problems or the concerns of the teachers in their practices with the aim of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they practice and the experiment should be conducted under normal conditions of the schools.
It demands specific solution however; the solutions cannot be directly applied to other contexts, but can be made accessible to others teachers as hypothesis to be tested.
ACTION RESEARCH The results should not be generalized to other classrooms or schools but the idea or conclusions can always be tried out by other teachers in their own practice to see if it work for them and unless the experimental group is a representative of a large population.
The results should be interpreted with utmost caution because it is difficult to control so many variables. Thus, the teacher should not reflect her/his personal bias for a particular method or factor during experimentation. Problems/Issues/Practices Students dont engage in discussion/class recitation Irregular attendance No assignment Cut classes Keep up with changes in technology in the classroom Parents not attending meeting least mastered skills high dropout rate, failure rate, repeater rate most appropriate method/ approach in teaching slow learners Prepare new and exciting lessons Suitable review scheme
Intervention/ Treatment
A procedure, technique or strategy that is designed to modify an ongoing process. Most interventions in education are designed to modify directly or indirectly the student-learning process. In research studies, the intervention also is referred to as a treatment. In an experimental research study, the treatment is the independent variable.
Example special reading program for low-achieving students
Hypothesis serve to direct / guide the research indicate the major independent and dependent variables of interest suggest the type of data that must be collected/ type of analysis that must be conducted to measure the relationship among the variables. Null Hypothesis A statement that an independent variable or treatment will have no effect. Research Hypothesis A statement about the researchers expectations concerning the results of a study. Directional research hypothesis: A new standards-based mathematics curriculum will benefit elementary students at all grade levels. Non-directional research hypothesis: A new standards- based mathematics curriculum will have different effects on elementary students depending on grade level.
Variables
something that can change, characteristics or features that vary/change Independent Variable In experimental research, the variable that the researcher varies or manipulates to determine whether it has an effect on the dependent variable treatment/intervention variable, or the cause Example As part of an experiment, a researcher randomly assigns teachers in a large elementary school to receive one of three types of professional development: 1) a class on instructional strategies, 2) a training program on how to increase student motivation, 3) a teacher discussion group. Variables Dependent Variable also known as a "response variable", "measured variable", "responding variable", "explained variable", "outcome variable", "experimental variable", and "output variable". influenced by the manipulation of the independent variable. observed aspect of the behavior the effect
Variables Control Variable It must neutralized to ensure that it does not have a moderating effect or regulate the effects of variables that are not intended to influence the results or conclusions. Example A researcher conducts a study of two courses on how to teach mathematics. The researcher controls for differences among students by randomly assigning students to one of the two courses Latent Variable An unobserved and unmeasured variable that is hypothesized to have an influence on a dependent variable.. Variables Extraneous Variable Variable that is not intended to influence the results or conclusions. Example A researcher conducts a study of the effects of two different reading curricula on 1st-grade reading achievement. Intervening Variable An unmeasured variable that is assumed to intervene between a treatment or independent variable and a behavior or dependent variable. Most intervening variables are internal and cannot be observed.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The procedure test the hypothesis to reach valid conclusions about relationships between independent and dependent variables. Characteristics 1) an independent variable is directly manipulated to measure its effect on a dependent variable, and 2) participants are randomly assigned to different groups that receive different amounts of the independent variable, or 3) comparison groups on characteristics that relate to the dependent variable.
The essential characteristics of experimental method are Control Manipulation Observation
Steps in Experimental Method 1. Determining the Problem 2. Stating the Hypotheses 3. Preparing the Experimental Plan 4. Executing the Experimental Plan 5. Analyzing the Data
3. Preparing the Experimental Plan Select sample of subjects. Identify and control non experimental factors and decide the procedure of control Select or construct and validate instruments to measure outcomes Determine place, time, and duration of the experiment. Prepare time schedule Conduct pilot study. Decide the statistical procedures
Preparing the Experimental Plan Group Pre treatment Treatment Post Treatment Experimental Group O1 X O2 Control Group O3 O4 Data Analysis Data Presentation Polygon Frequency Histogram Bar Graph
Measures of Central Tendency mean median mode. Measures of Dispersion range interquartile range variation ratio standard deviation.
Measures of Dispersion range, interquartile range, variation ratio, and standard deviation. These measures indicate whether the scores in a given condition are similar to each other or whether they are spread out.
(Oxford Handbooks of Political Science) R. A. W. Rhodes, Sarah A. Binder, Bert A. Rockman-Handbook Political Institutions-Oxford University Press, USA (2006)