NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

 NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

1.      Research; Meaning and Definition

2.      Scope and Need for Educational Research

3.      Characteristics of Educational Research

4.      Classification of Educational Research

5.      Functions of Educational Research

6.      Nature of Educational Research.

1. Research: Meaning and Definition

The term ‘Research’ consists of two words: Research = Re + Search

‘Re’ means again and again and ‘Search’ means to find out something, The research is a process of which a person observes the phenomena again and again and collects the data and on the basis of data he draws some conclusions. Research is oriented towards the discovery of relationship that exists among phenomena of the world in which we live.

Educational research refers to a systematic attempt to gain a better understanding of the educational process, generally with a view to improving it’s efficiency. It is an application of scientific methods to the study of educational problems. The purpose of educational research is progress and good life.

According to J.W. Best

“Educational Research is that activity which is directed towards development of a science of behavior in educational situations. The ultimate aim of such a science is to provide knowledge that will permit the educator to achieve his goals by the most effective methods’

According to Lazarsfeld and Sieber,

“By Educational research is meant here the whole of the efforts carried out by the public or private bodies in order to improve educational methods and educational activity in general, whether involving scientific research at a high level or more modest experiments concerning the school system and educational methods’

According to Monroe “The final purpose of educational research is to ascertain principle and develop procedures in the field of education”.

2. Scope Of Educational Research

The scope of a subject can usually be discussed under two heads:

1. The branches, topics and the subject matter it deals with

2. The limits of it’s operations and applications

The fields of educational research can be classified in terms of following content areas.

1.  Educational Psychology

2. Philosophy of Education

3.  Sociology of Education

4. Economics of Education

5. Educational Administration

6.  Comparative Education

7.  Curriculum construction and Textbooks

8. Educational Measurement and Test development

9.Teacher education and teaching behavior

10. Guidance and counselling

11 Educational Technology

.

1. Educational Psychology

Research in Educational Psychology has great significance for a teacher. The usefulness of various theories of learning for designing conditions that produce effective learning in school has been the central theme of researches in the recent years. Conditions conductive to effective learning, factors helpful in promoting memory and concept formation need attention by the researchers. Promising fields of research in Educational Psychology include. Cognitive, non-cognitive factors such as intelligence, aptitudes, creativity, attitudes, interest, motivation, personality traits, needs and adjustment of pupils various influences of home, neighbourhood, peer relationships and other social relationships that affect child development, growth and learning are worth investigating. The fundamental process of perception, learning and motivation and their applications, the exceptional children, the adolescent problems, achievement etc. should be studied.

 2. Philosophy of Education

Education is the dynamic side of philosophy. Unless based on the sound footing of a systematic philosophy, it’s theory and practice can never attain perfection. Promising field of research in philosophy of education include the following areas.

The aims of education, the motivation of learning the measurements it’s reslts, the construction of curriculum. A study of the utterances of Vyasa and Valmiki, Budha Sankaracharya, Swami Vivekananda, Sri. Aurobindo, Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, a philosophical analysis of the problems of idiscipline, unrest, strikes, disobedience of authority etc.

P.S. Naidu to has listed following area of philosophy of education in which research may be undertaken.

1.        Need for philosophy of Education

2.        Special features of Indian Philosophy

3.        Indian Philosophy and Indian Education

4.        Indian Philosophical thoughts

5.        The teacher, the learner, Teacher – learner inter relation and interaction

6.        Some Ancient Educational institutions

7.        The abiding elements in Indian philosophy of education

8.        Re-organization of Education to make it Indian on the basis of the exposition attempted so far.

3. Sociology of Education

With the increasing emphasis on sociological foundations of education, the interaction of the two disciplines of education and sociology is getting attention of Indian researchers more and more.

The important problems of research related to sociology of education include the study of population explosion and changes, demographic trends, the impact of political and social pressures on an educational system, educational aims, curriculum contents, methods and techniques in teaching-learning process, conductive to socio economic and politico cultural situations prevailing in the country from time to time.

