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Title: Introduction to Reading Educational Research


1
Introduction to Reading Educational Research
2
What is Educational Research?
  • A systematic investigation
  • Involves the analysis of information (data) for
    the purpose of
  • answering a question or
  • Contributing to our knowledge about an
    educational theory or practice
  • Educational research relies on methods and
    principles that will produce credible and
    verifiable results

3
Information is gathered from
  • Individuals
  • Groups
  • Documents
  • Existing data bases and
  • Other sources

4
Steps in research(may vary depending on the
nature of the study)
  1. Frame the initial question or problem
  2. Determine what previous research says about the
    question or problem
  3. Frame a research question, problem or hypothesis
  4. Design a plan for collecting data to address the
    question or problem
  5. Analyze the results of gathered data
  6. Generate conclusions

5
How do you determine whether an article or report
is research?
  • Does the title suggest that data have been
    gathered from existing records?
  • The terms study investigation denote research
  • Phrases such as an investigation of, the
    relationship between the effect of do also
  • Is there a problem that is investigated?
  • There must be some question or problem that is
    the focus of the study
  • An empirical investigation is designed to answer
    a specific question or problem

6
How do you determine whether an article or report
is research?
  • Are new data collected?
  • Most research involves collection of new
    information
  • Usually there is a section using such terms as
    instruments, measures, or data collection
  • Is there a methodology or methods section?
  • Is there a findings or results section?
  • This section often includes tables or graphs to
    summarize the information

7
Types of Educational Research
  • There are different methods by which research is
    carried out
  • Each method has distinct purposes, advantages,
    and disadvantages

8
Steps in Becoming an Intelligent Consumer of
Educational Research
  • To be able to recognize that an article or report
    is, in fact, research
  • To be able to recognize which method was used
  • To be able to assess the quality of the research
    according to criteria appropriate for that method

9
Analyzing a study of parental attitudes toward
AIDS Education
  • You would be most interested in questions like
    these
  • How were the parents chosen for the study?
  • How many participated?
  • What method was used to collect data from the
    parents?
  • How appropriate were the questions asked?
  • What inferences were drawn from the results?
  • How valid were these inferences?

10
Analyzing a study reporting results of an
experimental curriculum
  • What precisely was different about the
    experimental curriculum?
  • How was it implemented?
  • What effects was it supposed to have
  • How did the researchers choose to measure these
    effects?
  • Did the researcher use a control group?
  • How was it selected?
  • Did the researchers find the effects they were
    looking for? Were they significant?

11
Quantitative? Qualitative? Analytical?
  • Quantitative research involves the use of
    numerical indices to summarize, describe and
    explore relationships among traitsreliance on
    control, statistics, measurements, and
    experiments
  • Qualitative researchthe emphasis is on
    conducting studies in natural settings using
    mostly verbal descriptions, resulting in stories
    and case studies, not statistical reports
  • Analytical research involves the identification
    and interpretation of data contained in
    documents, pictures, and artifacts.

12
Quantitative Research
  • Experimental Study
  • The researcher has control over one or more
    factors (variables)
  • Purpose to determine whether one factor causes a
    change in another
  • Types true experimental quasi-experimental
    single-subject
  • Nonexperimental Study
  • No control over what may influence subjects
    responses
  • Researcher interested in what occurs naturally
  • Describes phemenona/uncovers relationships

13
Experimental Research Categories
  • True Experimental
  • Use of comparison groups
  • Random assignments to groups
  • Quasi-experimental
  • Manipulates treatments but doesnt use randomly
    assigned treatment groups
  • Used when randomization of groups is impossible
  • What they gain in feasibility, they give up in
    exploratory power
  • Single-subject
  • Only one person (or a few) in the study
  • Used when it is difficult or impossible to
    identify large groups of subjects
  • Most common method of data collection is careful
    observation of targeted behavior

14
Nonexperimental Research
  • Descriptive
  • Describe a phenomenon with statistics such as
    frequencies, percentages, averages, etc.
  • No comparisons/no relationships
  • i.e., 20 of teachers indicated that high-stakes
    tests have a significant effect on what they
    teach
  • Comparative
  • Investigates relationship between 2 or more
    variables in 2 or more groups
  • Unlike ex post facto studies, comparative
    research make no claim of causality

