Key Questions

1. What are the main sources of research questions?
2. What are main steps involved in developing research questions? And what criteria can be used to evaluate research questions?
3. What are differences between research question statements in quantitative and qualitative studies?
4. Read the article “Beyond the school walls” and discuss how the authors present and justify the general topic they have chosen to study and how they move from a general topic to a particular research question?
5. Why do we need to start our research practices from literature review? And What are main differences between systematic review and narrative review?
6. What are main sources to find existing literature on your research subject? And how to make good use of keywords to search the literature?
7. What criteria can be used to judge the quality of the literature?
8. How to critically read and organize your literature?
9. What is plagiarism? And how to avoid unconscious plagiarism?
10. Please choose ONE of three reviews to read, and see how academics summarize and critique a body of literature, how they talk back and forth from study to study, how they organize their discussion into large themes, and how they come into conclusion critically?

Readings

Bryman, A (2008), Social Research Methods, Oxford University Press, Third Edition. Chapter 3 (Planning a research project and formulating research questions) and Chapter 4 (Getting started: Reviewing the literature)

Diaz, K. R., & O’Hanlon, N. (2004). Evaluating your resources. In K. R. Diaz & N. O’Hanlon (Eds.), Issue Web: A Guide and Sourcebook for Researching Controversial Issues on the Web. London: Libraries Unlimited.

Guarino, C. M., Santibanez, L., and Daley, G.A. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76(2), 173-208.

Johnson, B & Larry Christensen, L.B. (2010), Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches. Sage Publications, Fourth Edition. Chapter 3 (How to review the literature and develop research questions).

Robson, C (2011). Real World Research. Wiley-Blackwell, Third Edition. Chapter 3 (Developing your ideas)

Rumsey, S. (2004). Evaluation of resources. In S. Rumsey (Ed.), How to find information a guide for researchers (pp. xvii, 263 p.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Sanders, M. G., & Harvey, A. (2002). Beyond the school walls: A case study of principal leadership for school-community collaboration. Teachers College Record, 104 (7), 1345-1368.

Stevens, P. A. J. (2007). Researching race/ethnicity and educational inequality in English secondary schools: A critical review of the research literature between 1980 and 2005. Review of Educational Research, 77(2), 147-185.

Tsang, M. C. (1988). Cost analysis for educational policymaking: A review of cost studies in education in developing countries. Review of Educational Research; Summer; 58(2), 181-230.

Please find the readings in pdf from REF resource -> Upload on the right hand side of this page.