Educational Research

Chapter 1
Introduction to Educational
Research

by Gay and Airasian

Educational Research
 Six sections of the presentation
 An overview of educational research
 Scientific and disciplined inquiry
 Functions of educational research
 Specific approaches
 Quantitative designs
 Qualitative designs
 Guidelines for determining the appropriateness of
an approach
 Limitations of scientific and disciplined inquiry
Educational Research
 Formal definition
 The application of a scientific and
disciplined inquiry approach to the study of
educational problems
 Goal
 To explain or help understand educational
issues, questions, or problems
Educational Research
 Secondary purposes
 Help others understand research results
 Use results to improve teaching and
learning
 Raise new topics for study
 Educational research as an evolving,
ongoing process
Educational Research
 Six ways we can know something
 Tradition
 Expert opinion
 Personal experience
 Intuition
 Logic
 Inductive
 Deductive
 Research
Educational Research
 Tradition
 Doing things as they have always been done
 Limitations
 Often based on an idealized past
 Can be distant from current realities and the complexities
associated with them
 Experts or authorities
 Relying on the expertise or authority of others
 Limitations
 Experts can be wrong
 Experts can disagree among themselves as in a “second
opinion”
Educational Research
 Personal experience
 Relying on one’s knowledge of their prior
experiences
 Limitations
 How one is affected by an event depends on who one is
 One frequently needs to know something that cannot be
learned through experience
 Intuition
 Relying on your “gut” feeling
 Limitations
 Difficulty verifying results
Educational Research
 Inductive reasoning
 Reasoning from the specific to the general
 Limitations
 In order to be certain of a conclusion one must
observe all examples
 All examples can be observed only in very
limited situations where there are few members
of the group
Educational Research
 Deductive reasoning
 Reasoning from the general to the specific
 Limitations
 You must begin with true premises in order to
arrive at true conclusions
 Only organizes what is already known
Educational Research
 Research
 Systematically studying problems using a
scientific and disciplined inquiry approach
 Limitations
 Difficulty removing errors related to the
complexity of human behavior in varying
contexts
 Difficulty controlling researcher bias
Educational Research
 Research provides the most unbiased and
verifiable understanding
 Some decisions require such evidence, others
do not
 Class size and retention policies need to be based
on evidence from research given the importance of
such policies
 Basing these policies on tradition, experts, personal
experience, intuition, or logic subject them to
criticism related to the limitations of each source of
knowledge
Educational Research
 What are some questions related to
your professional work, and what
sources of information would you rely
on to reflect on these questions?
 Why are some sources of information
appropriate and others not?
Scientific and Disciplined Inquiry
 A systematic approach to examining issues
and questions that combines features of
inductive and deductive reasoning with other
characteristics to produce a reliable approach
to understanding
 Characteristics
 Systematic nature
 Detailed descriptions of procedures
Scientific and Disciplined Inquiry
 Four general steps
 Identify a topic
 Collect data
 Analyze data
 Report the results and implications
 Flexibility of these steps to incorporate
a range of purposes and methods
Functions of Research

 Basic research
 Conducted to develop, test, or refine
theory
 Examples related to learning theory
 Piaget
 Constructivism
 Mastery learning
 Gardner’s multiple intelligences
Functions of Research
 Applied research
 Conducted to examine the usefulness of theory in
solving practical educational problems
 Examples
 Developing seventh grade social studies curriculum
around a problem-solving approach to learning
 Examining the effectiveness of a computer-based
algebra program developed around a mastery learning
approach
 Accommodating varied learning styles when teaching
lessons in modern literature
Functions of Research
 Evaluation research
 Conducted to assess the merit or worth of
a specific practice in terms of the values
operating at a specific site
 Merit is exemplified by a program
accomplishing what is was supposed to
accomplish
 Worth is exemplified by the value attached to a
program by those using it
Functions of Research
 Evaluation (continued)
 Examples
 The computerized algebra program being used
in Williams Middle School has been installed
properly, is being used properly, and student
achievement is increasing as a result of its use
 The computerized algebra program being used
in Williams Middle School is perceived to be an
efficient and effective expenditure of district
funds
Specific Approaches to Research

 Lack of a single, appropriate method to

study education
 Family of research methods
 Quantitative
 Qualitative
Specific Approaches

