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Course Code: Educational Research (837)

Level: MA/M.Ed.
Semester: Spring, 2020
Assignment 2
Q.l Define scientific method. Discuss the steps of scientific method.

The scientific method is a systematic way of learning about the world around us and
answering questions. The key difference between the scientific method and other ways
of acquiring knowledge are forming a hypothesis and then testing it with an
experiment.

The number of steps can vary from one description to another (which mainly happens
when data and analysis are separated into separate steps), however, this is a fairly
standard list of the six scientific method steps that you are expected to know for any
science class:

1. Purpose/Question Ask a question.

2. Research
BI
Conduct background research. Write down your sources so you can cite your
references. In the modern era, a lot of your re .-arch may be conducted online. Scroll
to the bottom of articles to check the references. Even if you can't access the full text
of a published article, you can usually view the abstract to see the summary of other
experiments. Interview experts on a topic. Th^miorg you know about a subject, the
easier it will be to conduct your investigatio
3. Hypothesis

Propose a hypothesis. This is guess about what you expect. It is a

statement used to predict the outcome of an experiment. Usually, a hypothesis is
written in terms of cause and effe t. Alternatively, it may describe the relationship
between two phenomena. One type of hypothesis is the null hypothesis or the no-
difference hypothesis. This is asy type of hypothesis to test because it assumes
changing a variable will have no effect on the outcome. In reality, you probably expect
a change but rejecting a hypothesis may be more useful than accepting one.

4. Experiment

Design and perform an experiment to test your hypothesis. An experiment has an

independent and dependent variable. You change or control the independent variable
and record the effect it has on the dependent variable. It's important to change only
one variable for an experiment rather than try to combine the effects of variables in
an experiment. For example, if you want to test the effects of light intensity and
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fertilizer concentration on the growth rate of a plant, you're really looking at two
separate experiments.

5. Data/Analysis Record observations and analyze the meaning of the data. Often,
you'll prepare a table or graph of the data. Don't throw out data points you think are
bad or that don't support your predictions. Some of the most incredible discoveries in
science were made because the data looked wrong! Once you have the data, you may
need to perform a mathematical analysis to support or refute your hypothesis.
Conclude whether to accept or reject your hypothesis. There is no right or wrong
outcome to an experiment, so either result is fine. Accepting a hypothesis does not
necessarily mean it's correct! Sometimes repeating an experiment may give a

6. Conclusion

different result. In other cases, a hypothesis may predict an outcome, yet you might
draw an incorrect conclusion. Communicate your results. The results may be compiled
into a lab report or formally submitted as a paper. Whether you accept or reject the
hypothesis, you likely learned something about the subject and may wish to revise the
original hypothesis or form a new one for a future experiment.
ir
When Are There Seven Steps?

Sometimes the scientific method is taught with seven steps instead of six. In this
model, the first step of the scientific method is to make observations. Really, even if
you don't make observations formally, you think about prior experiences with a
subject in order to ask a question or solve a problem. Formal observations are a type
of brainstorming that can help you find an idea and form a hypothesis. Observe your
subject and record everything about it. Include colors, timing, sounds, temperatures,
changes, behavior, and anything that strik nteresting or significant.

and measuring variables. There

Variables

• Controlled Variables: (You

These are parts of the experiment t
experiment so that they won'| interfere many controlled variables as you like, ou
with your test. Writing down controlled try to keep constant throughout an
variables is a good idea because it helps make your experiment reproducible, which is
important in science! If you have trouble duplicating results from one experiment to
another, there may be a controlled variable that you missed.

• Independent Variable: This is the variable you control.

• Dependent Variable: This is the variable you measure. It is called the dependent
variable because it depends on the independent variable.

Q.2 Explain in your own word the concept of research proposal.