The role and function of the school may be determined in the light of the needs of the specific community background. In the problem of delinquency, the study of social factors and cultural background of the community important. Problems relating to tribal cultures, rural community, community development, industrialization, urbanization crime and family should be investigated.

The problems like the teacher’s role as an agent of social change and modernization, teacher’s admissions and accademic achievement in schools need to be investigated on the priority basis.

4.   Economic and Education

Studies in Economics and Education include attitude studies and achievement test. Very few studies have been made in educational finance. Some researchers have recently studied the five – year plan allocations and their utilization. A recent study relates to unit institutional costs in Higher Education.

5. Educational Administration

            Much of the work in this area is more or less of survey type. It would be worthwhile to undertake research in the areas of Staff personnel administration, educational legislation, educational planning, school plant planning, school organization, business administration, evaluation of institutions, administrative theory and supervision. Researches may study the place and scope of collective bargaining in education, the impact of compulsory education laws, legal status of voluntary organizations in the administration and control of education.

6.  Comparative Education

            This includes analyzing the educational organization and administrative machinery of two or more countries. Problems like education and national development in terms of economic growth, educational control and reorganization of curriculum, the role of universities, social education, and so on may be subjects of purposeful research. The innovative ideas of work experiences in the country and granting autonomous status to some colleges etc need a comparative probe in to them. Odd has suggested that interstate study in grant in aid system and administrative patterns would be fruitful. It will be worthwhile to make a  comparative study of the procedures, problems of textbook production, the quality of textbooks production and teacher’s reaction to them.

7.  Curriculum construction and textbooks

            A school curriculum will be effective in so far as it is based on adequate knowledge  of how children grow and learn and of the needs of the modern society. The latter is a matter of public relations and the former of research. The research in curriculum needs to be focused on the following issues.

1.Testing experimentally all principles of curriculum construction

2.Curriculum in education that will produce better results in morals

3.To investigate into the sources of curriculum content

4. What is the bearing of psychology on the curriculum

5.What are the future needs of pupils as far as curriculum is concerned?

6.What should be the methods in curriculum making etc.

8.  Educational measurement and test development

            This includes the following areas like construction and standardization of achievement tests. Problems relating to pupil placement, diagnosis, remedial  programmes, norms, psychological tests, observational techniques, rating scales, groups tests of intelligence and aptitude, personality tests etc.

9. Teacher education and teaching behavior.

            Teacher education has received notable attention of educational researchers.These studies relate the areas historical development of teacher – education, curriculum and training programmes co-curriculum and practical work, assessment, evaluation, and prediction of teaching. Some studies have been concerned with attitudes of teachers and student teachers towards various parts of the pre-service and in service programmes. Personal, economic and socio economic conditions of teachers have also been studied.

10. Guidance and counselling

            The areas are, Vocational adjustment of Indian youth, vocational choice and Adjustment, long term manpower needs, future needs, the study of aptitudes, socio-economic status, interest patterns and other personality dimension, tests of intelligence, special aptitudes like art, science and music, special skills and scholastic aptitudes etc.

11.  Educational Technology

            The software approach, hardware approach and systems approached and their impact on the learning of students, programmed instruction, use of science and technology to improve the teaching learning process, communication and media, audio visual aids, teaching machines, projectors and computers are some areas which can be included in research studies. The relative benefits of face to face instruction and televised instruction in teaching of different subjects may be included in the field of research studies.

Priority Areas in Research

1.Education of Backward persons.

2. Free and compulsory education

3. Drop out rate

4. Equal opportunities.

5. Vocationalisation

6. Population Education

7. Education and handicapped

8. Universalisation

9.  Education of Talented persons

10.  Education for economic growth

11. Co-ordination of al agencies in Education

12. Organisation of school meals

13.  Follow up studies of old students

14.  Home work and study habits

15.  Student’s welfare schemes. Etc

3.GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

The following characteristics may be gathered from the definitions of ‘Research’

1. It gathers new knowledge or data from primary or first-hand sources.

2. It places emphasis upon the discovery of general principles.

3. It is an exact systematic and accurate investigation.

4. It uses certain valid data gathering devices.

5. It is logical and objective.

6. The researcher resists the temptation to seek only the data that support his hypotheses.

7. The researcher eliminates personal feelings and preferences.

8. It endeavors to organize data in quantitative terms.

9. Research is patient and unhurried activity.

10. The researcher is willing to follow his procedures to the conclusions that may be     unpopular and bring social disapproval.

