Survey Methods for Educational Research

Paper Summary:

This research paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of questionnaires as research tools. The paper explores how, once a research paradigm and research questions are defined, researchers must determine the design nature (exploratory or conclusive). The paper discusses and evaluates different survey methods and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the survey methods over other descriptive research designs. Additionally, the paper discusses considerations involved in conducting surveys as well as the ethical issues arising from the various kinds of survey research identified. Finally, the author makes a proposal for a future study to design and evaluate a pilot questionnaire on effective uses of questionnaires as educational research tools.

Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Questionnaire Design
Validity and Reliability
Sampling Design and Procedure
Analytic Procedure
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Social science researchers have long debated the best, most efficacious ways of viewing the world. Two major paradigms, the C positivist and interpretivist, have today become the main focus of this debate. The C positivist paradigm is more compatible with quantitative research methodology. Quantitative research endeavors to define, explain, predict or control phenomena, using descriptive and inferential statistics. That method reflects belief that reality is mechanistic and deterministic, and that a whole may be divided into parts. Quantitative research implies faith in scientific progress, and the static nature of reality. Thorndike state that if anything exists, it can be measured. Objectivity and detachment are upheld in quantitative data collection, in order to explain changes in aspects of reality, or reveal any cause-and- effect relationships that may occur among parts of a whole. Interpretivist paradigms relate mostly to qualitative methodology. Subscribers believe human beings, individually and collectively, develop reality. Such paradigms interpret the specific instead of generalizing from the specific."

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