Research Input: Getting Started with APA Citation Style

What is APA Style?

American Psychological Association (APA) style is one of several styles for academic writing. This guide covers frequently used citation forms. The sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (BF 76.7 .P83 2010) is a comprehensive resource, available at most UBC Libraries.

For full content, click Getting Started with APA Citation Style.

EDU 702 Research Methodology: Coursework

The assessment for this subject will be fully carried out through Coursework. The details are described below:

e-Portfolio : 10 %

Quiz : 25%

Article Review: 15%

Research Proposal: 35%

Presentation: 15%

Total = 100%

Happy Exercising All !!!

"Yakin Boleh!"

To download the article to be reviewed, click "Top-Down Management: An Effective Tool in Higher Education?"

Research Input: Words for Reporting

Below are Words for Reporting suggested by Dr Teoh. The words will be very helpful in doing our chapter 2: Literature Review, and applies to other chapters as well.

Words for Reporting

 

Hope you'll be literally happy in doing literature review ! :) 

Reflection on Presentation 6: Quantitative Data Analysis (Descriptive Statistics, Inferential Statistics and Statistics in Perspective)

On September 2, 2010 the last group had presented on “Quantitative Data Analysis” delivered successfully by Norazliyati Yahya, Nurharani Selamat and Nur Hafiza Ngadenin. I would viewed this presentation as heavy to digest in a short time, but with extra guidance from Dr. Teoh, we managed to understand the points highlighted, and hence, grasp the idea of what quantitative data analysis is all about. All the 3 presenters covered on Descriptive Statistics, Inferential Statistics and Statistics in Perspectives. Upon hearing the word Statistics, my mind literally danced me to the world of Mathematics. Yes, it’s about calculation and plotting graph.

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

The presentation started with the Techniques for Summarizing Quantitative Data. As discussed in class, there are eight (8) techniques that researchers can use to summarize quantitative data.

Reflection on Presentation 5: Qualitative Data Analysis (Content Analysis, Ethnographic and Historical)

On August 26, 2010 there was a presentation on "Qualitative Data Analysis" delivered by a group of Nor Farahida Nordin, Siti Maisara Unaizah Mustafa and Nasmila Rosli. The group covered on qualitative data analyses which consist of Content Analysis, Ethnographic Research and Historical Research.

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Content Analysis refers to a technique that enables researchers to study human behavior in an indirect way, though an analysis of their communication. Researchers often analyze textbooks, essays, newspapers, novels, magazine articles, cookbooks, songs, political speeches, advertisements, pictures and many other resources.

Data analysis – frequencies and proportion of particular occurrences to total occurrences are use to interpret content analysis data. In order to develop themes to facilitate synthesis, coding is used. Computer analysis is extremely useful in coding data once categories have been determined. It can also be useful at times in developing such categories.

Advantages of content analysis

·         Unobtrusive – a researcher can ‘observe’ without being observed, since the contents being analyzed are not influenced by the researcher’s presence. Information that might be difficult, or even impossible, to obtain through direct observation or other means can be gained unobtrusively through analysis of textbooks and other communications, without the author or publisher being aware that it is being examined.

·         Useful – as a means of analyzing interview and observational data.

·         Able -  to delve into records and documents to get some feel for the social life of an earlier time. He or she is not limited by time and space to the study of present events.

·         Simple -  logistics of content analysis are often relatively simple and economical with regard to both time and resources. (Newspapers, reports, books, periodicals).

·         Available – data are available and almost always can be returned to if necessary or desired, content analysis permits replication of the study by other researchers. (Live TV programs can be videotaped for repeated analysis at later times).

Disadvantages of content analysis

·         Limited to the analysis of communications and it is difficult to establish validity.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

Triangulation - Provide validity of an observation/ Can be implemented in any subjects, level and setting/Improves the quality of data and provide accuracy of interpretation/Occur in natural setting.

