Reading research & The Language of Research Informing and Critiquing University of Winchester Y3 Dissertation 2013 (2) KP 1.

Reading research & The Language of Research

Informing and Critiquing

University of Winchester Y3 Dissertation 2013 (2) KP

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Follow up – questions about the Dissertation

• Can I carry out research abroad? - International Opportunities

• What if I want to undertake a summer camp?

• What if I have plans for the summer?

Learning Intentions• To consider the research of others,

including discussion of issues of reliability and validity.

• Reading critically

• Managing the literature in your subject; strategies of searching and storing literature, and sources of information.

• Exploring the language of research.


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What is the point of reading research?

What is the point of research?What is the point of publishing that

research?


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Reading research- making judgements and developing

views

• To critique – not be critical

• Developing a critical stance

• Being open

• Considering a range of views and possibilities


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Developing a critical stance in our reading to support writing.

o Adopt a questioning approach about the focus, context, investigation and findings of the research.

o When reading multiple researchers on a similar topic, the task is also to see where there may be unanswered questions that could be raised.

o If there are differences or disagreements between researchers, we need to identify how these may be accounted for.


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Reading research and making judgements

What questions should I ask about the research?

• What is the standpoint of the researcher?• What is the context of the research

question?• What assumptions underlie the research

question?• For what audience/readership is the

research meant?


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Reading research and making judgements

It is important, when discussing research, to consider the work on its own terms.

Consider the claims it makes the standpoint of the researcher

It is not appropriate to criticise the research of others for not doing something which it did not claim to do.

If you wish to raise further questions about research that you have read, it is legitimate to do so, provided your questions logically extend the argument/ evidence base that is presented.


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What research approaches were used? How did the researcher(s) collect their data? How does this approach to data collection

determine the range of possible findings? How do their findings compare with those of

others?


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What conclusions do they draw from their findings?

What accounts for the similarities and differences between their findings or conclusions and those of other researchers?


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University of Winchester Y3

Dissertation 2013 (2) KP

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Adapted from an article by Khwaja, C. (2000) Trainee teachers and science education research. Science Teacher Education, 29, November pp13-15


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Adapted from an article by Khwaja, C. (2000) Trainee teachers and science education research. Science Teacher Education, 29, November pp13-15

Why? – consider other reading / published research

Why? – consider your own observations and experiences from school. Strengthen with published research

Make a list – link your ideas to any theories or literature that may help you to research and analyse further

Why would this help to improve the research? Evidence from other work?

Study Skills to Support your Reading• Note-making – some pointers to successful note-

making:• Identify your purpose• Decide on the most appropriate note-making style• Scan the section to be read• Establish the writer’s purpose• Work out the author’s ‘take’ or stance on the subject

and how this relates to your purpose.• Jot down ideas that occur to you as you read• Make links between the text and others (if any)• Paraphrase rather than transcribe.• See Study Skills tutors for advice. • McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2011) The Study Skills Book. Harlow: Pearson


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When making notes• Keep them safe and keep them!

• Use white space

• Make notes memorable.

• Think as you write

• Develop your own shorthand

• Use photocopies

• Avoid copying – unless making “direct quotes”.


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McMillan, K. and Weyers, J. (2011) The Study Skills Book. Harlow: Pearson

THE LANGUAGE OF RESEARCH

• Methodology

• Methods

• Approaches

University of Winchester Y3 Dissertation (1)2012 KP

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

• About the philosophy, concepts and ideas that inform the research.

• The philosophical or conceptual stance taken by the researcher will influence

• Linked to the approach to the research and

• The methods by which data is collected


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Research language

• Paradigm – often called a “worldview”

• Ontology – the search for reality – what is known to exist and be

• Epistemology – the search for “true” and “valid” knowledge

The nature of researchTo prove or not to prove!!

• Positivist - A belief that things events and people interact and link logically and logical conclusions can be determined through our study of this. Based on the scientific principles of objectivity and generating theory through measurement.

• Interpretivist: A belief that the way we see the world, or our beliefs, affect how we interpret our research field and items within it.


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The nature of researchTo prove or not to prove!!

• Relativist is opposed to the belief that certain rules based on rational criteria can be applied to judge the quality of theories. The stance of relativism implies that judgement is principally dependent on the values of the individuals or the society and perspectives from which they make their judgements.

• Constructivist: how the world is socially constructed by those involved in it. Learning is seen as a process. Underpinned by an interpretivist approach.


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QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE?


20Henning, J.E. (2009) Using action research to improve instruction Abingdon: Routledge.

The nature of researchPositivist research is usually…Positivist research is usually…

(Quantitative)(Quantitative)InterpretavistInterpretavist//critical realistcritical realist research is usually…research is usually…

(Qualitative)(Qualitative)

Large scaleLarge scale Small scale Small scale (often case study)(often case study)

Quantifiable and experimentalQuantifiable and experimental Not quantifiable or Not quantifiable or experimentalexperimental

Aims to be objectiveAims to be objective Comfortable with subjectivityComfortable with subjectivity

Searching for generalisable Searching for generalisable resultsresults

Seeks to understand personal Seeks to understand personal realitiesrealities

Employs quantitative Employs quantitative proceduresprocedures

Employs qualitative Employs qualitative proceduresprocedures(can be in the form of action research)(can be in the form of action research)


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Research methods – collecting Research methods – collecting data:data:

About what people do or changes in what people do:

observational methodsStructured (charts, tick sheets, timed schedules)Free-flow (video)

case studiesIncluding observation, other approaches

Documentary analysis (e.g. of children’s work)


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Research methods – collecting data:Research methods – collecting data:

• About what people thinkInterviews (structured/semi-structured)

Concept maps

Writing frames

Questionnaires

• About what people believe– Narratives & stories– Personal construct analysis– Depth interviews


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Objectivity and SubjectivityObjectivity and Subjectivity

What do you consider to be an objective account?

