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Educational Research
Rationale
Educational Research is research conducted to investigate behavioral patterns in pupils, students, teachers and other participants in schools and other educational institutions. Such research is often conducted by examining work products such as documents and standardized test results.
The methods of educational research are derived chiefly from the social sciences, and in particular from psychology.
Primary Branches in Methodology
See also
External links
- American Education Research Association
- British Educational Research Association
- Canadian Society for the Study of Education
- Educational Research Service
- Institute of Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education)
- National Foundation for Educational Research (UK)
- Is Educational Intervention Research on the Decline?
- WestEd
- Wisconsin Center for Education Research
- Free Education Research
Today's Videos
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Educational Research
Tutorials
- Educational Research: Its Nature and Rules
- Types of Educational Research and Corresponding Sources of Data
Readings
Educational research refers to a variety of methods,[1][2][3] in which individuals evaluate different aspects of education including but not limited to: “student learning, teaching methods, teacher training, and classroom dynamics”.[4]
Educational researchers have come to the consensus that, educational research must be conducted in a rigorous and systematic way,[2][4] although what this implies is often debated.[1][5] There are a variety of disciplines which are each present to some degree in educational research. These include psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy.[1][3] The overlap in disciplines creates a broad range from which methodology can be drawn.[3][5] The findings of educational research also need to be interpreted within the context in which they were discovered as they may not be applicable in every time or place.[3]
- Characteristics of Educational Research
- Approaches in Educational Research
- Methodology in Educational Research
- List of researchers
Research Proposal. Design.
Tutorials
- How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education
- Selecting, Refining, and Proposing a Topic for Research
Readings
A research proposal is a document written by a scientist that describes in details the program for a proposed scientific investigation. It is like an outline of the entire research process that gives a reader a summary of information discussed in project.
Research proposals are written for various reasons, such as budget request for the research they describe, certification requirements for research (e.g. from an ethics committee if the experiment is to be done on human beings or animals protected by animal rights laws), as a task in tertiary education (e.g. before performing research for a dissertation), or as a condition for employment at a research institution (which usually requires sponsor-approved research proposals). The phrasing of research proposals has many similarities to that of scientific articles. Of course, research proposals are written in future tense and have different points of emphasis. Like scientific articles, research proposals have sections describing the research background, significance, methods, and references. |
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The method section of research proposals is far more detailed than those of scientific articles, allowing profound understanding of the price and risks of the study and the plans for reducing them. Instead of a section describing the results, research proposals have a section describing the hypotheses or the expected results. A typical research proposal includes an extensive but focused literature review. A research proposal may also include preliminary results.
As opposed to scientific articles, research proposals usually contain the curriculum vitaes of the researchers. The curriculum vitaes are required for proving that the personnel asking to conduct the research are capable of doing so. For example, a research proposal for a study including injections would be expected to name at least one researcher qualified to inject human beings. Similarly, a research proposal in biology is not likely to receive funding when the entire staff consists of mathematicians only. In some academic institutes, a detailed resume of the thesis mentor is required on the research proposal in order to show that the mentor can help the student with the subject of the thesis.
Research sponsors publish calls for research proposals, specifying the topics into which they fund research and their detailed format requirements. Those sponsors may be governmental, nonprofit or business research foundations.
- Writing the Research Proposal, © 2004 The Writing Center, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota,
- Twin Cities Campus
- Principles of Good Research & Principles and Research Proposal Guide
- Guidelines to Writing a Research Proposal (DPhil only)
Research designs are concerned with turning the research question into a testing project. The best design depends on your research questions. Every design has its positive and negative sides. The research design has been considered as a "blueprint" for research, dealing with at least four problems: what questions to study, what data are relevant, what data to collect, and how to analyze the results.[1]
Research design can be divided into fixed and flexible research designs (Robson, 1993). Others have referred to this distinction with ‘quantitative research designs’ and ‘qualitative research designs’. However, fixed designs need not be quantitative, and flexible design need not be qualitative. In fixed designs the design of the study is fixed before the main stage of data collection takes place. Fixed designs are normally theory-driven; otherwise it’s impossible to know in advance which variables need to be controlled and measured. Often these variables are quantitative. Flexible designs allow for more freedom during the data collection. One reason for using a flexible research design can be that the variable of interest is not quantitatively measurable, such as culture. In other cases, theory might not be available before one starts the research.
- Examples of fixed (quantitative) designs
- Examples of flexible (qualitative) research designs
- References
Literature Review
Tutorials
- Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the Landscape
- Locating Published Research
- Interpreting and Summarizing Published Research
Readings
A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature reviews are secondary sources, and as such, do not report any new or original experimental work.
Most often associated with academic-oriented literature, such as a thesis, a literature review usually precedes a research proposal and results section. Its ultimate goal is to bring the reader up to date with current literature on a topic and forms the basis for another goal, such as future research that may be needed in the area.
A well-structured literature review is characterized by a logical flow of ideas; current and relevant references with consistent, appropriate referencing style; proper use of terminology; and an unbiased and comprehensive view of the previous research on the topic.
External links
- The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It (University of Toronto)
- Literature Review (Language Center, Asian Institute of Technology). Includes discussion about common traps and vicious circle.
- Literature Reviews (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- How to Write a Literature Review (UCSC)
- The literature review (Deakin)
- Software tools for a literature review
- review of literature (UW-Madison)
- The Literature Review (Central Queensland)
- How to do a Literature Review (North Carolina A&T State library)
Applying Corporate Knowledge Managment Practices in Higher Education
Project Design and Data Gathering
Tutorials
Readings
Your Research Project. How and where to start?