11. Research is carefully recorded and reported.

12. Conclusions and generalizations are arrived at carefully and cautiously.

SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

The following are the main characteristics of research:

1. A sound philosophy of social studies as the basis of research

Robert R. Rusk observes. “In the application of scientific procedure to social studies a sound philosophyas well as a sound commonsense must be invoked to save the scientific procedure from itself.”

2. Research is based on insight and imagination

The same writer feels, “Social studies by its reliance on research must never fail to realize that in addition to its practical practitioner and skilled investigators, it stands in need of men and women of imaginative insight, who look beyond, he present and behold the vision splendid. If the vision should fade into the light of common day, not only will the people perish, but research itself will become a sterile futility.”

3. Research requires an inter-disciplinary approach

Research is not the mere description of elementary and isolated facts of nature. It must be related to the study of complex relationships of various facts. It requires an inter- disciplinary approach.

4. Research usually employs deductive reasoning process

Eric Hylla writes in the ‘Nature and Functions of Research’, the science of mind commonly uses methods of description, explanation, interpretation, sympathetic or intuitive understanding methods which are mainly speculative and deductive in character and which rarely furnish results that can be subjected to measurement or mathematical procedures.

5. Research should come out of a desire to do things better

Stephen M. Corey writes. “Better social studiesal means better development or formulation of instructional aims, better motivation of pupils, better teaching methods, better evaluation and better supervision and administration, these are ‘activities’ or ‘operations’.

6. Research is not as exact as research in physical science

No two human beings have ever been found to be alike. No scientific investigations of human behavior even those of socalled “identical twins” have resulted in the findings of individuals completely similar in structure or behaviour. “In the whole world there are probably no two things exactly alike similarly no two human beings are alike, they differ physically in size, weight, height, colour of eyes and hair texture of skin and in a thousand other details as well as in thousands of details of mental, social and spiritual life,” writes H.C. McKown. This fact stands in the way of making research as an exact science.

7. Research is not the field of the specialist only

W.C. Redford writes, “In sum, I believe the teachers in every country have the opportunity and the capacity to undertake some research. Such research, carried out in the day-to-day work of the school, should be concerned directly with the problems of that school. It can properly concern itself with such matters as child development, class organisation, teacher-pupil relationships, interaction with the community, curriculum matters, teaching techniques and many others.” Similarly, V.V. Kamat, in an article entitled “Can a teacher do research?” published in ‘Teaching’ making these remarks: “Any teacher with commonsense, intelligence and insight can undertake research in a problem. In the beginning such workers may require some guidance and training but this can be made easily available to them at the hands of experts.”

8. Research generally requires inexpensive material

In many social studies research studies we simply need subjects, i.e., children, their social studies tools of daily use, paper and pencil and a few tests.

9. Research is based on the subjectivity and intangibility of social phenomena

Lundberg has pointed out that the physical phenomena may be known directly through sense, whereas social phenomena are known only symbolically through words representing such phenomena as tradition, custom, attitude, values and the whole realm of so called subjective worlds.

10. Research is perhaps incapable of being dealt through empirical method

According to Lundberg “Exact science tends to become increasingly quantitative in its units, measures, and terminology while most of the matter of social science is quantitative and does not admit of quantitative statement. We can talk of urbanisation, cultural assimilation etc. but we can’t measure quantitatively. We may talk of growing indiscipline, but unless we can measure it, unless we can ascertain the degree of indiscipline, we cannot find a perfect cure.”

