EEd RES - Week 1 - Introduction To Research in Education
EEd RES - Week 1 - Introduction To Research in Education
EEd RES - Week 1 - Introduction To Research in Education
Introduction to
Research in Education
Eed RES – Research in Education
Sem 1 AY 2022-2023
WEEK 1
Explicate the nature of research as a scientific
inquiry aimed at providing basis for informed
Desired classroom decisions
Learning Review the fundamentals of research
Outcomes Compare and contrast the major characteristics
of quantitative and qualitative research designs
At the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:
1. List five major sources of knowledge and comment on the
strengths and weaknesses of each source.
2. Describe the characteristics of the scientific approach.
3. State the assumptions underlying science and the attitudes
Instructional expected of scientists.
4. Specify the purpose and characteristics of scientific theory in
Objectives the behavioral sciences.
5. Indicate the limitations involved in the application of the
scientific approach in the social sciences.
6. Define educational research and give examples.
7. Identify the major research methodologies used in educational
investigations.
8. Describe the main differences between quantitative and qualitative
research.
9. List the specific types of research that fall into the broad categories
of quantitative and qualitative research.
10. Give an example of a research problem that might be investigated by
a mixed methods approach.
11. Identify the research methodology used in given examples of both
Instructional quantitative and qualitative research.
Objectives 12. List the steps involved in the research process.
13. Distinguish between the characteristics of basic and applied research.
14. Explain the terms concept, construct, and variable.
15. Distinguish among types of variables: categorical versus continuous
and independent versus dependent.
16. Distinguish between constitutive and operational definitions and
explain the importance of the latter in research.
Experience
Authority
Sources of Deductive Reasoning
Knowledge Inductive Reasoning
Scientific Approach
Much wisdom passed from generation to
generation is the result of experience
This ability to learn from experience is a prime
Sources of characteristic of intelligent behavior
Knowledge:
Limitations
EXPERIENCE Experience is relative
Some things cannot be learned by experience
People seek knowledge from someone who has had experience
with the problem or has some other source of expertise
People accept as truth the word of recognized authorities
Closely related to authority are custom and tradition, on which
people depend for answers to many questions related to
Sources of professional as well as everyday problems: “How has this been
done in the past?”
Knowledge:
Limitations
AUTHORITY Many traditions that prevailed for years were later found to be
erroneous and had to be rejected
Authorities can be wrong
Authorities disagree among themselves on issues, indicating that
their authoritative statements are often more personal opinion
than fact
A thinking process in which one proceeds from general to specific
knowledge through logical argument
Argument: Premises Conclusion
If the premises are true, the conclusion is necessarily true
Sources of Useful in research because it provides a way to link theory and
Knowledge: observation
Deductions from theory can help build hypotheses, which are a
vital part of scientific inquiry
DEDUCTIVE
REASONING Limitations
To arrive at true conclusions, one must begin with true premises
One cannot conduct scientific inquiry through deductive reasoning
alone because it is difficult to establish the universal truth of many
statements dealing with scientific phenomena
The reverse of the deductive method
One reaches a conclusion by observing examples and generalizing
from the examples to the whole class or category
Perfect induction: being absolutely certain of an inductive
Sources of conclusion by investigating/observing all examples
Knowledge: Imperfect induction: Observing a sample of a group and inferring
from the sample what is characteristic of the entire group
INDUCTIVE Limitations
REASONING Exclusive use of induction often resulted in the accumulation of
isolated knowledge and information that made little contribution
to the advancement of knowledge
People found that many problems could not be solved by
induction alone
Integrated the most important aspects of the
inductive and deductive methods
A method of acquiring knowledge in which
investigators move inductively from their
Sources of observations to hypotheses and then deductively
from the hypotheses to the logical implications of
Knowledge: the hypotheses
Observations Formulate hypothesis Gather
SCIENTIFIC additional Data Validate hypothesis
APPROACH Differs from inductive reasoning in that it uses
