S-005 Types of research in education

Types of research A wide variety of approaches: –Theoretical studies –Summaries of studies Reviews of the literature Meta-analysis –New empirical work Based on data/evidence We will focus on the last category

How to categorize the types of research? By purpose –What was the goal of the study Description Intervention By data collection methods –Qualitative research –Quantitative research By data analysis methods –Regression analysis –Case-study methods –Multi-level models We will use this idea: thinking about the purpose of the study

An important distinction Descriptive research (some people call this “observational research” –Survey / descriptive research –Correlational research –Developmental research Cross sectional Longitudinal Intervention research (some people call this “experimental research”) –True experiments –Quasi-experiements

Descriptive research Goal is to describe the characteristics of a group (or population) Examples: –Head of a school wants to know about parents’ attitudes toward the science curriculum –Or about the number of children of various ages in the district (for future planning, etc.) –How much time are schools spending on different curriculum areas -- reading, writing, science, social studies, art, etc. –Other examples? Steps: –Select a sample –Collect data –Summarize and describe

Correlational research Goal is to examine the relationships among variables Examples: –Study time and school achievement –School funding and school satisfaction –School type (public or private) and parental support –The study of social networks and household tasks The goal is still description It can be tempting to make causal inferences, but... –Be very cautious about causal inferences based on correlational studies –“Correlation does not imply causation” Often useful in identifying ideas for future research

Developmental research Goal is to examine the patterns of growth or change over time Examples: –Children’s vocabulary growth –Student achievement –Adult development –Neurological or physiological growth –Other examples? Key distinction between –Cross-sectional designs –Longitudinal designs

Intervention research Goal is to assess the effects of some intervention or new idea or approach Examples: –Children’s vocabulary growth under a new curriculum –Effects of new technologies on student achievement –New approaches to professional development for teachers –New drug treatments or other interventions –Other examples? Key distinction between –True experiments We compare the new program (or treatment) to a traditional treatment (or alternative treatment or control group) Random assignment is the key ingredient for a study to qualify as a true experiment –Quasi-experiments Comparison of new program with an alternative (“new” vs. “traditional”, for example) But random assignment not used Comparisons may be biased by other factors Need for great care and additional information for these studies to be convincing Quasi-experimental designs are common in education, but they may have some important limitations. (Some describe them as “mere observations” and not a strong basis for drawing conclusions. Others are not quite so harsh.)

True experiments and quasi-experiments True experiments (with random assignment) is often considered the “gold standard” for studies of new interventions –Strong basis for inference –But also can be limited Sometimes only carried out under special conditions (special samples or special sites) Quasi experiments are considered more limited –But can provide supportive evidence –Conditions can also be more realistic or natural