This document provides instructions for an examination on the RCE2601 module, which teaches research skills and critical thinking. It outlines that the exam will be an online take-home exam where students must write a research proposal on an assigned topic. The proposal should include sections on the title, introduction, problem statement, literature review, research participants, data collection, evaluation, and summary. Guidelines are provided for the content and length of each section. Students are advised to prepare by reading materials from the module and conducting background research to develop their proposal. The goal is to equip teachers with the skills to conduct educational research to identify and address problems in schools.

1. RCE2601 EXAMINATION 2022
PN Sibisi
8 August 2022

2. Introduction
• RCE2601 is a module designed to equip
students with research basic skills and
encourage critical thinking in education
• Skills and knowledge will assist teachers to
deal with classroom challenges professionally
• Classroom challenges lead to research and
not to judgements/assumptions
• This module is plan of how the research will
be conducted and challenge critical thinking

3. Preparation for Examination
• Examination is an online take-home
examination
• You may start preparing for the examination
by reading the different proposals
• Examination timetable will be sent by email
and will be available from MyUnisa.

4. Preparation for Examination (cont.)
• Read tutorial letter 101: Instructions about the
module
• Read the study guide- all the sections with
information about the research proposal is
discussed here. It has detailed instructions for
assignment 60. Note that the scenario for
examination will be different.
• Read the Reader it will help you understand
research better and academic language.
• Consult any article/book/thesis/dissertation

5. Preparation for Examination (cont.)
• As a teacher you should always be inquisitive
• Inquisitive mind leads to critical thinking
• Critical thinking will lead to search for causes
of certain behaviour(classroom/school/home)
• The search for causes will lead to answers
• The reasons we do research is because we
need answers to understand or solve
problems
• Proposal is a plan of how research will be

6. Examination instructions
• Title (maximum 14 words)
• Introduction- half a page
• Problem statement and research question-1
page
• Literature review-2 pages
• Research participants-half a page
• Data collection-1 page
• Evaluation-1 page
• Summary- half a page

7. Examination instructions(cont.)
• Title can be in a form of a question or a
statement. It should be formal, meaningful,
and concise. It should be aimed at addressing
a problem.
• Introduction-it gives orientation to the problem
and discusses its meaningfulness. References
maybe used to indicate how other authors
have discussed the same problem.

8. Examination instructions (cont.)
• Problem statement and research question-
what is the problem that is identified that
requires research to be conducted. It must be
formulated in a question format. The problem
should be supported by literature that shows it
is an existing problem. For example in your
school you know there is a low pass rate for
Mathematics, but you need to support that by
using literature.

9. • Research should be guided by the research
question in order to address the problem.
Research question should be a title in a form
of a question. Example: Title “FACTORS INFLUENCING
QUALITY ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN BUSINESS STUDIES AT TECHNICAL
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING COLLEGES”
Research question: What are the factors influencing the quality of
assessment practices in the NCV Business Studies programmes at
Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges?
By Nkalane, 2015.

10. Examination instructions (cont.)
• Literature review-investigation of an already
completed research. According to Paul and Criado
(2020), a literature review article provides a
comprehensive overview of literature related to a
theme/theory/method and synthesises prior
studies to strengthen the foundation of knowledge.
Theories are also scrutinized whilst investigating.
Three frameworks should be constructed i.e.
theoretical, conceptual and contextual
frameworks.

11. Examination instructions (cont.)
• Literature study means that the researcher surveys
literature that is relevant to his/ her research
question to establish (a) what is happening in
practice (the contextual framework), (b) how key
concepts are understood (the conceptual
framework), and (c) what prominent theoretical
insights can provide explanations of empirical data
on the research question (the theoretical
framework.). Primary and secondary resources can
be used for the literature review.

12. Examination instructions (cont.)
• Research participants-how participants will
be identified, who will be the participants and
how will the researcher communicate with
them. It is important to always protect your
participants as they are not forced to
participate.

13. Assignment 3 instructions (cont.)
• Data collection-how will data be collected?
Which methods ( interviews, observation,
questionnaires) will be used to collect data (
where, how and when? How will access be
gained for data collection ( Ethical clearance)?
• Evaluation-how will the changed behaviour
be observed. An evaluation may lead to a new
research question if the desired action is not
satisfactory.

14. Examination instructions (cont.)
• Summary-a short discussion of the proposal.
State your expectations
• Bibliography-list all the references used to write
your proposal. Use reference guide for correct
referencing

15. Conclusion
• At this stage you are learning basic research
skills, if you read and practice writing a
proposal you will understand the need for
educational research.
• Be creative and use your knowledge and
experiences
• Research and teaching cannot be separated.

16. “Teachers can change the world
through research by identifying
problems and providing informed
solutions”