2. 2 Outline 1. Nature of research in education 1. Nature of research in education 2. Benefits of research in education 3. Characteristics of research in education 4. Types of research in education 5. Stages of a research study
4. 4 What is research in education? Systematic collection and anlaysis of data in order to develop valid, genarilizable descriptions, interventions and explanations relating too various aspects of education. (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2010)
5. 5 Inside the black box “In terms of systems engineering, present policies in the U.S. and in many other countries seem to treat the classroom as a black box. Certain inputs from the outside -- pupils, teachers, other resources, management rules and requirements, parental anxieties, standards, tests with high stakes, and so on -- are fed into the box. Some outputs are supposed to follow: pupils who are more knowledgeable and competent, better test results, teachers who are reasonably satisfied, and so on. But what is happening inside the box?”(Black & William, 1998)
6. What is happening inside the black box?” 6 Students with more knowledge and more competence. Better results in tests. Teachers that are reasonably satisfied. Students Teachers Resources Black box What the research tries to find out? Inputs Outputs
7. 7 Goal in educational research Description Prediction Explanation Goal Intervention Text
8. 8 Purpose in educational research Descriptive Prediction Explanatory Purpose Experimental Text
9.
10. Researcher hasa focus of interest but does not know which variables are of interest and what are the important questions.
23. 14 Benefits Some educators have difficulties to see how research in education benefits practitioners and students. -> One of the reason: We think its influence is rarely direct. ? Can you think of an example where research in education affected educational practice? Let’s go back to the black box:How can we ever better our profession if we do not use educational research to document what is inside the black box?
25. 16 What do experts believe ? Shared, precise and public access. Replicability of findings. Refutability of knowledge claims.
26. 17 Shared, precise and accessible access concepts and procedures Developing concepts and procedures that help facilitates studies of superior quality. Blind review Peer evaluation Progressive discourse
27. 18 Replicability of findings Researchers make public the procedures they used to arrive at results / findings. Replicability:Other researchers conduct a similar research to see if they will obtain same results.
28. 19 Refutability of knowledge claims Popper (1968): Knowledge claims can be disproved but not proved. Refutation: Process through which one submits a theory to an empirical test to allow to challenge or disprove it.
29. 20 Human and ethical relations In Canada, the Federal government requires that research studies with human subjects be evaluated by the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE) before starting to collect data. Tri-Council policy statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans (TCPS):http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/index/
35. 25 Writing research proposal Research Problem or Question Conducting a pilot study Collecting data and analyses Writing report(proposal + results + discussion) Five stages to complete a research study
36. Preparing a research proposal Introductory Section Research Hypotheses Research Questions Purpose Literature Review Section Research Design Section Research Method Section Data Analysis Section Protection of Human Subjects Section Time Line Section 26
37. Using the proposal to write Format and Style (APA) Title Introduction Literature Review Chapter Research Methods Chapter Results Chapter Discussion Chapter Bibliography and Appendices 27
38.
39. Silverman (1985) is not alone in suggesting that:“The specification of hypotheses, methods, and results may look squeaky, clean and objective when documented in the journals, but that published articles misrepresent the research process by relegating the preliminary skirmishes with research phenomena in the exploratory phase to non-scientific (or at least, not worth-writing-about) status.” (p. 61) 28
40. Type I and Type II error 29 Defendant Innocent Defendant Guilty Null Hypothesis True Null Hypothesis False Reject Presumption of innocence (Guilty verdict) Correct Reject Null Hypothesis Type I Error Correct Type I Error Fail to reject Null Hypothesis Correct Type II Error Fail to reject Presumption of innocence (Not Guilty verdict) Type II Error Correct
44. Researchable question "The difficulty arises when would-be researchers choose a question for their research that is not actually researchable -- that is, no empirical answer can be derived".(Palys, 2003, p. 56) Specific. Limited in scope. Variables should be observable with specific evaluation criteria. 31
45. Operationalizing variables What operations will you perform and what procedures will you follow to measure a phenomenon?: Giving an operational definition. Demonstrating the linkage between the construct (concept) and our understanding of that construct (by stating how it will be measured). 32
46. References Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappa, November, 1-13. Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P., & Borg, W. R. (2010). Applying educational research: How to read, do, and use research to solve problems of practice. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Palys, T. S. (2003). Research decisions: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives (3rd ed.). Scarborough, Ontario, Canada: Thomson Nelson. Popper, K. (1968). Conjectures and refutations. New York, NY: Harper. Silverman, D. (1985). Qualitative methodology and sociology: Describing the social world. Aldershot, England: Gower. 33
