INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

Research takes many forms. In part one, we introduce to you the subject of educational research and explain why knowledge of the various types of research is of value to educators. Because research is but one way to obtain knowledge, we also describe several other ways and compare he strengths and weaknesses of each. We give a brief overview of the research methodologies that are used in education to set the stage for a more extensive discussion of them in later chapters. Lastly, we discuss criticisms of the research process.

THE NATURE OF RESEARCH

OBJECTIVES:
Studying this chapter should be able to: * explain what is meant by the term educational research and give two examples of the kinds of topics educational researchers might investigate. * explain why knowledge of scientific research methodology can be of value to educators. * name and give an example of four ways of knowing other than the method used by scientist. * explain what is meant by the term scientific method. * give an example of six different types of research methodologies used by educational researchers. * describe briefly what is meant by critical research. * describe the differences among descriptive, associational and intervention-type studies. * describe briefly the difference between quantitative and qualitative research. * describe briefly the basic components involved in the research process.

SOME EXAMPLES OF EDUCATIONAL CONCERNS

* a teacher wishes that his students could open their problems to him. * a student with a full behavior during class hours. * a class who is against the policies of the teacher. - These problem was probably the most common ones to be encountered during a classroom setting so as an educator; we must be able to find all the solution to everyones problem. Teacher needs to know what kind of materials, strategies and activities best help students learn. This is where the value of research enters.

VALUE OF RESEARCH

In finding answers or solutions to a specific problem, we must do studying or research. There are various way to conduct a research. One is to look up the history and know the cause of the problem, by doing so; we could immediately conduct a professional actions such as understanding or speaking to it. But the best way to do that is by reflecting the experiences that was once had.

WAYS OF KNOWING
Research has many forms. Because research is one way of obtaining knowledge. So here are some ways of knowing; sensory experience, is a way of knowing using our five senses which are the sense of sight, touch, taste, hear and smell. But we have to remember that sensory experience is undependable and also incomplete so to obtain reliable knowledge therefore, we must seek or check what we think we know with other resources. The second one is agreement with others; this way is a great advantage because we can confirm if our first experience is the same as the others. Also, we can check the accuracy and authenticity of our sensory experience. But the problem with such common knowledge is that it can be wrong to. The third is expert opinion, this way; it depends on the credential of the expert and the nature of question. Experts only give an opinion based on what field they are expert in. The fourth is the logic. It is the way where capability of the mind to research things. Lastly, the scientific method. Scientific method has its steps which are; identifying problem, clarifying the problem, determine the info needed and how to obtain it, organizing the information and interpretation of the results.

CHAOS THEORY
* The theory of what has come to be. - Edward Lorenz (meteorologist), the first true experimenter in 1960. CHAOS THEORY comes from the fact that the systems that the theory describes are apparently disordered. It is really about finding the underlying order in apparently random data.

THE MAJOR PRINCIPLE OF CHAOS THEORY is whereas precise prediction of such phenomenon as the of a pendulum.

Example: What the weather will be at this particular time is in most case impossible, separated patterns can be discovered and used, even when the content of the phenomena is chaotic.

- Edward Lorenz was working on the problem of weather prediction. He used a computer set up, with a set of 12 equations to model the weather. - It didnt predict itself; however, the computer program did theoretically predict what the weather might be.

IMPLIFICATIONS FOR CHAOS THEORY - One implication is that educators should pay more attention to the intensive study of the exceptional or the unusual, rather than treating such instances as trivial, incidental or errors. - Researchers should focus on predictability on a large scale. That is looking for patterns in individuals or groups ever larger units of time. This would suggest a greater emphasis on long-term studies rather than the easier-to-conduct short time.

RESEARCH
search of knowledge/develop new theories using scientific method.

TYPES OF RESEARCH EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH

- is a systematic and scientific approach to research in which the researcher manipulates two or more variable. - Independent variable can be manipulated in order to change effect.

- CORRELATION RESEARCH - it is done to determine the relationship between two or more variable. - it is different to experimental because in correlation research, you do not manipulate variable, you gather information.

