Students' problems related to research skills in higher education: Academics and students’ views

Author(s):

Melek Çakmak(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 14 B,

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-25

15:30-17:00

Room:

K5.05

Chair:

Jaakko Kauko

Contribution

Innovations and developments is important at higher education as well as at every level of education. In this context, students are also expected to develop thinking skills, creativity, analysis and capability to create knowledge (Alvarado, León & Colon, 2016). This reality requires to train students effectively including using research skills. Undergraduate research methods courses can be considered as an effective way to increase these research skills (Pettijohn, Naylor & Piroch, 2013). Research provides some benefits to students so that the literature reports consistently positive findings on the benefits of student involvement in undergraduate research as Anderson (2015) stated. Some of the benefits of research to students are listed as follows: students can develop their search strategies, gain a deeper understanding their subject matter through research activities, develop their ability on analyzing and synthezing ideas etc. Tan (2007) also stated that undergraduate research is important for many reasons including motivating students to become independent thinkers. When related literature is reviewed, some studies (e.g. Pettijohn, Naylor & Piroch, 2013; Davidson and Palermo, 2015; Devi, Abraham, Adiga, Ramnarayan & Kamath 2010; Ingham-Broomfield, 2008) on this issue has been observed. Based on the related literature the main aim of this study is to determine both academics and students’ viewpoints about research skills including their problems experienced with research skills. Based on this main aim, the research questions that this study addresses are:

(1) What are the academics’ perceptions regarding with research skills of students?

(2) What are the students’ perceptions on their research skills? What are their main problems about research?

Method

Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in the study. A questionnaire and an interview form, developed by the researcher based on related literature and researcher’ experiences in the research method courses, are main data collection tools.The participants determined with purposuful sampling technique, are from Gazi University, Faculty of Education in Turkey. The students (n=220) and the academics (n=30) are from different departments in the faculty participated in the study. They were all given questionnaire, however, only a small group of students (n=15) and academics (n=10) were determined for interviewing. Qualitative data gathered is analysed through content analysis by following necessary steps such as coding and establishing some categories (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011; Robson, 2011; Silverman, 2011). Additionally, representative quotations were also used to present the participants' perceptions on the issue.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcome of the study is to reveal both students and academics’ viewpoints about research skills and to compare both insight. Another expected outcome is to provide a framework for researchers who are interested in this issue. Since the present study provides scope for further studies of research skills based on students’ and academics’ perspectives, it is also expected that students who are willing to improve their research skills and academics who teaches students will find some remarkable clues in the initial findings of the study which indicates that there are interesting and considerable points. Finally, it is hoped that comparative perspective in this present study provides a better understanding of the problems students and academics’ problems faced.

References

Alvarado, F.C.; León,M.P. & Colon, A.M.O. (2016) Design and validation of a questionnaire to measure research skills: experience with engineering students, Journal of Technology and Science Education, 6(3), 219-233. Anderson,G. (2015) JIBC Student Research Skills Development Framework, Justice Institute of British Columbia. Davidson, Z.E. and Palermo, C. (2015) Developing Research Competence in Undergraduate Students through Hands on Learning, Journal of Biomedical Education, 9 pages. Cohen, L.; Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2011) Research Methods in Education, 7th Edition, London & New York: Routledge. Devi, V.; Abraham, RR.; Adiga A & Ramnarayan K.;Kamath A. (2010) Fostering research skills in undergraduate medical students through Mentored Student Projects: Example from an Indian medical school, Kathmandu University Medical Journal, 8(3). Ingham-Broomfield, R. (2008) A nurses’ guide to the critical reading of research, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 26 (1), 102-109. Pettijohn, T.F.; Naylor, P.D. & Piroch, J.F. (2013) Self-reported research skills changes and course outcomes in a senior research psychology course, American Journal of Educational Research, 1(3), 104-106. Robson, C. (2011) Real World Research, Third Edition, Wiley. Silverman, D. (2011) Interpreting Qualitative Data, 4th Edition, London: Sage Publication Ltd. Tan, E.B. (2007) Research experiences of undergraduate students at a comprehensive university, International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 19(3), 205-215.

Author Information

Melek Çakmak (presenting / submitting)

Gazi University, Faculty of Education, Turkey

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.