The Process of Conducting Educational Research
* Definition of Research and Research Process
* Steps in the Process of Research
* Characteristics of Quantitative and Qualitative Research
* Types of Research Designs
* Skills Needed in Designing and Conducting Research
2. THE MATHEMATICIAN’S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank You for all the blessings You gave unto us.
Add joy to the world;
Subtract evil from our lives,
Multiply the good things for us.
Divide the gifts and share them to others.
Convert badness to goodness.
Help us raise our needs to You.
Extract the roots of immoralities
and perform our different functions in life.
Tell us all that life is as easy as math.
Help us all to solve our problems.
These we ask in Jesus’ name,
the Greatest Mathematician who ever lived on earth,
Amen!
4. INTENDED LEARNING
OUTCOMES
• Define and describe the importance of
educational research
• Describe the steps in the process of
research
• Identify the characteristics of quantitative
and qualitative research
• Identify types of research designs
associated with quantitative and
qualitative research
• Recognize skills needed to design and
conduct research
8. RESEARCH
Research is the process of discovering new
knowledge.
Research is a systematic search for
knowledge through method of study,
observation, comparison and experiment.
9. RESEARCH
Research is a process of systematic
inquiry that entails collection of data;
documentation of critical information; and
analysis and interpretation of that
data/information, in accordance with
suitable methodologies set by specific
professional fields and academic
disciplines.
(Hampshire College https://www.hampshire.edu/dof/what-is-research)
10. RESEARCH
Research is a systematic inquiry to
describe, explain, predict, and control the
observed phenomenon. It involves
inductive and deductive methods.
American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie
11. RESEARCH
Research is a process of steps used to
collect and analyze information to
increase our understanding of a topic or
issue.
John W. Creswell
13. PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
1. Exploratory
problem that has not yet been clearly defined
aims to gain a better understanding
2. Descriptive
expands knowledge of a research problem by
describing its characteristics
focuses on the ‘how’ and ‘what’, but not on the ‘why’
3. Explanatory
is conducted to determine how variables
interact
deals with the ‘why’ of research questions
and is therefore often based on experiments
15. RESEARCH PROCESS
“Scientific method” of inquiry
(Kerlinger, 1972; Leedy & Ormrod, 2001)
• Identify a problem that defines the
goal of research.
• Make a prediction that, if confirmed,
resolves the problem.
• Gather data relevant to this prediction.
• Analyze and interpret the data to see if
it supports the prediction and resolves
the question that initiated the research.
17. STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS
• Define the Research Problem
• Review of Literature
• Formulate hypothesis
• Prepare the research design
• Collect data
• Analyze the gathered information
• Interpret the results and present the final report
18. STEP 1:
Define the Research Problem
• Most important step in research
“A problem well-defined is half-
solved.”
• Selecting a research topic
• Specifying a problem
needs, issues, controversies
• Justifying the study
providing evidence about the
importance of the study
• Suggesting the need to study it for
audiences
• Establish research objectives
19. Establish Research Objectives
• “If you do not know what you are looking
for, you won’t find it.”
• In establishing research objectives, the
researcher must answer the following
questions:
i. What specific information should the
project provide?
ii. If more than one type of information will be
developed from the study, which is the most
important?
iii. What are the priorities?
21. STEP 3:
Formulate Hypothesis
• Assumptions are drawn to test its logical
or empirical consequences
• Hypothesis is guiding force of a
researcher.
• Hypothesis should be very specific and
limited to the piece of research in hand
because it must be tested.
• The role of the hypothesis is to guide the
researcher by delimiting the area of
research and to keep him on the right
track.
22. STEP 4:
Prepare the Research Design
• Outline or a conceptual structure
• Collection of relevant evidence
• There are a number of alternative
research designs. The choice will
largely depend on the
research purpose.
RESEARCH
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
EXPLORATORY
(Focus Group;
Observation)
QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
DESCRIPTIVE
(Survey Research)
CAUSAL
(Laboratory
Experiment; Field
Experiment)
23. STEP 5:
Collecting Data
• Selecting individuals to study
• Obtaining permissions
• Determining the methods of accessing data
• Primary information
telephone / mobile phone interview
mail
online / personal interview (Quantitative)
observation studies / focus groups
(Qualitative)
• Secondary information
internet
Library
• Design data collection forms (e.g.,
questionnaires, observation study forms)
24. STEP 6:
Analyze Data
• requires several closely related operations
such as establishment of categories
• includes coding, editing, tabulation, and
conducting various statistical tests
• involves drawing conclusions about the
data
• explaining the conclusions in words to
provide answers to the research
questions
25. STEP 7:
Interpretation and Report
Writing
• The researcher must submit a written
report and often make an oral
presentation.
• Writing of report includes:
the preliminary pages
the main text
the end matter
28. Quantitative Research Characteristics
• Describing a research problem through a description
of trends or a need for an explanation of the
relationship among variables
• Providing a major role for the literature through
suggesting the research questions to be asked and
justifying the research problem and creating a need
for the direction (purpose statement and research
questions or hypotheses) of the study
29. Quantitative Research Characteristics
• Creating purpose statements, research questions, and
hypotheses that are specific, narrow, measurable, and
observable
• Collecting numeric data from a large number of
people using instruments with preset questions and
responses
30. Quantitative Research Characteristics
• Analyzing trends, comparing groups, or relating
variables using statistical analysis, and interpreting
results by comparing them with prior predictions and
past research
• Writing the research report using standard, fixed
structures and evaluation criteria, and taking an
objective, unbiased approach
31. Qualitative Research
Characteristics
• Exploring a problem and developing
a detailed understanding of a
central phenomenon
• Having the literature review play a
minor role but justify the problem
• Stating the purpose and research
questions in a general and broad
way so as to the participants’
experiences
32. Qualitative Research
Characteristics
• Collecting data based on words
from a small number of individuals
so that the participants’ views are
obtained
• Analyzing the data for description
and themes using text analysis and
interpreting the larger meaning of
the findings
34. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Research Problem
• is used to direct the types
of questions or
hypotheses asked in the
study.
Research Problem
• is typically used to
establish the importance
of the central idea.
35. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Use more closed-ended
approaches in which the
researcher identifies set response
categories (e.g., strongly agree,
strongly disagree, and so forth),
Qualitative approaches use more
open-ended approaches in
which the inquirer asks general
questions of participants, and the
participants shape the response
possibilities (e.g., in an interview
with a teacher, a qualitative
researcher might ask: What does
professional development mean
to you?)
36. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
The investigator relies on
statistical analysis
(mathematical analysis)
of the data, which is
typically in numeric form.
Statistics are not used to
analyze the data; instead,
the inquirer analyzes
words (e.g.,
transcriptions from
interviews) or images
(e.g., photographs)
37. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Structure
• introduction, literature
review, methods, results,
and conclusion sections
Structure
• Some of these sections may be missing
(e.g., the literature review in the Shelden
et al., 2010 study)
• The format may be more of a literary
opening with a personal vignette or
passage, an unfolding story, the use of
extensive quotes from participants, and
personal reflections from the researcher.