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The goal of a research proposal is twofold: to present and justify the need to study a
research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study
should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting research are
governed by standards of the predominant discipline in which the problem resides,
therefore, the guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal
than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature
reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed
study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology
for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or
academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from
the study's completion.
Concept of research proposal:

A research proposal is written before research is conducted in order to gain approval

or funding for the research. There are two types of research proposal.
• Approval proposal. This type of proposal is written before undertaking a final
project, dissertation or thesis, and is submitted to your supervisor for
approval.<.li>
• Funding proposal. This type of proposal is submitted to an external organisation in
order to seek funding for your research.

For an approval proposal, your supervisor needs to see that your research is
worthwhile and has been carefully planned before you begin. This means presenting
information such as the purpose of the research, its importance, previous research in
the same area, how your research will be conducted, a timeframe, and the resources
that will be needed.

Structure of research proposals

Many research proposals are submitted using an application form, meaning that a
formally structured document is not required. If there is no form, the following is a
possible structure for a research proposal. This structure is for an approval proposal,
as this is the one likely to be encountered for university study.

The proposal should begin with a Title page. This will provide a preliminary (or
proposed) title for your research. Other details such as your name, university name,
and supervisor's name may also appear here.

Following this, there should be a Summary of the research proposal. This will give the
key areas in the proposal, i.e. the aim, objectives, research questions, method, and
timeline.
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There should be an Introduction to the proposal. This will give background

information and a description of the research area. It may also give the
motivation for the research
and explain its importance. The overall aim of the research will be given, in
other words what your research will achieve. This will be accompanied by
more specific research objectives, which outline the issues to be addressed
in order to achieve the aim. These will be followed by the research questions
which enable the objectives to be achieved (usually Why, How or What
questions).
There should be a preliminary Literature review. This section provides a
critical summary of previous research in the area, identifying possible gaps
and how your research will fill them. This section may help to justify your
research and show why it is important. Although at this stage your literature
review may not be complete, your supervisor will still need to see the
general framework that your research exists within, and examples of
previous research in the area, in order to be confident you are approaching
the research in the correct way.
Next there will be a Methodology section. This section will give information
on how your research will be conducted. This includes the kind of data
which will be obtained (e.g. quantitative or qualitative), the source of data,
the research methodology and why this approach has been chosen. Ethical
and safety issues may also be identified. Required resources may also be
listed, e.g. facilities, laboratory equipment and technical help.

Q.3 Thesis and dissertation are good

Dissertations and theses may be considered scholarly sources since they are closely
supervised by a ^dissertation committee made up scholars, are directed at an
academic audience, are extensively researched, fallow research methodology, and are
cited in other scholarly work.

However, dissertations are still considered student work and are not peer-reviewed.
Always clarify with your instructor as to whether you can include and cite dissertations
and theses jn&your research. Theses and dissertations are an often overlooked source
of information for research. They can offer the following benefits:

Just like journal articles, conference proceedings, and other forms of literature, they
present original research. Recently completed theses can provide "sneak previews" of
ideas and findings that have yet to reach the public via other publication formats.

They may be the only publicly-available work by authors who do not otherwise publish
for general audiences or through commercial publishers.
They contain extensive bibliographies.
They provide inspiration for the formatting and presentation of ideas, graphs, charts,
and other components of a document.
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They provide insight into the early work of a particular person and have value for historical
and biographical purposes.

Obtaining Dissertations

Want to borrow a dissertation that is not available in full text online? Request it via
ILLIAD, Tufts' interlibrary loan service using the ILLIAD Dissertations Request Form.
Provide as much descriptive information as you can.

Want your own copy? Use the Dissertations & Theses: Full Text database to order, at your
own expense, documents in a range of formats.

Trying to find copies of older dissertations?

If you can identify the author's institutional affiliation, visit that institution's webpage to
see if they catalog or archive students' dissertations.

Contact the author. Some authors will post all or some of their dissertation on their
website or have journal articles or other publications which draw heavily on this work.

