Table Of Content

Research Methods in Education This completely rewritten and updated fifth edition of the long-running bestseller, Research Meth- ods in Education covers the whole range of methods currently employed by educational research- ers. It continues to be the standard text for students undertaking educational research whether at undergraduate or postgraduate level. This new edition constitutes the largest reshaping of the text to date and includes new material on: • qualitative, naturalistic and ethnographic research methods; (cid:127) curricular and evaluative research; (cid:127) critical theory and educational research; (cid:127) feminist perspectives on research; (cid:127) research and policy-making; (cid:127) planning educational research; (cid:127) critical action research; (cid:127) statistical analysis; (cid:127) sampling reliability and validity; (cid:127) event-history analysis; (cid:127) meta-analysis and multi-level modelling; (cid:127) nominal group technique and Delphi techniques; (cid:127) case study planning; (cid:127) qualitative data analysis; (cid:127) questionnaire design and construction; (cid:127) focus groups; (cid:127) testing; (cid:127) test construction and item response theory; (cid:127) recent developments in educational research including Internet usage, simulations, fuzzy logic, Geographical Information Systems, needs assessment and evidence-based education. This user-friendly text provides both the theory that underpins research methodology and very practical guidelines for conducting educational research. It is essential reading for both the profes- sional researcher and the consumer of research—the teacher, educational administrator, adviser, and all those concerned with educational research and practice. Louis Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Education at Loughborough University. Lawrence Manion is former Principal Lecturer in Music at Didsbury School of Education, Manchester Metropolitan University. Keith Morrison is Senior Professor of Education at the Inter-University Institute of Macau. Research Methods in Education Fifth edition Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison London and New York First published 2000 by RoutledgeFalmer 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeFalmer 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group ©2000 Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Cohen, Louis Research methods in education/Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion, and Keith Morrison.—5th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-415-19541-1 (pbk.) 1. Education—Research. 2. Education—Research—Great Britain. I. Manion, Lawrence. II. Morrison, Keith (Keith R.B.) III. Title. LB 1028 .C572 2000 370’.7’2–dc21 ISBN 0-203-22434-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-22446-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-19541-1 ‘To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy.’ (Sun Yat Sen, 1866–1925) Contents List of boxes xi Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv Part 1 Part 2 The context of educational research Planning educational research 1 The nature of inquiry 2 The ethics of educational and social research Introduction 3 The search for truth 3 Introduction 49 Two conceptions of social reality 5 Informed consent 50 Positivism 8 Access and acceptance 53 The assumptions and nature of science 10 Ethics of social research 56 The tools of science 13 Sources of tension 58 The scientific method 15 Voices of experience 59 Criticisms of positivism and the Ethical dilemmas 60 scientific method 17 Ethics and research methods in Alternatives to positivistic social education 66 science: naturalistic approaches 19 Ethics and teacher evaluation 67 A question of terminology: the Research and regulation 69 normative and interpretive paradigms 22 Conclusion 71 Phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism 23 3 Research design issues: planning Criticisms of the naturalistic and research interpretive approaches 26 Critical theory and critical educational Introduction 73 research 27 A framework for planning research 73 Criticisms of approaches from critical A planning matrix for research 80 theory 31 Managing the planning of research 88 Critical theory and curriculum research 32 Conclusion 90 A summary of the three paradigms 34 Feminist research 34 4 Sampling Research and evaluation 38 Research, politics and policy-making 43 Introduction 92 Methods and methodology 44 The sample size 93 Sampling error 96 The representativeness of the sample 98 The access to the sample 98 The sampling strategy to be used 99 Conclusion 104 viii CONTENTS 5 Validity and reliability 9 Case studies Defining validity 105 Introduction 181 Triangulation 112 What is a case study? 181 Ensuring validity 115 Types of case study 185 Defining reliability 117 Why participant observation? 187 Validity and reliability in interviews 120 Recording observations 188 Validity and reliability in experiments 126 Planning a case study 189 Validity and reliability in questionnaires 128 Conclusion 190 Validity and reliability in observations 129 Validity and reliability in tests 130 10 Correlational research Validity and reliability in life histories 132 Introduction 191 Part 3 Explaining correlation and significance 193 Styles of educational research Curvilinearity 197 Co-efficients of correlation 198 6 Naturalistic and ethnographic research Characteristics of correlational studies 199 Interpreting the correlation co-efficient 201 Elements of naturalistic inquiry 137 Examples of correlational research 202 Planning naturalistic research 140 Critical ethnography 153 11 Ex post facto research Computer usage 155 Some problems with ethnographic and Introduction 205 naturalistic approaches 156 Characteristics of ex post facto research 206 Occasions when appropriate 207 7 Historical research Advantages and disadvantages of ex post facto research 208 Introduction 158 Designing an ex post facto investigation 209 Choice of subject 159 Procedures in ex post facto research 209 Data collection 160 Evaluation 162 12 Experiments, quasi-experiments Writing the research report 163 and single-case research The use of quantitative methods 164 Life histories 165 Introduction 211 Designs in educational 8 Surveys, longitudinal, cross-sectional and experimentation 212 trend studies A pre-experimental design: the one group pretest-post-test 212 Some preliminary considerations 172 A ‘true’ experimental design: the Survey sampling 174 pretest-post-test control group design 213 Longitudinal, cross-sectional and trend A quasi-experimental design: the studies 174 non-equivalent control group design 214 Strengths and weaknesses of cohort Procedures in conducting and cross-sectional studies 176 experimental research 215 Event history analysis 177 Examples from educational research 217 Single-case research: ABAB design 219 Meta-analysis in educational research 220 CONTENTS ix 13 Action research Procedures in eliciting, analysing and authenticating accounts 294 Introduction 226 Network analyses of qualitative data 297 Defining action research 226 What makes a good network? 297 Principles and characteristics of action Discourse analysis 298 research 228 Analysing social episodes 300 Action research as critical praxis 231 Account gathering in educational Procedures for action research 234 research: an example 300 Some practical and theoretical Problems in gathering and matters 239 analysing accounts 302 Conclusion 241 Strengths of the ethogenic approach 302 A note on stories 303 Part 4 Strategies for data collection and 17 Observation researching Structured observation 306 14 Questionnaires Critical incidents 310 Naturalistic observation 310 Ethical issues 245 Ethical considerations 314 Approaching the planning of a Conclusion 315 questionnaire 246 Types of questionnaire items 248 18 Tests The layout of the questionnaire 258 Piloting the questionnaire 260 Parametric and non-parametric tests 317 Postal questionnaires 262 Norm-referenced, criterion-referenced Processing questionnaire data 265 and domain-referenced tests 318 Commercially produced tests 15 Interviews and researcher-produced tests 319 Constructing a test 321 Introduction 267 Devising a pretest and post-test 334 Conceptions of the interview 267 Reliability and validity of tests 334 Purposes of the interview 268 Ethical issues in preparing for tests 334 Types of interview 270 Computerized adaptive testing 335 Planning interview-based research procedures 273 19 Personal constructs Group interviewing 287 Focus groups 288 Introduction 337 The non-directive interview and the Characteristics of the method 337 focused interview 289 ‘Elicited’ versus ‘provided’ constructs 338 Telephone interviewing 290 Allotting elements to constructs 339 Ethical issues in interviewing 292 Laddering and pyramid constructions 341 Grid administration and analysis 341 16 Accounts Procedures in grid administration 341 Procedures in grid analysis 342 Introduction 293 Strengths of repertory grid technique 344 The ethogenic approach 294 Difficulties in the use of repertory Characteristics of accounts and episodes 294 grid technique 345