L4 - Research Methods

Student is able to:

• Evaluate the appropriateness of research design in
education (C5, CTPS)
• Organise appropriate various literatures for
preparing a research proposal (A4, LL)
• Produce a research proposal in education (P5 EM)
 L4- Literature Review
• Purpose and role of literature review
• Development of theoretical framework
• Methods and sources of literature review
Purpose and Role of Related Literature
• Enables to defines the frontiers of the field
• Enables to place the questions in a perspective
• Helps to limit the question and clarify and define the
concepts of the study
• Leads to insight into the reasons for contradictory
results in an area
• Learns which methodologies have proved useful
• Avoids unintentional replication of previous studies
 Theoretical Framework
• Theory is the ultimate goal of science such as Newton’s Law.
• Involved many facts that need for integration, organization, and
classification for meaningful findings.
• A theory is “a set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions,
and propositions that presents a systematic view of phenomena by
specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining
and predicting the phenomena” (Kerlinger, 1986, p. 9).
• Theories knit together the results of observations, enabling scientists
to make general statements about variables and its relationships,
enable prediction of potential similar phenomena.
• A good scientific research begins with a sound theoretical framework.
 Reference Sources in Education
• Bibliography – UNESCO’s Current Bibliographical Sources in Education
• Encyclopedia – Encyclopedia of Educational Research
• Review of Educational Research – AERA (since 1931)
• Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
• Current Index to Journals in Education
• Periodical Indexes
• Indexes of dissertations and theses
• Social Sciences Citation Index
• Government Publications
• Test Sources – Buro’s Mental Measurement Yearbook
• Computer searching
• The Internet
• Dictionaries
• Statistical Sources
• Interlibrary Loan
 Organizing the Literature
• Begin with the most recent studies and work backward
• Read the abstract or summary sections first
• Skim the report quickly to find those sections that are
related to your research questions
• Make notes directly on index cards
• Write out a complete bibliographic reference for each
work
• Do not put more than one reference on each card
• Indicate which parts of the notes are direct quotations
• For online, keep the search strategies on file.