Session Information
22 SES 13 D, Barriers to Reading and Interpreting Research
Research Workshop
Contribution
The purpose of this ex-post facto research study was to provide a framework for pre-service teacher education students to critically interpret existing research. Research that uses data that exists already, in order to investigate a research problem, is ex-post facto in nature (Wiersma and Jurs, 2005). The term ‘ex-post facto research’ or ‘ex-post facto method’ mostly refers to causal-comparative research design, whereby a researcher searches through data in order to gather information concerning the possible causes for some elected situation.
Decades of teaching into postgraduate education programs together with the supervision of higher degrees students has enabled the authors to identify issues in Australia around the emphasis on reading and understanding reseach literacture, critical interpretation of concepts and categories in teacher education.
There is considerable literature available, such as Babbie (2007), Best & Kahn (2006), Gay, Mills & Airasian (2006) Walter (2006), Punch ( 2003), regarding the process of ‘how to undertake educational research’. However, much of the literature focuses on the reasoning, principles and methodology in the conduct of research, rather than providing structure on identifying sound research or how to write, critically review, read and analyse research papers. Barriers exist for teacher educator/researchers to be able to devise and conduct rigorous and useful education research when there is not a shared understanding of categories such as research method, data gathering, and data analysis.
One source of data that allows researchers to examine these barriers to educational research are journal articles. This presentation examines the development of a Journal Article Research Analysis (JARA) schedule, designed to assist undergraduate and postgraduate students to develop a foundation in educational research.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Babbie, E. (2007) The Practice of Social Research (11ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Wadsworth. Best, J. & Kahn, J (2006) Research in Education (10ed.). Boston, Pearson Education. Gay, L., Mills, G., & Airasian (2006) Educational Research. Competencies for Analysis and applications. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Pearson Prentice Hall. Punch, K (2003) Introduction to Social Research, Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks, California, Sage Publications. Walter, M (2006) Social Research Methods; an Australian Perspective. South Melbourne, Victoria, Oxford University Press. Wiersma W, Jurs S. (2005). Research methods in education: an introduction (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
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