Search the author's name and/or thesis title in full-text journal databases which include
article references. These citations may provide clues as to how to locate the document.

Contact your subject librarian for assistan

Note: The availability of a dissertation authorized its whe

distribution.

Citing Dissertations and Theses

As with journal articles, books, and other leses and dissertations must be
properly cited Jn any document that references them. Most citation styles, including APA,
Chicago, and MLA, 1 provide^ specific instructions for formatting these citations. Citation
Management tools, such as^tndNote and Zotero, automatically format references for
these sources in your selected citation style. More information is in the Citing Sources
guide, *1

Although requirements for citing dissertations vary according by style, they generally seek
to convey the following information: that the item is a dissertation (rather than an article
or a book); the type of degree it resulted in (master's, PhD, etc); whether it was
published; and which institution granted the degree. An example of a citation for a
dissertation is presented here in four major citation styles:

APA: Miaoulis, I. N. (1987). Experimental investigation of turbulence spectra of charge

density fluctuations in the equilibrium range. Unpublished Ph.D., Tufts University, United
States — Massachusetts.
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Chicago: Miaoulis, loannis Nikolaos. "Experimental Investigation of Turbulence Spectra
of Charge Density Fluctuations in the Equilibrium Range." Ph.D., Tufts University,
1987.
IEEE: [1] I. N. Miaoulis, "Experimental investigation of turbulence spectra of charge
density fluctuations in the equilibrium range," United States — Massachusetts: Tufts
University, 1987, p. 98.
MLA: Miaoulis, loannis Nikolaos. "Experimental Investigation of Turbulence Spectra of
Charge Density Fluctuations in the Equilibrium Range." Ph.D. Tufts University, 1987.

Q. 4 Define questionnaire. Discuss the types of questionnaire and write down Q the
characteristics of a good questionnaire and also discuss the advantages — and
limitations.

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions or other

types of prompts that aims to collect information from a respondent. A research 2s
questionnaire is typically a mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions.
Open-ended, long-form questions offer the respondent the ability to elaborate on Q
their thoughts. Research questionnaires were developed in 1838 by the Statistical g-
Society of London.
CL
’A The data collected from a data collection questionnaire can be both qualitative as well A
as quantitative in nature. A questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a
survey, but a survey always consists of a questionnaire.

Q Types of questionnaires o questionnaire is planned and designed to gather precise

information. It also initiates a formal inquiry, supplements data, checks previously
accumulated data, and helps validate any prior hypothesis.
Unstructured Questionnaires: Unstructured questionnaires collect qualitative data. They
use a basic structure and some branching questions but nothing that limits the responses
of a respondent. The questions are more open-ended to collect specific data from

•-T: As we explored before, questionnaires can be either structured or free-flowing. Let's A

take a closer look at what that entails for your surveys.

Structured Questionnaires: Structured questionnaires collect quantitative data. The

participants.
co
0 Types of questions in a questionnaire
CD
V You can use multiple question types in a questionnaire. Using various question types ‘A:
can help increase responses to your research questionnaire as they tend to keep
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participants more engaged. The best customer satisfaction survey templates are the
most commonly used for better insights and decision-making.

Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions help collect qualitative data in a

questionnaire where the respondent can answer in a free form with little to no
restrictions.
Dichotomous Questions: The dichotomous question is generally a "yes/no" close-
ended question. This question is usually used in case of the need for necessary
validation. It is the most natural form of a questionnaire.
Multiple-Choice Questions: Multiple-choice questions are a close-ended question
type in which a respondent has to select one (single-select multiple-choice question) or
many (multi-select multiple choice question) responses from a given list of options.
HI The multiple-choice question consists of an incomplete stem (question), right answer
or answers, incorrect answers, close alternatives, and distractors. Of course, not all
multiple-choice questions have all of the answer types. For example, you probably
O) won't have the wrong or right answers if you're looking for customer opinion.
O) Scaling Questions: These questions are based on the principles of the four
measurement scales - nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. A few of the question
L types that utilize these scales' fundamental properties are rank order questions,
O
Likert scale questions, semantic differential scale questions, and Stapel scale
(/)
k_ questions.
(D
CL Pictorial Questions: This question type is easy to use and encourages respondents to
ro answer. It works similarly to a multiple-choice question. Respondents are asked a
question, and the answer choices are images. This helps respondents choose an
answer quickly without over-thinking their answers, giving you more accurate data.

