KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES

Introduction to Research in Education Objectives & Outline

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Research in Education


After reading Chapter 1, you should have mastered each of the following objectives.

1. Identify four (4) sources used to make decisions in education and the limitations associated with each source. Assess the appropriateness of relying on each source for specific decisions.
2. Define the term "research" and identify its characteristics. Defend research as a valuable source of information and knowledge in education.
3. Explain the purpose of scientific inquiry and describe its characteristics.
4. Define theory and explain its importance to scientific inquiry.
5. Identify six (6) steps typically used to conduct research. Discuss how the credibility of each step can be established.
6. Compare quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in terms of their underlying assumptions; their goals; the research designs used; the samples from which information is collected; the actual data, data collection techniques, and data analyses; and the researcher's role.
7. Distinguish between non-experimental and experimental quantitative research designs.
8. Describe the goals and characteristics of the following quantitative research designs: descriptive, comparative, correlational, causal comparative, true experimental, quasi-experimental, and single subject.
9. Describe the goals of the following qualitative research designs: phenomenology, ethnography, and grounded theory. Identify the characteristics of case studies.
10. Identify the characteristics of analytical research. Identify two types of analytical designs.
11. Identify the characteristics of mixed-methods design.
12. Define basic, applied, action, and evaluation research. Give examples of each, and differentiate them in terms of purpose, generalizability, and intended use.
13. Identify the components of an educational research report. Provide a brief description of the function of each component. Identify these components in a research report.