Patterns – Patterns in the way people think and behave/ Check ethnographic reliability when reveal the consistencies in what people say and what they do.

Key Events – Occur in every social group and provide data that can be used to describe and analyze an entire culture/Convey tremendous amount of information/View a culture.

Visual Representations – Maps (classroom or school), flow-charts (who say what to whom during a classroom discussion), organizational charts, Sociogram, matrices and others/ Help researchers to crystallize their understanding.

Statistics – Researcher uses nonparametric techniques (chi-square test)/ More likely to report frequencies than score.

Crystallization – No single stage or time when crystallization occurs/ Ethnographers pull together their thoughts at various stage throughout their research.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Ethnographic Research

Advantages: It provides a more comprehensive perspective than other forms of educational research/Lends to topics that are not easily quantified/Appropriate in studying behaviour in natural settings.

Disadvantages: Highly dependent on the particular researcher’s observations/Observer’s bias is almost impossible to eliminate/Generalization is practically non-existent.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH

From the data analysis aspect, historical research refers to the systematic collection and evaluation of data to describe, explain and thereby understand actions and events that occurred sometime in the past. As discussed in the classroom, there are five (5) purposes of historical research:

1. To make people aware of what has happened in the past so they may learn from failures and successes

2. To learn how things were done in the past to see if they might be applicable to present-day problems and concerns

3. To assist in prediction

4. To test hypotheses concerning relationships or trends

5. To understand present educational practices and policies more fully

Steps involved in Historical Research

Till then, thank you for reading! To get the Power Point slides, click "Qualitative Data Analysis (Content Analysis, Ethnographic Research & Historical Research)".

Reflection on Presentation 4: Instrumentation Part 2 (Checklist, Observation, and Interviews)

The next part of Instrumentation, which is Instrumentation II (Interview, Checklist & Observation), was presented on August 19, 2010 by Syed Khairul Hisham Syed Yusuf, Siti Fairuz Hamid and Nur Shaminah Mustafa Kamalu. 

 INTERVIEW

Interview is largely used in qualitative research to collect data. It is best known as careful asking of relevant question. Interview refers to an interchangeable of views between two or more people on a topic of mutual interest (Kvale, 1996) which is in this case, the interviewer and the interviewee. Why some researchers choose to conduct an interview? There are 4 purposes of interviews discussed in the classroom: (1) To find out what is in the interviewer’s mind (2) To test or develop hypothesis (3) To gather data and (4) To sample respondent’s opinions. 

 The types of interviews are as follows:

 

The six types of interview questions are as in the table below:

During the interview process, the interviewer must maintain the interviewing behaviours:

1.       Respect the culture of the group being studied

2.       Respect the individual being interviewed

3.       Be natural

4.       Develop an appropriate rapport with the participant

5.       Ask the same question in different ways during the interviews

6.     Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer or statement when there is some doubt about the completeness of a remark

7.       Vary who controls the flow of communication

8.       Avoid leading questions

9.       Ask only one question at a time

10  Don’t interrupt

 

CHECKLIST

Another instrument discussed in the classroom is checklist. The two types of checklist are Performance Checklist and Self-Checklist.

Performance Checklist is one of the most frequently used of all measuring instruments. It consists of a list of behaviours that make up a certain type of performance. Performance checklist is normally used by the researcher to determine whether an individual behaves in a certain way when asked to complete a particular task. If a particular behaviour is present, the researcher places a check mark on the list.

Self-Checklist is a list of several characteristics or activities presented to the subjects of study. The subjects will mark the checklist themselves in which they have engaged. Checklist is usually used by the researcher that wants subjects to diagnose their own performances.

How to Create a Reliable Checklist?

 The advantages and disadvantages of checklist:

OBSERVATION

Another type of instrument is observation. Observation is a process of recording the behavioural patterns of people, objects and occurrences without questioning or communicating with them (Burney & White, 2004)

The whole idea about observation is summarized in the table below:

 Till then, thank you for reading!