Science Involves Arguing From Methodologically Sound

Education Research as a Science? EDPS 533 Aman Yadav

Today’s Agenda ✏ In-house

maintenance ✏ Small Group Discussion ✏ Whole Class Discussion ✏ Aman’s Take on Things ✏ Assignment: Initial Research Problem

Some Terms ✏ Quantitative

Research: surveys, test

scores ✏ Qualitative Research: interviews, field observations, document reviews ✏ Random Sample versus Random Assignment

More Terms ✏ Replication

✏ Generalization

Discussion Questions ✏ ✏

✏ ✏

What makes educational research so difficult? How can we tell proper from improper uses of research methods? In your group come up with 1 example of each. What is the role of research methodology in education research? What does it mean to conduct “scientific” research?

Debating the two sides ✏

Education research as a science? ✏

✏

✏

Does education research has to be scientific? Why or why not?

Why is it important for educators to rely on research as a way of knowing or understanding? What are the limitations of such reliance? Discuss what you think is good and what you think is bad about the “No Child Left Behind” act in terms of education research.

Why is education research difficult?

✏ The

power of context.

✏ The

interaction factor.

✏ Education

research involves humans who are interconnected via social network.

Education Research as a Science or not? ✏

So what’s the big deal? ✏

Why does the research has to be “scientific”? ✏ It

provides a “set of norms and practices, ethos of honesty, openness, and continuous reflection.” Feurer,et. Al 2002 ✏ Allows others in the field to critically examine the research methods use. ✏ Allows for replication of research methods. ✏ Allows for generalizations.

“Hardest Science of All” -

Berliner,

2002

✏

Education research is too soft.

✏

Instead of “hard versus soft sciences” maybe it is more of “hard versus easy sciences”.

✏

“Education hardest science of them all” (Berliner, 2002)

Scientific Research in Education

✏ Recently

emphasis on “scientific research” and “evidence-based practices”.

✏ This

view of research is a narrow view of education research.

Source: Mayer, 2000

Quantitative & Qualitative Research

✏ “In

short, science involves arguing from methodologically sound data, but science is agnostic on the issue of whether the data need to be quantitative or qualitative.” (Mayer, 2000, p. 39)

So what does it mean to do scientific research? ✏ Pose

significant questions that can be investigated empirically, ✏ Link research to relevant theory, ✏ Use methods that permit direct investigation of the questions, ✏ Provide a coherent and explicit chain of reasoning, ✏ Yield findings that replicate and generalize across studies, and ✏ Disclose research data and methods to enable and encourage professional scrutiny and critique.

Assignment ✏ Initial

Research Problem

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