Day 1 Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Overview of course
• Why conduct educational research?
• Research and the scientific method
• Inductive and deductive logic
• Basic and applied research
• Thinking during break
• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research

Introduction

First, let's get personal.

• Who are you?
• How far are you in your degree?
• What are your career goals?
• Why are you taking this course at this time?

Please add or update your information to the department database.

Overview

Some basics about the course:

• This is not a statistics course
• The purpose is to help you become familiar with educational research
• Learn by:
  • reading (Gay, L. 1999. Educational Research. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill).
  • thinking (with your peers an in reflection),
  • doing (classroom activities, library research, article critique, and other activities)

Why conduct educational research?

Educational research develops new knowledge, which can then be used to improve education and training practices. Four types of research knowledge:

• Descriptive: to increase our knowledge of what happens in schools and training (nation's report cards)
• Prediction: to identify how variables effect future responses (GRE, at risk students)
• Improvement: to identify interventions that improve performance (reinforcement, CAI)
• Explanation: which identifies theories that describes, predicts, and controls phenomena to improve learning (how to improve learning)

Research and the scientific method

Educational research is the application of the scientific method to educational problems.
Scientific method is based on

1. formulating hypotheses based on observations (inductive logic),
2. deductions on the implications of these hypotheses,
3. confirming or disconfirming of the hypotheses.

Scientific method is more reliable than experience or authority in explaining, predicting, or controlling phenomena.

Inductive and deductive logic

Logic is used to formulate hypotheses which are the basis of educational research.

Inductive logic analyzes events to identify generalizations.

Example:Every graduate alumni interviewed took educational research. Therefore, all graduate students need to take educational research.

Deductive logic arrives at specific conclusions based on generalizations.

Example: Every graduate alumni interview took educational research. You are a graduate student. Therefore, you will take educational research.

Practice your understanding of these theories.

Basic and Applied Research

Basic research is conducted to develop theory. In education, it helps establish general principles of learning.

• Example: How does the use of graphic organizers help learners grasp knowledge?

Applied research is concerned with how the theories are used in educational settings.

Example: Can graphic organizers help students as young as First Graders?

Much of what goes on in educational research is a combination of both types of research.

Practice your understanding of these theories.

Thinking during your break

During your break, think about a topic you may be interested in pursuing during this class. To help you generate topics, think back to your personal educational experiences that you found:

• worked well (or were problematic) as an instructional intervention;
• captured your imagination as a type of potential instruction;
• quite interesting;
• or any other educational topic you may be interested in exploring.

Qualitative Research

Educational research is often referred to it as either qualitative or quantitative.

Qualitative research involves collection of narrative data to gain insights into phenomena of interest. Data is collected:

• intensively over a period of time,
• in a naturalistic setting,
• without trying to control the events.

Example:

Johnson Middle School has won numerous awards for their implementation of technology throughout the curriculum. You decide to find out what they are doing that has helped them to succeed. After a discussion with the principal, you find that three teachers have been crucial in the technology development. What might you do, as a qualitative research, to identify why they have been so successful?

Quantitative Research

Quantitive research involves the collection and analysis of numerical data to gain insights into how one variable influences other variables.

• In the following exercise, see if you can identify the difference between qualitative and quantitative research.

Different types of quantitative research are used depending on:

• the type of questions asked;
• the purpose of the research, and;
• the degree to which the subjects are available to the researcher.

The basic types of quantitative research include:

Descriptive

Correlational

Causal comparative

Experimental

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is unlike other quantitative research in that it:

• is set to determine and report the way things are now,
• does not try to control a variable.

Some problems with descriptive research are:

• lack of respondents
• biased results

  Example: What will the field of educational design be like in five years? Ten years?

  How would you set up such a study?

Return to Quantitative research.

Correlational Research

Correlational research examines the relationship between variables. Results will not show cause and effect, but will allow predictions of how one variable will change based on results of the other variable.

Results are shown as a correlation between 0.00 and 1.00

Example: Does the amount of modem use at home correlate to a student's GPA?

How would you set up this research?

Return to Quantitative research.

Causal-Comparative Research

Attempts to establish a cause and effect relationship through group comparisons. The variable which is manipulated, and "causes" the other variable to change, is called the independent variable. The variable that changes in response is called the dependent variable.

In causal-comparative studies, the independent variable has already been established. This could be the gender, age, or SES of the subject.

Example: Do adults from low SES backgrounds have a higher attrition rate in high technology companies than adults from middle class backgrounds?

Return to Quantitative research.

Experimental Research

Attempts to establish a cause and effect relationship through group comparisons. The variable which is manipulated, and "causes" the other variable to change, is called the independent variable. The variable that changes in response is called the dependent variable.

In experimental studies, the independent variable is controlled while everything else remains exactly the same.

Example: Does the use of graphic organizers help third-grade students conceptualize information more thoroughly than a list of topics?

Practice identifying types of research.

Return to Quantitative research.