When you have completed this chapter you will be able to:
Identify the different methods of acquiring knowledge
Define what is educational research
Identify the criteria of research
Describe the steps involved in the research process
List the criteria of a good research question
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Acquiring Knowledge
1.3 What is Research?
1.4 Educational Research
1.5 Characteristics of Research
1.6 Research Process
1.7 Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods
1.8 Ethics in Research
References
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The word research has been used in many different ways and sometimes rather loosely
giving rise to confusion and sometimes with the intention to deceive. The chapter will
explain what is research, what is educational research and the different ways knowledge
is acquired. Also discussed is the research proses, ethics in research and differences
between quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Over the centuries, humans have accumulated vast amount of knowledge and the
amount of knowledge produced is doubling every two years. There are many ways in
which we obtain knowledge about a given phenomenon, event or situation. There are six
ways in acquiring knowledge and they are; through our beliefs, intuition, authority,
empiricism, rationalism and science (see Figure 1)
Beliefs Intuition
Empiricism
METHODS OF ACQUIRING
KNOWLEDGE
Experience Science
Beliefs: These are all superstitious beliefs people hold on to as though they are
fact. For example, wear your a lucky shirt when making deals which you strongly
believe will bring you good fortune.
Intuition: An approach in acquiring knowledge that is not based on reasoning or
inferring. Intuitive knowledge is not scientific but is knowledge that originates
from gut feeling or predictions by soothsayers, astrologers and fortune-tellers.
Test the research question (design a study to establish whether the relationship
between the constructs are true.)
Collect data (e.g. collect data on attitude towards English and English
performance).
Decide to accept or reject the research (e.g. correlation between attitudes and
performance)
The purpose of using the scientific method is to enable the researcher to describe (the
relations 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), and to explain (can a theory be formulated to explain the phenomena being
investigated).
LEARNING ACTIVITY
1. Define research in your own words.
2. Identify the steps that are followed in gaining knowledge
through the use of the scientific method.
3. What are the four objectives of science attempting to
accomplish?
4. What are some characteristics of research?
1.5 EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
LEARNING ACTIVITY
1) Do you agree with statement “..the central purpose of educational
research is to find ways improve student learning”?.
2) Give some examples of findings from educational research in your
area of interest.
3)
As discussed earlier, research is a systematic process which means there are definite steps
involved. Figure 1.2 lists the seven steps involved in the research process.
For many beginning researchers and graduate students “the problem of finding a
problem" can be difficult. There are cases of graduate students who have completed all
coursework requirements and "get stuck" at the thesis stage and some never graduate.
Hence, it is advisable that students search for a suitable problem early which they can
explore throughout their coursework. The word ‘problem’ means there is dispute,
controversy, debate or disagreement that needs to be addressed, solved or answered. For
example, why do young learners have difficulty with multiplication and division
operations compared to addition and subtraction operations in mathematics.
Where does one find research problems in education? They are all around you! There are
abundant research problems or unresolved issues everywhere. Look at the 14 year old
who says, “I hate history”. Do you know why? Do you want to know why? In fact,
whatever that arouses your interest for which there are as yet no answers or are
inconclusive have the potential of being a research problem. Often one starts with a rather
general, diffuse and even confused notion of the problem. Do not worry, this is the nature
and complexity of research process. It is the first step towards becoming a mature
researcher. The following steps are to help you get a research problem (see Figure 1.2)
2. Identify 1. GENERATING
Research RESEARCH
Problem IDEAS
3. Design Study
5. Analyse
4. Collect and 6. Write Report
Data Interpret
Results
LEARNING ACTIVITY
1. How do you go about finding a research problem in education?
2. What other sources provide research problems in education?
Upon having a broad idea of what you want to investigate, the next step is to formulate
the problem simply, clearly and completely. This is what we mean by ‘statement of the
problem’. An adequate statement of the research problem is an important step in the
research process. Obviously, if you want to solve a problem, you must know what is the
problem. What is a good problem statement? Although research problems differ greatly,
and although there is no one "right" way to state one, certain characteristics of problems
and problem statements can be learned and used to good advantage.
LEARNING ACTIVITY
1. What is a good problem statement?
2. Why do graduate students have difficulty in stating research
problems?
