ECC 511

Research Methods
in Education
CITY U
SUMMER 2014
DR. PAUL STEWART

Whats Happening?

Syllabus review

Assignments

Course activities

Syllabus

Grading

Assignments

Timeline

Questions?

Assignments

Critique 1 article

Group Research & Presentation (30 minutes,

handout)

Research plan

Readings

Understanding and Evaluating Educational

Research (McMillan & Wergin, 2010)

Class handouts

Optional Conducting Teacher Research (Parsons,

Hewson, Adrian & Day, 2012)

Action Research Guide (ATA)

Why Research?

What is the purpose of research in Education?

Are there different types of research?

How to find (new) research

What works in Education?

Research

Informal

- in class
- in school/jurisdiction
- other?

Formal

- AISI
- Graduate research
- other?

Semantics

Hermeneutics???

- where does this fit?

ETHICS

Yes, Ethics

Again, yes, Ethics

Types of Research

Beans

Typology of Research

Psychological research:

To explain why and how stuff: occurs

In psychology, stuff is the mind or behaviour

Two general questions:

What does the research consist of?

What is the explanation good for?

Principles of Research Design

Explanations:

Predictions:

Theory:

Conceptual models that help us infer the future from the

past

Conceptual models that increase our understanding of

the issue

Influence:

Conceptual models that help us design intervention

programs

Observation

Accept
explanation
if
Supported

Possible
Explanation
(Theory)
Testable
statements
(Hypothesis)
Actual Tests
(Research)

Adapt if not
Supported

Making Predictions

Research questions

Aims

Hypothesis

Null and alternative hypotheses

Research Questions

From where do they emanate?

What questions do you as an educator want to

answer?

Examples from research

Aim

Aim - An achievable goal

What are some of the questions from the research

copies borrow and reviewed?

Research Hypothesis

Statements about causal relationships

A theoretical guess about a relationship

They measure the outcome of a piece of research

It must be testable

Principles of Research Design

Since we do not know beforehand whether our

research is going to support or reject the
hypothesis we need 2:

The alternative hypothesis: Other possibilities that

might be true

The null hypothesis: there is no difference in the

relationship

Could be due to chance

Principles of Research Design

Experimental hypothesis

H1 proposes there will be a difference between

conditions/groups/individuals

H2 proposes there will be no difference found

between conditions/groups/individuals

Principles of Research Design

It is the null hypothesis we are testing:

Why?

It is easier to decide the truth of a negative statement.

All flowers are yellow. Only 1 pink flower will refute this
statement

Vs. the negative: Not all flowers are yellow

The null hypothesis gives us a starting point

It must be stated from the outset

Research Hypotheses

Derived from many sources

A broader theory

Experience and intuition

Prior research findings

Research Hypotheses

Theories and Testing

Testing tools -

measures

manipulations

Testing goals -

verification

falsification

Something to look up

Dogs are good for old peoples hearts

Doll therapy comforts old (Alzheimer) people

(or, got another hypothesis?)

Go online and see what you can find

Research Hypotheses

What is the difference between a theory and an

hypothesis?

Planning Research

Variables:

Samples:

Design:

Analysis:
and

What shall we study?

Who shall we study?
How should we study these?
What sort of evidence will support
in what form?

Planning Research

Example:

Possible hypothesis: Teachers are more irritable

with supervision during the winter months.

What is/are the variables above?

How are you going to study this?

What evidence will we get?

Planning Research

Example:

Possible hypothesis: Teachers are more irritable in

the winter months.

What is the sample?

Is it representative of the target population or an

opportunity sample?

Is it random: each member of the population has an

equal chance of being selected?

Systemic select every nth person

Strategic sample: representing each layer or strata within the

population

Sample

Size is dependent upon:

Size of target population

Nature of the research

Statistical analysis

Practicalities

Ethics

Scientific Research

needs to be seen for what it truly is: a way of

preventing me from deceiving myself in regard to my
creatively formed subjective hunches which have
developed out of the relationship between me and
my material.
(Reason & Rowan, 1981, p.240)

Tired yet?

Anything else you want to talk about right now?

Critical Reading

Empirical or theoretical weaknesses:

Does the research back up claims?

Does literature support their assumption?

Inductive reasoning:

Have they developed their research combining

theory with novel means of research methods?

Re-description:

Are they describing something in a different way

rathe than explaining it?

Critical Reading

Reification:

Considering an abstract concept as factual

students get good math results because they are good

with numbers

Limited ability:

Limited validity:

Can findings be replicated?

Does it show what the researchers believe it shows?

Non-cumulativeness:

Has it missed an important part of the literature?

Critical Reading

Lack of parsimony:

Is it too complicated?

Lack of accountability:

Has it been peer reviewed? Have the findings been

communicated within the scientific community?