Education Research

1. Mount Tamar: An
Introduction to
Educational Research
A Learner’s Guide to Educational Research
Dr Jim Rogers. Director PTSA

2. Dr Roger Roundhead:
Please:
Be open minded
Inquisitive
Risk-taking
Challenging

3. Session Outcomes:
• To understand the renewed emphasis on teachers as
researchers
• To gain an understanding of what research is and how you can
do it! Explore some fundamental principles
• Gain an insight in to action research
• To challenge the misconceptions about academia. We are not
all Einstein!

4. Why? What? How?
• Part 1: the context. Why consider research in education?
• Part 2: the process. What is research? Fundamental principles of
research.
• Part 3: an approach. Action research.

5. Why? The context
Question: why should the education profession engage with research?
• Evidence informed practice = sustainable
• Constantly improving one’s practice and the quality of teaching and
learning
• Asking the right questions; challenging, leading based on the right
information
• Applying local context to initiatives
• Being ‘plugged in’ to latest findings

6. White Paper: Educational Excellence
for Everyone
(DFE, 2016)
Developing a Strong, evidence-informed profession
• Too little research is directly driven by the priorities of teachers and
schools; too little is sufficiently robust in quality
• Focus funders of research and academics on generating evidence in
areas which directly inform classroom teaching.
• Incentivising teaching schools to publish their research and CPD
materials on an ‘open-source’ basis

7. How can we improve the quality of
teaching and learning?

8. The process of teaching:
Linear
Teach
Teach
Teach
Teach

9. Or…Linear, reactive
Teach
Teach
Policy change, shiny CPD, Latest fashion from HT
Teach
Teach

10. Task 1 Define teaching!
Oxford thesaurus:
Advise, coach, demonstrate, direct, discipline,
drill, edify, educate, enlighten, guide, impart,
implant, inculcate, inform, instil, instruct, school,
show, train, tutor.

11. And design a mechanism for
improvement

12. Identify an issue
Co-construct an
intervention
What does
the
evidence
say?
Peers
Feedback
Reflect
Re-design
intervention
Teach

13. So an ‘expert’ teacher would:
• Engage critically with ideas
• Be aware of personal values
• Reflect on and in classrooms
This is the essence of researching practice

14. What?!?! Part 2: So what is
research?

15. What do I need to do to make my
coffee nicer?

16. Research vs Evaluation

17. Research:
• Is ‘A systematic inquiry made public’ (Stenhouse, 1975)
• Is Systematic and enquiring, sharing findings.
• Creates NEW knowledge
• That is valid, robust, reliable

18. Its about being inquisitive!

19. Teacher/researcher. Types of
knowledge
1. Codified knowledge: explicit knowledge. Object/rule based. For
example chemical formula, policies, record keeping. Represented by
language or symbols; easy to communicate.
2. ‘Craft’ knowledge. Implicit knowledge: Context-specific; the ‘craft’
of teaching. Difficult to communicate, built on experience.
3. Cultural knowledge: context specific; shared assumptions and
beliefs. Used to perceive and explain classroom reality and place
value to new ideas.

20. Teacher/researcher
The between 1 & 2:
‘The role of the teacher researcher is to bridge the gap
between codified research knowledge and everyday craft
knowledge’ (MacIntyre, 2005).

21. Research: fundamental principles:
• account for ethics
• a defined research focus and/or question
• ascertain what is already known (literature review)
• consider the theoretical position of the research/er (ontology and
epistemology)
• methodology driven by the theoretical position
• Methods designed to capture relevant data/knowledge Valid and
Reliable

22. What is true/truth?
• Discuss!

23. Positivist v interpretivist
• Seeking absolute truth/knowledge = positivist. Scientific
• All knowledge is interpreted, socially constructed = Interpretivism.

24. In pairs: Choose 1 of your research
areas. Define the terms.
• Teaching and Learning for SEND
• Adapting our practice to meet the needs of children with Autism
• Supporting mindfulness and mental health of our pupils to develop
strategies for them to learn effectively
• Use of IT to aid pupil progress
• Adapting our practice to meet the needs of children with Attachment
disorder
• Developing learning during unstructured time

25. Hierarchy of philosophical ideas
ONTOLOGY – What
is out there to
know?
EPISTEMOLOGY –
What and how can
we know about it?
METHODOLOGY –
How can we go
about acquiring
knowledge?
METHODS – What
procedures can we
use to acquire it?

26. Reliability and Validity
• Reliability
• The reliability of the data
we collect must, of course,
be an important
consideration, since if the
data we use is not
reliable, then the
conclusions we draw on
the basis of such data are
going to be fairly useless.
• Validity
• Data is only useful if it
actually measures what it
claims to be measuring
and, in this respect, the
concept of validity refers
to the extent to which the
data we collect gives a
true measurement /
description of "social
reality”

27. Ethics…
• Acting with honesty and integrity.
• BERA’s (2004) principles Ethical respect for:
• The person
• Knowledge
• Democratic values
• The quality of ER
• Academic freedom

28. Ethical issues:
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality
• Data storage and security
• The selection of participants
• When are children interviewed?
Should it be their break...or in a
lesson?
• How long are the interviews?
• Are the children at a
disadvantage as a participant?
• Who are the stakeholders?

29. Part 3: What is Action Research?
• Action research can be described as: any research
into practice undertaken by those involved in that
practice, with an aim to change and improve it.
• Action research is about both ‘action’ and ‘research’
and the links between the two. It is quite possible to
take action without research or to do research
without taking action, but the unique combination of
the two is what distinguishes action research from
other forms of enquiry.

30. Action Research ‘V’ Traditional
Research
Action Research
• Researchers do research
on themselves in the
company of other people.
• Researchers enquire into
their own lives and speak
of others as colleagues/
individuals
• Action research implies a
process of people
interacting with others
Traditional Research
• Researchers do research
on other people
• Researchers enquire into
other peoples lives and
speak of others as data.
• Traditional research can
be a thing in itself

31. Simplest form of Action Research

32. Part 4: Formulating a Research
Question and plan.
Go back to your earlier definitions.
AIMS
• My broad research aims are…
• The stimulus for my research is…
AREA
• Possible research areas are…
• My refined area is…
QUESTIONS
• A working title
• My research questions
• My sub questions

33. Literature Review
• https://scholar.google.co.uk
• Abstract and conclusion!
• EEF
• Evidence Based Teacher Network www.ebtn.org.uk

34. Triangulation
Triangulation is the application and combination of several
research methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon.
So that
you overcome the weakness or intrinsic biases and the problems
that come from single method, single-observer, single-theory
studies

35. Types of Triangulation
• Data triangulation,
• Investigator triangulation
• Theory triangulation,
• Methodological triangulation,
• Multiple triangulation.

36. What next?
• Gain Accreditation for the research you are doing
• MA Education course centres on your own needs, research interests and
work-based contexts. You can study on a full- (one year) or part-time basis
(three years). http://www.marjon.ac.uk/courses/ma-education/
• MA Education Plymouth University
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/ma-education.
• PG Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring comprises of 2 modules, each
worth 30 credits. http://www.marjon.ac.uk/courses/mentoring/

37. Some useful web based materials
• http://moodle.marjon.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=234
3
• http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/09650792.asp
• http://www.jeanmcniff.com/items.asp?id=42
• https://www.bera.ac.uk/project/research-and-
teacher-education

38. • https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/resources/teaching-
learning-toolkit