Prayer

God of Power and Might

Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from
you.
Implant in our hearts the love for your name.
Increase in us the zeal for your service.
Nourish what is good within us and tend it with your
watchful care.
Through Christ our Lord
Amen
CLASSIFICATIONS OF
RESEARCH
DEFINITIONS OF RESEARCH
Scientific research is a systematic, controlled,
empirical and critical investigation of natural
phenomena guided by theory and
hypothesis about the presumed relations
among such phenomena (Kerlinger and
Howard, 2000, p.15).
 Education research involves the systematic collection
and analysis of data about learning and teaching for
the purpose of description, explanation and prediction
of the object or behaviour of the study.

Like other types of research, educational research is a

discipline inquiry. This means that its research designs,
methods of data collection and analysis, and
arguments are capable of withstanding careful
scrutiny by other researchers.
Classification of Research by Purpose
i)Basic research
• It is directed towards increase in knowledge. When
successful, basic research results in a fuller
understanding of the subject matter under study and
the generation of theories. The primary aim of the
investigator is not to produce data for practical use,
but to enhance understanding of the subject matter
under study.
Applied research
• Applied research is directed towards practical
applications of knowledge and when
successful results in directives for
development of blueprints.
• It is conducted for the purpose of applying or
testing theory and evaluating its usefulness in
solving problems i.e. developing knowledge
that is directly useful to practitioners.
Action research
• It is a systematic study of a situation with a view
to improving the quality of practice. The main
purpose is to solve education or any social
problems through the application of scientific
methods.
• It is not concerned with whether the results are
generalized to any other setting since its major goal
is to seek a solution to a given problem.
Operational Research (OR)
•It is used to compare interventions that
are designed to achieve similar objectives.
Research and Development (R&D)
•It is carried out in order to develop new
products.
 Classification by Research Method
Descriptive research
• This involves the collection of data in order to
answer questions concerning the current status of
the subjects in the study.
• It describes the way things are e.g. a description
of possible behaviour, attitudes, values and
characteristics.
• In educational research, the most common
descriptive methodology is the survey, where
researchers summarize the characteristics
(abilities, preferences, behaviors, and so on) of
individuals or groups or (sometimes) physical
environments (such as schools).
• Qualitative approaches, such as ethnographic
and historical methodologies are also
primarily descriptive in nature.
Historical research
• Is the systematic collection and evaluation of
data about past events so as to identify causes
and effects of those events in order to
understand and explain present events.
• Historical researchers do not gather data by
administering instruments to individuals; they
seek data that is already available.
Correlation research
• It involves collecting data to determine whether
or not a relationship exists between two or more
quantifiable variables.
• It involves the collection of data on two or more
variables on the same group of subjects and
computing a correlation coefficient.
• The relationship between the variables is studied
without making any attempt to influence them.
Causal-comparative studies
•It attempts to identify cause-effect
relationships among variables that cannot
be manipulated experimentally.
•The aim is to determine reasons or causes
for the current status of the phenomenon
under study.
Experimental research
• It involves the manipulation of independent variables to
determine their effect on a dependent variable. It is used
to establish causal relationships between variables.
• The researcher selects two groups, an experimental
group and a control group.
• The researcher makes a change in the values of one
variable (the independent) and observes the effect of that
change on another variable (the dependent variable).