Gathering data on the internet: qualitative approaches and possibilities for mixed methods research
Data Analysis and Presentation
Tutorials
Readings
Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, in different business, science, and social science domains.
Data mining is a particular data analysis technique that focuses on modeling and knowledge discovery for predictive rather than purely descriptive purposes. Business intelligence covers data analysis that relies heavily on aggregation, focusing on business information. In statistical applications, some people divide data analysis into descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis, and confirmatory data analysis. EDA focuses on discovering new features in the data and CDA on confirming or falsifying existing hypotheses. Predictive analytics focuses on application of statistical or structural models for predictive forecasting or classification, while text analytics applies statistical, linguistic, and structural techniques to extract and classify information from textual sources, a species of unstructured data. All are varieties of data analysis.
Data integration is a precursor to data analysis, and data analysis is closely linked to data visualization and data dissemination. The term data analysis is sometimes used as a synonym for data modeling.
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Research Methods
Tutorials
- Research Methods
- Ethnographic Research
- Descriptive Research and Historical Research
- Correlational Research
- Action Research and Evaluation Research
- Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, and Causal-Comparative Research
Readings
Empirical Method is generally meant as the collection of a large amount of data on which to base a theory or derive a conclusion in science. It is part of the scientific method, but is often mistakenly assumed to be synonymous with the experimental method.
The empirical method is not sharply defined and is often contrasted with the precision of the experimental method, where data are derived from the systematic manipulation of variables in an experiment. Some of the difficulty in discussing the empirical method is from the ambiguity of the meaning of its linguist root: empiric.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd Edition, 1989), empiric is derived from the ancient Greek for experience, έμπειρία, which is ultimately derived from έυ in + πεἳρα trial, experiment. Therefore, empirical data is information that is derived from the trials and errors of experience. In this way, the empirical method is similar to the experimental method. However, an essential difference is that in an experiment the different "trials" are strictly manipulated so that an inference can be made as to causation of the observed change that results. This contrasts with the empirical method of aggregating naturally occurring data.
Adding further confusion is another connotation of empiric. Strict empiricists are those who derive their rules of practice entirely from experience, to the exclusion of philosophical theory. An example of this is the derivation of the psychopathology scales of the MMPI questionnaire, where items that were endorsed by people in various diagnostic categories were used as designation to that diagnosis irrespective of any understanding of the link between the item and the pathology.
The OED further states that an empiric is "one who, either in medicine or in other branches of science, relies solely upon observation and experiment" [emphasis added]. In this case, an empiricist can be someone who conducts an experiment but without using a hypothesis to guide the process, i.e., strictly by the trial-and-error method. This is counter to one of the main tenets of the scientific method, that of the hypothetico-deductive method, where the manipulation of the variable in an experiment is dictated by the hypothesis being tested.
Thus we arrive at better understanding of a standard definition for the empirical method from AccessScience@McGraw-Hill:
[The empirical method] is generally characterized by the collection of a large amount of data before much speculation as to their significance, or without much idea of what to expect, and is to be contrasted with more theoretical methods in which the collection of empirical data is guided largely by preliminary theoretical exploration of what to expect. The empirical method is necessary in entering hitherto completely unexplored fields, and becomes less purely empirical as the acquired mastery of the field increases. Successful use of an exclusively empirical method demands a higher degree of intuitive ability in the practitioner.[1]
See also
Sampling, Statistical Data and Organisation
Tutorials
Readings
Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of a subset of individual observations within a population of individuals intended to yield some knowledge about the population of concern, especially for the purposes of making predictions based on statistical inference.
Researchers rarely survey the entire population for two reasons (Adèr, Mellenbergh, & Hand, 2008): the cost is too high, and the population is dynamic in that the individuals making up the population may change over time. The three main advantages of sampling are that the cost is lower, data collection is faster, and since the data set is smaller it is possible to ensure homogeneity and to improve the accuracy and quality of the data.
Each observation measures one or more properties (such as weight, location, color) of observable bodies distinguished as independent objects or individuals. In survey sampling, survey weights can be applied to the data to adjust for the sample design. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide practice. In business and medical research, sampling is widely used for gathering information about a population.[1]
- Process
- Population definition
- Sampling frame
- Probability and nonprobability sampling
- Sampling methods
- Replacement of selected units
- Sample size
- Sampling and data collection
- Errors in sample surveys
- Survey weights
- History
Statistics is the science of the collection, organization, and interpretation of data.[1][2] It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.[1]
A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide number of fields. There is also a discipline called mathematical statistics, which is concerned with the theoretical basis of the subject.
The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art."[3] This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of data,[4] whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading").
Recommended Texts
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How
to Design and Evaluate Research in Education, Jack R. Fraenkel, San Francisco State University Norman E. Wallen, San Francisco State University
New to this edition is an expanded focus on qualitative methods. New Parts V and VI provide an expanded introduction to qualitative methods, and take a close look at different qualitative methodologies. Also new is an enhanced chapter on Action Research. Examples of key concepts and ideas in all chapters highlight the text's practicability, and step-by-step analyses of real research studies, and. End-of-chapter Problem Sheets, comprehensive coverage of data analysis, and how to prepare research proposals and reports make the text appropriate both for courses that focus on doing research and for those that stress how to read and understand research. To keep students engaged, the authors' writing is simple and direct. Clarifying examples, summarizing charts, tables and diagrams, numerous illustrations of key concepts and ideas, and a friendly two-color design enhance the content. This is the only copiously illustrated educational research text available. Packaged with the text are an Interactive Student CD-Rom and Student Workbook that provide practice opportunity and resources. Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop.
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How
to Design and Evaluate Research in Education
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