RESEARCH METHODS

Research Methods

Research Methods

Introduction

How do people learn to be effective teachers? What percentage of American students has access to computers at home? What types of assessments best measure learning in science classes? Do college admission tests place certain groups at a disadvantage? Can students who are at risk for dropping out of high school be identified? What is the impact of new technologies on school performance? These are some of the many questions that can be informed by the results of research.

Blackbourn & Fillingim (2004) mention although research is not the only source used for seeking answers to such questions, it is an important one and the most reliable if executed well. Research is a process in which measurements are taken of individuals or organizations and the resulting data are subjected to analysis and interpretation. Special care is taken to provide as accurate an answer as possible to the posed question by subjecting "beliefs, conjectures, policies, positions, sources of ideas, traditions, and the like … to maximum criticism, in order to counteract and eliminate as much intellectual error as possible" (Blackbourn & Fillingim, 2004). In collecting the necessary information, a variety of methodologies and procedures can be used, many of which are shared by such disciplines as education, psychology, sociology, cognitive science, anthropology, history, and economics.

Purposes of Research

The array of questions listed in the introductory paragraph suggests that research is done for a variety of purposes. These include exploring, describing, predicting, explaining, or evaluating some phenomenon or set of phenomena. Some research is aimed at replicating results from previous studies; other research is focused on quantitatively synthesizing a body of research (Blackbourn & Fillingim, 2004). These two types of efforts are directed at strengthening a theory, verifying predictions, or probing the robustness of explanations by seeing if they hold true for different types of individuals, organizations, or settings.

Exploration: Very little may be known about some phenomena such as new types of settings, practices, or groups. Here, the research question focuses on identifying salient characteristics or features that merit further and more concerted examination in additional studies (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004).

Description: Often, research is initiated to carefully describe a phenomenon or problem in terms of its structure, form, key ingredients, magnitude, and/or changes over time. The resulting profiles can either be qualitative or narrative, quantitative (e.g., x number of people have this characteristic), or a mixture of both. For example, the National Center for Education Statistics collects statistical information about several aspects of education and monitors changes in these indicators over time (Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004). The information covers a broad range of topics, most of which are chosen because of their interest to policymakers and educational personnel.

Prediction: Some questions seek to predict the occurrence of specific phenomena or states on the basis of one or more other characteristics. Short-and long-term planning are often the main rationale for this type of research.

Explanation: It is possible to be able to predict the occurrence of a certain phenomenon but not to know exactly why ...