Judul buku : Conducting
Educational
Research
A
Primer for Teachers and
Administrators
Patricia
D. Morrell and James B. Carroll
Ringkasan
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Let’s take
a more detailed
look at the
two schools of
research. We’ll start
with quantitative because that
is most like
the typical five
step process of
problem solving and the design with which you are probably more
familiar. In quantitative designs, you generally start with a question or a
premise. Will using inquiry-based activities
affect student achievement?
If my students
use this tutorial,
will their mathematics grades
improve? Quantitative studies are linked
to statistics. Most statistical studies phrase their question in the form of a hypothesis. A hypothesis is just a way
of ormalizing your question in the form of a statement. The hypothesis may be
stated in an if/then format; for example,
if I use
more inquiry-based activities
in my classes,
then student grades will increase; if I use this tutorial with my
students, their scores on the state mathematics test will increase.
Some of you
may recall the
“null hypothesis” from
a statistics class.
If you remember that hrase, you
can state your
hypothesis as a
null hypothesis. This means
you are saying
the independent variable
(the factor being
changed) has no effect
on the dependent
variable (the variable
being measured); for
example, teaching students using
an inquiry approach
will not result
in any change
in achievement gains. (In
this example, the
independent variable is
the type of instruction while the dependent variable
is achievement gains.) Using this tutorial with
my students (independent
variable) will not
affect their scores
(dependent variable) on the state mathematics test. Quantitative
researchers do this because it would be very hard to say that we have proved
something will always be true when we are studying people. There are usually
exceptions in any situation. So, we ask questions about how likely it is that
the lack of what we thought we would see is a good explanation for what we are
studying. If the lack isn’t a good explanation then that
tells us that
what we thought
we were going
to see in
the first place
is a better explanation.
You will become
more comfortable with
thinking like this
as you apply
these ideas to your
specific research. We
will go over
writing a quantitative
problem statement in detail later. And, for most cases, the quantitative
problem statement for educational research does not need to look or ound like
something out of a statistics primer! The important thing is to be able to
clearly state what it is you are planning to investigate.
To answer quantitative
questions, you typically follow some kind of experimental design. You usually
have some baseline data, try an intervention, collect more data and see if the
intervention made a difference. Or you have two sets of data that you are
trying to compare. For instance, to see if teaching with inquiry methods affect.
student learning more positively than teaching
using direct instruction, you might test
the students before
and after using
one method and
then do the
before and after tests using
the other instructional
method. After making
some assumptions (like the
two units are
comparable in difficulty
and student interest),
you can compare the scores the
students have on the tests of the two units. You would use statistical methods
to determine if one teaching
methodology did, indeed,
yield greater improvements in scores than the other. As an additional
example, perhaps you want to see if the age at which children started walking
is related to when they started
reading. Here you
are not doing
any intervention, but
you are comparing two sets of information to see if a
relationship exists between them. Quantitative research,
then, is a
structured process in
which you gather
and analyze quantitative data. Ideally, it requires large, random samples.
That is, you would use
your whole class
rather than a
just a handful
of selected students.
Quantitative research follows a deductive model—you
go from the general to the specific.
You have an
idea or theory,
you apply it
to your sample
(class, school, etc.), and see if
it holds true. The findings tend to be generalizable to other people who are
similar to those who were in your study. If teaching ith a more inquiry-like
approach works for your students, it will probably work for all similar groups of
students. If direct instruction worked better for your students, it would
probably work better for
other students in
your school. Finally,
quantitative research is concerned with outcomes it looks at a
product.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Qualitative
research designs are
quite different from
quantitative methodologies. Instead
of starting with a hypothesis, you end up with one. You start with something you
want to learn more about, but have no hypothesis to test. For example, rather than
trying to measure student attitudes toward school, you want to find out what is
it they like or dislike about school. What affects their attitudes? Rather than
using an experimental set
up, you study
the students in
an actual setting.
You don’t manipulate how
the teacher teaches
or what students
are in the
class, but rather look at the situation in context. You
will collect descriptive rather than numerical data. You might do classroom
observations, you might interview students, you might have students
journal about their
thoughts. You would
NOT give them
a list of items and ask them which statements were
true about their attitudes toward school.
You would have the students generate the list. In
qualitative designs, we typically select small, non-random samples to study.
