Week 3: Methodology

Kara Ghobhainn Smith; David D. Plain; Frank Rennie, Gareth Davies, UHI, Thu Le; Clinton Beckford, Loretta Sbrocca; ShiJing Xu, Chenkai Chi, Yuhan Deng, University of Windsor, Canada

Week 3: Methodology

Orientation

Methodology is the study of methods. It is the application of the underlying principles of the philosophy of science to the practical activity of collecting and analysing data to answer specific research questions. The research methodology is basically the philosophy about how you intend to conduct your research, including the rationale, your ‘worldview’ on the topic, and the combination of the various methods through which you will collect and analyse new data. To understand the methodology of your approach to the research, it is necessary to combine the theoretical underpinnings through which we study and make sense of the complexities of the study, as well as a sound understanding of the practical methods through which we expect to gather new data to explore the research question more fully. This week provides you with fundamental issues in educational research. By the end of this session, you will be able to consider some of the important dimensions of methodology when planning research.

On Successful Completion of this Week, Students will be Able to:

Engage with core digital resources
Critically evaluate different scientific world views
Identify the different research paradigms of social research
Identify fundamental issues in social research
Select and plan an educational research approach successfully

Reading Resources

The following set of readings are very essential in providing you with the fundamental concepts, issues, and considerations of research methodologies. Each reading presents different types of information, so schedule your time to read and take notes on key points.

- Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2019). Part I: Fundamental issues in social research. In Social research methods (pp. 2-68). Oxford university press.
- Hooley, T., Wellens, J., & Marriott, J. (2012). Chapter 2: A brief history of online research method. In What is Online research?: Using the Internet for social science research (pp. 7-24). A&C Black.
- Kivunja, C., & Kuyini, A. B. (2017). Understanding and applying research paradigms in educational contexts. International Journal of higher education, 6(5), 26-41.
- Gaiser, T. J., & Schreiner, A. E. (2011). Chapter 2: Designing an online study. In A guide to conducting online research (pp. 11-24). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Supplementary Resources

The following videos, chapters, and podcast are not required reading and watching materials, but are very helpful for you to acknowledge different basic concepts of research methodologies such as epistemology and ontology.