Doing Educational Research By: T Doing Educational Research By: T. Noor Bani Melhim Lecturer in applied linguistics at Faculty of education, Zulfi.

What is research ? 1. Pose a question. Research: is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue. At a general level, research consists of three points: 1. Pose a question. 2. Collect data to answer the question. 3. Present an answer to the question.

Steps of research Identifying a Research Problem Reviewing the Literature Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses Collecting Quantitative/ qualitative Data Analyzing and Interpreting Quantitative / Qualitative Data Reporting and Evaluating Research

Problem Statement Research problems are the educational issues, controversies, or concerns that guide the need for conducting a study.

Some people get confused among toic research problem purpose and research questions…. here is an example to clarify

The statement of the problem includes : 1. The topic. 2. The research problem. 3. A justification of the importance of the problem. 4. The deficiencies in our existing knowledge about the problem. 5. The audiences that will benefit from a study of the problem.

Flow of ideas

Step 2: Reviewing the Literature A literature review is a written summary of journal articles, books, and other documents that describes the past and current state of information on the topic of your research study.

Example Maria needs to identify key terms to help her locate literature on weapon possession by high school students. After thinking about how she might get started, she writes down a working title, “Weapon Possession by High School Students.” She begins by going to the ERIC Website and enters the words weapon possession in the search terms procedure. She examines the articles identified in her search and feels that narrowing her search to high school students will provide more targeted references in the literature. She then uses the feature of searching within results and adds the additional term, high school students. She has now sufficiently narrowed her search and will closely examine the references in the literature that her search has yielded.

Step3: Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses The Purpose Statement: is a statement that advances the overall direction or focus for the study. For Example: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between use of Internet communication between teachers and parents in a Midwestern school district and student achievement on tests in high school social studies.

Research Questions Research questions are questions that narrow the purpose statement to specific questions that researchers seek to answer. Example: Do parent–teacher Internet communications affect student performance in the classroom? What types of Internet experiences do parents have with teachers about the performance of the parents’ children?

Hypotheses Hypotheses are statements in quantitative research in which the investigator makes a prediction about the outcome of a relationship among attributes or characteristics. Example: Students in high schools in the school district in which parents and teachers communicate through the Internet will have higher grades than students whose parents and teachers do not communicate through the Internet.

Research Objectives A research objective is a statement of intent used in a research that specifies goals that investigator plans to achieve in a study. Example: To describe the frequency of Internet communication between parents and teachers regarding the parents’ children in high school social studies classes

Step 4: Collecting Data Identify Your Unit of Analysis; e.g., individuals or schools etc…. Specify the Population and Sample; e.g., a specific classroom of students Locate or develop instrument/s; e.g., interview/ questionnaire… Gain access; e.g., get approval from MoE

Step5: Analyzing and Interpreting Collected Data Analyzing data requires understanding how to make sense of text and images so that you can form answers to your research questions.

Step 6: Reporting and Evaluating Research A research report is a completed study that reports an investigation or exploration of a problem; identifies questions to be addressed; and includes data collected, analyzed, and interpreted by the researcher.

Types of Research Reports Dissertations and Theses Dissertation and Thesis Proposals Journal Articles Conference Papers and Proposals Report for Policy Makers or School Personnel

References Creswell, J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide: For small scale research projects (4th ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Open University Press.

Thank you so much for your careful listening