What about a subjective account?


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‘Objectivity’ - based on the assumption that the presence of the researcher and the act of researching have no effect on the outcome of the research. This may be the case in some sorts of research. In researching ideas, attitudes, social behaviours and other behaviours in social contexts, it is unlikely that the research can be ‘outside’ the event.


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Even where the research context allows for non-interference with behaviours observed, the researcher chooses to pay attention to some aspects of what is happening and not other aspects. That choice involves subjective judgement.


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Some research approaches, such as surveys, may look more ‘objective’ because the researcher is remote from the respondent.

BUT • the researcher decided on the questions,

and their wording.• findings are based on returns – which

may mean that many possible respondents did not do so (the usual rate of response is 25-40%).


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Qualitative ResearchJudging qualitative research:Qualitative researchers attempt to make

sense of their observations. They are not looking for ‘objective’ descriptions of ‘reality’.

Qualitative research gathers data about events systematically, although typically using different methods from quantitative studies. It seeks to interpret those data, using frameworks of understanding.


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The Ethics of ResearchThe Ethics of Research• Vulnerable groups• Informed Consent• Right to Withdraw

• BERA • http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1t9gr/BERAEthicalGuideline/resou

rces/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.yudu.com%25252Fitem%25252Fdetails%25252F375952%25252FBERA-Ethical-Guidelines-2011


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http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1t9gr/BERAEthicalGuideline/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.yudu.com%25252Fitem%25252Fdetails%25252F375952%25252FBERA-Ethical-Guidelines-2011




Validity, Reliability and Generalisability

• Three terms commonly used in research

• They have specific meanings and you need to be careful how or if you use them!


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• Validity: The term derives originally from the Latin for “truth”, and was applied originally in judging research claims as an estimate of how closely reports and analyses could be said to represent “reality”:


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…the extent to which an account accurately represents the phenomena to which it refers. […] There are many educational researchers who reject this concept as inapplicable to the assessment of their work (because) it implies the possession of knowledge that is absolutely certain, proven beyond all possible doubt; yet knowledge can never be certain in this sense (Hammersley et al.: 1993: 26).


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Validity: tests of validity are concerned with the relationship between theoretical concepts and indicator variables. The validity of a technique, or a piece of research is the degree to which it ‘measures’ what it claims to be measuring.

Avoid use of the terms ‘valid’ or ‘validity’ when writing about research unless you are using them in their technical sense.


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Reliability: a measure of the consistency of either the coding process, or the degree to which an instrument (such as a test) always gets the same results from similar populations.


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Generalisability:

The degree to which findings from one research event / observation can be assumed to predict outcomes from other research events.

The degree to which outcomes from a sample can be said to be representative of a whole population


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On the whole, we should only apply measures of validity, reliability, generalisability to large scale researches, and those in which the significance of the outcomes are tested by statistical analysis.

Statistical testing allows us to compare outcomes from the research event with what would have happened if there had been no intervention (the Null hypothesis).


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Credibility of Research• Trusting the researcher

• Expertise

• The choice of methods are appropriate and justified. Decisions are made upon informed choices relevant to the context in which the research is undertaken.

Triangulation

• The use of two or more methods in data collection.

• A means of supporting [verifying] the data collection.

• Data derived from one method is supported by at least one other method.


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Limitations to research- Limitations to research- intervention effectintervention effect

• Undertaking the research itself can influence the data collected.

• The Hawthorne Effect: The effect to which participation in the research itself may have an effect on the way in which the respondents act/ participate / reply.


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Research approaches in Education

• Survey

• Experimental

• Case study

• Action research

• Documentary research

• Ethnographic research

• Phenomenological research

• Grounded theory research


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Small Scale Research Small Scale Research

• Approaches are selected because they are appropriate for specific types of investigation and specific types of problems.

• ‘Strategic’ decisions aim at putting the social researcher in the best possible position to gain the best outcome from the research.

• In good research the choices are (a) reasonable and (b) made explicit as part of any research report.

• *Denscombe, M. (2007) The Good Research Guide for small scale social research projects. 3rd edition. Maidenhead: OUP


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Action ResearchAction Research• Carried out by teachers or other professional practitioners

themselves in order to improve their own practice or the practice of others through the creation of knowledge for action.

• It is highly contextualised in the world of work.• Commitment to critical and analytical enquiry• The ability to implement, monitor, evaluate and reflect upon

what you find.• On-going, formative, proactive and evolutionary process.

Sharp, J. (2009) Success with your Education Research Project. Exeter: Learning Matters


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Any Questions?Any Questions?


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Bibliography

• Cohen, L., Bell, R., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2011) 7th edition Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge (* 6th edition available as e-book)

• Newby, P. (2010) Research Methods for Education. Harlow: Longman

• Sharp, J. (2009) Success with your Education Research Project. Exeter: Learning Matters

• Walliman, N. (2011) 3rd edition Your Research Project. London: Sage.

Reading research & The Language of Research Informing and Critiquing University of Winchester Y3 Dissertation 2013 (2) KP 1.

Documents

kpreading research

point of research

research question

research approaches

point of reading research

kpwhat questions

judgementswhat questions

unanswered questions