RESEARCH METHODS IN

EDUCATION
LECTURER: DR. BERNARD YAW SEKYI ACQUAH

PREPARED BY MR. PETER ANTI PARTEY

THE NATURE OF
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
-Unit one
 MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

• The term research can be used in two sense, i.e. (a)the layman’s sense and
(b) the scholarly sense.
• The layman sees research as looking up for facts and writing them down.
• Scholars see research as more than fact finding.
• To scholars research entails identification of a problem, collection of data,
organization of data, analysis and interpretation of the result obtained.
 MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Cont’d.
• Research is also seen as a systematic investigation to increase knowledge
and understanding of a phenomenon.
• Research is the search for answer(s) to an unsolved and perplexing
question(s) using the scientific approach.
• Educational research is the formal and systematic application of the
scientific method to the study of educational problems (Eg.motivation of
teachers and students, effective teaching and learning etc.)
 CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

• Research begins with a question, an issue or problem in the mind of the

researcher.
• Research requires a plan (a proposal).
• Research demands a clear statement of the problem.
• Research deals with the main problem through sub-problems.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH Cont’d

• Research seeks direction through hypothesis or questions.

• Research deals with facts and their meanings.
• Research is circular
 The value of educational research

The value or role of research in education are to:

• Add to knowledge to educational issues.
• Improve practice
• Inform policy makers on important policies in their policy formulation.
• Build students’ research skills
 Research adds to knowledge

• Research in education requires addressing problems or issues in education

with the view of finding solutions to them.

• Research adds to our knowledge by addressing the gaps in knowledge,

expanding the knowledge, replicating the knowledge and adding voices of
individual to the knowledge.
 Research improves practice
• Research suggests improvement for practice through scientific inquiry that
recommends ways of improving on a current status.

• Research brings to light new ideas.

• Research helps practitioners to evaluate approaches that will work in any

environment. E.g.: teaching method- discussion or lecture method.
 Research informs important policy issues
• Research guides the formulation of policy. Policy issue are broad frame work
within which things must be done. An example is the medium of instruction
at the first three grades (i.e., class 1-3).

• Research leads to the modification of existing policy. An example is the

results from the Centre for Research Improving Quality in Primary Education
in Ghana (CRIQPEG) at UCC recommended the borrowing of text books to
students to the house which in time past was not so.
 Research builds student research skills

• The process of research helps individuals to develop conceptual, writing,

organizing and presenting skills.

• The skills acquired in research helps students in academic writing and also
helps them to evaluate research works effectively.
 Types of educational research

• Using purpose as the criterion, educational research can be classified into

five types
1. Basic research
2. Applied research
3. Evaluation research
4. Research and development and
5. Action research.
 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Irrespective of the purpose of research, the methods employed helps us to

classify educational research into two (2)
• Experimental research and
• Non0experimental research
 Types of educational research Cont’d
• Experimental research involves determining the causal relationship
between two or more variables or phenomena by direct manipulation of
factors that influence the variables or phenomena.

• Experimental research calls for the control of other variables that can affect
the outcome of the manipulation.

• The two main characteristics of experimental research are * manipulation

and * control.
 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Non-experimental research describes and predicts phenomena without

manipulation factors that influence the phenomenon. It is not useful in
describing cause- and -effect relationships.

• Non-experimental research take the form of descriptive survey,

correlational research, causal comparative research and case studies.
 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Apart from the classification using purpose and method, educational

research is also classified as ;
• Quantitative and
• Qualitative.
 Types of educational research Cont’d
• Quantitative research emphasizes numbers, measurement, experiment and
numerical relationships and descriptions.

• Quantitative research is based on the positivist philosophy of how new knowledge

are generated. The positivists holds that there are facts with objective reality that
can be expressed numerically. Hence emphasize on measurement.

• Quantitative research involves measurement of variables, assessing the

relationship or impact of variables, testing hypothesis and applying results to a
large number of people.
 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Qualitative research on the other hand focuses on understanding and meaning

through verbal narratives and observation rather than numbers.

• Qualitative research is based on phenomenological model. The models are based

on the perceptions of the subject of study.

• Qualitative research takes place in naturally occurring situations.

 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Basic Research (pure research):

this research is designed to contribute to
theory development and refinement .

• The main purpose is to gain understanding of an underlying process

involved in, say, learning, schooling and other educational phenomena.

• For instance a study to understand how human beings remember what they
learn can be termed as basic research.
 Types of educational research Cont’d

• Applied research: a research conducted to solve practical educational

problems.
• It is conducted for the purpose of applying theory and evaluating its
usefulness in solving educational problems.
 Types of educational research Cont’d
• Evaluation research: this type of research involves decision-making
regarding the relative worth or effectiveness of two or more alternative
action.

• The purpose of evaluation research is collecting and analysing data in order

to make certain decisions.

• For instance evaluation research can be conducted to determine whether a

programme is worth its costs or has achieved its objectives.
 Types of educational research Cont’d
• Researchand development: this type of research is directed at the
development of effective products that can be used in schools.

• Themain purpose of research and development is to develop effective

products for use in schools.