Rather than study all students enrolled in
a history class,
we might study
a handful that
we think possess
(or have been suggested to
us as possessing)
positive attitudes and
some that have
negative attitudes. Because the numbers are small and the sample is
non-representative, the findings
will not be
generalizable. They hold
true only for
that specific group
of students.
In qualitative research, you don’t come up with an outcome or a
product. Rather than a “what,” you usually come up with “hows and/or whys.” The
data are speculative, based on the perceptions of those involved. You actually
“conclude” with a hypothesis. This
may provide an
excellent statement to
be tested in
another setting or with other research
designs. After talking
with and observing
a elect group of
students, you may
come up with
some notion of
what it is
that affects students’ attitudes
toward school. Students might like it when they feel they have more of a say in
what happens and more freedom of choice in their schools. From that you
might hypothesize that
students in schools
with an active
and strong
student
government would have
more positive attitudes
toward school; however, you could not conclude that—you are
just guessing based on what you discovered with
this select group—that
assertion is something
that would need
testing (probably using a quantitative design). Qualitative research
tends to be inductive.
You look at specific instances and try to come up with a
generalization.
So, quantitative and
qualitative studies differ in important ways (See Figure 1-3).
1. Purpose of the study—are you looking to test
something specifically or determine an
outcome or are
you interested in
coming up with
possible explanations or descriptions?
2. Kinds of data collected—are you looking at
quantitative outcomes (test scores, scales,
etc.) or observational/descriptive data
(you are the
primary collection tool)?
3. Methods
of data collection—are you
using an experimental
set up or
a more naturalistic approach; is
the process more objective or subjective?
4. Analysis of the data—are you applying statistical procedures or
using inductive reasoning?
|
Quantitatif
|
Qualitatif
|
|
numerical data
|
Qualitative
|
|
deductive model
|
inductive model
|
|
large, random sample
|
small, purposeful sample
|
|
Generalizable
|
not generalizable
|
|
outcome oriented
|
process oriented
|
SUBCAMPS OF QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
While specific types of quantitative and
qualitative research methodologies will be discussed in more detail later, it is useful to
provide an overview of
the types of studies that
fit into these
paradigms now. We
think this will
help solidify the similarities and differences between the
two major research models.
Quantitative categories. Common
quantitative designs include experimental, causal-comparative, correlational, and
survey or descriptive
designs (see Figure 1-4).
An experimental design
is used when
you want to
test a particular variable. Using
our previous examples,
if you want
to see whether
inquiry-type learning produces different achievement results than direct
instruction, you would use an experimental design. The variable
being tested is the type of
instructional methodology (independent variable) and the outcome being measured (dependent variable) is achievement.
Experimental designs allow for manipulation of independent variables and make
cause/effect conclusions possible by examining data that comes from dependent
variables. In actuality, in most educational research studies that we will do,
we will be
using a quasi-experimental design
rather than a true
experimental design. This is because we cannot randomly select our students. We
generally work with
the sample we
have the easiest
access to, and
this is not usually randomly assigned.
• Experimental
design – testing a particular variable
• Causal-Comparative (Ex post facto) –
testing a variable but researcher cannot
control the independent variable
• Correlational study – determining
relationships between variables
• Descriptive quantitative study –
gathering information to clarify characteristics of a group
• Survey research – relying on answers to
questions
When
you cannot control
or manipulate variables
but want to
see the effect
a variable may
have, you typically
are doing causal-comparative research,
also known as ex post facto research. For example, you want to determine
if reading daily to preschoolers
(independent variable) affects
their reading readiness
in kindergarten (dependent variable).
You cannot (and
should not) determine
which preschoolers get read
to, so you
compare two intact
kindergarten groups—those that
had been read to with those that had not. It is similar to an experimental
design in that groups are being compared to determine an outcome (the
differences in the dependent
variable); but dissimilar
in that the
experimenter does not
control the independent variable
(the factor being changed).
13
Quantitative categories. Common
quantitative designs include experimental, causal-comparative, correlational, and
survey or descriptive
designs (see Figure 1-4).
An experimental design
is used when
you want to
test a particular variable. Using
our previous examples,
if you want
to see whether
inquiry-type learning produces different achievement results than direct
instruction, you would use an experimental design. The variable
being tested is the type of instructional
methodology (independent variable) and the outcome being measured (dependent variable) is achievement.
