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HMEF5014

SEMESTER SEPTEMBER2013

TOPIC 1

EDUCATIONALRESEARCH

PROCESS

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PROCESS

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Identify the different methods of acquiringknowledge

2. Describe what is educational research

3. Discuss the importance of educational researchand its characteristics

4. Identify the criteria for research

5. Describe the steps involved in the research

process

6. Identify a research problem

7. List the criteria of a good research problem.

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Research is a way of thinking; it

involves thinking whatwe want to

study, howwe go about collectingdata, analysing the data and

der iving conclusions(Leedy, 1974).

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METHODS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE

Beliefs

Superstitious/myths

Intuition

Feeling/predictions

Authority

Highly respected

sources - indisputable

Experience

perceptions

Rationalism

correct

reasoning

Science

series of

steps

METHODS OF

ACQUIRING

KNOWLEDGE

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RESEARCH DEFINED

Webster dictionary :

- research is diligent scientific search or inquiry to discover

facts.Wikipedia:

- research is an active, diligent and systematic process of

inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events,

behaviours or theories.

Kerlinger:

- research is the systematic, controlled, empirical and critical

investigation of natural phenomena guided by theory and

hypotheses about the presumed relations among the

phenomena (p. 10).

Scientific

Controlled

Systematic process

Theory, hypotheses

Inquiry or Investigation

Presumed relations

Discovery

Natural phenomena

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A scientific (or systematic) process of gathering information

about the hypothesised relations between phenomena

(relationship between a students attitude towards

mathematics and his or her performance in mathematics) byJohn Dewey in 1933:

1. Formulation of a hypothesis (a tentative statement about

the relationship between two or more theoretical constructs.

e.g. attitude and mathematical performance).2. Test the hypothesis (design a study to establish whether

the relationship between the constructs are as

hypothesised).

3. Collect data (e.g. collect data on attitude towardsmathematics and mathematical performance).

4. Decide to accept or reject the hypothesis (e.g. correlation

between attitudes towards mathematics and mathematical

performance).

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The purpose of using the scientific method is to

enable the researcher:

to describe (the relationship between factors)

to predict (given what is known we can we

predict what might happen)

to control (when certain variables are

manipulated, does it lead to a particular

condition)

to explain (can a theory be formulated toexplain the phenomena being investigated).

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CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

Research is a way of thinking and to qualify as a research, it needs to

have 6 characteristics such as follows (adaptation of Leedy, 1993,

Borg & Borg, 1983, Mitchell & Jolley, 1988).

Research Begins with a Question in the Mind of the Researcher

arouse researcher curiosity

Research Requires a Plan

definite plan, direction and design. Research Demands a Clear Statement of the Problem

sure of what seek to discover.

Research Deals with the Main Problem through Subproblems

Divide the main problem into appropriate subproblems

Research Seeks Direction Through Appropriate Hypotheses a logical supposition/reasonable guess /an educated conjecture give

direction to solving the problem.

Research Deals with Facts and their Meaning

collect whatever facts pertinent to the problem.

Organise the data collected into a form that is potentially meaningful.

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to find ways to

improve student

learning.

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

investigates the behaviour of students,

teachers, administrators, parents and

other members of the community who

interact with educational institutions. Behaviour means such phenomena as

learning, attitudes, aptitudes, abilities,

interests, practices, processes,

emotions

purposedefinition

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS

7 steps of the research process

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Steps to get a research problem:

Step 1: Identify a broad problem in your area of interest

Step 2: Systematic programme of reading

Step 3: Relate your research problem to a theory in the

field.

1. Generating Research Ideas

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2. Formulate the Research Problem

Adequate statement of the research problem

3 Criteria of Good Problem Statements

1. The problem should express a relationship between

two or more variables

2. The problem should be stated clearly and

unambiguously preferably inquestion form.

3. The problem should be such as to imply

possibilities of empirical testing.

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3. Develop Hypotheses or Research Questions

put forward hypotheses or research questions that state a relationshipbetween the variables or constructs you are studying.

hypothesis or research question is an educatedguesor a hunch about

possible relationships or differences.

The hypothesis or research question guides the selection of appropriate

research methods, data collection techniques, data analysis techniques (e.g. the

statistical

analysis to be used)

hypotheses or research questions have to be clearly stated and be

prepared to defend or support your choice of hypotheses or research

questions.

For example, you hypothesise that Students taught science using a

problem-based approach will be more creative. You are seeking to

confirm empirically that the problem-based approach in science

teaching will enhance creativity of learners.

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The hypotheses or research questions determine the design of the

study.

to test the effectiveness of an educational phenomenon eg. a

teaching method or a counseling technique, the logical choice

would be to design an experiment.

to find out whether teachers are satisfied with their profession or

how they perceive their principals, then the survey would be the

appropriate research design.

to study inter-racial mixing among students in the schoolcanteen, than a qualitative approach using the observation

technique might be more appropriate.

methodology to use will depend on the research problem and the

research questions or hypotheses.


4. Design Study to Test Hypotheses or Research

Questions

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not good practice to decide on a methodology and then work on

the research questions.

state clearly what you intend to study and then decide on an

appropriate methodology.

If you are clear about your research problem and research

questions - easy in designing a study to find answers to your

research questions.


4. Design Study to Test Hypotheses or Research

Questions

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research question determines the design of the study and method of data

collection to answer the question.

Eg: research questions is to determine whether there are differences in self-

esteem between male and female 16 year old students in secondary schools.