• Such materials may include teacher training materials, instructional

materials, learning materials, media materials and school management
materials. The development of such materials constitute the research.
 Types of educational research Cont’d
• Action research : this research concerns itself with the immediate solution
to a problem.
•
• It is a type of applied research.

• The purpose of action research is to solve classroom problems or local

school problems through the application of scientific method. Action
research deals with local problems and it is conducted in local setting
 Variables in educational research

•A variable is a concept or characteristics that contains variation. The

variation can be described numerically or categorically.
• Examples of variables described numerically include:
- achievements /performance, intelligence, aptitude, attitude and behavior.
• Examples of variables described categorically include:
- socio-economic status (SES),cognitive style, gender (male, female) and
methods of instruction and leadership style.
 Types of variables

• There are several variables in educational research. These include:

a. Independent and dependent variables.
b. Extraneous or confounding variables.
c. Categorical and continuous variables.
 Independent and dependent variables
• An independent variable is a variable that makes a difference on a
dependent variable. It is also known as the experimental variable.

• Inexperimental research, it is the independent variable that is

manipulated by the experimenter.

• Example, if a researcher wants to determine the effect of using the

teaching aids on students’ mathematical achievement, then the
independent variable is teaching aids.
 Independent and dependent variables
Cont’d
• A dependent variable on the other hand, is characteristics that measures the
influence of the independent variable. It is also referred as the effect
criterion variable or post –test.

• The dependent variable is referred to as the dependent variable because it

“dependent” on the independent variable.
 Extraneous and Confounding variables

• An extraneous variable is a variable unknown to the researcher but affect

the outcome of the independent variable. They tend to control or impact
the effect of an independent variable.

• A confounding variable is a type of extraneous variable that affect the

outcome of an independent variable systematically.
 Categorical and Continuous variable
• Categorical variables assign a person or an object to a group using specific
characteristics or properties. They can be said to be group variables.

• Some categorical variables are dichotomous while others are not.

Dichotomous categorical variables include gender (male, female),
dead/alive, high/low,pass/fail.

• Other categorical variables include occupation, religious denomination etc.

• Categorical variables are measured on nominal scales.
 Categorical and Continuous variable
Cont’d

• Continuous variables are variables that take infinite number of values within
a given range of scores.

• Examples of continuous variables are weight, height, etc.

• Continuous variables are usually measured on interval or ratio scales.

 Scales of measurement

• Basically, there are four scales of measurement. These are:

1. Nominal or categorical measures
2. Ordinal level measures
3. Interval level measures
4. Ratio scale measurement
 Nominal Scale
 numbers are assigned to distinguish individuals in terms of the
attribute measured

 Individuals are placed in mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories

 those to which we assign the same number are the same or similar in
respect of the particular variable and those which are assigned
different numbers fall into different categories of the variable

 Nominal scale is the simplest of all measurement scales.

 Nominal or Categorical measures
cont’d

• Mutual exclusivity means that each observation (person, case, score) cannot
fall into more than one category. E.g. one cannot be a Male or Female or Fail
or Pass an exam at the same time.

• Exhaustiveness means that the category system should have enough

categories to cover for all the observations. “other” is sometimes used to
meet this requirement.
 Ordinal Measurement

• This scale measures magnitude of categories E.g. income

brackets, social class, levels of education etc.
• However, we cannot measure the distance between categories, but
determine only which is higher or lower.
• Hence, we cannot say that someone is twice as educated as
someone else.
• Can also be used as a dependent variable.

• Distances between attributes are meaningless

•.
 Ordinal level measures Con’d

• By rank ordering the performance data like this: E= 1; D= 2; D plus = 3; C =4 ;

C plus = 5 ; B = 6; B plus= 7; A = 8.
• Nb: the data was collected using the ordinal level measurement.
 Interval level measurement

• This scale measures variables that provide a scale or index that allows us to
measure between levels.
• Distance is measured between points on a scale with even units.
• Good example is temperature based on Fahrenheit or Celsius.
• When distance between attributes has meaning, for example, temperature
(in Fahrenheit) -- distance from 30-40 is same as distance from 70-80
• Note that ratios don’t make any sense -- 80 degrees is not twice as hot as 40
degrees (although the attribute values are).
• This is because it has no absolute zero
 Ratio Scale measurement
• Ratio scale differ from interval scales in that they have a
potential absolute zero value. For example, measures of
length, time, and number of correct answers on a test are all
ratio measurements.

• Having an absolute zero means that, for example, someone

who gets 4 questions right on a test has twice as many rights
as someone who gets 2 rights and four times as many as the
person gets zero.
 Choosing and stating a research topic

• The following factors are ways that motivate one to choose a research topic;
1. Is this an area of study about which I have sufficient previous knowledge and
understanding?
2. Will I be able to maintain my enthusiasm for this project throughout the research
period?
3. Will I be able to get consent to conduct this research?
4. Will it be possible to obtain an appropriate sample?
Choosing and stating a research topic Cont’d

5. How much will it cost?

6. Will I have the time needed for this research?
7. Will the support I need be availble?
8. Am I able to manage the required methodology?
9. Am I working within a time limit?
10.Will my research provide new information?
 Sources of research problem

• Experience
• Theory
• Literature review.