Qouzi CLass 600
The Process of Conducting Research
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You should be able to: ■ Define and describe the importance of educational
research ■ Describe the six steps in the process of research ■ Identify the characteristics of quantitative and
qualitative research in the six steps ■ Identify the type of research designs associated with
quantitative and qualitative research ■ Discuss important ethical issues in conducting
research ■ Recognize skills needed to design and conduct
research
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What Is Research?
■ The researcher poses a question. ■ The researcher collects data to answer
the question. ■ The researcher presents an answer to
the question.
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Importance of Research ■ Reason 1: Research adds to our
knowledge. ■ Addresses gaps in knowledge ■ Expands knowledge ■ Replicates knowledge ■ Adds voices of individuals to knowledge
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Importance of Research (cont’d)
■ Reason 2: Research helps improve practice. ■ Educators gain new ideas for their job. ■ Educators gain new insights into approaches. ■ Educators can connect with other educators.
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Importance of Research (cont’d)
■ Reason 3: Research helps inform policy debates. ■ Research allows people to weigh different
perspectives on issues. ■ Research enables people to make informed
decisions regarding policy.
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Problems with Research Today ■ Contradictory or vague findings ■ Questionable data ■ Unclear statements about the intent
of the study ■ Lack of full disclosure of the data
collection procedure ■ Inarticulate rendering of the
research problem
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The Process of Research Identify the
Research Problem
Review the Literature
Report and
Evaluate Research
Specify a Research Purpose
Collect Data
Analyze and Interpret
Data
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The Process of Research: Identify the Research Problem
■ Specify a problem ■ Justify a problem ■ Suggest a need to study the problem for
audiences
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The Process of Research: Review the Literature
■ Locate resources ■ Books ■ Journals ■ Electronic resources
■ Choose resources to include in the review
■ Summarize the literature in a written report
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The Process of Research: Specify a Research Purpose
■ Identify the purpose statement ■ The major intent of the study ■ The participants in the study ■ The site of the study
■ Narrow the purpose statement to research questions
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The Research Process: Collect Data
■ Determine the data collection method ■ Select the individuals to study ■ Obtain permissions ■ Design data collection instruments and
outline data collection procedures ■ Gather data
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The Research Process: Analyze and Interpret Data
■ Take the data apart to look at individual responses
■ Represent the data in tables, figures, and pictures
■ Explain conclusions from the data that address the research questions
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The Research Process: Report and Evaluate Research
■ Report research ■ Determine the audience for the report ■ Structure the report ■ Write the report sensitively and accurately
■ Evaluate research ■ Assess the quality of research using recognized
standards in a discipline ■ Standards can come from the academic
community, school districts, or federal or state agencies
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RESEARCH PROCESS
Research Problem
Research Questions
Literature Review
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Research Designs
Quantitative Designs -Experimental -Correlational -Survey
Combined Designs -Mixed methods -Action research
Qualitative Designs -Grounded theory -Ethnography -Narrative
Sampling Instruments Data Analysis Interpretation
Discussion, Conclusions, Limitations, Future Research
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The Major Characteristics of Quantitative Research ■ Describe a research problem through trends and
relationships ■ Provide a major role for the literature to suggest
questions and justify the research problem ■ Create purpose statements, research questions,
and hypotheses that are specific, narrow, measureable, and observable
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The Major Characteristics of Quantitative Research (cont’d) ■ Collect numeric data from a large number of
people using instruments ■ Analyze data for trends, group comparisons, and
relationships among variables ■ Write the research report using standard, fixed
structures and an objective, unbiased approach
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The Major Characteristics of Qualitative Research ■ Explore a problem through obtaining a
detailed understanding of a central phenomenon
■ Have the literature justify the problem and play a minor role
■ State the purpose and research questions in a general, open-ended way
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The Major Characteristics of Qualitative Research (cont’d)
■ Collect data from a small number of participants
■ Analyze the data using text analysis to obtain detailed descriptions and themes
■ Write the research report using flexible and emerging structures and incorporating the researchers’ subjective reflexivity and bias
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Similarities Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research
■ Both forms of research follow the six steps in the process of research
■ Both forms of research have introductions that establish the importance of the research problem
■ Both forms of research use interviews and observations
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Differences Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research
■ Quantitative data collection is more closed-ended; qualitative data collection is more open-ended
■ Quantitative data analysis is based on statistics; qualitative data analysis is based on text or image analysis
■ Quantitative reporting has a set structure; qualitative data reporting is more flexible
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Factors in Deciding to Use Quantitative or Qualitative Research
■ Match type of research to your research problem
■ Fit type of research to your audiences ■ Relate type of research to your
experiences and training
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Quantitative Designs and Uses
Experimental Research
Correlational Research
Survey Research
Explaining whether an intervention influences an outcome for one group as opposed to another group
Associating or relating variables in a predictable pattern for one group of individuals
Describing trends for the population of people
Intervention Research
Nonintervention Research
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Qualitative Designs and Uses
Ethnographic Research
Grounded Theory Research
Narrative Research
Exploring the shared culture of a group
Exploring common experiences of individuals to develop a theory
Exploring individual stories to describe the lives of people
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Combined Designs and Uses
Mixed Methods Research
Action Research
Combining quantitative and qualitative data to understand and explain a research problem better
Using quantitative and qualitative data for individuals to study problems that they face in their setting
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Important Ethical Issues in Conducting Research
■ Learn about the procedures involved in applying for approval from your campus institutional review board
■ Recognize guidelines from professional associations
■ Use ethical practices throughout research ■ Use respectful data collection procedures ■ Show respect to audiences who read and use
research study information
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Skills Needed for Research ■ Curiosity to solve puzzles ■ Long attention spans ■ Library and computer resource skills ■ Writing and editing skills