AIOU Assignment BEd 1.5 Year 2.5 Year 8604 Research Methods in Education Assignment 2
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What do you mean by research tool, discuss different research tools? What is meant by validity and reliability of research tools?
Answer:
Questionnaires and Surveys
What is Reliability?
Reliability is a measure of the stability or consistency of test scores. You can also think of it as the ability for a test or research findings to be repeatable. For example, a medical thermometer is a reliable tool that would measure the correct temperature each time it is Surveys and questionnaires provide social researchers with quantifiable information. Information is obtained through face-to-face interviews, anonymous response surveys or questionnaires or via telephone, computerized kiosks or email. Researchers administer surveys and questionnaires to target groups to get specific information within a specified period of time.
This type of research tool is effective in finding out cultural attitudes and opinions in particular regions or towns, where research journals may not have specific and accurate information.
Statistics and Data Analysis
Statistics and data analysis is an essential research tool. Information obtained from questionnaires and surveys can be compiled into statistics. Once compiled into statistical data, researchers can devise theories and look for patterns that may explain or confirm their research.
Overview of Reliability and Validity
Outside of statistical research, reliability and validity are used interchangeably. For research and testing, there are subtle differences. Reliability implies consistency: if you take the ACT five times, you should get roughly the same results every time. A test is valid if it measures what it’s supposed to. Tests that are valid are also reliable. The ACT is valid (and reliable) because it measures what a student learned in high school. However, tests that are reliable aren’t always valid. For example, let’s say your thermometer was a degree off. It would be reliable (giving you the same results each time) but not valid (because the thermometer wasn’t recording the correct temperature).used. In the same way, a reliable math test will accurately measure mathematical knowledge for every student who takes it and reliable research findings can be replicated over and over.
Of course, it’s not quite as simple as saying you think a test is reliable. There are many statistical tools you can use to measure reliability. For example:
- Kuder-Richardson 20: a measure of internal reliability for a binary test (i.e. one with right or wrong answers).
- Cronbach’s alpha: measures internal reliability for tests with multiple possible answers.
Internal vs. External Reliability
Internal reliability, or internal consistency, is a measure of how well your test is actually measuring what you want it to measure. External reliability means that your test or measure can be generalized beyond what you’re using it for. For example, a claim that individual tutoring improves test scores should apply to more than one subject (e.g. to English as well as math). A test for depression should be able to detect depression in different age groups, for people in different socio-economic statuses, or introverts.
One specific type is parallel forms reliability, where two equivalent tests are given to students a short time apart. If the forms are parallel, then the tests produce the same observed results.
The Reliability Coefficient
A reliability coefficient is a measure of how well a test measures achievement. It is the proportion of variance in observed scores (i.e. scores on the test) attributable to true scores (the theoretical “real” score that a person would get if a perfect test existed).
The term “reliability coefficient” actually refers to several different coefficients: Several methods exist for calculating the coefficient include test-retest, parallel forms and alternate- form:
- Cronbach’s alpha — the most widely used internal-consistency coefficient.
- A simple correlation between two scores from the same person is one of the simplest
ways to estimate a reliability coefficient. If the scores are taken at different times, then this is one way to estimate test-retest reliability; Different forms of the test given on the same day can estimate parallel forms reliability.
- Pearson’s correlation can be used to estimate the theoretical reliability coefficient between parallel tests.
- The Spearman Brown formula is a measure of reliability for split-half tests.
- Cohen’s Kappa measures interrater reliability.
The range of the reliability coefficient is from 0 to 1. Rule of thumb for preferred levels of the
coefficient:
- For high stakes tests (e.g. college admissions), > 0.85. Some authors suggest this figure should be above 0.90.
- For low stakes tests (e.g. classroom assessment), > 0.70. Some authors suggest this figure should be above 0.80
What is Validity?
Validity simply means that a test or instrument is accurately measuring what it’s supposed
to:
• Composite Reliability
• Concurrent Validity.
• Content Validity.
• Convergent Validity.
• Consequential Validity.
• Criterion Validity.
• Curricular Validity and Instructional Validity.
• Ecological Validity.
• External Validity.
• Face Validity.
• Formative validity & Summative Validity.
• Incremental Validity
• Internal Validity.
• Predictive Validity.
• Sampling Validity.
• Statistical Conclusion Validity.
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What is the importance of sample in research? Discuss different sampling techniques in detail?
Answer:
Sampling helps a lot in research. It is one of the most important factors which determines the accuracy of your research/survey result. If anything goes wrong with your sample then it will be directly reflected in the final result. There are lot of techniques which help us to gather sample depending upon the need and situation. This blog post tries to explain some of those techniques. To start with, let’s have a look on some basic terminology
- Population
- Sample
- Sampling
Population is the collection of the elements which has some or the other characteristic in common. Number of elements in the population is the size of the population. Sample is the subset of the population. The process of selecting a sample is known as sampling. Number of elements in the sample is the sample size.