Characteristics of a good questionnaire

Your survey design depends on the type of information you need to collect from
respondents. Qualitative questionnaires are used when there is a need to collect
exploratory information to help prove or disprove a hypothesis, questionnaires are
used to validate or test a previously generated However, most Quantitative
questionnaires follow some essential characteristics: hypothesis.

Uniformity: Questionnaires are very useful to collect demographic information,

personal opinions, facts, or attitudes from respondents. One of the
most significant attributes of a research form is uniform design and
to standardization. Every respondent sees the same questions. This helps in data
i collection and statistical analysis of this data. For example, the retail store
—
(D evaluation questionnaire template contains questions for evaluating retail store
C
L experiences. Questions relate to purchase value, range of options for product
co selections, and quality of merchandise. These questions are uniform for all
to
( customers.
D Exploratory: It should be exploratory to collect qualitative data. There is no
restriction on questions that can be in your questionnaire. For example, you use a
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data collection questionnaire and send it to the female of the household to

understand her spending and saving habits relative to the household income. Open-
ended questions give you more insight and allow the respondents to explain their
practices. A very structured question list could limit the data collection.
Question Sequence: It typically follows a structured flow of questions to increase the
number of responses. This sequence of questions is screening questions, warm up
questions, transition questions, skip questions, challenging questions, and
classification questions. For example, our motivation and buying experience
questionnaire template covers initial demographic questions and then asks for time
spent in sections of the store and the rationale behind purchases.

Advantages of a well-designed questionnaire

• With a survey questionnaire, you can gather a lot of data in less time.
• There is less chance of any bias creeping if you have a standard set of questions
to be used to your target audience. You can apply logic to questions based on
the respondents' answers, but the questionnaire will remain standard for a
group of respondents that fall in the same segment.
• Surveying online survey software is quick and cost-effective. It offers you a rich
set of features to design, distribute, and analyze the response data.
• It can be customized to reflect your brand voice. Thus, it can be used to
reinforce your brand image.
• The responses can be compared with the historical data and understand the shift
in respondents' choices and experiences.
• Respondents can answer the questionnaire without revealing their identity. Also,
much survey software complies with significant data security and privacy
regulations.

Q.5 Develop a sample table of content o

Table of contents

The Contents page sets out the sections and subsections of the report and their
corresponding page numbers. It should clearly show the structural relationship
between the sections and subsections. A reader looking for specific information should
be able to locate the appropriate section easily from the table of contents.

Sections are numbered using the decimal point system. Section numbers appear on
the left margin, page numbers on the right.

The Table of Contents (TOC) is an organized listing of the chapters and major sections
of your document. Readers will immediately be able to see how your manuscript is
organized and then skip down to sections that are most relevant to
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them. A clear, concise, and well formatted TOC is the first indicator of a good research
3
paper. _
To save yourself some time in making your Table of Contents, be sure that you use
font styles.
CHECKLIST PORTABLE OF CONTENTS

Appropriately formatted ^1
Lists all main sections of the document starting with the Dedication page. If the -
Dedication page is not used, then starts with the Abstract page.

Lists the titles of each chapter, plus all Heading Level 2's — these are the main
sections within each chapter. Do not list any subsections.

All titles and headings match what appears in the text exactly.

All page numbers are correct.

Table of Contents An example of how the Table of Contents

should look:

TABLE OF CONTENTS \\ * uc

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ..
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