hypotheses
Hypothesis: A statement describing relationships
among variables that is tentatively assumed to be
true
1. The events being investigated are lawful or ordered
Universal determinism: Science is based on the
belief that all natural phenomena have antecedent
factors
The events in nature are, at least to a degree,
Assumptions orderly and regular and that people can discover
Made by this order and regularity of nature through the
scientific method
Scientists
2. Reliable knowledge can ultimately derive only from
direct and objective observation
Corollary: only phenomena that are subject to
observation lie within the realm of scientific
investigation
1. Scientists are essentially doubters, who
maintain a highly skeptical attitude toward
the data of science
Attitudes 2. Scientists are objective and impartial
Expected of
3. Scientists deal with facts, not values
Scientists
4. Scientists are not satisfied with isolated facts
but seek to integrate and systematize their
findings
The ultimate goal of science is theory
formation
Formulation of Theory: a set of interrelated constructs and
Scientific propositions that presents an explanation of
Theory phenomena and makes predictions about
relationships among variables relevant to the
phenomena
1. Organize empirical findings and explain
phenomena
organizes the findings from many separate
observations and investigations into a
framework that provides explanations of
phenomena
Purposes of 2. Predict phenomena
Theories Scientists can proceed to make predictions
about what will happen in novel situations
3. Stimulate new research
If such predictions are supported by scientific
investigation, then science proceeds finally to
control
1. A theory should be able to explain the observed
facts relating to a particular problem
Principle of Parsimony - explanation of the
events should take the simplest form possible
Criteria for 2. A theory should be consistent with observed
Theories facts and with the already established body of
knowledge
3. A theory should provide means for its verification
4. A theory should stimulate new discoveries and
indicate further areas in need of investigation
Using the scientific approach is not in itself a sufficient condition for
scientific achievement; several limitations hinder the application of the
scientific approach in education and the other social sciences:
1. Complexity of subject matter
Social scientists deal with the human subject
Limitations 2. Difficulties in observation
Approach 4.
repeated for purposes of observations
Interaction of observer and subjects
in the Hawthorne effect
Research Historical study What insights or conclusions can be reached about this
past event?
Narrative inquiry What insights and understandings about an issue
emerge from examining life stories?
Phenomenological study What does this experience mean for the participants in
the experience?
1. Selecting a problem
2. Reviewing the literature on the problem
3. Designing the research
Typical Stages 4. Collecting the data
in Research 5. Analyzing the data
6. Interpreting the findings and stating the conclusions
7. Reporting the results
The specific question chosen for research depends on the
area that interests the researchers, their background, and
the particular problem they confront
Theoretical Questions
Research with a theoretical orientation may focus on
Questions that either developing new theories or testing existing
Educational theories
“What is it?” “How does it occur?” “Why does it
Researchers occur?”
Ask Practical Questions
Direct and practical, aimed at solving specific
problems that educators may encounter in everyday
activities
“How effective?” “What is the relative effectiveness?
Basic Research
Research aimed at obtaining empirical data used to
formulate and expand theory
Aims to expand the frontiers of knowledge without
regard to practical application
Basic versus
Applied Research
Applied Aims to solve an immediate practical problem
Research Research performed in relation to actual problems
and under the conditions in which they appear in
practice
May not provide the general knowledge to solve
other problems
Construct
Abstractions that cannot be observed directly but
are useful in interpreting empirical data and in
theory building
Examples: intelligence, motivation, anxiety,
Selected achievement
Constitutive Definition
Research Formal definition in which a term is defined by
Terminologies using other terms, i.e., the dictionary type of
definition
Operational Definition
Ascribes meaning to a construct by specifying
operations that researchers must perform to
measure or manipulate the construct
Variable
A construct or a characteristic that can take on
different values or scores
Selected May be categorical or continuous
Research May be dependent or independent
Terminologies
Constant
A fixed value within a study