3. DEVELOP RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Having determined the hypotheses or research questions, the next step is to design the
study. We often hear of graduate students saying they want to do an ‘experiment’ or a
‘survey’. But, they are unable to state with clarity and precision the hypotheses or
research questions they intend to answer. It is like ‘putting the cart before the horse’. The
hypotheses or research questions determines the design of the study. If you intend to test
the effectiveness of an educational phenomenon such as a teaching method or a
counselling technique, the logical choice would be to design an experiment. If you intend
to find out whether teachers are satisfied with their profession or how they perceive their
principals, than the survey would be the appropriate research design. If your intention is
to study inter-racial mixing among students in the school canteen, than a qualitative
approach using the observation technique might be more appropriate.
Hence, the decision on which methodology to use will depend on the research problem
and the research questions or hypotheses. It is not good practice to decide on a
methodology and than work on the research questions. You have to be able to 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, you will find it easy get
assistance from your supervisor and other students in designing a study to find answers to
your research questions.
4. COLLECT DATA
The research question determines the design of the study and method of data collection to
answer the question. Say for example, one of your research questions is determine
whether there are differences in self-esteem between male and female 16 year old
students in secondary school. 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 school to
allow you to generalise the results obtained to the population. Here you are using
quantitative data collection methods.
On the other hand, 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 you are using
qualitative data collection methods.
The data collected from subjects (e.g. students, teachers, school administrators and
others) will have to be analysed. If your study involves quantitative data than statistical
procedures will be used to analyse the data. The analysed data is usually presented as
tables and graphs. Based on the statistical analysis, the researcher interprets the data in
relation to the research questions or hypotheses. In the case of qualitative data,
information is coded and presented anecdotally. Instead of numbers, data is presented in
the form of words and sentences. Similarly, the data is interpreted in relation to the
research questions or objectives of the study.
Data that has been analysed and interpreted will have to communicated to the community
of fellow researchers and practitioners. The results of a study are most commonly
communicated to interested parties through journals. There are numerous journals in
education reporting the findings of studies in the many fields of education (e.g. early
childhood, reading, second language learning, educational psychology, adolescents,
mathematics teaching and so forth). If you are a graduate student, you will most probably
be communicating the results of your study in the form of a thesis or dissertation or even
a research practicum.
ACTIVITY 1.6
Quantitative Research
Quantitative Research options have been predetermined and a large number of
respondents are involved. By definition, measurement must be objective, quantitative and
statistically valid. Simply put, it’s about numbers, objective hard data. The sample size
for a survey is calculated by statisticians using formulas to determine how large a sample
size will be needed from a given population in order to achieve findings with an
acceptable degree of accuracy. Generally, researchers seek sample sizes which yield
findings with at least a 95% confidence interval (which means that if you repeat the
survey 100 times, 95 times out of a hundred, you would get the same response),
plus/minus a margin error of 5 percentage points. Many surveys are designed to produce
a smaller margin of error.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research is collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data by observing what
people do and say. Whereas, quantitative research refers to counts and measures of
things, qualitative research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics,
metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things. Qualitative research is much more
subjective than quantitative research and uses very different methods of collecting
information, mainly individual, in-depth interviews and focus groups. The nature of this
type of research is exploratory and open-ended. Small numbers of people are interviewed
in-depth and/or a relatively small number of focus groups are conducted. Participants are
asked to respond to general questions and the interviewer or group moderator probes and
explores their responses to identify and define people’s perceptions, opinions and feelings
about the topic or idea being discussed and to determine the degree of agreement that
exists in the group. The quality of the finding from qualitative research is directly
dependent upon the skills, experience and sensitive of the interviewer or group
moderator. This type of research is often less costly than surveys and is extremely
effective in acquiring information about people’s communications needs and their
responses to and views about specific communications.
Text-based Number-based
More in-depth information on a few cases Less in-depth but more breadth of
information across a large number of
cases
Can be valid and reliable: largely Can be valid and reliable: largely
depends on skill and rigor of the depends on the measurement device or
researcher instrument used
Ethical issues require the attention of researchers in each stage of the research. Ethical
problems encountered in the research will be discussed according to the research proes,
namely:
Characteristics of good research include scientific and ethical perspective. Issues become
more prominent in social research in which subjects are people who have feelings,
intellect and influenced social values and religion.
REFRENCES