Describe the main steps of the scientific method using an example of research.

You may use an

example from the qualitative approach either with or without a hypothesis.

1. Identifying the research problem

A research problem refers to some difficulty a researcher experiences either in a theoretical or

practical context and wants to obtain a solution.

It is a statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved or a difficulty to be

eliminated, that brings out the need for understanding & investigation.

Solving a research problem would create new knowledge and disseminate it to the world of
research/knowledge.

A research problem can be identified in 3 major ways.

1. By exploring one’s interests and passions.

Ex- what topics and issues you are curious about?

2. By observing one’s context, current trends, needs, and challenges in one’s field of interest
and deriving an empirical gap.

3. By reviewing the literature of one’s field of interest.

- See what others have done and what gaps and controversies exist.

Ex - by reviewing the literature (research articles, journal articles) it can be concluded that, there are
so many studies about online education and its effects from an educator’s/instructor’s perspective,
but there is a paucity /gap of research conducted on student’s perception toward the quality of
online education.

The research problem can be derived by narrowing it down to be specific, focus and relevant.

Ex- ‘University student’s perception towards the quality of online education’

a. Creating Research Questions & objectives

Based on the research problem, research questions and objectives are being created.

Research questions are the questions that are addressed in the study.

Research objectives are the purposes or the aims of the study.

Ex- research questions –

1. What is the student’s experience of online education?

2. How do the students perceive the quality of online education through their experiences?
3. What are the factors that have affected student’s online education?
4. What is the contribution of those factors to the quality online education?

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 - Objectives / aims of the study

This study aims to investigate the student’s perception regarding the quality of online education
based on their own online learning experiences.

The findings of the study aims to help the instructors understand student’s perception regarding
online learning & improve their online instructional patterns.

2. Sampling

The next step of the research process is sampling, which means selecting a group of individuals who
will actually participate in the research. Sampling techniques can be categorized as, probability
sampling & non-probability sampling, and can be further categorized as,

Ex - Hence the above selected research problem focus on qualitative approach, convenience
sampling would be selected as the most suitable. Under that, 6 students from 2 universities. The
participants received online instruction from two different universities. Two males and one female
student form the same faculty participated from each university. All the students are Sinhalese and
use Sinhala as their mother tongue and English as their second language. These participants were all
enrolled in online classes and their assessments and exams were conducted online. Two of the
participants received the instructions via Zoom and the other via Ms. Teams.

3. Data Collection

The process of gathering and analyzing accurate data from various sources to find answers to
research problems, trends and probabilities, etc., to evaluate possible outcomes.

Data can be categorized into two types.

Primary data – data collected afresh, for the first time. Data collected through observation,
interviews & questionnaires can be identified as primary data.

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Secondary data – data that have already been collected by other researchers. Data collected through
documents such as, journals, publications, books, reports, banks can be taken under this category.

Ex- for this study, data were collected using interviews, observations and documents. Documents
were collected and analyzed to enrich the theoretical background of the study. Each participant in
the study engaged in one structured and one unstructured interview. Two observations were
conducted in 40 minutes sessions. The interviews were recorded and the questionnaires were
collected from all the participants. Then all the data collected by the 3 means were analysed to
answer the research questions and to identify similarities and differences among the participants.

4. Data analysis

Data analysis summarizes collected data. It involves the interpretation of data gathered through the
use of analytical and logical reasoning to gain useful insights from datasets, which can then be used
to make decisions or guide future research.

Qualitative data were gathered through transcripts made by listening to audio clips of interviews,
and observations were organized under each research question.

Grounded theory was used in data analysis and data analysis was conducted simultaneously with
data collection. Then, coding of the interview and observation transcripts was done by the
reseaches. Data were organized around each research question

1. Experiences of the students who were taking online classes

2. Factors that affected those experiences.

Comparative method was used to analyse data by examining data for similarities and differences.

This information was then divided around two major areas.

1. Positive experiences of online education

2. Negative experiences of online education

5. Presenting results

The results section of the research paper is where a researcher reports the findings of his study
based on the information gathered as a result of the methodology [or methodologies] applied. The
results section should state the findings, without bias or interpretation, and be arranged in a logical
sequence.