According to Mitchell, “Even in the work of the most statistically minded, qualitative analysis

will have a place. Always our measurements, the pre-conceptions shape our ends, our first glimpses of new problems, our widest generalisations will remain qualitative in form.”

11. Research is based on inter dependence of causes and effect

In case of a social phenomena the cause and the effect are inter dependent and one stimulates the other. It becomes, therefore, very difficult to find as to what is the cause and what is the fore effect. MacIver rightly points out, “Social science has hitherto suffered greatly from the attempt to make it conform to method derived from the order and more abstract sciences. It has led us to look for impossible results and to be disappointed at not getting them. We enquire, for example, after the manner of physical sciences which of the two related social phenomena is cause and which the effect. It usually turns out in the social sphere, that both are cause and both are effect.

12. Research cannot be a mechanical process

Symonds concludes that research is, ... “not something that can be ground out as by a machine. Research can never be made a mechanical process. There is no problem worthy of study that does not include unknown elements and does not require a fresh approach and attack. Too much of the research done by students in recent years has smaked of the mechanical or merely following the methods and procedures of some predecessors without clear insight, into the problem itself or the methods to be used in attacking it. Much of the research in social studies that is being published fails to receive recognition because it lacks that spark of originality that must accompany an attack on a new problem. Research methods and techniques can be taught, but after they are mastered there is still the problem of attacking a new problem and genuine contribution to social studies cannot be made without the willingness to pioneer into new fields or to work out new procedures. Genuine research must be an exploration. Any student who wishes to undertake research in social studies must be willing to take venture into the unknown and only by doing so he will bring back the fruit of genuine discovery.”

4. CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

In actual practice, research is conducted at different levels and for different immediate purposes. The level at which a person operates in the field depends on the objectives he intends to accomplish.

Generally research has two levels:

1. Basic level and

2. Applied level.

1. Basic Level

Trevers has defined basic level as basic research. It is designed to add an organized body of scientific knowledge and does not necessarily produce results of immediate practical value.

2. Applied Level

Applied research is undertaken to solve an immediate practical problem and the goal of adding to scientific knowledge is secondary. A common mistake is to assume that levels differ according to complexity and that basic research tends to be complex and applied research. Some applied research is quite complex and some basic

research is rather simple.

KINDS OF RESEARCH

There are various bases to classify the research.

A. On the Basis of Objectives of Research

On the basis of objectives of research they are of two types:

1. Fundamental research and

2. Action research.

B. On the Basis of Approach of Research

On the basis of approach of Research they are of two types:

1. Longitudinal research: Historical research, case study, genetic comes under longitudinal approach of research.

2. Cross sectional research: Experimental research, survey are the examples of cross sectional research.

C. On the Basis of Precision in Research Findings

On the basis of precision (accuracy) the researches are:Experimental research and  Non-experimental research.Experimental research is precise while non-experimental is not.

D. On the Basis of Nature of Findings

On the basis of findings Researches are of two types:

1. Explanatory research: Such researches explain more concerned theories. laws and

principles.

2. Descriptive research: These are more concerned with facts.

E. According to National Science Foundation

These National Science Foundation formulated a three-fold classification of research.

1. Basic research: Those researches which embrace origin or unique investigation for the

advancement of knowledge.

2. Applied research: Which may be characterized as the utilization in practice.

3. Development research: It is the use of scientific knowledge for the production of useful materials, devices, systems, methods for processes excluding design and production engineering.

F. Another Classification

1. Adhoc research: Adhoc research is the class of inquiry used for a purpose alone and

special.

2. Empirical research: Empirical research is that which depends upon the experience or

observation of phenomena and events.

3. Explained research: Explained research is that which is based on a theory.

4. Boarder line research: Boarder line research is that which involves those main two branches or are as of science. For example study of public school finance.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

There are three types of objectives of research: theoretical, factual and application. The first two types of objectives of research contribute new knowledge in the form of new theory and facts in a particular field of study or discipline. The third objective does not contribute to knowledge but suggests new application for practical problems. Thus, the researches are classified broadly into two categories:

1. Fundamental or Basic research, and

2. Action research or Applied research.

5. THE FUNCTIONS OF RESEARCH

1.      It obtains the scientist knowledge about all educational problems. It also helps in obtaining specific knowledge about the subjects involved in the study.

