Research Methods in Education

Abstract

The book comprises nine chapters that all examine the major aspects of educational research. Chapter one defines educational research, outlines the characteristics of educational research, gives reasons for conducting educational research, outlines the educational research process, discusses the taxonomy of educational research, illustrates how to write an educational research report, describes how to state the educational research problem and finally discusses theoretical and conceptual frameworks for educational research.Chapter two of this book gives the definition of literature review, highlights the importance of literature review, lists the various components of the literature review section in a research report, outlines the steps to follow while reviewing literature, discusses gaps of a literature review, how and where to identify them. All these are important aspects that must be mastered by any researcher, which makes the topic worth your careful readership.Chapter three defines a research design, examines the structure and style of the research design section, enumerates the characteristics of a good research design, discusses the characteristics and types of research designs, highlights on the validity of research designs, and examines threats to validity of research designs and how to counter them in educational research.The fourth chapter talks about target population in detail, definition of sampling, reasons for sampling, commonly used sampling techniques in educational research, choosing the right sampling method, the sampling frame, sample space, determination of sample size in educational research and finally the ethical issues in sampling and research in education.Chapter five gives the definition of data collection, highlights primary and secondary data sources, examines the importance of data collection then discusses the tools and instruments for data collection in educational research.Chapter six is defines validity of a research instrument, types of validity of instruments, assessment of validity, methods of assessing reliability of research instruments and factors that affect reliability of educational research instruments.Chapter seven presents the definition of data analysis, reasons for data analysis, and steps in data analysis process, types of data and the various ambiguities in classifying data variables, types of data analysis and how to report findings in scholarly manner. Chapter eight talks about the definition of data presentation, methods of data presentation, importance of data presentation, scholarly writing of educational research findings, structure and style of the results section, interpretation and discussion of research findings.Chapter nine discusses the rationale for suggestions for further research, recommendations in educational research and how to write both sections in a dissertation or research paper. As you read through the nine chapters of this book, I strongly urge you to share the book’s insight with your colleagues in all academia, for all important goal of ameliorating the quality of education in Kenya and beyond. Enjoy your readership.