Methodology of Educational Research I

Recommended Prerequisites

It is important to have already accomplished the curricular unit “Applied Statistics to Education”, even though it is not a mandatory pre-requisite for this curricular unit.

Teaching Methods

1. Lecture method (mainly in more theorethical classes), followed by examples of scientific research projects done in the education field. It is important to foster knowledge transference and its aplicability for intervention.

2. In more pratical classes, it will be used pedagogical strategies like:

- Group work.

- Individual work related to the conception of stages of scientific work and to statistical data analysis and interpretation.

All lecture’s moments, even at more theorethical classes,  will be accompanied by the presentation of concrete examples for discussion.

Learning Outcomes

In this curricular unit students should be able to:

1) Understand the nature of research in education and social sciences in general;

2) Know the quantitative research designs and how to apply them;

3) Identify the methodological difficulties inherent in the different designs;

4) Know how to properly design and plan a quantitative research in education;

5) Think about ethical issues in doing research with human subjects;

6) Antecipate potencial risks in research and identify possible contingency measures;

7) Learn how to rigorously organise and write a scientific report, including the statistatical analysis and presentation of data;

8) Learn how to use the norms of referenciation from APA (7th edition);

9) Read and critically analyse the report of a scientific research;

10) Understand the importance of doing science with pratical relevance in education broad field. 

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1.Introduction to scientific thinking: essential concepts.

2.The process of quantitative research in education: scientific problems, hypotheses, plans, data collection instruments, data analysis techniques, interpretation of results

3.Quantitative research plans: its main characteristics, strengths and weaknesses

4.Criteria for choosing a concrete scientific design depending on the problem to be studied.

5. Issues concerning validity of a scientific research: threats to internal and external validity of scientific studies.

6. Fidelity of a scientific research.

7. Quantitative tools of data collection: variety, features, advantages and disadvantages of each tool.

8. Sampling techniques.

9. Ethical issues in conducting an investigation.

10. Literature review: main sources.

11. Testing of hypotheses and its relationship with descriptive and inferential statistics.

12. Writing a scientific report: its essential components.

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Frequency: 50.0%
Resolution Problems: 50.0%

Bibliography

Ary, D. et al. (1990).Introduction to research in education. Holt, Rin. & Winston, Inc.

Creswell, J. W. (2012).Educational Research (4th ed.). Pearson.

Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E.(2003).How to design and evaluate research in education (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S.(1989).Research in education: A conceptual introduction. Scott, Foresman & Company

Tuckman, B. W. (2002).Manual de investigação em educação. Fund. Calouste Gulbenkian.

Vieira, C. C. (2019). Investigação, conhecimento científico e responsabilidade social: reflexões a partir das Ciências Sociais e Humanas. Exedra – Revista da ESEC. Nº EIPE 2019, 28-37.

Vogt, W. P. (1993).Dictionary of statistics and methodology: A nontechnical guide for the social sciences.SAGE.

Field, A. (2005).Discovering statistics using SPSS (2nd ed). SAGE.

 Tabachnick, B., & Fidel, L. (2001). Using multivariate statistics. Pearson Allyn & Bacon.