MIDTERM

• Hundreds of researchers conduct research on teaching and learning
• Educational research is a growing field and educational researchers are becoming better trained
• One purpose of this course is to assist students in acquiring a general understanding of research processes and to help them develop the perspective of a researcher
• Experience


  Fundamental means to understanding
• Experience


  • Touch a hot stove and learn that heat hurts
  • Learn quickest driving route through living in a city for an extended time
• Authority


  Trusted source
• Authority


  • A parent, teacher, newspaper, or other source informs
  • An experienced cab driver tells you the quickest route through a city
• Reasoning


  Thinking-using logical thought to draw conclusions
• Inductive Reasoning


  Developing generalizations based on observation of a limited number of related events or experiences
• Inductive Reasoning


  • An instructor reviews research methods texts and notices sampling content in each text and concludes that all research methods texts have sampling
  • A teacher knows several student-athletes who are good students and concludes that all student-athletes are good students
• Deductive Reasoning


  Arriving at a specific conclusions based on general principles, observations, or experiences
• Deductive Reasoning


  • All research textbooks contain a chapter on sampling. The book you are reading is a research text and therefore must contain a sampling chapter
  • All student-athletes are good students. Mary is a student-athlete and therefore she must be a good student
• Inductive, deductive, authority, and experience are all limited and subject to error. Instead, as researchers, we rely on the Scientific Method
• Steps of the Scientific Method

  1. Recognition and identification of a problem

  2. Formulation of hypothesis

  3. Data collection

  4. Data analysis

  5. Statement of conclusions

  6. Confirm or disconfirm hypothesis
• Hypothesis


  An explanation for the occurrence of certain behaviors, or phenomena
• The scientific method cannot answer all questions, especially those of a philosophical or ethical nature
• Application of the scientific method can never capture the full richness of the context
• Measurement error is limitation of the scientific method
• Research


  Formal systematic application of the scientific method to the study of problems
• Educational Research


  Formal, systematic application of the scientific method of the study of the educational problems
• The goal of the educational research is to describe, explain, predict, and control situations involving human beings
• There are many challenges faced when conducting educational research. Many of those relate to control
• Problem


  A question of interest that can be tested, or the question answered through the collection and analysis of data
• Researchers generally use a review of the existing literature to generate hypotheses related to their question
• Research procedures


  Activities related to collecting data about the problem
• Data analysis


  Analyzing data such that the researcher can test the hypothesis or answer the research question
• Data analysis often includes statistical techniques
• Data analysis may include synthesis of narrative data
• Data analysis may generate new questions and new hypothesis for further exploration
• Conclusions


  Based upon analyses of data and stated in terms of the original hypothesis or research question
• For those studies that include synthesis of verbal data, conclusions may be more tentative
• Educational research is often broadly categorized as qualitative or quantitative
• Both quantitative and qualitative researchers collect and analyze data
• Both quantitative and qualitative researchers derive conclusions and interpretation
• Research on language must be defined by four parameters: approaches, objectives, research design, and data collection/ analysis
• Approaches


  How the language research is viewed, either from a general or specific perspective
• Approaches in Research


  • Qualitative Approach
  • Quantitative Approach
  • Mixed Methods
• Objectives


  The purpose of the research, either hypothesis-generating or hypothesis-testing
• Research objectives describe what your research is trying to achieve and explain why you are pursuing it
• Research objectives


  • To assess the relationship between sedentary habits and muscle atrophy among the participants
  • To determine the impact of dietary factors, particularly protein consumption, on the muscular health of the participants
  • To determine the effect of physical activity on the participants' muscular health