2.      In action research, the researchers are teachers, curriculum workers, principals, supervisors or others whose main task is to help, provide good learning experiences for pupils.

3.      In it, a person tries to enable him to realise his purposes more effectively. For example: A teacher conducts his teaching more effectively. An administrator, in the education department performs his action to improve his administrative behaviour.

4.      Action research is a procedure which tries to keep problem solving in close contact with reality at every stage.

5.      In educational system it conduits for the progress of the technique of teaching.

6.      It strengthens and emphasizes the work of the teacher.

7.      It has a great utility of creating new interest and new confidence in the ability of the individual teacher.

8.      Action research provides practical utility. For class-room teacher, he applies his own observations into his class-room practices to make the observed problems solved. Minor problems in the class­room can be solved by applying the teachers' intelligence.

9.      Action research brings changes in the teachers. It makes them co-operative and active in facing the situation easily. It also happens to bring about changes in the behaviour, attitude and teaching performance.

10.  Planning is the primary criteria in educational research as well action research. To go through the problems much in sight is needed. For solving all these problems the teacher goes on reading references, literatures and also research techniques. So theoretical learning becomes fruitful when it is practically applied in the proper situation to solve problems in action research.

11.  In education, all kinds of professional workers are able to solve their practical to improve their own profession. Generally, action research helps the teacher to face day-to-day problems in the class­room. He makes himself mentally stable and active to confront the situation. He starts his lesson with full aspiration and hope.

6        NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH.

The following characteristics are related in that, as a whole, they describe the nature of research:

1. Research is empirical;

2. Research is systematic;

3. Research should be valid;

4. Research should be reliable;

5. Research can take on a variety of forms.

McMillan and Schumacher (1989) define research as “a systematic process for collecting and analyzing information (data) for some purpose.”

Kerlinger defines scientific research as “systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of natural phenomena guided by theory and hypotheses about the presumed relations among such phenomena.”

1. Research is Empirical: Scientific Method:

Empiricism is the concept that all knowledge is derived from a sense experience; this experience results in some information form—data– so that knowledge can be generated upon it. Researchers work upon data; this may involve organizing them, generating hypotheses, testing them and so on.

2. Systematic Process of Research:

1.      Identifying a problem: The nature of the problem is to be defined; related knowledge is identified and a framework to conduct the research is established. In addition, necessary assumptions and conditions are also identified.

2.      Review information: The researcher reviews how others approached a similar problem; i.e. Literature review. Scientific Method: research process is considered to consist of a series of sequential steps. Scientific Inquiry: search for knowledge through recognized methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation. ü To make research systematic, researchers use the approach of scientific inquiry and scientific method. v

3.      Data collection: Collecting data requires a proper organization and control to validate the data to make decisions upon them

4.      Data analysis: Data analysis must be done in a manner appropriate to the problem.

5.      Drawing conclusions: Following data analysis, researchers draw conclusions and make generalizations based on the data they had collected.

3. The Validity of Educational Research:

Researches must be based on facts; i.e. capable to be justified. There are two concepts: internal validity and external validity.

An example of high external validity: In a school district that has five elementary schools, a survey via telephone was conducted on the perceptions of parents who have children studying in these schools; the questions covered all point of interest to the schools. From each school, 25 parents were chosen randomly. The total number is 125. - The population to which the results of this study are to be generalized is the population of parents who have children in the five elementary schools. - It is unlikely to generalize the research to other schools that use other schools systems. If done, an argument for similarity of parents must be provided.

 Internal validity is a prerequisite for external validity because if the results cannot be interpreted accurately with confidence, researchers cannot generalize them.

External Validity: the extent to which research results can be generalized.