1. Sources of knowledge
1. Personal experience
1. Through personal experience and observation one finds the answers to many questions (e.g., the most relaxing route to work, the way a friend will react to an invitation, etc.).
2. Limitations
1. How one is affected by an event depends upon who one is; that is, two people can have very different experiences in the same situation (e.g., a walk in the woods can be perceived as beautiful or threatening).
2. One frequently needs to know things that cannot be learned through experience (e.g., a child learning arithmetic computations might figure out addition and subtraction on his own but probably not the computation of square roots).
2. Tradition
1. Through long established customs or practices one finds answers (e.g., school calendars, organization of schools, school building design).
2. Limitations
1. Often traditions are based on an idealized past.
2. Traditions can be distant from current realities and the complexities associated with them.
3. Authority
1. Seeking answers from someone who has had experience with the problem or has some source of expertise (e.g., a superintendent contacts a lawyer concerning a legal problem in the school; a parent consults a pediatrician concerning a child's cold).
2. Limitations
1. Authorities can be wrong; they have no claim to infallibility.
2. Authorities may be in disagreement among themselves.
4. Research
1. The systematic process of collecting and logically analyzing information to provide sound explanations that can become knowledge.
2. The disciplined nature of research
1. The systematic, testable, and objective nature of research permits the careful examination of the process itself as well as the results.
3. Characteristics that distinguish research from all other sources of knowledge
1. The creation of concepts and procedures that are shared and publically accessible
2. Replicable findings
3. Refutability of knowledge claims
4. Control for error and bias
5. Limited generalizability of knowledge claims
6. A commitment to analyze and critique investigations
5. Alternative sources of knowledge can be used depending on the value of the problem and/or implications of the decision related to it
1. Personal experience is an excellent source of knowledge for deciding on the manner by which you should discuss a problem with a child you know very well.
2. Tradition is an excellent source of knowledge for scheduling the activities for an elementary school's field day.
3. Authority is an excellent source of knowledge for fund raising efforts within a school.
4. Research is an excellent source of knowledge for deciding whether to retain first grade students, determine the number of students in an elementary class, or ascertaining the effectiveness of using math manipulatives.
1. These problems represent important professional concerns.
2. While one could rely on personal experience, tradition, or authority to make these decisions, the limitations associated these sources of knowledge diminish their value.
2. Research as scientific inquiry
1. Scientific inquiry
1. Scientific inquiry is the search for knowledge by using recognized methods in data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
2. The purpose of scientific inquiry is to explain natural phenomena, understand the underlying relationships among phenomena, and use this information to predict and influence behavior.
1. The development of educational knowledge bases involves describing a phenomena precisely, examining empirical relationships between or among phenomena, and testing whether such relationships are causal in nature (i.e., one phenomena causes another).
2. Knowledge typically is presented in the form of theories.
1. A theory is a set of propositions that explain the relationships among phenomena (e.g., learning theories).
2. A theory is a means for simplifying and understanding complex realities; a useful metaphor is a picture is worth a thousand words.
2. Characteristics of scientific inquiry
1. Objectivity: a single, reasonable meaning or interpretation of observations, data analyses, and results
2. Controls bias: personal beliefs, attitudes, or perspectives do not influence research
3. Willingness to change: beliefs change based on evidence
4. Verifiable: results can be verified by others
5. Inductive: general conclusions are drawn from specific observations
6. Precise: concepts are defined with sufficient detail to convey exact meanings
7. Truthful: conclusions are considered tentative explanations open to change provided new evidence is presented
3. The 2001 National Research Council report "Scientific Inquiry in Education"
1. A discussion of the use of the scientific model of inquiry as the basis for educational research
3. Approaches to educational research
1. Methodological concerns
1. Lack of a single, appropriate method to study education
1. Quantitative (i.e., positivist)
2. Qualitative (i.e., post-positivist, interpretative constructivist)
3. Positivism and post-positivism
2. Disciplined inquiry
1. The family of methods used in educational research
2. The conduct and reporting of research in such a way that the argument can be examined painstakingly
3. Regardless of the approach being used, one must adhere to the "rules and regulations" of that approach
2. Underlying assumptions of quantitative and qualitative approaches
1. Quantitative
1. There exists an external universe that human beings can know.
2. Events in the universe are determined by a finite set of causes.
3. The essential elements of events will recur.
2. Qualitative
1. There can be no knowledge of things-in-themselves, only of things as they are accessible to human consciousness.
2. Human beings can examine their own experiences of reality and accurately describe them.
3. Characteristics differentiating quantitative and qualitative approaches
1. Commonly used terminology
1. Quantitative: positivist, experimental, hard data, statistical
2. Qualitative: naturalistic, field research, ethnography, phenomenology, anthropological, ecological, interpretive, constructivist
3. See the following glossary of research terms
2. Key concepts
1. Quantitative: variables, operationalization, control, reliability, validity, hypothesis testing, statistical significance, replication
2. Qualitative: meaning, understanding, social construction, context
3. Goals
1. Quantitative research tests theory, establishes facts, shows relationships, predicts, or statistically describes
2. Qualitative research establishes grounded theory, develops understanding, describes multiple realities, or captures naturally occurring behavior
4. Research design
1. Quantitative research uses designs that are highly structured, formal, and specific (e.g., pretest, posttest experimental control group design)
2. Qualitative research uses flexible, unstructured designs which evolve over the course of the research.
5. Subjects being sampled
1. Quantitative studies involve many subjects who are representative of the groups from which they are chosen. Subjects are chosen using probabilistic sampling techniques (i.e., random sampling, stratified random sampling).
2. Qualitative studies involve few subjects who have specific characteristics or traits of interest to the researchers. Because they are chosen using non-probabilistic sampling techniques (i.e., purposeful sampling), the subjects are not necessarily representative of the groups from which they are chosen.
