The reference that is suggested by our lecturer, Dr. Teoh for this course is How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education by Fraenkel, Wallen and Hyun. It is a very comprehensive book and I would like to share my short notes that I did with u throughout my reading...
The nature of research
-Why do we need to do research? basically whenever we wonder about something, and we want to know more about it, we can actually run a research to get a clear answer. Why do we need to do it ourselves?. Because if we only rely on what we have today, there's a possibility that even experts may be mistaken source, document may
contain no insights of values, colleagues may have no experience in the matter, one’s own experience or intuition may be irrelevant or misunderstood.
-For
accurate and reliable information we need to do a scientific research.
-If we are wondering about something, or something has been bothering us, and we decided to a lil' bit of research. Here are the steps that we can take;-
Identify the problem
Define more precisely of the
problem
Determine what kinds of
information would solve the problem
How we organize the information
that we obtain
Analyze the information
Types of research
-there are quite a number of types of research, and I really have problem in memorizing all of them. Before that, research is defined as any sort of careful
systematic patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge. We have heard of basic research right? Basic research is to clarify underlying process
with the hypothesis usually expressed as a theory. While applied research is to examine the
effectiveness of particular educational
practices.
We also have heard the term quantitative and qualitative.
-Quantitative derived from the word quantity so it involve numbers and fact and
feeling can be separated, it is to seek establish relationships between variables while qualitative derived from the word quality involve words and the world is made up of multiple
realities and more concerned with understanding situations and viewpoints of
the participants.
Researcher role for quanti is as detached
observer; experiment, generalize
For quali , researcher tend to become immersed,
ethnography , no generalize, leave to
readers to assess
Types of experimental research
-Experimental research –
effectiveness
Strategies independent
variable, scores dependent variables, age ability, level, material, teacher characteristics extraneous variables.
-Single subject research –
intensive study of a single individual/
single group of special characteristics.
- Correlational research-determine relationships
among two or more variables and to explore their implications for cause and
effect. (to make more intelligent prediction). also to investigate the extent to which one or more relationships
of some type exist.
Causal comparative research
-Determine the cause for or
the consequences of differences between groups of people
-Determine whether students from single –parent families do more
poorly in her course than students from two parent families.
-Interpretations are
limited
-Only identifying possible
causes
-The difference between correlational and causal comparative is
Correlational – 2 or more
variables in 1 group, scatter plot or correlational coefficient
Causal – 1 variable tested
in two groups, compare average use cross break tables
Survey research
Uses questionnaire or
ability test, ask the same set of question to large number or people
Crosssectional servey
(one time) longitudinal serveys (information collected at different times)
Difficulties
1)make sure the questions
are clear and not misleading
2)respondents answer
thoughtfully and honestly
3)sufficient number of
questionnaire completed and returned
Interviews are better
(greater confidence in response, in depth, follow up questions can be asked)
Ethnographic research
get a more complete
picture of educational process
qualitative
documenting or
portraying the everyday experiences by
observing and interviewing them
other examples of qualitative research are-ethnographic,
biography, phenomenal, case study (mixed method) , grounded theory
historical research
aspect of the past is
studied, by overusing document and interviewing individuals who lived during that
time.
Action research
Generalization is minimal
importance
Get information that will
enable them to change conditions in a particular situation.
Evaluation research
Formative - to improve the object being evaluated needs
assessment report
Summative – examine the
effects or outcomes. outcome or impact evaluations.
General research types are:-
1.
Descriptive studies
Most common is survey (researchers summarizes the
characteristics)
Other – ethnographic, historical
Identifying/describing
2.
Associational research –
research that investigates relationship
e.g correlational and causal comparative (between groups
of people)
3.
Intervention studies
Particular method or treatment is expected to influence one or more
outcomes.
4.
Meta analysis
Attempt to reduce the limitations of individual studies
by trying to locate all of the studies on a particular topic and then using
statistical means to synthesize the results of these studies.
The research process
1.
Research problem
2.
Hypotheses or questions
3.
Definitions
4.
Lit. Review
5.
Sample
6.
Instrumentations
7.
Procedures/design
8.
Data analysis
Research problem
Characteristics of good research question
1.
Feasible
2.
Clear
3.
Significant
4.
Ethical
There you go....sorry if my notes are a lil bit jumbled up....i just write whatever that I think is significant and easy for me to remember. Till then, c'ya!
