confronted with, explores how to tackle these, and makes recommendations for future studies. Three of the recommendations made concern the needs to (1) conduct multi-year studies to increase studies’ sample size and statistical power, (2) investigate interrelationships between SA participants’ performance in specific skills-tests and overall language proficiency tests, and (3) complement or replace self-report data through naturalistic observation of social and communicative behavior using tools like the Electronically Activated Recorder.