6. Data, data collection, and data analysis
1. Quantitative studies use numerical data that is typically collected at specific times (e.g., pretest and posttest) from tests, surveys, structured observations, or structured interviews. Data is analyzed statistically.
2. Qualitative studies use narrative data (i.e., text) that is typically collected over a long period of time from observations, interviews, or reviews of documents or artifacts.
7. Researcher's role
1. Quantitative researchers are characterized as detached, objective observers of events. They remain distant from the subjects.
2. Qualitative researchers are characterized as participant observers. They have responsibilities to observe and report data that reflects the subject's perspectives; to do so they must develop a long-term, close, trusting relationship with the participants.
8. Context
1. Quantitative researchers manipulate and control the setting to assure the isolation of the variables of interest and the control of extraneous variables.
2. Qualitative researchers observe in naturalistic settings, that is, the natural setting in which events occur.
4. Types of research designs
1. Quantitative designs
1. Non-experimental: an investigation describing current status of a variable or the relationships, other than causal, among variables
1. Descriptive: simple descriptive information about the frequency or amount of something (e.g., describe the current dropout rate in Louisiana)
2. Comparative: descriptions of the differences between groups (e.g., describe the differences between male and female math achievement)
3. Correlational: descriptions of the relationships between or among variables (e.g., describe the relationship between student attitude and student achievement)
4. Causal-comparative: descriptions between something that has already occurred and subsequent responses in such a way that it is possible to draw causal relationships between them (e.g., identify a groups of "comparable adults some of whom drink excessively, some who drink moderately, and some who drink very little or not at all; compare the health of the three groups; discuss the effect that alcohol might have on the health of the subjects)
2. Experimental: an investigation characterized by the direct manipulation or control of one variable (i.e., the cause) so its effect can be seen on another variable (i.e., the effect). All other variables (i.e., extraneous variables) that might have an effect are controlled.
1. True experimental: random assignment of subjects to groups (e.g., randomly assign students to one of two classrooms in which the same social studies unit is being taught; teach the first class using a traditional lecture approach, teach the second class using co-operative learning groups; examine the differences between the two groups to see if the type of instructional approach had an effect)
2. Quasi-experimental: non-random assignment of subjects to groups (e.g., get access to two classrooms in which the same social studies unit is being taught; teach the first class using a traditional lecture approach, teach the second class using co-operative learning groups; examine the differences between the two groups to see if the type of instructional approach had an effect)
3. Single subject: one subject (e.g., identify a student whose disruptive classroom behavior is beyond acceptable limits; establish a baseline of the number of times the student exhibits this behavior during a school day; impose a behavior modification program in which the student's appropriate behavior is rewarded; document the change in the student's behavior; establish the probability that the changes in the behavior were caused by the behavior modification program)
2. Qualitative designs
1. Case studies: in-depth study of a single program, event, activity, group, or other entity over a sustained period of time (e.g.,studying the reactions of teachers and students to an internet-based class)
2. Phenomenology: studying a phenomena to fully understand its essence (e.g., describe the essence of the relationships between students and a school counselors)
3. Ethnography: studying an intact cultural group in a natural setting during a prolonged period of time (e.g., understanding the personal, social, and political interactions of teachers in a specific school)
4. Grounded theory: studying a particular environment to generate or discover a theory that describes it (e.g., understanding the meaning of "inclusion" from the perspectives of the special needs student, the regular student, and the teachers)
3. Analytical research
1. A mode of inquiry in which events, ideas, concepts, or artifacts are investigated by analyzing documents, records, recordings, and other media
2. Two types
1. Historical analysis: the systematic gathering and criticism of documents, records, and artifacts to provide a description and interpretation of past events
2. Legal analysis: a focus on selected laws and court decisions to examine how legal precedents influence educational practice
4. Mixed methods: the use of quantitative, qualitative/analytical designs and methods within a single study
5. Examples of quantitative and qualitative research designs
4. Functions of research
1. Basic research: research designed to test or refine theory; not intended to be applied immediately to practice (e.g., learning theory)
2. Applied research: research conducted in a field of common practice; concerned with the application and development of research-based knowledge (e.g., curriculum development and use)
3. Action research: research designed to solve a specific classroom or school problem, improve practice, or make a decision at a single local site (e.g., moving toward a teacher-based decision making process in a low achieving school)
4. Evaluation research: research designed to assess the merit and worth of a specific practice in terms of the values operating at a site (e.g., the effectiveness of a computer lab at Hynes Elementary)
1. Merit reflects issues like whether the program has been implemented correctly, resources have been provided, training has been effective, etc.
2. Worth reflects issues related to the values of those at the site like the extent to which a program is effective but not financially within reach, or the degree to which a program is functioning well but not as effectively as desired
5. The research process
1. Stages of investigation
1. Initial question
2. Review the literature
3. Propose questions or hypotheses
4. Design
5. Results
6. Conclusions
6. Educational research reports
1. Standard format
1. Title and author
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
1. Quantitative: specific research questions
2. Qualitative: general problem statement
4. Review of the literature
1. Quantitative: extensive
2. Qualitative: brief
5. Research problem statement or questions
1. Quantitative: specific, narrow questions or hypotheses
2. Qualitative: general, foreshadowed questions
6. Method and design
1. Quantitative: subjects, instruments, and procedures
2. Qualitative: participants and settings/sites
7. Results
1. Quantitative: statistical explanations
2. Qualitative: narrative descriptions
8. Discussion
9. Conclusions
10. References

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