15
Nonexperimental Research
  • Correlational
  • Investigate relationships among variables by
    calculating correlation coefficients rather than
    looking at differences
  • Indication of the direction and strength of the
    relationship sought positive or negative?
  • i.e., How well do SAT scores predict college
    success?
  • Ex post facto (after the fact)
  • Examines a phenomenon that has already occurred
    and attempts to infer cause-and-effect
    relationships
  • i.e., Do smokers have higher rates of lung cancer
    than nonsmokers?
  • Teasing out whether in fact any differences are
    due to the treatment variable is very difficult

16
Qualitative Research Designs
  • Ethnography
  • Involves direct engagement with the participants
    and environments
  • In-depth description and interpretation of
    behavior within a culture or social group
  • Conclusions are based on a synthesis of the data
  • Case study
  • In-depth analysis of one or more bounded
    systems

17
Qualitative Research Designs
  • Phenomenology
  • Examines in depth the experiences and perceptions
    of selected participants
  • Purpose to understand the essence, the meaning
    of participants perspectives
  • Grounded Theory
  • To discover or generate a theory that pertains to
    a specific entity or phenomenon
  • Critical Studies
  • Designed to provide alternative perspectives on
    contemporary societal problems
  • Focus on exposing social manipulation and
    oppression to advocate changes in social systems

18
Analytical Research
  • Historical analysis
  • Provides a description and interpretation of past
    events or persons. Uses both qualitative and
    quantitative data
  • Legal Analysis
  • Focuses on laws and court decisions to understand
    how legal principles apply to educational
    practice
  • Concept Analysis
  • Conducted in order to understand the meaning and
    usage of educational concepts (i.e., ability
    grouping)
  • Very seldom used in educational research

19
Mixed Models
  • There is a growing trend in educational research
    to use mixed models in a study
  • Combination of two of the three major types of
    research (i.e., a quantitative study combined
    with qualitative methods)

20
Research Articles General Sections
  1. Introduction
  2. Review of the Literature
  3. Research Problem, Question, or Hypothesis
  4. Methodology subjects, participants, or sources
    of information
  5. Methodology Instruments
  6. Discussion Conclusions

21
Section 1 Introduction
  • Purpose to set the context of the study and to
    indicate the research problem
  • One to several paragraphs long
  • Provides background to the study indicates why
    it is significant to conduct research
  • Use of quotes or references to other studies
  • General statement of the problem

22
Section 2 Review of Literature
  • Quantitative
  • One to several paragraphs in which previous
    studies of the same or similar problem are
    summarized analyzed
  • Purpose to show how the current study is related
    to other studies
  • A good review is selective
  • Goes beyond a simple reporting of findingsa
    critical analysis of previous studies

23
Section 2 Review of Literature
  • QuantitativeQuestions to Ask
  • Does the review contain relevant, up-to-date
    studies?
  • Is there an emphasis on primary sources?
  • Is there a critical review or a summary of
    findings?
  • Is the review well organized?
  • Does the review clearly relate previous studies
    to this research problem?
  • Does the review help establish the importance of
    research?

24
Section 2 Review of Literature
  • Qualitative
  • Use a preliminary literature review to present
    conceptual frameworks, broad areas of study, and
    scholarly concepts
  • This provides a foundation for phrasing
    foreshadowed questions
  • A continuing search of the lit is integrated with
    the methodology and tentative findings and
    interpretations
  • By the end of the study, there is a complete
    review that contains a critique and analysis of
    works
  • Quantitative Studiesa clear lit review preceded
    the methodology
  • Qualitative StudiesThe lit review is
    interspersed throughout the document

25
Step 3 Research Problem, Question or Hypothesis
  • State a specific research problem statement,
    question, and/or research hypothesis
  • Can come at the end of the introduction more
    commonly follows the lit review
  • It denotes the type of research method being used
    (i.e.,experimental or non experimental), the
    independent and dependent variables, and the
    subjects
  • Qualitative more general statement that provides
    a broad framework for beginning the study and is
    reformulated as data are collected. Emphasis on
    what, where, and why, rather than on relationship
    among variables

26
Step 3 Research Problem, Question or Hypothesis
  • Questions to ask
  • Is the problem or hypothesis clear and concise?
  • Is there a hypothesis, is it consistent with the
    lit review?
  • If quantitative, does the problem or hypothesis
    communicate the variables, type of research, and
    population?
  • If qualitative, is the initial problem
    reformulated?

