Manual for doing an educational research
Информация - Педагогика
Другие материалы по предмету Педагогика
ed.
.Maximum variation sampling may work if a researcher wants to see how new curriculum or reforms are implemented. For this purpose he or she will need to collect data from all the possible cases, the more different they are the better. This sample can serve two purposes: to observe how the same proramme can be introduced on different levels and whether the idea of new reform can be cut in different situations.
.Stratified purposeful sampling usually includes cases on three levels: average, above average and below average. This kind of sampling will give more insight understanding of the phenomena.
.Homogeneous sampling totally different from the maximum variation sampling. For the homogeneous sampling a researcher has to choose very words cases in order to give a more detailed and deeper understanding of the case.
.Critical case sampling concentrates on one or two examples which are different from a common vision of the situation. However this kind of sampling happens mostly in sciences rather than in in education studies.
.Snowball and chain sampling happens when a researcher asks well-situated people to assist him or her cases to study. Finally a researcher may find many interesting cases to study but choose only some of them.
.Criterion sampling can involve only those participants who suit the research criteria.
.Theory-based or operational construct sampling can be done in order to prove some well-known or new theories of the real-world. For example a researcher wants to study whether Style leadership theory is true or not According to this theory a person goes through four stages during his or her work-experience and a manager has use different working methods at all these stages. In order to check it a researcher will need to select people from all these four stages and a manager.
.Confirming and disconfirming case sampling is usually done to check the validity of the previous study. It can be done in two ways: either to select cases which will confirm the previous study or find good candidates for opposite outcomes, i.e. disconfirm it.
.Purposeful random sampling. The idea of random sampling in qualitative research is different from the same in quantitative. The idea in qualitative study is not to generalize to the whole population, but again to show that the theorys idea is not wrong or biased.
.Sampling politically important cases can be used for the researchers purposes or funding agencies.
.Convenience sampling is usually used because of the availability of the cases. However this sample in better to be avoided, because it not very purposeful in comparison to the above discussed.
.Opportunistic sample is described by Patton as a different one. The idea of this sample is that the selection of participants is based on the previous studied. This way is very important in qualitative studies, because it helps to avoid collecting useless data. This sample is more flexible in comparison to the earlier described, because once a researcher decided whom he or she will involve in the extreme, purposeful random, critical or other sample, it is not recommended to change them, that is why opportunistic sample gives a researcher more chances to find interesting cases.sometimes in qualitative or quantitative study a researcher can face a problem that not so many people wish to be involved in the project. And they can give many reasons for this, such as lack of time, do not want to do something according to instructions, do not like the idea of the research or some other reasons. In this case a researcher can come to a conclusion that volunteers are needed. But it is always worth remembering that sometimes if volunteers are not old enough or because of other reasons, the researcher will need to get permission from parents or caretakers. And even if the volunteers are old enough they have to be informed about the study. Usually it can be done by putting a notice describing the idea of the research and also place and time of data collection process.
research study explanation
Tests in the educational research
Test can be one of the ways for data collection. In order to choose a good test, a researcher should remember that it hat to respond six main criteria:
.Objectivity.
.Standard conditions for administrating and scoring.
.Standards for interpretation.
.Fairness.
.Validity.
.Reliability.general it is possible to identify two kinds of tests: standardized and local constructed. Standardized tests are developed by the Ministry of education or other state institutions. These tests are usually clear and well written, provided by tables of norms and have a good scoring system. But as disadvantage people point out that it is impossible to have a test which will suit all students mental ability and will show the students real level of knowledge. The problem is that some students even if they are very smart, can experience lack of time, go deep into details while thinking of an answer and others. An alternative to it is a local constructed test. There tests are usually designed by teachers who want to measure students outcome of the topic or the course in general. The results of these tests can be much higher as a teacher knows the students, their learning style and can make a suitable test for them. But unfortunately these teachers are not aware enough of tests requirements as they are not taught it in the university. That is why it is not recommended to base a research study on the teachers designed tests.the data is collected through tests there are three possible ways of the measurement.
.Norm-referenced measurement or otherwise it is percent measurement. In this case a researcher or a teacher has to calculate the number of correct answers and transfer it into percent. This kind of measurement is usually used on the national levels when general students outcome needs to be checked. The disadvantage of this method is that it does not give information on students as individuals.
.Criterion-referenced measurement is based on the students result in comparison to the test criteria. This method can be used to grade the course as pass or fail.
.Individual-referenced measurement can show the students learning progress for the period of time. Here a teacher or researcher can see the difference between previous tests and a new one and make necessary conclusion.more and more tests are computerized. This fact made some changes in usual testing system. If it is a computer based test, the students usually can not look through the test and answer the question they know and then come back and think of other question, in some tests students also can not return to the previous page and change the answer; and on the other hand it saves time on checking the results, sometimes they are known immediately and reduces the scoring errors.is possible to identify in the educational research ten types of tests which can be combined into two groups: performance and personality measures.
Performance tests:
1.Intelligence tests are usually made to measure persons intellectual level. These kind of tests will include reading comprehension, vocabulary choice, solving of a mathematic tasks and others. The most common and word-know test is intelligence quotient or IQ test.
.Aptitude tests are designed to predict persons ability and skills in certain subjects or positions.
.Achievement tests are aimed at measurement of students progress or outcome in certain subjects or areas.
.Diagnostic tests are a form of achievement test, but concentrated mostly on students strengths and weaknesses.
Personality measures:
1.Personality inventories are aimed at self-evaluation of different personality traits. These tests require truth and diligence of the respondents otherwise the results can be wrong.
.Projective techniques reflect persons inner thoughts, assumptions and priorities by providing amorphous freedom.
.Measure of specific personality characteristics tests are designed if an individual wants to measure his or her skills or abilities in specific area or in general.
.Measures of self-concept tests usually combined with self-esteem measurement, when an individual measures the feelings and thoughts of himself.
.Measures of learning style and habits tests.
.Measure of vocational interests tests usually includes questions concerning individuals favorite books, movies, sport activities, hobbies and any kinds of interest.
Method of observation
Another method of data collection is observation. In some cases the most reliable method can be observation. A researcher can not always rely on peoples opinions, answers and self-evaluation, and in order to understand the real situation, it is better to come and see it with your own eyes. But before doing it, a researcher has to decide what his observational variables are. There are three kinds of them: descriptive, when a researcher describes every detail without any interpretation; inferential, can be used if a researcher wants to observe some process, such as explanation of new material, i.e. how a teacher behaves, voice, words and etc; and the last one is evaluative, the same approach as in inferential observation but then some evaluation must be done.order to make a good observation, several points of interested can be chosen, but physically a researcher can not concentrate on all of them, that is why four main stages of recording are identified: duration, the main question for this part is how long…; frequency-count, here attention needs to be paid or how often…; interval, the aim of this stage is i