This course introduces students to educational research. It will teach the scientific method, research methodologies, legal and ethical issues, and how to design and evaluate research studies. Students will complete assignments including quizzes, a research critique, research proposal, literature review, and final exam. The document outlines two research paradigms: positivist/realist and idealist. Positivist research sees a single objective reality and uses deductive reasoning, while idealist research sees multiple subjective realities and uses inductive reasoning.

1. Introduction to EducationalIntroduction to Educational
ResearchResearch
ETRA 520ETRA 520
Steven M. Baule, PH.D., ED.D.
smbaule@gmail.com

2. What this course should teachWhat this course should teach
you:you:
 The scientific method and its application for
scientific research
 Legal and ethical issues involved in conducting
research
 How to design and plan research studies
 How to utilize online and print resources
 How to critically evaluate published research
studies
 The various research methodologies available and
when to use each

3. What you will be required toWhat you will be required to
dodo
 Participate
 Complete bi-weekly
online quizzes
 Research critique
 Research proposal
 Literature review
 Take a final exam

4. Research ParadigmsResearch Paradigms
oror
Ways of KnowingWays of Knowing
 Realistic or Positivist
 A single reality exists
 Deductive reasoning
 Research is focused on
a single variable
 Idealist or Post- Modern
 Reality is subjective,
multiple and based on
individual perspective
 Inductive reasoning
 “Thick description”

5. Positivist (Realist)Positivist (Realist)
 Sees the world as fixed, objective, with many
variables to be identified and relationships to be
measured.
 Primacy of methodology
 Etic – outsiders point of view
 Originated in the early 19th
century, by August
Comte and Emil Durkheim
 Purpose of research is to generalize and predict
 Begins with a hypothesis and theories

6. Positivist (Realist) – cont.Positivist (Realist) – cont.
 Researcher manipulates and controls the experiment
 Deductive reasoning
 Reduces data to numerical indices (in general)
 Seeks the norm
 Abstract language
 Detached researcher
 Treatment is important
 Context must be removed

7. IdealistIdealist
 Sees the world as socially mind-depended with
complex interwoven variables
 Primacy of subject matter
 Emic – insider’s point of view
 Originated with anthropologists and Max Weber’s
verstehen – empathic understanding
 Phenomenology – studies human consciousness
and self-awareness by using empathic
understanding and self-analysis

8. Idealist – cont.Idealist – cont.
Ends with the hypotheses and theories
through discovery. (This is called grounded
theory.)
Emergent and variable design
Researcher as instrument and involved
Seeks pluralism (not the norm)
Context must be taken into consideration

9. SummarySummary
 No one methodology can answer all questions
 Internal order and logic and different (if not
mutually exclusive)
 It is not relevant if the other exists
 A merger is not probable
– Ray C. Rist – “From Distain to Détente”
 Realist tends to emphasize reliability
 Idealist tend to emphasize validity

10. SummarySummary
 No one methodology can answer all questions
 Internal order and logic and different (if not
mutually exclusive)
 It is not relevant if the other exists
 A merger is not probable
– Ray C. Rist – “From Distain to Détente”
 Realist tends to emphasize reliability
 Idealist tend to emphasize validity