To answer this question you have to collect data on the self-esteem of

students.

This may be done by developing a self-esteem instrument (or using an

available instrument) and administering it to a sample of secondary school

students.

The sample will have to be representative of 16 year old students in secondary

schools to allow you to generalise the results obtained to the population.

Here we use quantitative data collection methods

if you are interested in studying student-teacher interaction, you may have to

spend time in classrooms. You can use a structured observation checklist or

leave it open-ended and record all the processes that occur in the classroom.

Here we use qualitative data collection methods


5. Collect Data

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6. Analyse and Interpret Data

The data collected from subjects will have to be analysed. study involves quantitative data - statistical procedures will

be used to analyse the data.

The analysed data - usually presented as tables and graphs.

Based on the statistical analysis, the researcher interprets the

data in relation to the research questions or hypotheses.

study involves qualitative data, information is coded and

presented anecdotally.

Instead of numbers, data is presented in the form of words and

sentences. the data is interpreted in relation to the research questions or

objectives of the study

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Data analysed and interpreted - have to becommunicated to the community of fellow

researchers and practitioners.

commonly done through the numerous journals on

education available

graduate students communicate the results of study

in the form of a thesis or dissertation or even a

research practicum.

There is an established format of presenting the

findings of the study


7. Communicate Results

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CONSTRUCTS

deliberately and consciously invented or adopted for a

special scientific purpose.

Intelligence is a construct based on observation

of presumably intelligent and less intelligent

behaviours or having a value of more or less.

Constructs used in theoretical schemes and is relatedin various ways to other constructs,

e.g. school achievement is in part a function of

intelligence.

Intelligence is so defined and specified that it can beobserved and measured,

e.g.administering intelligence tests or interviewing

teachers about their students.

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A variable is a symbol to which numerals of values are

assigned. Eg: the symbol intelligence is assigned a set of

numerical values which may be IQ scores ranging

from 50 to 150.

dichotomous variables - there are only two values: Eg: gender - male and female, graduate-

nongraduate, low income - high income, citizen-

noncitizen.

Polytomies variables:

E.g. religion Islam, Christianity, Buddhism,

Hinduism

VARIABLES

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TYPES OF VARIABLES

Independent Dependent

presumed to cause a change in the

dependent variable

antecedent

can be manipulated examples of independent

variables are gender (male-

female), race (Malay, Chinese,

Indian), socioeconomic status

(high, middle, low).

independent variable also known as

treatment, factor and predictor

variable.

variable predicted from

consequent

cannot be manipulated by the

researcher.

Eg: Academic performance isascore and other examples of

dependent variables are IQ (score

from IQ tests), attitude (score on

an attitude scale), self-esteem

(score from a self-esteem test)

dependent also known as outcome

variable, results variable and criterion

variable.

variable predicted to

presumed effect, which varies with any

change or variation in the IV.

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Independent and dependent variables

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called ordinal variable is capable of taking on an ordered

set of values within a certain range.

For example, an attitude scale towards smoking may

have values ranging from five to 20 which expresses

differing amounts of attitude towards smoking.

also called nominal variable may be made up of two or

more subsets or categories.

Each subset or category possesses certain characteristics,

and individuals are categorised by their possession of those

characteristics that defines a subset.

For example, the variable socio-economic class (SES)

may consist of three values such as high SES, middle

SES and low SES.

Continuous and Categorical Variables

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According to Bridgman, 1927,

Operational definition means that variables usedin the study must be defined as it is used in the

context of the study and publicly observable.

This is done to facilitate measurement and to

eliminate confusion. For example, when you state in your study that

you are studying excellent principals, you

should be able to explain what excellent

means. Once the behaviours of an excellent principal

have been identified the operational definition

will be unique to your study.

Operational definition

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Operational Definition

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NOTE:

in education not all variables are directly observable.

Eg: we cannot really observe learning, memory,

reasoning, and so forth. Though they cannot be observed they can be measured to

see their traces.

With enough indirect evidence, researchers can make a

convincing case for the existence of these invisiblevariables (Mitchell & Jolley,1988).

Eg: though we cannot observe learning directly, we can

see its effect on performance, i.e. we can operationally

define learning as an increase in performance. Thus, if we see students improve their performance after

practicing a task, we conclude that learning has occurred.

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because age can take different

values fordifferent people or

for the same person at

different times.

VARIABLES

A variableis any

entity that can take on different values.

Anything that can vary can be considered a variable.

EG:

agecan be considered a

variable

EG:

countrycan be

considered a variable

because a person's

country can be assigned

a value.

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Construct

an attribute orcharacteristic

expressed in

an abstract general way

variable

an attribute or characteristic stated in

specific applied way

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RESEARCH DESIGNS

TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

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TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

QUANT

ITATIVE

QUALITAT

IVE

QU

ANTITATIVE

+Q

UALITATIVE

Intervention

Research

Non

Intervention

Research

Grounded

Theory

Ethnographic

Narrative

Mixed -

method

Action

research

Correlational

Experimental

Survey

Test an idea (activity / procedures

influences an outcome or dependent

variables

associating / relating variables inpredictable pattern for one group

describes trends (attitudes / opinions /

behaviours / characteristics of a population

explore common experiences of individuals - develop a

theory - seek to generate a theory coz one is unavailable /unsuitable

explore the shared culture of a group of people

explore individual stories to describe the lives of people

Combine Q&Q data to best understand and explain a

research problem

Combine Q&Q data for individuals to study education

problems faced in their setting

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