Lecture 1 Flashcards
Introduction (13 cards)
what is Educational Psychology
- Educational psychology is concerned with the study of how students learn and how teachers can help them to learn effectively by applying psychological theories and concepts to the understanding and improvement of teaching and learning in the classroom
what are the three types of research
Descriptive, correlational and experimental
Describe descriptive research
Aim: To provide a detailed and clear story of what happens at the level of one individual/classroom/school Example: case study Strengths: Rich details and interpretations Limitations: Lack of scientific objectivity; Results are often difficult to generalize to larger populations Methods: Survey or interview Participant observation Can be qualitative or quantitative
describe correlational research
o Most frequently used method in educational psychology.
o Looking for relationship between variables (+, -, none)
o Can NOT establish a causal relationship.
o The sign of the correlation indicates the direction of the relationship.
o The number of the correlation indicates the strength of the relationship
describe experimental research
o Involves the manipulation and measurement of variables.
o An experiment is a hypothesis test in which something is done to see its effect on something else.
o Can be difficult for some variables (e.g. gender; ethical reasons : e.g child abuse on school achievement) ).
If randomised + control group : Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
If not randomised but control group: quasi-experiment
If not randomised and no control group: non-experiment
name some methodologies which could be used in educational research
- Cross –sectional vs Longitudinal
- Observation
- Questionnaires
- Psychometric tests
- Interviews
- Archives
what is crossectional research
o Looks at different groups of people of different ages.
o The research data is all gathered at the same point in time.
o It can be done quickly, but, it does not consider how a person might change over time.
what is longitudinal research
o Looks at changes over time in the same group of individuals
o Over an extended period of time.
o More informative but requires enormous amounts of time and money. Also, participants may drop out.
what is observational research
- Aim: to understand an event, action, phenomenon from the teacher’s and learner’s view
- There are two different types of observation.
- a) Laboratory observation: observing the individual in a laboratory setting, paying close attention to his/her reaction or behavior.
- First year observation seminar with one way mirror
- b) Naturalistic observation: refers to the observation of behaviors in the natural environment where they would ordinarily occur.
- Secret life of 4, 5 and 6 year olds
what are questionnaires
- Offer researchers a quick, easy way to collect a great deal of information.
- One weakness of this method is that it reduces variety, creativity, and individuality of responses.
- In cases where the subject is unable to fill out a questionnaire, with very young children for example, questions are often posed through a structured interview.
what is psychometric testing
- Offer researchers a quick, easy way to collect a great deal of information.
- One weakness of this method is that it reduces variety, creativity, and individuality of responses.
- In cases where the subject is unable to fill out a questionnaire, with very young children for example, questions are often posed through a structured interview.
what are interviews
- The qualitative research interview seeks to describe the meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects.
- The main task in interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say
- Particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around the topic (McNamara,1999).
- Interview questions should be asked in a way which is appropriate to the age group of the child
what is documentary research
use of archives and previous documents
- Involves the assembly of data and reports collected and written by other people