* observation * surveys * archive information

- SURVEY RESEARCH - obtains data to determine specific characteristics of a group. - a research method involving the use of a questionnaire or statistical survey to gather data about people and their thoughts and behavior.

- CASUAL COMPARATIVE - it attempts to determine the cause of reason for existing differences in the behavior or status of group of individual. - group variable.

- ETHINOGRAPHIC RESEARCH - study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face to face interview.

- HISTORICAL RESEARCH - some aspect of past are studied. - interviewing individuals during that time.

- ACTION RESEARCH

- instead of searching for powerful generation, action researcher focus on getting information that will enable them to change conditions in particular situation in which they are personally involved.

GENERAL RESEARCH TYPES

In general research types, it is referring to another classification of research, which is general. We have 3 general research categories. The first category is descriptive studies, second is association research and the last is intervention studies. Descriptive studies only describe an individual, an event or a group. The approach only focuses on the characteristics of those things it describes. Historical and lithographic represents are descriptive in nature. Descriptive studies are useful because if you want to study a particular subject, you must describe it first and note its characteristics. Associational research is another general type of research. This monopology examines cause and effect. Correlation studies are the common examples of this type. Associational research is important because it provides the essential information about the problems or possible things that may act as cause of an event or situation. If you know the causes or contain outcomes, you may be able to address those outcomes by reinforcement or fixing those actions fall into the last category. Intervention studies are the studies involving experiments, many involve experiments because many deal with application of theoretical, so as to confirming or failing to confirm theories. These studies are important because it directs what to do or not to do. Studies may fall to a combination of those types. Once you became familiar to a thing (descriptive) you may find out how it came to be (associational) and then process actions to modify it (intervention).

QUANTITATIVE V.S QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Quantitative research is based on empirical data expressed in numbers or quantitative. The use of presentation research designs is important in this type of

research since quantitative researches trust the world as having a single result. A declined observer conducts experiments so that conclusions can be drain. Qualitative research, in the other hand, is based on perspectives of different participants. The observers humor himself to the view point of each participant and work him to different perspectives for the readers. Tomography is used often in this type of researches can also use both in studies. Qualitative and Quantitative researches are types of research distinction as no methods using and perspective adapted.

META ANALYSIS Is the examining of different results or different studies in a certain topic by using statistics.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH

There are some who feel that the researchers who engage in the kinds of research we have jus described take a bit took for granted. These critics (usually referred to as critical researchers.

* FIVE MAJOR QUESTIONS 1. Question of reality - There is no way to demonstrate whether anything really exists. 2. Question of communication - The critics argue that it is virtually impossible to show that we use the same terms to identify these things. - In short, no matter how carefully define even a single word, the possibility remains that one persons meanings are different from others, because we think differently. 3. Question of values

- The values of the researcher affect his/her research. 4. Question of unstated assumption - Assumption means anything taken for granted rather than tested or checked. -We assume that they use different conceptual structure. 5. Question of societal consequences - Research is almost always focused in improving existing practice rather than raising questions about the practices themselves.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS

* In research process, it indicates a useful sequence in planning a study, the first one is a research problem or statement of the research problem. The problem statement this states the background of the problem, like what caused it to be a problem and reasonable or studying it. * The second one is hypothesis or questions. A hypothesis is a prediction; of what specific results; and it should indicate clearly only relationships between the variables like factors, characteristics or conditions being investigated. * The third one is definition; all the key terms in the problem statement and hypothesis should be defined clearly. * The literature review, the other studies that relates to the research problem should be located in their results. Appropriate journals, reports, etc. should shed light on what is already known about the problem and it should indicate logically. * The next one is sample of the study ( to whom results are to be generalized) it should be clearly identified. * The next one is instrumentation, for example, you are assigned to measure the problem, and it should be describe as detailed. * Procedures, this indicates what the researcher will do (what, when, where, how, whom) from beginning to end. * Data analysis, any statistical techniques, both descriptive and inferential; to be used to analyze the data.