Experimental designs allow for manipulation of independent variables and make
cause/effect conclusions possible by examining data that comes from dependent
variables. In actuality, in most educational research studies that we will do,
we will be
using a quasi-experimental design
rather than a true
experimental design. This is because we cannot randomly select our students. We
generally work with
the sample we
have the easiest
access to, and
this is not usually randomly assigned.
• Experimental design – testing a
particular variable
• Causal-Comparative (Ex post facto) –
testing a variable but
researcher cannot control the independent variable
• Correlational study – determining
relationships between variables
• Descriptive quantitative study –
gathering information to clarify
characteristics of a group
• Survey research – relying on answers to
questions
When
you cannot control
or manipulate variables
but want to
see the effect
a variable may
have, you typically
are doing causal-comparative research,
also known as ex post facto research. For example, you want to determine
if reading daily to preschoolers
(independent variable) affects
their reading readiness
in kindergarten (dependent variable).
You cannot (and
should not) determine
which preschoolers get read
to, so you
compare two intact
kindergarten groups those that
had been read to with those that had not. It is similar to an experimental
design in that groups are being compared to determine an outcome (the
differences in the dependent
variable); but dissimilar
in that the
experimenter does not
control the independent variable
(the factor being changed).
A
correlational study is used when you want to determine if a relationship
exists between two or
more variables. Is
there a relationship
between socio-economic status and
performance on open-ended
mathematics tasks? Is there
a relationship between homework
completion rate and
chapter test scores?
These are not cause/effect studies, but help to
determine the degree of a relationship that exists between/among variables. It
may be enough for your study’s purposes to understand that two
variables behave in
the same (as
one increases, the
other increases) or opposite
ways (one increases
while one decreases)
but often the
results of correlational studies
help in the design of further experimental studies.
Descriptive
quantitative studies gather
information about a
group so that
it is easier to
understand the nature
of the group.
The purpose of
the study is
not to compare groups or to
understand the impact of an intervention, but simply to have a clearer picture
of the characteristics of a group. As an example, you might want to track
changes in your school district’s yearly expenditures over time to understand changing
funding sources. In this case you are asking a descriptive question about the
group being studied and not comparing groups.
A form
of descriptive research
is survey research.
As the name
suggests, survey research relies on answers to questions. Unlike
qualitative descriptions, the data collected in this type of design are
quantitative. Those in the sample respond to
provided statements such
as “choose from
the following” or
“rate on a
scale from one to five.” Typical data collection instruments include
tests and questionnaires; pencil and
paper forms that
the respondents can
complete on their
own (or via
telemarketers).
Qualitative
categories. Qualitative research can be categorized in a myriad of ways, but
the main types
typically are grounded
theory, ethnography, case study, phenomenology, and historical
research. (See Figure 1-5) In a grounded theory
approach, the purpose
is to collect
and analyze data
with the intent
of coming up with
a theory that
explains the research
situation. It is
considered “grounded”
because it develops
out of—or is
grounded in—collected data.
You would use this approach when
existing theories do not apply to your situation or context and when
studying new phenomena. You are basically trying to understand a research
situation; that is, what is happening and how those involved feel about it. As
an example, you
may be interested
in understanding why
conflict exists between
parents of children in special
education programs and school
officials or how to
best integrate the
use of interactive
white boards in
a classroom. For grounded
theory, the data
collection and analysis
process is an
iterative cycle of collecting information, identifying
commonalities in the data, and verifying those commonalities, narrowing
the key components
as you repeat
the cycle. The outcome is a potential theory that
explains the relationship.
• Grounded theory – generating a theory
to understand a problem/situation
• Ethnography – examines the “culture” of
a group
• Case study – detailed account of an
individual or group
• Phenomenology – looking at something
through the eyes of those being observed
• Historical Research – understand events
that have already occurred
Another
common qualitative approach
is an ethnography.
In an ethnography, you are interested in studying
the “culture” of a group. You might examine how a group is formed, how the
members interact, and what type of interactions occur. You might be interested
in looking at “skateboarding culture” or behaviors of teachers in a teachers’
lounge. One of our colleagues studied a group of graffiti artists to get a
deeper understanding and insight into that subculture (Christen, 2003).
