1. The Process of Conducting Research
Chapter 1
The Process of Conducting Research
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2. By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
Define and describe the importance of educational research
Describe the six steps in the process of research
Identify the characteristics of quantitative and qualitative research in the six steps
Identify the type of research designs associated with quantitative and qualitative research
Discuss important ethical issues in conducting research
Recognize skills needed to design and conduct research

3. What Is Research? The researcher poses a question.
The researcher collects data to answer the question.
The researcher presents an answer to the question.

4. Importance of Research
Reason 1: Research adds to our knowledge.
Addresses gaps in knowledge
Expands knowledge
Replicates knowledge
Adds voices of individuals to knowledge

5. Importance of Research (cont’d)
Reason 2: Research helps improve practice.
Educators gain new ideas for their job.
Educators gain new insights into approaches.
Educators can connect with other educators.

6. Importance of Research (cont’d)
Reason 3: Research helps inform policy debates.
Research allows people to weigh different perspectives on issues.
Research enables people to make informed decisions regarding policy.

7. Problems with Research Today
Contradictory or vague findings
Questionable data
Unclear statements about the intent of the study
Lack of full disclosure of the data collection procedure
Inarticulate rendering of the research problem

8. The Process of Research
Identify the
Research Problem
Review the
Literature
Report
and
Evaluate Research
Analyze and
Interpret
Data
Specify a
Research
Purpose
Collect Data

9. The Process of Research: Identify the Research Problem
Specify a problem
Justify a problem
Suggest a need to study the problem for audiences

10. The Process of Research: Review the Literature
Locate resources
Books
Journals
Electronic resources
Choose resources to include in the review
Summarize the literature in a written report

11. The Process of Research: Specify a Research Purpose
Identify the purpose statement
The major intent of the study
The participants in the study
The site of the study
Narrow the purpose statement to research questions

12. The Research Process: Collect Data
Determine the data collection method
Select the individuals to study
Obtain permissions
Design data collection instruments and outline data collection procedures
Gather data

13. The Research Process: Analyze and Interpret Data
Take the data apart to look at individual responses
Represent the data in tables, figures, and pictures
Explain conclusions from the data that address the research questions

14. The Research Process: Report and Evaluate Research
Report research
Determine the audience for the report
Structure the report
Write the report sensitively and accurately
Evaluate research
Assess the quality of research using recognized standards in a discipline
Standards can come from the academic community, school districts, or federal or state agencies

15. RESEARCH PROCESS
Research Problem
Literature Review
Research Questions Questions
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Research Designs
Quantitative Designs
-Experimental
-Correlational
-Survey
Qualitative Designs
-Grounded theory
-Ethnography
-Narrative
Combined Designs
-Mixed methods
-Action research
Instruments/Protocols
Sampling
N Data Analysis
Interpretation
Discussion, Conclusions, Limitations, Future Research

16. The Major Characteristics of Quantitative Research
Describe a research problem through trends and relationships
Provide a major role for the literature to suggest questions and justify the research problem
Create purpose statements, research questions, and hypotheses that are specific, narrow, measureable, and observable
Collect numeric data from a large number of people using instruments
Analyze data for trends, group comparisons, and relationships among variables
Write the research report using standard, fixed structures and an objective, unbiased approach

17. The Major Characteristics of Qualitative Research
Explore a problem through obtaining a detailed understanding of a central phenomenon - Phenomenology
Have the literature justify the problem
State the purpose and research questions in a general, open-ended way
Collect data from a small number of participants
Analyze the data using text analysis to obtain detailed descriptions and themes
Write the research report using flexible and emerging structures and incorporating the researchers’ subjective reflexivity and bias

18. Similarities and Differences Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Both forms of research follow the six steps in the process of research
Both forms of research have introductions that establish the importance of the research problem
Both forms of research use interviews and observations
Differences
Quantitative data collection is more closed-ended; qualitative data collection is more open-ended
Quantitative data analysis is based on statistics; qualitative data analysis is based on text or image analysis
Quantitative reporting has a set structure; qualitative data reporting is more flexible

19. Factors in Deciding to Use Quantitative or Qualitative Research
Match type of research to your research problem
Fit type of research to your audiences
Relate type of research to your experiences and training

20. Quantitative Designs and Uses
Nonintervention
Research
Intervention
Research
Explaining whether an
intervention influences
an outcome for one
group as opposed to
another group
Associating or
relating variables
in a predictable
pattern for one
group of individuals
Describing trends for
the population of
people
Experimental
Research
Correlational
Research
Survey
Research

21. Qualitative Designs and Uses (cont’d)
Exploring common
experiences of
individuals to
develop a theory
Exploring the shared
culture of a group
Exploring individual
stories to describe
the lives of people
Ethnographic
Research
Grounded Theory
Research
Narrative
Research

22. Combined Designs and Uses
Combining quantitative and
qualitative data to understand and explain a research problem better
Using quantitative and qualitative data for individuals to study problems that they face in their setting
Mixed Methods
Research
Action
Research

23. Qualitative Research Designs
Phenomenology – the meaning of the lived experiences of individuals about a concept or phenomenon
Grounded Theory – a study to discover or generate a theory from collected data
Ethnography - description & interpretation of a cultural or social group or system

24. Qualitative Research Designs
Case Study – exploration of a “bounded system” (the case) over time through detailed in-depth data collection
Biography – study of an individual & their experiences as told to the researcher or found in documents
Source
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, John Creswell

25. Important Ethical Issues in Conducting Research
Learn about the procedures involved in applying for approval from your campus institutional review board
Recognize guidelines from professional associations
Use ethical practices throughout research
Use respectful data collection procedures
Show respect to audiences who read and use research study information

26. Skills Needed for Research
Curiosity to solve puzzles
Long attention spans
Library and computer resource skills
Writing and editing skills