Educational research and statistics

Research problem

What is a Research Problem?

• A research problem is exactly that—a problem that someone would like to research.

• A problem can be anything that a person finds unsatisfactory or unsettling

• A Difficulty of some sort, a state of affairs that needs to be Changed.

• In educational research, the research problem is typically posed as a question

Examples

• What goes on in an elementary school classroom during an average week?

• How can a principal improve faculty morale?

• At which age is it better to introduce phonics to children—age 5, age 6, or age 7?

Why define the Research Problem

• Defining your destination before beginning a journey.

• It determines,

– what you will do,

– how you will do it, and

– what you may achieve!

Selection

• Problem selection is the major part of the social inquiry. Most of the researchers find this aspect of conducting so difficult that it often consumes a large part of the total time allocated to a research project

CONT.

• you have to select something that you are interested in.

• Pick a manageable topic and narrow your focus.

• Pick a topic that you already have some knowledge about.

Problem selection criteria may be itemized as follows

• The problem must be significant in the sense that its solution should make a contribution to the body of knowledge in the field represented.

• The problem should be researchable one

• The problem should be in an area about which one has both knowledge and experience.

Cont.

• The problem must be in feasible in the circumstances in which the researcher finds himself.

• The problem must be one that can be investigated and completed within the stipulated time limit.

• The problem should be ethically appropriate

Sources

• A researcher needs to be familiar with three basic types of sources as he or she begins to search for information related to the research question.

• General references

• Primary sources

• Secondary sources

Types of sources

General references are the sources researchers often refer to first. In effect, they tell where to look to locate other sources—such as articles, monographs, books, and other documents—that deal directly with the research question. Most general references are either indexes, or abstracts,

CONT.

• Primary sources are publications in which researchers report the results of their studies. Most primary sources in education are journals, such as the Journal of Educational Research or the Journal of Research in Science Teaching.

CONT.

• Secondary sources refer to publications in which authors describe the work of others. The most common secondary sources in education are textbooks.

Some Other Sources of research problems

– Casual observation

– Deductions from theory

– Current social and political issues

– Practical situations

– Personal interests and experience

– Replication of previous studies

STATEMENT

• A "Problem Statement" is a description of a difficulty or lack that needs to be solved or at least researched to see whether a solution can be found.

• It can also be described as either a gap between the real and the desired

CONT.• the Problem Statement will also serve as the

basis for the introductory section of your final proposal

• A statement problem need not be long and windy

A problem is formulated in the form of a question;

• Usually a research problem is initially posed as a question, which serves as the focus of the researcher’s investigation

EXAMPLES

How do parents feel about the school counseling program?

How can a principal improve faculty morale?

EXAMPLES

What goes on in an elementary school classroom during an average week?

Do teachers behave differently toward students of different genders?

At which age is it better to introduce phonics to children—age 5, age 6, or age 7?

Characteristics of Good Research Questions

Once a research question has been formulated, researchers want to turn it into as good a question as possible. Good research questions possess four essential characteristics.

The question is feasible

The question is clear

The question is significant

The question is ethical

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The review is a careful examination of a body of literature pointing toward the answer to your research question

Your literature review will have two components:

A search through the literature

The writing of the review

Search through literature

• There are two ways to do literature search manually , using the traditional approach using print/paper tools to locate print/paper sources.

• Electronically , by means of computer. The most common and frequently used method , however is to search online, via computer

Writing the reviewThe literature review includes five parts1. The introduction briefly describes the nature of the

research problem and states the research question.2. The body of the review briefly reports what others

have found or thought about the research problem3. The summary of the review ties together the main

threads revealed in the literature reviewed and presents a composite picture of what is—and is not—known or thought to date.

4. Any conclusions the researcher feels are justified based on the state of knowledge revealed in the literature should be included.

5. A reference list (or bibliography) with full bibliographic data for all sources mentioned in the review is essential

PURPOSE OF LITERATURE SEARCH

It gives the researcher several ideas on how to select and formulate his own research problem

It helps the researcher identify studies that have been done related to the topic he is interested in.

It avoids possible duplication of similar studies

NEED OF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

It helps or guides the researcher in searching for or selecting a better research problem or topic

It helps the investigator understand his topic or research better.

Need

It gives direction to the researcher on how he will create his own conceptual framework

It allows the researcher to browse several kinds of research designs, sampling techniques , statistical procedures, questionnaires and processes of presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data , from where he could base his own choice for his paper.

Note taking• Note taking is something written down, often

in abbreviated form, as a record or reminder.

• It's not hard to open up a blank text document in WordPad (Windows)to keep a running set of notes during a computer search session. Just jump back and forth between the Web browser screen and the notepad screen.

Note taking

Why? - Keep track of information

How? – Use note cards or electronic files with unique numbers/letters for source information

What? – Include text, photos, music, Internet pages, etc. that support your research question and source information

Note taking

• Purpose of making and taking notes

Save time and effort in :

Having to look for the original text; or

Having to look through massive piles of notes just to get back the specific information that you need

ORGANIZING AND CITATION

the next steps involve organizing and citation

• The process of evaluating and organizing includes analyzing and categorizing the literature into major topics and sub topics there are many strategies of organizing the structure of a review a common one is to include summary table

Organize the materiala) Definitions of key constructs and measures

b) Defining research methods used in studies

c) Key studies characteristics and findings

Citation• What is citation?

A "citation" is the way you tell your readers that certain material in your work came from another source. It also gives your readers the information necessary to find that source again, including:

• information about the author

• the title of the work

• the name and location of the company that published your copy of the source

• the date your copy was published

• the page numbers of the material you are borrowing

Citing style and sources

• APA: American Psychological Association

• MLA: Modern Language Association

• Chicago Manual of Style

Citing tools

For citation it is necessary to select the appropriate reference tool Citation tools allow a user to organize and retrieve information, such as citations for books, articles, and Web sites, by interfacing with library databases. The citation tool then works with word-processing software to insert properly formatted footnotes or citations into a paper and create a properly formatted bibliography.

Cont.

Here is a list of the ones most commonly used tools

• RefWorks

• EndNote

• Zotero

• Mendeley

APA Style: The Social Sciences

• In most social science classes, you will be asked to use the APA system for documenting sources, which is set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: APA, 2010). APA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of references.

• An in-text citation gives the author of the source (often in a signal phrase), the year of publication, and at times a page number in parenthesis. At the end of the paper, a list of references provides publication information about the source

Reference Citations in Text

• n APA style, in-text citations are placed within sentences and paragraphs so that it is clear what information is being quoted or paraphrased and whose information is being cited. For example– The last name of the author and the year of

publication are inserted in the text at the appropriate point.

from theory on bounded rationality (Simon, 1945)

example

• if the name of the author or the date appear as part of the narrative, cite only missing information in parentheses.

Simon (1945) posited that

References

adedayo, a. (2003). selection and formulation of a research problem. ilorin journal of business and social sciences vo.l 8, no.1, , 145-150.

Boudah, D. J. (2011). Conducting Educational Research: Guide to Completing a Major Project.london: sage publications.

frankel, j. R., wallen, n. E., & hyun, h. h. how to design and evaluate research 8th edition.Mcgraw-hill.