How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education

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How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education

• Jack R. Fraenkel and Norman E. Wallen
• Chapter 1

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The Nature of ResearchWays of Knowing

• Ways of knowing
• Sensory experience (incomplete/undependable)
• Agreement with others (common knowledge wrong)
• Experts opinion (they can be mistaken)
• Logic/reasoning things out (can be based on false
  premises)
• Why research is of value
• Scientific research (using scientific method) is
  more trustworthy than expert/colleague opinion,
  intuition, etc.

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Ways of KnowingScientific Method

• Scientific Method (testing ideas in the public
  arena)
• Put guesses (hypotheses) to tests and see how
  they hold up
• All aspects of investigations are public and
  described in detail so anyone who questions
  results can repeat study for themselves
• Replication is a key component of scientific
  method

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Scientific Method Continued

• Scientific Method (requires freedom of thought
  and public procedures that can be replicated)
• Identify the problem or question
• Clarify the problem
• Determine information needed and how to obtain it
• Organize the information obtained
• Interpret the results
• All conclusions are tentative and subject to
  change as new evidence is uncovered (dont PROVE
  things)

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Types of Research

• Types of Research
• Experimental (most conclusive of methods)
• Researcher tries different treatments
  (independent variable) to see their effects
  (dependent variable)
• In simple experiments compare 2 methods and try
  to control all extraneous variables that might
  affect outcome
• Need control over assignment to treatment and
  control groups (to make sure they are equivalent)
• Sometimes use single subject research (intensive
  study of single individual or group over time)

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Types of ResearchCorrelational Research

• Looks at existing relationships between 2 or more
  variables to make better predictions
• Causal Comparative Research
• Intended to establish cause and effect but cannot
  assign subjects to trtmt/control
• Limited interpretations (could be common cause
  for both cause and effectstress causes smoking
  and cancer)
• Used for identifying possible causes similar to
  correlation

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Types of ResearchSurvey and Ethnographic

• Survey Research
• Determine/describe characteristics of a group
• Descriptive survey in writing or by interview
• Provides lots of information from large samples
• Three main problems clarity of questions,
  honesty of respondents, return rates
• Ethnographic research (qualitative)
• In depth research to answer WHY questions
• Some is historical (biography, phenomenology,
  case study, grounded theory)

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Types of ResearchHistorical Research

• Historical Research
• Study past, often using existing documents, to
  reconstruct what happened
• Establishing truth of documents is essential
• Action Research (differs from above types)
• Not concerned with generalizations to other
  settings
• Focus on information to change conditions in a
  particular situation (may use all the above
  methods)
• Each of these methods is valuable for a different
  purpose

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Three General Types of Research

• General Research Types
• Descriptive (describe state of affairs using
  surveys, ethnography, etc.)
• Associational (goes beyond description to see how
  things are related)
• correlational/causal-comparative
• Intervention (try intervening to see effects
  using experiments or quasi-experiments)

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Other Types of Reserach

• Meta-analysis.
• Locate all quantitative studies on a topic and
  synthesize results using statistical techniques
  (average the results).
• Effect sizes.
• Action-research.
• Teacher as researcher.
• Single-subject research.

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Quantitative vs Qualitative Approaches to Research

• Quantitative (numbers)

• Qualitative (verbal descriptions)

• Facts/feelings separate.
• World is single reality.
• Emphasize casual relationships.
• Researcher removed.
• Established research design.
• Experiment prototype.
• Generalization emphasized.

• Socially-constructed multiple realities.
• Concerned with understandings from viewpoint of
  participants.
• Participatory.
• Flexible, emergent, research designs.
• Limited generalization.

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Overview of the Research Process (Fig. 1.4, in
the Text)

• Problem statement that includes some background
  info and justification for study
• Exploratory question or hypothesis (relationship
  among variables clearly defined)
• Definitions (in operational terms)
• Review of related literature (other studies of
  the topic read and summarized to shed light on
  what is already known)
• Subjects (sample, population, method to select
  sample)

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Overview of the Research Process (Fig. 1.4,
Continued)

• Instruments (tests/measures described in detail
  and with rationale for their use)
• Procedures (what, when, where, how, and with
  whom)
• Give schedule/dates, describe materials used,
  design of study, and possible biases/threats to
  validity
• Data analysis (how data will be analyzed to
  answer research questions or test hypothesis)

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