Research Methods

COURSE JUSTIFICATION

Research in education is relevant to all educational contexts and to all teachers. This course is designed to support students to explore and critique their chosen area of research by locating it in the context of key issues and approaches in education and viewing it from a diversity of qualitative and quantitative perspectives.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course provides an introduction to the different epistemological and methodological approaches in qualitative and quantitative educational research and will also encourage students to build collaboration with others in the course using self and peer review.

COURSE AIM

This course aims to clarify key concepts in educational research including: purpose(s) of doing research, key philosophical issues, researcher/practitioner positionality/role, and the place of research in teachers’ work and in education more broadly.

 EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course students will be able to:

• Develop  critical reading and synthesis skills in the context of critiquing the methodology of published research in education;
• Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of research methods, including different techniques for data collection, analysis, reporting, and engaging with existing literature;
• Apply research  skills and understandings to prepare  to conduct a small-scale  research Project in Education
• Develop a plan of research of their choice
• Comprehend the key steps followed in a research process
• Carry out investigation and evaluation of educational research studies