27
Step 4 MethodologySubjects, Participants, or
Sources of Information
  • Participants will be described in this section
  • Some qualitative and analytical studies use
    documents, artifacts, pictures, and other sources
    of data that are not directly from peoplethese
    will be described here

28
Step 4 MethodologySubjects, Participants, or
Sources of Information
  • Questions to ask
  • Is the population described adequately?
  • Is the sample of subjects and/or other sources of
    information clearly described?
  • Is the method of selecting the sample clear?
  • Could the method of selection affect results?
  • Are subjects likely to be motivated to give
    biased responses?

29
Step 5 Methodology Instruments
  • Instruments or measures are devices that are used
    to gather information from subjects
  • Instruments can include tests, oral or written
    surveys, ratings, observation, and various
    archival and unobtrusive measures
  • Quantitative credibility depends on validity and
    reliability
  • Qualitative technical feature of instrument
    validity and reliability arent used, but the
    more general ideas of appropriateness of the
    inferences (validity) and error in collecting
    information (reliability) are still important

30
Step 5 Methodology Instruments
  • Questions to ask
  • Is evidence for validity and reliability clearly
    presented and adequate?
  • Is there a clear description of the instrument
    and how it was used
  • Is there a clear description of the procedures
    for collecting the information?
  • Is it likely that the subjects would fake their
    responses?
  • Are interviewers and observers trained?
  • If appropriate, what are the norms used to report
    percentile rank and other results?

31
Step 6 Methodology Procedures
  • This subsection will indicate how subjects or
    participants were selected, how instruments were
    developed and administered, and how experimental
    treatments, if any, were conducted
  • A qualitative study will describe procedures the
    researcher used to gain entry into the field, the
    nature and length of observations and interviews,
    and how participants were approached
  • In this section, look for characteristics of the
    study design that might lead to erroneous
    interpretations of the data

32
Step 6 Methodology Procedures
  • Questions to ask
  • Are there any clear weaknesses in the design of
    the study?
  • Are the procedures for collecting information
    described fully?
  • Is it likely that the researcher is biased?

33
Step 7 Results
  • Presents a summary of the data analysis
  • Quantitative researchers often use inferential
    statistics to make probability statements about
    what is likely to be true
  • Qualitative coding, triangulation

34
Step 7 Results
  • Questions to ask
  • Are the findings presented clearly?
  • Is there appropriate use of tables, charts, and
    figures?
  • Is the of subjects taken into consideration?
  • Is there sufficient descriptive information to
    interpret the results?
  • Are the results presented in relation to the
    research question?
  • If qualitative, are the results accompanied by
    illustrative quotes and specific instances?

35
Step 8 Discussion Conclusions
  • Discussion of meaning of results this
    interpretation is helpful to understand why
    certain results were obtained
  • Conclusionssummary statements of the findings
    and how the reseacher interprets them
  • Quantitative generalizability of the findings to
    the larger population
  • Qualitative transferability and comparability of
    the findings

36
Step 8 Discussion Conclusions
  • Questions to ask
  • Is the discussion based on the research problem
    and results?
  • Is there an adequate interpretation of the
    findings?
  • Is the interpretation separate from the results?
  • Are the results discussed in relation to previous
    studies?
  • Are limitations due to methodology included in
    the discussion?
  • Are the conclusions clearly stated and based on
    the results and discussion?
  • Are the conclusions reasonable? Do they go
    beyond the interpretation of the findings?
  • What is the generalizability of the findings?
    What factors would affect generalizability?

37
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