Educational Research
Chapter 2
Selecting and Defining a Research Topic
Gay, Mills, and Airasian
Topics Discussed in this Chapter
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Identifying a Research Topic
Reviewing the Literature
Developing and Stating Hypotheses
Identifying a Topic
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A research topic focuses the study to a
defined, manageable size
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It provides structure for the steps in the
scientific method
It is discussed in many ways
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Research question
Research problem
Purpose of the research
Identifying a Topic
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Four main sources of topics
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Theory – an organized body of concepts,
generalizations and principles that can be
subjected to investigation
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Provides conceptually rich topics
Provides confirmation of some aspects of theory
Personal experience
Replication
Library immersion
Obj. 1.1
Identifying a Topic
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Narrowing and focusing topics
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Three problems with broad topics
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Enlarges the scope of the review of the
literature beyond reason
Complicates the organization of the review of
the literature itself
Creates studies that are too general, too
difficult to carry out, and too difficult to
interpret
Obj. 1.3
Identifying a Topic
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Suggestions for narrowing topics
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Talk to experts in the field
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Professors in your college or department
Researchers you know
Read secondary sources that provide
overviews of your topic
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Handbooks
Encyclopedias
Reviews
Obj. 1.2. & 1.4
Identifying a Topic
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Quantitative and qualitative studies –
differences in when a topic is narrowed
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Quantitative studies tend to narrow the
topic initially
Qualitative studies tend to narrow the topic
throughout the research process itself
Obj. 1.4
Identifying a Topic
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Researchable and non-researchable topics
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Researchable topics…
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can be investigated through the collection and analysis of
data.
have theoretical or practical significance.
have been conducted ethically.
contribute to the educational processes
can be adequately researched given the expertise,
resources, and time constraints of the researcher.
Obj. 1.5
Identifying a Topic
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Non-researchable topics…
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address philosophical or ethical issues.
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Cannot be resolved through the collection and
analysis of data
address “should” questions.
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Ultimately these are matters of opinion
Obj. 1.6
Identifying a Topic
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The formal statement of a quantitative
research topic…
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identifies the variables of interest.
describes the specific relationship between
the variables.
identifies the nature of the participants.
Obj. 1.7 & 1.8
Identifying a Topic
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The formal statement of a qualitative
research topic…
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emerges over the course of the study.
begins as an initial statement that tends to
be stated as a general issue or concern.
becomes focused as more is learned about
the context, participants, and phenomena
of interest.
is typically stated late in a written study.
Obj. 1.8
The Literature Review
The review of the literature involves the
systematic identification, location, and
analysis of documents containing
information related to the research
problem
Obj. 2.1
The Literature Review
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Functions of a literature review
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Determine what has been done already
Provide insight necessary to develop a logical
framework into which the topic fits
Provides the rationale for the hypotheses being
investigated and the justification of the
significance of the study
Identifies potentially useful methodological
strategies
Facilitates the interpretation of the results
Obj. 2.2
The Literature Review
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General recommendations for the scope
of the review
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Bigger does not mean better
Heavily researched topics provide enough
references to focus only on the major
studies
Lesser researched topics require reviewing
any study related in some meaningful way
even if this means searching related fields
Obj. 2.3
The Literature Review
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Four stages when conducting a review
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Identifying key words to guide the search
Identifying sources
Abstracting the information found in the
references
Analyzing, organizing and reporting the
literature
Obj. 2.4
The Literature Review
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Identifying key words
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Importance of experimenting with several
key words and combinations of them
Using “legal” key words for particular data
bases
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ERIC Thesaurus
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Accessed through the ERIC homepage
Obj. 2.4 & 2.8
The Literature Review
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Identifying sources
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Characteristics of sources
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Primary and secondary
Empirical and opinion
Importance of using secondary sources
such as handbooks, encyclopedias, and
reviews early in the review process
Obj. 2.6
The Literature Review
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Identifying sources
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Broadening and narrowing keyword
searches
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Three important Boolean operators
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AND narrows a search
OR broadens a search
NOT narrows a search
Narrowing and focusing by date of publication,
specific authors, titles, etc.
