ESM 641�RESEARCH METHODS IN EDUCATION

Chapter 3 & 4

Video B

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Dr Kim Teng Siang

kskim2007@gmail.com

h/p: 0124661131

3. Theory and Literature Review

Importance of Theories in Research

• Without some viable theory to serve as a guide, many studies address trivial questions or contribute nothing to the slow accumulation of knowledge needed for advancement of a science of education

What is a Theory?

• a large body of interconnected propositions about how some portion of the social world operates (Kidder, 1980).
• statements that explain and predict phenomena.

Examples

• According to Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura; the observer will imitate the model's behaviour if the model possesses characteristics such as talent, intelligence, power, good looks, or popularity, that the observer finds attractive or desirable.
•  According to the Theory of Meaningful Learning by David Ausubel, learning takes place when the learner subsumes (to include) new information with old information or one’s cognitive structure.
• According to B.F. Skinner’s Theory of Reinforcement, a learner will repeat performance of a task if he or she is reinforced with a system of rewards or punishment.

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If All these Theories are true

• Then we can PREDICT that :

when a student connects new information with old information, is reinforced through a system of rewards and reproduce a modelled behaviour if it brings pleasure.

Ausubel’s

Skinner’s

Bandura’s

CONFIRMING OR DISCONFIRMING �A THEORY

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• Another example: Motivation Theory by Mc Clelland , pg 4-5

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Theory

Hypothesis

Observation

Conclusion

Where to get all these Theories and Info?

• Read, read, read !!!
• Literature Review

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WHAT IS THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE?

• Until you know what others have done in your area and what has not been done, you cannot convincingly carry out research that will contribute to furthering knowledge in your field. Thus, the literature in any field forms the foundation upon which all future work must be built. If you fail to build this foundation of knowledge provided by the review of literature, you work is likely to be shallow and naive, and will often duplicate that has already been done better by someone else.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE

• it gives an understanding of previous work that has been done (seminal works in the field).
• to familiarises you with the personalities doing research in the field and to demonstrate that you can access such works
• delimiting (set boundary) the research problem
• insight into the approaches and methodologies adopted by different researchers.
• Recommendations for further research which indicates whether you are on the right track in studying something that has not been explored before.

STEPS IN DEVELOPING A LITERATURE REVIEW

• Pg. 8-10
• Step 1: Select a Research Topic
• topic of current interest
• well-researched area
• Narrow your topic
• Write about what interests you

Step 2: Collect and Read the Relevant Articles

• Do a preliminary search
• Search for helpful articles
• Find readable articles
• Read, Read, Read
• Read the easier articles first
• Identify (1) the problem statement,
• (2) the research questions or hypotheses,
• (3) method used,
• (4) the findings, and
• (5) how the findings were interpreted.
• Use Note Card / computer softwares

Step 3: Write the Review

• Introduce your research questions
• Briefly outline the organisation of the paper
• Describe, compare and evaluate studies in terms of the:

- research assumptions of theories

- hypotheses stated

- research designs used

- variables selected (IV & DV)

• Researcher speculations about future studies
• Discuss implications of studies
• Avoid plagiarism- Give due recognition

COMMON WEAKNESSES

• mere description of various studies without making an effort to show how the studies are related to the main aim of your study
• a mere listing of the studies without an attempt to show how each study is similar or different
• Poor citations
• Hurriedly reviews the literature and relies too heavily upon secondary sources.
• have not read the original works but instead have taken someone's work and cited it
• Articles or reports that are included are not critically evaluated

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SOURCES

• Secondary Sources – text books, compilations

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• Primary Sources - a direct description of events by a person who actually conducted the investigation, articles, reports

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Where to search?

• Pg 12-13
• Index and abstracts – ERIC, CIE, Proquest, E-library
• Handbooks
• Encyclopedias
• Research Reviews
• theses and dissertations –not published.

EVALUATING RESEARCH ARTICLES

• Figure 2: pg 14
• The Five Step Procedure of Evaluating an Article
• Step 1: Read the Abstract
• Step 2: Read the Introduction
• Step 3: Read the Methods Section
• Step 4: Read the Results or Analysis Section
• Step 5: Read the Discussion section

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SAMPLE Literature Review

• Writing a Short Literature Review

by William Ashton (10.2)

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From reviewing 3 related articles to writing short review for each article and then to writing the Literature Review portion of his proposal

4. Experimental Method (1)

Your situation

• You want to find out the way to improve or to solve the problem of low performance in your class
• You think of a program (or intervention) to solve this
• How to test? – Do an Experiment

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• a research method used to determine the effectiveness of a particular action or treatment (intervention) on a single or groups of organisms

How to know is there an Effect or change in learning?

• Change of behaviors Before and After the intervention or experiment

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• How to know the effect or change?
• Use pre and post tests to measure

Is the Effect only due to the intervention?

• No, there are many outside interference

- extraneous variables

Fig. 4.1, pg 4

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- Will they affect the actual result of the experiment?

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PostTEST

(science test)

PreTEST

(science test)

TREATMENT / Intervention

(Teaching using analogies)

Extraneous variable Y

(Classroom condition)

Extraneous

variable X

(teacher factors)

Extraneous variable Z

(Student factors)

Internal Validity

• An experiment is valid if it shows the actual result of the intervention

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• Validity = measure what it actually measure

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Extraneous Variables are�Threats to internal validity of an Experimental Research

a) Time Interval (Fig. 4.4, pg 9)

Time Interval

PreTest

PostTest

- History

- Maturation

- Instrumentation

- Testing

b) Other Threats to Interval Validity

• Mortality
• Selection Bias
• Regression to the Mean

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3. Subject-Experimenter Effects

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All these threats need to be controlled (or cancelled)

in an experiment

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• How?

a. By having a control group in the design

Experimental Group

Experimental Group

Control Group

Control Group

Intervention

(Treatment)

Pretest

Posttest

Effect

Intervention

+ Extraneous factors

None from Intervention

+ Extraneous factors

By comparing the effects between Experimental and Control groups, we can cancelled out the effects due to extraneous factors in the experiment

Same Extraneous Factors

b. Random Assignment To Enhance Internal Validity

Experimental Group

Experimental Group

Control Group

Control Group

Intervention

(Treatment)

Pretest

Posttest

Effect

Intervention

+ Extraneous factors

None from Intervention

+ Extraneous factors

By randomly assigned and having equivalent groups at the starting of the experiment, we ensure that both groups are the same before the intervention

b. Randomly assigned to Group

c. Ensure both groups are equivalent

c. ENSURING GROUPS ARE EQUIVALENT

A) Matching

B) Holding One or More Variables

Constant

C) Including an Extraneous Variable in

the Research Design

D) Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) –

statistical control

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HYPOTHESIS TESTING

• Research hypothesis normally is directional or stating an obvious relationship between 2 variables

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• In statistics we test the Null hypothesis not the research hypothesis (alternate hypothesis)

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• Why testing of null hypothesis is necessary?