1. PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
DESCRIBE
EXPLAIN
INFER
PREDICT

2. GENERALITY TO SPECIFICITY IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
PATTERNS
POSITIVIST
SPECIFIC: UNIQUE
INTERPRETIVE

3. DEGREES OF INTERVENTION
HIGH
HIGH INTERVENTION
MEDIUM
INTERVENTION
LOW
Experiment,
action research,
case study
LOW INTERVENTION
Ethnography
survey, tests,
case study

4. PROOF
DIAGNOSIS
MEASUREMENT
EVALUATION
INFERENCE
INTERVENTION
EXPLANATION
PORTRAYAL
DESCRIPTION

5. QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
APPROACHES APPROACHES
Numbers/statistics Words/illuminative
Pre-determined Open-ended/responsive
Measuring Portraying
Patterns/regularities Uniqueness
Comparing Portraying
Describing Explaining/interpreting
Objective facts Subjective perceptions
Outsider looking in Insider looking within
Structured Unstructured/semi-structured
Value-neutral Value-laden

6. Instruments
for collecting
data
Specific
research
questions
Constraints,
time frames,
sequence
Aims,
purposes,
focuses
Ethical
issues
RESEARCH
DESIGN
Piloting
Sampling
Methodology
Politics
Reliability
and
validity