A case study is considered by some to
be a subset of ethnography. Others consider it a separate type of qualitative
design. As its name implies, a case study is an indepth examination of one or
more special “cases.” A case can be a specific person or a
small group. It
is similar to
an ethnography, but
has a more
defined/limited focus. One of
our students was
doing her practicum
in a grade
school that was gradually
implementing a new
mathematics curriculum. Teachers
were given the option
of when and
how they wanted
to start using
the newly adopted,
student-centered program as
long as everyone
had it fully
adopted by the
end of three years. Our student chose a small group
of teachers to study, which included early adopters, resisters,
and some fence
straddlers. She examined
how they felt
about the change, about mathematics in general, and about student
learning. She hoped to understand why there was such a difference in attitude
and behavior concerning the
implementation of this new type of curriculum.
Phenomenology is
looking at something
(the phenomenon) through
the eyes of a subject group. That
something might be an event or an interaction; the focus is on understanding
the perspectives of those you are studying. You attempt to find the “commonalities of
their perceptions” (Slavin,
2006, p. 147).
Phenomenology applies a social
constructivist viewpoint to
the research process.
You might be interested in studying student
teacher/mentor teacher interactions or how students deal with the loss of a
classroom pet.
Historical research is used to help us
understand events that have already occurred. We worked with a teacher who had
started the school year in a new district. The physical design of her school
building was very different from any she had worked in or seen. Her research
question was why the school was designed as it was. She undertook a historical
research project, examining school board minutes, looking
at
architectural plans, speaking
with members on
the school building/planning committee, to gain an
understanding of the reasons for the physical configuration of the
building.
As with
anything, these subcategories
of quantitative and
qualitative research are not
exhaustive. There are other distinctions and subcategories within subcate-gories.
These are just the more common approaches you’re likely to encounter or pursue
yourself.
MIXED
METHODS
As mentioned earlier, sometimes a research study
uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. You may not be
interested in just what teachers’ attitudes are
toward state-mandated curricula
(which can be
measured using a
scaled instrument) but also
why they feel
that way (answered
by having them
answer some open-ended or interview questions). You might want to know
what methods neighboring districts use to identify talented and gifted students
and how teachers feel about those methods. You may want to examine if and how
student achievement. scores are affected
by switching to
PowerPoint presentations and
what students think about
your use of
that type of
medium. Using a
mixture of qualitative
and quantitative methods in
one study is
perfectly acceptable, and
in some cases, necessary. Your
question dictates the
methodology or methodologies
you should use! (You’ve heard
that before.)
In a study
that uses mixed
methods, the methods
can be used
sequentially or simultaneously
(see Figure 1-6). For example, you might initially administer a quantitative questionnaire
to gain information
on students’ attitudes
toward a specific content area. You would then use
those results to help identify a sample of students with a range of attitudes
from positive to negative to interview for a deeper insight into the
whys of these
attitudes. This is
referred to as
an explanatory design:
the quantitative portion precedes the qualitative data collection.
Conversely, you might follow an
exploratory design, carrying out qualitative methods prior to quantitative methods.
You might interview a sample of students first to determine their attitudes toward
a subject and the factors that affect that attitude. After analyzing the data
to determine pertinent themes and patterns, you would use those findings to
design a quantitative questionnaire that could be administered to a larger
group of students.
At times
your question might
require that you
collect both types
of data simultaneously or
concurrently. You might
be integrating technology
into your instruction and
you want to
determine if (a)
this change in
methodology will impact quantitative
student achievement and
(b) whether students’
behaviors in class are affected
by the implementation of technology. You would use a quantitative design for
the former and a qualitative design for the latter and be conducting both
at the same time. This is referred to as a
triangulated design.
In these
types of mixed-methods
studies, you actually
have a twopronged
or compound research question.
One part of the question
would be answered
using quantitative methods and the other using qualitative means. You
could design the study as if
you are doing
two studies, using
both types of
methods and data analysis, but base your conclusions on
the two sets of findings.
Explanatory
Quantitative precedes Qualitative
Exploratory
Qualitative precedes Quantitative
Triangulated
Quantitative occurs along with Qualitative
ACTION
RESEARCH
There is one other main “body of research.” It is
action research. Action research can be qualitative or quantitative or use
mixed methods. It follows the same planning and guidelines as other types of
research. What sets it apart, is that action research is generally undertaken
by individuals for their own, personal purpose as opposed to educational
researchers in college,
universities or think
tanks. Teachers and school administrators look at a problem
in their own classroom/school/district to be able to gather information and
make an informed “action plan.” The purpose is generally to improve one’s
teaching or address a specific, local concern. Is the new tardy policy
working? Is implementing
judicious discipline in
my history class helping
students learn more
deeply about democratic
principles? Is using
the student response system a more effective way of formative assessment
than using non-technological means? Action
research is not
undertaken to have
the findings apply to any situation
except the one that is studied.
