Basic Elements in Educational Research (Lecture 2)

Basic Elements in Educational Research

By KHO CHUNG WEI

In this topic, you will:

TSLB3143

Fundamentals of Research in Education

• ​Identify educational issues that are researchable

• Discuss the background of the study of your interest

• Write statement of the problem in the study of your interest

• Formuiate the research objectives, research questions, and research hypotheses for the study of your interest

• ​Determine the scope of the study

• ​State possible limitations of the study

• ​Discuss the significance of the study

• ​Define operational terms

Multiple Choice

As an individual researcher, are you able to conduct a survey on the effect of gamification in primary ESL classrooms on student motivation and their English language achievement in Sarawak?

• Definitely, a YES!

• Of course, a big fat NO!

Open Ended

How can you make the survey more manageable?

Scope of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

= the boundaries within which your research project will be performed

• ​define all aspects that will be considered in your research project

• ​make clear what aspects will not be covered; i.e. what is outside of the scope of the study

• make clear why specific data points have been collected whilst others have been excluded​

• must be clear on the research parameters that you will and won’t consider​ - usually consist of the sample size, the duration, inclusion and exclusion criteria, the methodology and any geographical or monetary constraints

• ​help to reduce the research problem to a manageable size

• aka "Delimitations" (=the action of fixing the boundary of something)

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Scope of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

Examples

• ​Two of Rutter and Maughan's (2002) last three recommendations, testing for a dose response gradient and controlling for social selection, initial level, and self-perpetuating effects, were also attended to within this study. The last recommendation, explicitly testing the hypothesized mechanism against some competing explanations, was beyond the scope of this study, although the implications of not testing cornpeting explanations are addressed in the discussion. ​

• See Early (2023, pp. 8-9).

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Limitations of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

= potential weaknesses or problems with the study identified by the researcher

• cannot be controlled by the researcher​ (possible roadblock)

• enumerated one by one

• often relate to inadequate measures of variables, loss or lack of participants, small sample sizes, length of study, errors in measurement, and other factors typically related to data collection and analysis

• useful to other potential researchers who may choose to conduct a similar or replication study​

• provides a useful bridge for recommending future studies

• ​help readers judge to what extent the findings can or cannot be generalized to other people and situations

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Limitations of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

Multiple Choice

Is "scope of the study" the same as "limitations of the study"?

• Yes

• No

Limitations of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

Limitations of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

​See Early (2023, pp. 68-69)

Significance of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

= a written statement that explains why your research was needed

• ​justification of the importance of your work

• impact it has on your research field

• contribution to new knowledge

• how others will benefit from it

​Strategies

1. ​Use your research problem as a starting point.

2. ​State how your research will contribute to the literature in the field.

3. ​Explain how your research will benefit the society.

4. ​Mention the specific persons or institutions who will benefit from your study.

5. Indicate how your study may help future studies in the field.

Significance of the study

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

​​See Early (2023, pp. 6-7)

Operational Definitions

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

= the specification of how you will define and measure the variables in your study

• a single variable could be defined in many different ways

• ​DO NOT take the definition from the dictionary

• ​DO NOT come up with your own definition

Strategies

1. ​Use the definitions published by other authors and the measures used by these authors

2. ​Look for "Definition of Terms" in published studies

3. ​Examine the definitions in handbooks

4. ​If a clear applied definition suitable for finding a measure is not available, you will need to construct your own definition and consult experts in the field.

Open Ended

Define "trust".

Operational Definitions

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

​See Early (2023, pp. 9-10)

Task

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Fundamentals of Research in Education

​Read the 3 research articles under this topic. Locate the following information from each article:

• scope of the study

• limitations of the study

• significance of the study

• operational definitions of terms

Sometimes, these elements may not be stated explicitly in a separate paragraph/section in an article.