Sampling
There are lot of sampling techniques which are grouped into two categories as
- Probability Sampling
- Non- Probability Sampling
Different sampling techniques:
Simple random sample: Every member and set of members has an equal chance of being included in the sample. Technology, random number generators, or some other sort of chance process is needed to get a simple random sample.
Example—A teachers puts students' names in a hat and chooses without looking to get a sample of students.
Why it's good: Random samples are usually fairly representative since they don't favor certain members.
Stratified random sample: The population is first split into groups. The overall sample consists of some members from every group. The members from each group are chosen randomly.
Example—A student council surveys 100100100 students by getting random samples of 252525 freshmen, 252525 sophomores, 252525 juniors, and 252525 seniors. Why it's good: A stratified sample guarantees that members from each group will be represented in the sample, so this sampling method is good when we want some members from every group. Cluster random sample: The population is first split into groups. The overall sample consists of every member from some of the groups. The groups are selected at random.
Example—An airline company wants to survey its customers one day, so they randomly select 555 flights that day and survey every passenger on those flights. Why it's good: A cluster sample gets every member from some of the groups, so it's good when each group reflects the population as a whole.
Systematic random sample: Members of the population are put in some order. A starting point is selected at random, and every n^{\text{th}}nthn, start superscript, t, h, end superscript member is selected to be in the sample.
Example—A principal takes an alphabetized list of student names and picks a random starting point. Every 20^{\text{th}}20th20, start superscript, t, h, end superscript student is selected to take a survey.
The Importance of Selecting an Appropriate Sampling Method
Sampling yields significant research result. However, with the differences that can be present between a population and a sample, sample errors can occur. Therefore, it is essential to use the most relevant and useful sampling method.
Below are three of the most common sampling errors.
- Sampling bias occurs when the sample does not reflect the characteristics of the population.
- Sample frame errors occur when the wrong sub-population is used to select a sample. This can be due to gender, race, or economic factors.
- Systematic errors occur when the results from the sample differ significantly from the results of the population.
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Develop a research proposal on “Analysis of Reforms in curriculum for secondary level in Pakistan” mention all necessary steps properly.
Answer:
We all know the importance of education. It is the most important aspect of any nation’s survival today. Education builds the nations; it determines the future of a nation. So that’s why we have to adopt our Education Policies very carefully because our future depends on these policies.
ISLAM also tells us about Education and its importance. The real essence of Education according to ISLAM is “to know ALLAH” but I think in our country we truly lost. Neither our schools nor our madrassa’s (Islamic Education Centres) are truly educating our youth in this regard. In schools, we are just preparing them for “Money”. We aren’t educating them we are just preparing “Money Machines”. We are only increasing the burden of the books for our children and just enrolling them in a reputed, big school for what, just for social status??? On the other hand in our madrassas we are preparing people who finds very difficult to adjust in the modern society.
Sometimes it seems that they are from another planet. A madrassa student can’t compete even in our country then the World is so far from him. He finds very difficult to even speak to a school boy. It is crystal clear that Islamic Education is necessary for Muslims but it is also a fact that without modern education no one can compete in this world. There are many examples of Muslim Scholars who not only study the Holy Quraan but also mastered the other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy and many more, with the help of Holy Quraan. I think with the current education system we are narrowing the way for our children instead of widening it. There is no doubt that our children are very talented, both in schools and in madrassas, we just need to give them proper ways to groom, give them the space to become Quaid-E- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Alberoni, Abnalhasam, or Einstein, Newton, Thomas Edison. The education system we are running with is not working anymore. We have to find a way to bridge this gap between school and madrassa. Robert Maynard Hutchins describes it as “The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” We should give our youth the way to educate themselves.Edward Everett said that “Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.” Sadly, in Pakistan we are spending more budgets on our arms than on education which depicts our ideology about education!!! Since 1947 not a single government is able to change
this scenario. In price of a grenade almost 20 to 30 children can go to school for the whole year and the other picture.... a grenade can kill 20 to 30 grown people!!!!!!. So a grenade is damaging in two ways stopping children education and then killing innocent people!!! Why not authorities think about this? Answer.... we all know that!!! Don’t we?Now lets talk about our Policy Makers, it seems they are not working enough. Every year policy for education is reviewed by the government but the results are same.... Illiteracy rate is going upwards in Pakistan according to a recent survey. Somebody starting “Nai Roshni School”, somebody starting “Parha Likha Punjab” etc. for what to educate Pakistan? Well, I don’t think so. These “People” are playing with our nation for the last 60 years just for their on profits and aims. We should and we have to think about our children education now that are we educating them in the right way? If not, what should we do? We have to act now otherwise it’s going to be too late for PAKISTAN!!! The report’s major findings and recommendations are
- Although its law requires Pakistan to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and sixteen, millions are still out of school, the second highest number in the world.