Obj. 2.5
The Literature Review
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Identifying sources
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Searching for books
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Electronic databases of university libraries
Keyword searches
Searching for journals or papers
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ERIC
Indices usually accessed more easily through the library
at your university using EBSCO or other such search
tools
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Education Index
Psychological Abstracts
Dissertation Abstracts
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature
Obj. 2.7 & 2.10
The Literature Review
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Identifying sources
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Searching the web
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Search engines
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Subject directories
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Google, Excite, HotBot
Yahoo!, Web Crawler, Lycos
Meta search engines
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Dogpile, Mamma, Vroosh
The Literature Review
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Identifying sources
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Educational sites
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ERIC, Ingenta, New Jour, Education Week, National
Center for Education Statistics, US Dept. of Education,
Developing Educational Standards, Education Resource
Organization Directory
Evaluating web sites
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Quality, honesty, bias, and authenticity
Thinking Critically about WWW Resources, Critically
Analyzing Information Sources
Obj. 2.11 & 2.12
The Literature Review
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Abstracting the references
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Locating, reviewing, summarizing, and classifying
references
Seven steps
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Read the article abstract
Skim the entire article
Record complete bibliographic information
Classify and code the article
Summarize the article
Identify thoughts about the article you believe important
Indicate direct quotes properly
Obj. 4.1
The Literature Review
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Recommended strategies when abstracting
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Begin with the most recent references and move
toward the most dated
Record all bibliographic information
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Author, date of publication, title, journal name or book
title or website name, volume and issue, pages, library
call number or URL
Identify direct quotes and record page numbers
Identify main ideas
Literature Review
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Analyzing, organizing and reporting
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Technical nature of reporting
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Documentation
Formal language
Adherence to prescribed styles (e.g., APA)
Outline the review
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Group by topics
Analyze for similarities and differences within
subheadings
Discuss the least relevant studies first, followed by the
most relevant studies
Summarize the review and discuss the implications
related to the research problem
Literature Review
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Differences between quantitative and
qualitative reviews
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Quantitative reviews are typically
conducted in the initial stages of the study
Qualitative reviews are ongoing throughout
the entire study reflecting the need to
understand data as it is collected,
analyzed, and interpreted
Obj. 3.1
Literature Review
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Meta-analysis
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A statistical approach to summarizing the
results of many studies that have
investigated the same problem
Two unique characteristics
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The review is as inclusive as possible
The results of each study are translated into a
statistic called an effect size (ES)
Obj. 4.3
Literature Review
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Meta-analysis
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Effect sizes
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Essentially the difference between the means
for the experimental and control groups in
control group standard deviation units
The average of all effect sizes for all of the
studies summarizes the overall effect of the
studies
Effect size indices generally range from 0.00 to
slightly more than 1.00
Obj. 4.3
Literature Review
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Meta-analysis
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Interpreting effect sizes
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There is no single standard by which effect
sizes are interpreted
The authors suggest the following criteria
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If the effect size is less than 0.30 it is considered
small
If the effect size is greater than 0.30 and less than
0.70 it is considered moderate
If the effect size is greater than 0.70 it is considered
large
Obj. 4.4
Developing Hypotheses
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Two views of hypotheses
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Inductive – a generalization made from a
number of observations
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Typical of qualitative studies
Deductive – derived from theory and aimed
at providing evidence to support, expand,
or contradict aspects of that theory
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Typical of quantitative studies
Obj. 5.1 & 5.4
Developing Hypotheses
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Defining a hypothesis
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A researcher’s tentative prediction of the
results of the research
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Formulated on the basis of knowledge of the
underlying theory or implications from the
literature review
Testing a hypothesis leads to support of the
hypothesis or lack thereof
Obj. 5.1
Developing Hypotheses
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A good quantitative hypothesis…
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is based on sound reasoning.
provides a reasonable explanation for the
predicted outcome.
clearly and concisely states the expected
relationships between variables.
is testable.
Obj. 5.2
Developing Hypotheses
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Types of quantitative hypotheses
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Research hypotheses state the expected
relationship between two variables
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Non-directional – a statement that no relationship or
difference exists between the variables
Directional – a statement of the expected direction of the
relationship or difference between variables
Null – a statistical statement that no statistically
significant relationship or difference exists between
variables
Obj. 5.5 & 5.6
Developing Hypotheses
Non-Directional
Directional
Null
There is no relationship
between math attitudes
and math achievement
There is a strong positive
relationship between math
attitudes and math
achievement
H0:  = 0
There is no difference in
the achievement of
students using technology
or not using it
Students using technology will
have higher levels of
achievement than students
who are not using it
H0: 1 - 2 = 0
Obj. 5.5 & 5.6
Developing Hypotheses
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Hypotheses in qualitative studies
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Given the nature of qualitative research,
formal a priori hypotheses are not stated
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Generative role of qualitative research
Testing role of quantitative research
Focus is on generating new hypotheses as
a result of the study (i.e., inductive
hypotheses)
Obj. 5.10
Stating Hypotheses
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Formats for quantitative experimental studies
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P who get X do better on Y than P who do not get X
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P represents the participant
X represents the treatment
Y represents the outcome
Testing hypotheses
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Statistical analysis of data
Importance of the results regardless of the outcome
Results support or fail to support hypotheses, but
they never prove or disprove hypotheses
Obj. 5.7 & 5.9