Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Research Defined
Research Methodology: An Overview
Doing Quantitative Research
Constructs & Variables
Theory and Review of Literature
What is research?
Research is a scientific or systematic process
of steps used to gather and analyze information
to increase our understanding of a phenomenon
(topic or issue)
Examples of phenomena:
What is the motivation level of my students in
learning English?
Can cooperative learning improve the
students’ performance in Mathematics?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: An Overview
RESEARCH
QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
(Positivist Approach)
(Phenomenological Approach)
Case
Study Action
Experimental Research
Survey
Quasi- Ethnography
Correlational Experimental
Generic Qualitative method
Causal-comparative
Preliminary Understanding of Quantitative &
Qualitative Research
Problem-solving Research
- To solve an ecological problem
(problems in research setting)
Reading Information
programme Reading processing
assessment theory
Generating Comprehension Performance
research Reading Material
ideas Reading Activity
Recall
Illustration
Pre-reading
activity
Formulating
Research Effects of illustration on the reading
Problem comprehension of expository text by ESL Learners
(2) Formulating the Research Problem
(Writing the statement of the problem)
Research Problem Statement:
Declarative form:
The effects of illustration as a prereading activity on the reading
comprehension performance of expository text among Year 4 pupils
Question Form
How does illustration as a prereading activity affect the reading
comprehension performance of expository text among Year 4 pupils?
A good problem statement should
express a relation between two or more variables,
e.g. illustration, reading ability, content familiarity
and reading comprehension
IMPORTANT:
The decision on which methodology (esp. research
design and method of data collection & analyses) to use
depends the research problem & research
questions/hypotheses
(4) Collecting Data
Develop Instruments
Communicating Results
Thesis/Dissertation/Project
Conferences/seminars
Publications in Journals/Books
Characteristics of Research
Dependent Variable
- Cannot be manipulated
e.g. Reading comprehension performance
score
Class Discussion
Can you identify the independent and
dependent variables in the following
research?
You are interested to find out if students
who are exposed to project-based method
(PBM) would perform better in science
than those who are taught using the
traditional lecture method (TLM). Besides,
you want to know if it would benefit high
achiever more or low achiever more
Independent Variables Dependent Variables
PBM
Teaching
Method
TLM
Science
Performance
High
Academic
Achievement
Low
2 x 2 Factorial Design
PBM TLM
High
Achiever
Low
Achiever
(B) Variables In Quantitative Research
Continuous Variable
- capable of taking on an ordered set of values
within a certain range (1, 2, 3….20…)
e,g. temperature, height, weight, attitude
score, achievement score, etc
Categorical Variable
- measures of differences in type, not number
or amount, providing label classifications
e.g. race (Malay, Chinese, Indian, Others);
gender (M, F); SES (High, Middle, Low),
Proficiency level (Good, Poor)
Conversion
Subject Reading Score (20) Type of Reader
1 5 Poor
2 7 Poor
3 6 Poor
6 16 Good
7 19 Good
8 20 Good
Operational definition of variables
Variables used in a study must be operationally defined
as they are used in the context of the study. This is
especially important when they have different definitions
in different contexts or when you are using them in a way
different from the commonly held definitions. Clear
operational definition of variables will eliminate confusion.
Theory
a statement or set of statements that explain and
predict phenomena.
a statement that indicates the relationship
between two or more events
Primary Sources
Materials written by someone who actually conducted
the investigation – 1st hand information. (e.g. research
articles published in journals.)
THANK YOU