1.

From your early understanding of applied research, would you agree or disagree that it is
difficult to be a highly effective teacher or principal without having a working knowledge of the
research world and how it works? (Support your answer with the readings from this Unit, as well
as knowledge from your own experiences.)
Applied research “is designed to focus on providing practical solutions to a specific problem.”
(Indeed Editorial Team, 2021) Effective teacher or principal means that the teacher constantly
develops and researches to make better choices.Therefore, I agree that it would be difficult to
be a highly effective teacher or principal without having a working knowledge of the research
world.

To be an effective teacher, the teacher should understand the core problem and create an
observation or collect data to seek for a solution. Action research plays an important role in this.
According to Hine, “...researchers carefully refine the issue to be investigated, plan systematic
processes of inquiry, and check the ethics and validity of the work.” (Hine, 2013) Experience
could allow the teachers to become effective without working knowledge of the research world,
but it is highly time consuming and is not teachable. From my experience, teachers who had
collected data had higher possibility to ask specific questions, apply different methods, have
precise solutions for certain situations and had diverse collected data where it could be applied
in other classes as well.

2. Jumping right into your research proposal, what topic would you like to explore and why is
this of interest to you or important for you to research?
The topic I would like to explore is “Proliferation of the internet”. Currently, the whole world is
surrounded by technologies and we are all connected to everything we do. Therefore, the
students could easily approach and receive knowledge, but this does not mean that students are
reflecting and are learning. Therefore, I would like to research the ‘proliferation of the internet’
and see how it influences students' learning. (Education trends, n.d.) In the school I am currently
teaching, they do not allow the students to use the internet or any type of technologies. But
compared to the previous school I have worked in, I see that the students concentrate better.
Because they are not provided with a lot of technology, they develop other skills such as
reading, social and concentration skills. In one youtube I’ve watched, tell the students to learn to
use paper dictionary instead of the internet when learning English because the harder it is for
you to find the definition of the term, the more students tries to memorize them. I thought this
was very convincing. Maybe, the reason why people are not learning as much as we should be is
because of the comfort we have through technology.

3. List your two to three “applied research” questions that will guide your research proposal.
(Remember that applied research questions must be bias-free, cannot make assumptions on the
outcome, focuses on solving a current educational problem involving students, and includes the
intervention [strategy] that you plan to implement and study.)
Question 1: What benefits can teachers have by avoiding usage of the internet in the classroom?
Question 2: Is the internet in the classroom hurting students’ concentration?

Reference:
Education trends. (n.d.). Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blogs/beat/education-trends

Hine, G. S. C. (2013). The importance of action research in teacher education programs. Issues in
Educational Research, 23(2). https://www.iier.org.au/iier23/hine.pdf

Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, July 8). Basic research vs. Applied Research: What's the difference?
Indeed Career Guide. Retrieved September 4, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/career-
advice/career-development/basic-research-vs-applied-research