| CODE | EDU5971 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Applied Educational Research Methods | ||||||||||||
| 今日黑料 LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| EQF/MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Education | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit is skills-based and is organized as follows: - A first component in either Applied Qualitative Methods, or Applied Quantitative Methods, or Philosophical Inquiry or Mixed Method Research; - A second component in an area chosen from a list reflecting the applied research needs of particular study-area. These include evaluation studies; educational assessment; mixed methods; Mosaic and PAR research; discourse analysis; curriculum studies; content/speech analysis; action research; adult learning evaluation; community research. Study-Unit Aims: Qualitative Research Option The applied qualitative education research component aims to encourage students to transit from a knowledge to a skills-based approach in the application of observational methods; the use of structured, semi-structured, unstructured, focus group interview and ethnographic conversations; of narrative inquiry and analysis; of action and participatory research; of visual and arts based methods and critical discourse analysis in educational research. Quantitative Research Option This component has two aims. The first, to enable students to master the use of a number of descriptive and inferential techniques. Secondly, to help students become familiar with the SPSS statistical software package to an extent which allows them to independently use the SPSS in data handling and quantitative data analysis. In so doing it helps students develop a good working knowledge and understanding of important statistical concepts and the use of a number of descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. Philosophical Inquiry The philosophical inquiry component has three aims: - To enlarge students' knowledge of philosophical modes of inquiry into educational practices and texts about education; - To enhance students’ practical knowledge in analysing and interpreting texts; - To demonstrate how to make a good argument. Mixed Methods Research This aims of this component of the study-unit is to examine the strengths and limitations of the specific research methods in education. Students will learn about different approaches to empirical studies, analyze data and engage in ongoing debates in this domain, with a focus on the growing field of mixed method studies. This component of the study-unit will allow students to examine mixed methods and to apply them in practice. In addition to analyzing and evaluating the required readings, students are expected to explore alternative research models and to support their ideas with evidence. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: Qualitative Research Option By the end of this component of this study-unit, the student will be able to discern which of the many qualitative research methods best suits their research question/s. They will be able to become ethical researchers in the field. They should demonstrate an understanding of different representational styles of presenting data and identify what makes data trustworthy. Quantitative Research Option By the end of this component of the study-unit, the student will be able to: - Distinguish between populations and samples, and the major sampling procedures in quantitative research; - Explain the nature and meaning of various levels of statistical significance (p-values); - Explain the inferential leap and understand the nature and use of statistical inference; - Distinguish between statistical significance and practical/educational significance. Philosophical Inquiry By the end of this component of the study-unit, students will: - Outline the main characteristics of philosophical inquiry in education; - Acquire knowledge about texts and their production; - Explain the ways philosophical texts can be used for educational research; - Interpret philosophy of education texts; - Illustrate how to make a good argument. Mixed Methods Research By the end of this component of the study-unit, the student will be able to: - Explain the purpose and assumptions of the mixed methods research paradigm that integrates qualitative, quantitative data collection, analysis and presentation of results; - Demonstrate knowledge of the basic and advanced concepts and procedures involved in research design, sampling of mixed methods studies; - Demonstrate knowledge of the basic and advanced concepts and procedures involved in analysis of the data collected during mixed methods studies; - Design an appropriate mixed methods research strategy by selecting and justifying qualitative and quantitative components for a specific research problem; - Apply procedures for integrating qualitative and quantitative findings to construct coherent inferences and solve practical problems in education. Qualitative Research Option By the end of this component of the study-unit, students should have the skills necessary to carry out research in a variety of education settings and with a range of participants in the education field from very young children to their teachers, parents, other educators, policymakers and stakeholder elites. They should be able to conduct observational studies, to interview participants and analyse these interviews using different forms of analysis, to produce and analyse narratives, to conduct Action Research projects and to use multimodality methodology in educational settings (visual methods, vignettes, drawings, sentence completion, MOSAIC and others). They should be able to analyze education policy texts using critical discourse analysis. Quantitative Research Option By the end of this component of the study-unit, the student will be able to: - Determine an appropriate sample size and use an appropriate procedure to select it; - Establish coding frames, organize data and prepare them for use with the IBM SPSS; - Declare variables in the VARIABLE VIEW and enter data in the DATA VIEW; - Decide which statistical technique is most appropriate for a given analysis, use IBM SPSS to employ the technique, execute the analysis, read and understand the STATISTICS VIEWER, and interpret the results; - Use the following procedures: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS, COMPARE MEANS, GENERAL LINEAR MODEL, CORRELATE, NONPARAMETRIC TESTS, SPLIT FILE, SELECT CASES, COMPUTE, RECODE. Philosophical Inquiry By the end of this component of the study-unit, the student will be able to: - Problematise ideas about education and educational practices; - Analyse philosophical texts related to education; - Compose an argumentative pieceof writing. Mixed Methods Research By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Develop skills to critically review and evaluate educational research; - Critically evaluate the strengths, limitations, and appropriate applications of different mixed methods designs (e.g., convergent, explanatory, exploratory), and justify their use in applied research studies; - Develop research proposals based on a mixed method approach to research in education; - Develop research instruments for data collection for mixed methods studies including the design of self-administrating, online research instruments and computer-assisted telephone interviewing; - Use devices for collection of data for mixed methods studies and skills to use software for computer-assisted quantitative and qualitative data analysis; - Demonstrate a proficiency in a variety of software products for data analysis of mixed methods studies; - Demonstrate the ability to synthesise results, resolve inconsistencies, and present results of mixed methods studies to academic and practitioner audiences. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Study-unit: EDU5970 | ||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Maria M. Brown Louis John Camilleri George Cremona Mary Darmanin (Co-ord.) Simone Galea Michael Grech Victor Martinelli Milosh Raykov Joseph Vancell |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2026/7. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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