- The quality of education in the public school sector remains abysmal, failing to prepare a fast growing population for the job market, while a deeply flawed curriculum fosters religious intolerance and xenophobia.
- Poorly regulated madrasas and religious schools are filling the gap of the dilapidated public education sector and contributing to religious extremism and sectarian violence
- The state must urgently reverse decades of neglect by increasing expenditure on the grossly-underfunded education system – ensuring that international aid to this sector is supplementary to, rather than a substitute for, the state’s financial commitment – and opt for meaningful reform of the curriculum, bureaucracy, teaching staff and methodologies.
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What is difference between a research proposal and a research report? What is reference in research report? Read APA Manual 6th edition and enlist the rules of references for research report.
Answer:
Difference between a research proposal and a research report:
Research proposal and research report are two terms that often confuse many student researchers. A research proposal describes what the researcher intends to do in his research study and is written before the collection and analysis of data. A research report describes the whole research study and is submitted after the competition of the whole research project. Thus, the main difference between research proposal and research report is that a research proposal describes the proposed research and research design whereas a research report describes the completed research, including the findings, conclusion, and recommendations.
What is a Research Proposal
A research proposal is a brief and coherent summary of the proposed research study, which is prepared at the beginning of a research project. The aim of a research proposal is to justify the need for a specific research proposal and present the practical methods and ways to conduct the proposed research. In other words, a research proposal presents the proposed design of the study and justifies the necessity of the specific research. Thus, a research proposal describes what you intend to do and why you intend to do it.
A research proposal generally contains the following segments:
- Introduction/ Context/ Background
- Literature Review
- Research Methods and Methodology
- Research question
- Aims and Objectives
- List of Reference
Each of these segments is indispensable to a research proposal. For example, it’s impossible to write a research proposal without reading related work and writing a literature review. Similarly, it’s not possible to decide a methodology without determining specific research questions.
What is a Research Report
A research report is a document that is submitted at the end of a research project. This describes the completed research project. It describes the data collection, analysis, and the results as well. Thus, in addition to the sections mentioned above, this also includes sections such as,
- Findings
- Analysis
- Conclusions
- Shortcomings
- Recommendations
A research report is also known as a thesis or dissertation. A research report is not research plan or a proposed design. It describes what was actually done during the research project and what was learned from it. Research reports are usually longer than research proposals since they contain step-by-step processes of the research.
Research Proposal: Research Proposal describes what the researcher intends to do and why he intends to do it.
Research Report: Research report describes what the researcher has done, why he has done it, and the results he has achieved.
Order
Research Proposal: Research proposals are written at the beginning of a research proposal before the research project actually begins.
Research Report: Research reports are completed after the completion of the whole research project.
Content
Research Proposal: Research proposals contain sections such as introduction/background, literature review, research questions, methodology, aims and objective.
Research Report: Research reports contain sections such as introduction/background, literature review, research questions, methodology, aims and objective, findings, analysis, results, conclusion, recommendations, citation.
Length
Research Proposal: Research proposals are shorter in length.
Research Report: Research reports are longer than research proposals.
APA Manual 6th edition and enlist the rules of references for research report:
- Your references should begin on a new page. Title the new page "References" and center the title text at the top of the page.
- All entries should be in alphabetical order.
- The first line of a reference should be flush with the left margin. Each additional line should be indented (usually accomplished by using the TAB key.)
- While earlier versions of APA format required only one space after each sentence, the new sixth edition of the style manual now recommends two spaces.
- The reference section should be double-spaced.
- All sources cited should appear both in-text and on the reference page. Any reference that appears in the text of your report or article must be cited on the reference page, and any item appearing on your reference page must be also included somewhere in the body of your text.
- Titles of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers should appear in italics.
- The exact format of each individual reference may vary somewhat depending on whether you are referencing an author or authors, a book or journal article, or an electronic source. It pays to spend some time looking at the specific requirements for each type of reference before formatting your source list.
A Few More Helpful Resources
If you are struggling with APA format or are looking for a good way to collect and organize your references as you work on your research, consider using a free APA citation machine. These online tools can help generate an APA style referenced, but always remember to double-check each one for accuracy.
Purchasing your own copy of the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is a great way to learn more about APA format and have a handy resource to check your own work against. Looking at examples of APA format can also be very helpful.