 Differentiating characteristics
 Underlying assumptions of the researcher
 Purpose of the research
 Research questions
 Research designs
Specific Approaches
 Differentiating characteristics
 Interaction between the researcher and
subjects
 Variables
 Data collection and analysis
 Reports
Specific Approaches
 Complementary nature of quantitative and
qualitative approaches
 Different purposes of research
 Explanatory
 Exploratory
 Consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of
different approaches for specific purposes
 Qualitative versus Quantitative Research
Quantitative Designs
 Purposes
 Describe current conditions
 Investigate relationships
 Study causes and effects
 Four major designs
 Descriptive/survey
 Correlational
 Causal comparative
 Experimental
Quantitative Designs
 Descriptive/survey
 Purpose – to describe current conditions
 Examples
 How many students drop out of school in Louisiana?
 What are the attitudes of parents, students, and
teachers to an extended school year?
 What kinds of activities typically occur in sixth-grade art
classes, and how frequently does each occur?
 What have been the reactions of school administrators to
innovations in teaching physical science?
 To what extent are elementary teachers using math
manipulatives?
Quantitative Designs
 Descriptive/survey (continued)
 Characteristics
 Use of large samples
 Use of tests, questionnaires, and surveys
 Focused on information related to preferences, attitudes,
practices, concerns, or interests
 Statistical analysis of numerical data
 Potential problems
 Instrument development
 Low response rates
 Honest responses from subjects
Quantitative Designs
 Correlational
 Purpose – to ascertain the extent to which two or
more variables are statistically related
 Examples
 What is the relationship between ACT scores and freshmen
grades?
 Is a teacher’s sense of efficacy related to their effectiveness?
 Do significant relationships exist between the types of activities
used in math classrooms and student achievement?
Quantitative Designs
 Correlational (continued)
 Characteristics
 Measurement with a correlation coefficient
 One group of subjects measured on two
variables
 Use of instruments to measure variables
 Focused on the direction and nature of the
relationship
Quantitative Designs
 Correlational (continued)
 Potential problems
 Instrument development
 Inferring cause and effect relationships
Quantitative Designs
 Causal-comparative
 Purpose – to explore relationships among
variables that cannot be actively manipulated or
controlled by the researcher
 Examples
 What is the effect of part-time employment on the achievement
of high school students?
 What characteristics differentiate students who dropout from
those who do not?
 What is the effect of attending a “magnet” school on student
attitude?
Quantitative Designs
 Causal comparative (continued)
 Characteristics
 Selection of subjects from at least two groups
in which the cause (i.e., the independent
variable) has already occurred
 Statistical comparisons of the effect (i.e., the
dependent variable) using at least two groups
 Potential problems
 Inferring cause and effect relationships
Quantitative Designs
 Experimental
 Purpose – to establish cause and effect
relationships between variables
 Examples
 Examine the effect of teaching with a 1) co-
operative groups strategy or 2) traditional
lecture approach on student’s achievement
 Examine the effect of teaching with
manipulatives or a traditional algorithm
approach on the test scores of algebra students
Quantitative Designs
 Characteristics
 Stringent procedures for selecting subjects
and assigning them to groups
 Manipulation of the causal variable
 Control of extraneous variables
 Statistical analysis of numerical data
Quantitative Designs
 Potential problems
 Inability of researcher to adequately
control extraneous variables
 Use of complicated research designs
 Complex statistical analyses of data
Qualitative Designs
 Purpose – provide field focused,
interpretative, detailed descriptions and
interpretations of participants and their
settings
 Four designs
 Action research
 Historical research
 Ethnography
 Grounded theory
Qualitative Designs
 Action research
 Purposes
 To provide a solution to an educator’s problem in their
own school or organization
 To improve practice or understand issues
 Examples
 How can our college move to a performance based
model for undergraduate teacher preparation programs?
 How can disciplinary policies be enforced consistently in
our school?
Qualitative Designs
 Action research (continued)
 Characteristics
 Cyclical nature of data collection and analysis
 Four basic steps – identify a problem, collect data,
analyze data, and take action to resolve the problem
 Typically the educator “owns” the problem in that they
carry out the research themselves
 Potential problem
 Insular nature of the process can affect the rigor of the
study
Qualitative Designs
 Historical research
 Purpose – to gain insight into past events, issues, of
personalities to better understand the current situation
 Examples
 The difficulties being experienced while implementing a
standards based curriculum can be understood more
completely if one recognizes the historical top-down control of
curriculum imposed on teachers by the State Department of
Education
 Current parochial school policies can be better understood with
knowledge of the role these schools have played in the
education of students in the community for the last fifty years
Qualitative Designs
 Historical research (continued)
 Characteristics
 Focus on specific individuals, social issues,
events, or policies
 Documents and artifacts are the primary
sources of data
 Data is already available and is complied,
presented, and interpreted
 Data is examined carefully for authenticity and
truthfulness
Qualitative Designs
 Historical research (continued)
 Potential problems
 Authenticity
 Truthfulness
 Reliance on secondary sources
 Values of researcher can affect interpretation
Qualitative Designs
 Ethnography
 Purpose – to obtain an understanding of the
shared beliefs and practices of a particular group
or culture
 Examples
 What is the nature of the problems a teacher encounters
when he begins using a constructivist approach to
instruction after having taught for ten years using a very
traditional approach?
 What does “inclusion” mean to a special needs child who
is placed in an inclusionary classroom?
Qualitative Designs
 Ethnography (continued)
 Characteristics
 The study is conducted in the natural setting
for a lengthy period of time
 Emerging research design
 Participants are observed in naturally occurring
activities
 Researchers develops trust with participants
 Cyclical nature of data collection and analysis
Qualitative Designs
 Ethnography (continued)
 Characteristics (continued)
 Observation and interviews are the dominate data
collection strategies
 Inductive nature of the data analysis
 Potential problems
 Insufficient time spent in the field
 Poor data collection efforts or insufficient data collected
 Poor data analysis
 Researcher bias
Qualitative Designs
 Grounded theory
 Purpose – to derive theory from the analysis of
identified patterns, themes, and categories
emerging from data
 Examples
 What theories underlie the school change efforts of
teachers in a parochial elementary school?
 What underlying theory explains teacher’s changing from
traditional assessment beliefs and practices to
alternative, performance-based assessment beliefs and
practices?
Qualitative Designs
 Grounded theory (continued)
 Characteristics
 Respect for participant’s beliefs and views
 Qualitative data collection using analytic
strategies
 Inductively reasoned synthesis of data through
the use of constant comparison analysis
 Conceptual nature of the process
Qualitative Designs
 Grounded theory (continued)
 Potential problems
 Researcher bias
 Poor data collection strategies
 Difficulty analyzing data
Guidelines for Choosing A Design

 Problems dictate methods

 Each design has particular
characteristics that coincide with
different types of problems
Limitations of Scientific and
Disciplined Inquiry Approaches
 Four limitations
 Value-based, philosophical, or ethical problems or
questions cannot be solved
 These approaches provide a potentially overly
simplified views of reality
 Methodological concerns
 Access to subjects
 Data collection strategies
 Data analysis
 Limitations of research designs
 Legal and ethical responsibilities of the researcher