RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

EXAMPLES FROM EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH 287
Fifth, in planning the design of the experiment,
researchers must take account of the population
to which they wish to generalize their results. This
involves making decisions over sample sizes and
sampling methods. Sampling decisions are bound
up with questions of funds, staffing and the amount
of time available for experimentation.
Sixth, with problems of validity in mind,
researchers must select instruments, choose tests
and decide upon appropriate methods of analysis.
Seventh, before embarking upon the actual
experiment, researchers must pilot test the
experimental procedures to identify possible snags
in connection with any aspect of the investigation.
This is of crucial importance.
Eighth, during the experiment itself, researchers
must endeavour to follow tested and agreed-on
procedures to the letter. The standardization of
instructions, the exact timing of experimental
sequences, the meticulous recording and checking
of observations – these are the hallmark of the
competent researcher.
With their data collected, researchers face the
most important part of the whole enterprise.
Processing data, analysing results and drafting
reports are all extremely demanding activities,
both in intellectual effort and time. Often this
last part of the experimental research is given
too little time in the overall planning of the
investigation. Experienced researchers rarely make
such a mistake; computer program faults and a
dozen more unanticipated disasters teach the hard
lesson of leaving ample time for the analysis and
interpretation of experimental findings.
A ten-step model for the conduct of the
experiment can be suggested (see http://www.
routledge.com/textbooks/9780415368780 –
Chapter 13, file 13.13. ppt):
1 Identify the purpose ofthe experiment.
2 Selectthe relevant variables.
3 Specify the level(s) of the intervention (e.g.
low, medium, high intervention).
4 Control the experimental conditions and
environment.
5 Selectthe appropriate experimental design.
6 Administer the pretest.
7 Assign theparticipants to the group(s).
8 Conduct the intervention.
9 Conduct the post-test.
10 Analyse the results.
The sequence of steps 6 and 7 can be reversed; the
intention in putting them in the present sequence
is to ensure that the two groups are randomly
allocated and matched. In experiments and fixed
designs, data are aggregated rather than related to
specific individuals, and data look for averages, the
range of results, and their variation. In calculating
differences or similarity between groups at the
stages of the pretest and the post-test, the t-test
for independent samples is often used.
Examples from educational research
Example 1: a pre-experimental design
Apre-experimentaldesignwasusedinastudy
involving the 1991–92 postgraduate diploma in
education group following a course of training
to equip them to teach social studies in senior
secondary schools in Botswana. The researcher
wished to find out whether the programme of
studies he had devised would effect changes in
the students’ orientations towards social studies
teaching. To that end, he employed a research
instrument, the Barth/Shermis Studies Preference
Scale (BSSPS), which has had wide use in differing
cultures including the United States, Egypt and
Nigeria, and whose construction meets commonly
required criteria concerning validity and internal
consistency reliability.
The BSSPS consists of forty-five Likerttype
items (Chapter 15), providing measures
of what purport to be three social studies
traditions or philosophical orientations, the oldest
of which, Citizenship Transmission, involves
indoctrination of the young in the basic values
of a society. The second orientation, the Social
Science, is held to relate to the acquisition of
knowledge-gathering skills based on the mastery
of social science concepts and processes. The
third tradition, Reflective Inquiry, is said to
derive from John Dewey’s pragmatism with its
emphasis on the process of inquiry. Forty-eight
Chapter 13