Mills
(2007) categorizes action research into two main types: practical action research
and participatory action research. Practical action research is research that
addresses specific questions in a classroom, school, or district. The purpose is to
improve teaching and
learning or provide
necessary information to
help in decision making.
Participatory action research differs from practical action research in that it
involves a group of people focusing on the same problem (e.g., teachers, administrators,
board members). This group of stakeholders collectively formulates the research
problem, which leads to this type of action research also being dubbed collaborative
action research. Additionally, participation action research attempts to “improve
social practice by
changing it” (McTaggart,
1989, Tenet 1).
It is an iterative
process of planning,
implementing, observing the
effects of the
implementation, reflecting on the effects, and revising the action
plan.
While there are entire books written just on action
research (e.g., Mills, 2007), the
basic research guidelines
needed in conducting
such a project
parallel those outlined in this
text. Depending on your question, you would follow the guidelines for conducting
a qualitative, quantitative
or mixed methods
study. Once you
are done with your data analysis, action research requires that you take
one additional step. The implications section would be your action plan. Now
that you have studied
the issue, what do you propose be done in response
to the problem?
A main drawback
to conducting action
research is that
the researcher is an inherent part
of the process,
making it harder
to maintain objectivity.
The major advantage is action
research focuses on self-reflection; and, because you are studying something that
is relevant to
your immediate professional
practice, it is
easy to keep focused
on and enthused
about the research
question. You will
be taking a systematic and critical look at an issue
that will ultimately improve your effectiveness as a professional. Those of you
who will be examining your own teaching practices or classroom policies may be
conducting a study very similar to action research.
NEXT STEPS
Now that you are armed with a basic understanding
of why you should know how research is conducted, why you should learn about
designing and conducting your own
research project, and
the basic schools
of research methodologies, the
next logical step is to begin thinking about your own research project.
It’s time to start drawing on the
empowerment that you
will get from
becoming an educational researcher.
CHAPTER
SELF-CHECK
Having completed this chapter, you should be
comfortable discussing the following:
− the
importance of educational research
− what it
takes to be an educational researcher
− the
typical format of an educational research paper
− a
comparison of qualitative and quantitative paradigms
− the
description of the following quantitative methodologies: experimental design,
causal-comparative, correlational, survey,
descriptive
− the
description of the following qualitative methodologies: grounded theory, ethno-
graphy, case study, phenomenology, historical
research
− mixed
methods research
− what
constitutes action research
CHAPTER REVIEW
QUESTIONS
1. What is the purpose of educational research?
2. Why
is it important
that you understand
the basics of
conducting educational research?
3. How is a typical research paper organized? What
is included in each chapter?
4. What are the major differences between
qualitative and quantitative research?
5. The
text describes five
main types of
quantitative research. What
are these? Provide a brief
description of each.
6. The text also describes five main types of qualitative
research. What are these? Provide a brief description of each.
7. Is
it possible to
mix qualitative and
quantitative methodologies in the same research study? Why or why not?
8. Compare and contrast action research with
qualitative and quantitative schools of research.
REFERENCES
Bodgan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (2006).
Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theory
and methods (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Borko,
H., Liston, D.,
& Whitcomb, J.
A. (2007). Genres
of empirical research
in teacher education.
Journal of Teacher Education, 58(1), 3–11.
Christen,
R. S. (2003).
Hip hop learning:
Graffiti as an
educator of urban
teenagers. Educational
Foundations, 17(4), 57–82.
Erickson, F. (1986). Qualitative methods in
research on teaching. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of
research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 119–161). New
York: Macmillan.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of
multiple intelligences. New York: Basic.
Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed. Multiple
intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Basic
Books.
McTaggart, R., (1989). 16 tenets of participatory
action research. A paper presented at the Third World
Encounter on Participatory Research, Managua,
Nicaragua. Retrieved from http://www.caledonia.org.
uk/par.htm
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