The findings of this research will be grouped into two categories:

students’ positive experiences - flexibility, cost-effectiveness, electronic research availability, and

ease of connection to the Internet.

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negative experiences. delayed feedback from instructors, unavailable technical support from
instructors, lack of self-regulation and self-motivation, and a sense of isolation.

Factors that contributed to student’s positive experiences were,

flexibility of class participation time and self-paced study,

cost-effectiveness of online class,

electronic research availability,

well-designed course layout,

ease connection of the Internet,

easy navigation of the online class interface,

Factors that contributed to student’s negative experiences were:

delayed feedback from the instructor;

unavailable technical support from the instructor,

lack of self-regulation and

self-motivation, a sense of isolation,

monotonous instructional methods,

and poorly designed course content

One positive thing indicated by all participants was that they all had access to electronic library
resources.

However, they all expressed their dissatisfaction on the delayed feedback, frustration of
helplessness, and no orientation before the online classes were given.

Therefore, the participants did not perceive their online education to be of high quality.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

It is where the researcher wraps up his ideas and leaves the reader with a strong final impression. It
suggests the key takeaways from your paper. It helps the reader understand why your research
should matter to them after they have finished reading the paper.

Based on this finding, a question may be raised as to whether or not an online class should be taught
by first-year faculty? Further research may be conducted to examine the effectiveness of online
teaching by first-year faculty and senior faculty. When participants were asked to evaluate the
overall quality of online education they received, their answers were moderate. Moderate quality of
online education implies that they were not very satisfied with the education received, or they did
not perceive that the online education they received as of high quality. The participants’ personality

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may have some bearing on how responsible they felt for their own learning. Online learner may
need to change their own behaviors such as lack of self-motivation, spending too much time on the
phone, or not being an active and constructive learner. However, when their negative experiences
were examined, all of the factors except the one related to learner characteristics (lack of self-
regulation or self-motivation) are related to the online instructor.

Participants in this study felt lost, frustrated, and isolated because there was lack of immediate
response or no feedback from the instructor. When the course content was not organized, it
increased the level of perplexity and nervousness of online learners. When participants encountered
any technical problems, the instructors were not able to assist them. Even when the instructor could
not help them, no other technical person could help the online learners either. When the
instructional methods were only through textbooks, or discussion postings, students’ learning was
not effective. The learners just completed assignments and turned them in without transferring and
assimilating the knowledge from the textbook to their own.

The authors concluded that in the process of ensuring the quality of online education, the instructor
plays a key role. Not only because the instructor “faces” the students directly, but also because more

responsibility has been put on the instructor’s shoulder. However, this does not mean that the
administrator should be set aside in the quality assurance of online education. More importantly,
the administrator should provide sufficient support (training, administrative, monetary, and
promotional), hire qualified faculty, and motivate faculty to provide effective online teaching.

In the study, Convenience sampling was used. If a different sampling technique had been chosen,
the results could be different. Therefore, future research could be done with a homogeneous group
of students, using a larger sample size; including more universities and colleges in the study.

This study has contributed to the literature in the area of on-line education. It has also provided
valuable information from students that can serve both online instructors and administrators in
providing more effective on- line education.

This study has also shown that more research need to be conducted in the area of improving
communications and utilizing multi-media to enhance the on-line educational experiences of
students regarding both course content and social connectedness.

7. Publishing and disseminating of knowledge

This passes on the potential benefits of research to a wide range of individuals and organisations,
including other researchers, consumers, industry, policymakers and the wider community.
Dissemination includes reporting of research in academic journals or books, conference
presentations, creative works, web pages, and professional and institutional repositories.

Publishing your project” consists of releasing your coded questions and responses (legal data) to
your intended audience

“Disseminating your project” consists of making users and groups aware that your project has been
published, and providing access to your published project

The supervisor will review all the questions, responses, and citations before publishing the project to
identify any outstanding issues, including:

Unanswered questions, Responses that do not have a citation listed e.t.c

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