While APA format may seem complex, it will become easier once you familiarize yourself with the rules and format. The overall format may be similar for many papers, but your instructor might have specific requirements that vary depending on whether you are writing an essay or a research paper. In addition to your reference page, your instructor may also require you to maintain and turn in an APA format bibliography.
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What type of research tools are used in qualitative research? Mention the characteristics of any three tools for qualitative research.
Answer:
Qualitative research engages the target audience in an open-ended, exploratory discussion using tools like focus groups or in-depth interviews. Qualitative research explores the “what, why and how” questions and provides directional data about the target audience. It is commonly used to explore the perceptions and values that influence behavior, identify unmet needs, understand how people perceive a marketing message or ad, or to inform a subsequent phase of quantitative research.
Learn more about Isurus’ qualitative research tools:
- In-depth interviews
- Focus groups
- Asynchronous focus groups
- Qualitative techniques
In-depth Interviews
In-depth interviews are a guided, open-ended discussion with a single respondent. Interviewers lead respondents through a structured topic guide that addresses key issues of interest. Indepth interviews are appropriate for executives, geographically dispersed groups and people who would not feel comfortable speaking openly in a group (e.g., business competitors). In the US in-depth interviews are typically conducted by telephone. In the Middle East, Latin America and some Asian countries in-depth interviews are typically conducted in-person.
Focus Groups
A focus group is a moderated discussion with a group of participants; the size of the group depends on the target audience and mode (online versus in-person). While focus groups have historically been held in person (face-to-face), they are increasingly conducted virtually using teleconferencing, web-conferencing, or online collaboration tools. Focus groups are used when the research objectives will be better accomplished through a dynamic discussion and sharing of ideas among participants or when it is critical for the client team to observe the discussion in real-time.
Asynchronous Focus Groups
Also known as “bulletin-board” groups, asynchronous focus groups are threaded discussions that take place over the course of multiple days. Participants respond to new questions posted daily by the moderator. The discussion is observable by the client team. Asynchronous discussions are most useful when participants need time to digest and respond to the questions and other stimuli, either because the topic is complex (e.g., highly technical offerings) or because there is a lot of information (e.g., multiple concepts or messages). The asynchronous nature of the discussion also enables the client and research team to consider and react to findings that emerge during the discussion (e.g., use feedback from the group to revise and re-test a concept). This methodology can be the best way to reach target audiences who are difficult to schedule (e.g., doctors).
Qualitative Techniques
Isurus moderators employ a range of tools and techniques to make qualitative research productive, such as projective exercises, laddering and individual exercises. Through techniques like these as well as effective moderating, we encourage participants to go beyond superficial, knee-jerk responses to uncover their true opinions and behaviors. Effective moderation is critical to the success of qualitative research, of the specific methodology used. Each Isurus moderator brings more than 15 years of experience with a range of qualitative research approaches. The moderator, typically an Isurus principal, is an integral part of the project team from start to finish, and plays a key role in translating the business objectives into productive research, analyzing the data, and presenting the results
Characteristics of any three tools for qualitative research:
According to Rolfe, “judging quality in qualitative research is symptomatic of an inability to identify a coherent ‘qualitative’ research paradigm and that, in effect, such a unified paradigm does not exist outside of research textbooks". This makes it more challenging for the researcher or scholar learner to adopt this methodology as a standard for investigation since the paradigm that Rolfe refers to has to expand through thorough reading or via the experiences of more educated researchers.
Another characteristic of qualitative research is its promotion of a more diverse reaction from those who have been asked or surveyed. This is because the human behavior is taken more into consideration than metrics or numbers–therefore making the results more difficult to analyze, due to the variety of rules for interpretation of the responses. It is challenging but at the same time it can be fun.
Yet another characteristic of qualitative research relates to time and cost. This type of research can be pricey and time-consuming because of the time that the analysis of the responses may tak–and you've heard it before, “Time means money". There are many voice questions about the value of qualitative research, especially in recent years. Most of the criticism comes from those who believe that the evidence is strictly circumstantial and lacks of hard metrics to be proven.
In conclusion, although the discussion here has been around the characteristics of qualitative research, it is important to emphasize that both qualitative and quantitative research methods form two different schools of research. On the surface it seems that qualitative research concerns the quality of research while quantitative research deals with simply numerical research. Qualitative researchers seek to appraise things as they are seen by humans, while making an effort to look at a realistic representation of life and providing an interpretative understanding of such mental drawing. Face it, qualitative research is not a hard science that will continue to draw criticism from quantitative researchers. Neither of these schools of thought is superior to the other, and when carried out correctly both provide what is needed for good research.
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