Importance of Research and Research Skills for Educators - Literature review Example

Importance of research and research skills for educators Name Course Instructor Date Introduction Research has played a major part in ensuring that the world we live in is habitable because every aspect has been fashioned by it. Over the years, research has been employed in all the fields, ranging from scientific to social studies, in order to facilitate the discovery of new evidence or to solve societal problems. Without research, the eye opening discoveries that have been necessitated all over the world would not have been achieved. According to Rajasekar, Philominathan & Chinnathambi (2006), research refers to a methodical and logical study for new and valuable information regarding a specific field of study. These researchers argue that in this study, an objective and orderly examination is carried out in order to come up with the solutions to the problems under study. According to the Council of Canadian Academies (2010), multifaceted and serious issues have been handled thus enabling humanity to know the truth regarding the problems that they face. The Commonwealth Government (2012) defines research as the conception of new facts and figures or the use of the available facts and figures to create new ideas. To this end, this paper is aimed at studying the importance of research and research skills to educators. Research is usually aimed at finding facts and figures to unknown facts. These facts are usually attained from diverse sources for instance human experiences, books, academic journals and the natural world (Rajasekar, Philominathan & Chinnathambi 2006). Through research, it is usually likely to make advancements in the field under study because the facts obtained usually add on the already available data or gives an insight into a new study. Through study, conducting tests, assessments, examinations and interpretation, new knowledge is obtained, and thus a certain field is advanced. Findings, for instance cigarette smoking is harmful to human health, cigarette smoking is addictive, protozoan plasmodium cause malaria and that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus causes AIDS are proven results that show the importance of research to study. Importance of research for educators Contrary to what the majority often think, research is very vital to educators. Many usually view research as a preserve for managers and other high ranking officials in major institutions. Contrary to this view, educators are constantly learning, discovering new facts and figures in their fields, examining information, becoming accustomed to the changing knowledge and thus changing their behaviours and attitudes as a measure to up their delivery and settling in to the changing world trends. Whichever name that people ascribe to what the educators are going through, it is research because these are its essentials (Barrett 2008). In education, everything that the educators base their facts, teaching and knowledge is usually founded in research because substantiation is usually vital in this field. Stanovich & Stanovich (2003) argue that if the field of education was not founded on research, then the educators would be basing their facts and figures on codes of belief, handiness, assumptions, thoughts and intolerance. If this was the case, then this field would lack a moral direction, something that is required in plenty. Without research, it would have been easier to turn schools into political arenas where misinformation would thrive and thus half truth would be the order of the day. Basing education on codes of belief would be unethical because some of these codes are usually misinformed. Through research, educators have been able to liberate minds thus promoting social equality through equal access to the available prospects. In any developing society, educators have a social duty to perform, that of ensuring that those who pass through their hands are active individuals when they get back into the society. Through research, the educators are able to impact positively on them because what they offer is founded on research and not their own thought processes. Educating them based on thoughts and assumptions often restrict the options that they have at their disposal. Such an education defeats the very essence it is intended for because, through research, educators are usually able to open the scholars to a wide range of options thus increasing their productivity in the society. This usually ensures that the projected educational results are being achieved (Stanovich & Stanovich 2003). Most of us went to school, but it was sometime back and thus much has changed since then. Allowing recent and future generations to go through the same thought processes will amount to stagnation. With the ever changing technology and the innovations that are being wrought every other day, research is essential in education. Through research, educators ensure that education is kept restructured and thus suitable for those undergoing it. Through this restructuring, new theories and innovations are introduced into this field thus keeping the scholars informed and at par with technology. Reeves, McKenney & Herrington (2010) assert that by updating the available information to educators, the divide is usually filled thus keeping the scholars updated. Through research, unproductiveness in the educational field is usually taken care of because it is usually taken up into practice thus increasing the likelihood of productivity. Through research, educators no longer have to rely exclusively on their experiences and evidences because it merges both and thus brings about productivity. Theories often arise and are disapproved at the same rate thus bringing to the fore the need for continued research in education. Moreover, no matter how true a theory may be, it never functions in seclusion because others often arise either to support or disapprove it, thus initiating development and productivity in the field. Since the learning process is usually determined by several other factors; for instance the students’ background, their character traits, age and even their sexual characteristics; through research, the prevailing theories are usually tested so as to prove their appropriateness and productivity level on the scholars. This examination and analysis of the available theories often allow the educators and the scholars to adjust to the ever changing educational environment thus facilitating growth in this field (Devetak, Glazar & Vogrinc 2010). Moreover, this ensures that the new findings that arise along the way are captured and thus adopted in to the field. Through research, educators are usually able to base the conclusions and judgements that they make on the evidence gathered. This usually develops education because it makes it informed, sound and ethically acceptable. Moreover, research usually permits the educators to distinguish between the educational paradigms that work and those that do not. In addition, they get to explain why those that work are so and those that don’t are likewise and how they can be made functional in order to be accommodated by the system. Research also enables them to know the repercussions of the systems that they use and the rationalization that they have for choosing to employ them in their teaching. With this at hand, educators are usually able to handle unanticipated issues, recognize pressing matters and thus are able to know the ways to employ in averting such issues. By being able to understanding these far reaching issues, educators are usually able to analyse the suitability of any new knowledge and how to introduce it to their scholars (Congdon & Dungham 1999). Every field usually has its own set down principles for conducting research because some facts and figures collected during research are usually helpful to some professionals and totally unhelpful to others. To this end, narrowing down educational research to solely to this field is usually essential because it helps an educator in identifying each scholar’s special needs and thus directing their research in such a way that the findings obtained are tailor made for those specific scholars. Through research, such inclinations in individual scholars are usually identified thus informing the direction of available resources in order to achieve the needed outcomes without compromising both the societal and educational results. Unlike the educational policy makers who only focus on the larger picture, the educators, who are the practitioners, focus on the areas of study that should be implemented and those that are to be implemented but more research is required to determine a few black spots. As Albert Einstein noted, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, research thus introduces imaginative thinking and trialling in education (Barrett 2008). Importance of research skills to educators By possessing research skills, educators are usually able to recognize and thus tend to the individual needs of their scholars. By possessing the much needed research tactics and skills, educators are able to make knowledgeable decisions regarding what is necessary for their students thus extrapolating their own qualities and ability to take the students into the next century (Australian Government 2011). Possession of research skills also enable educators to pool together their resources and thus be able to learn from the mistakes that they made in the past researches and thus be able to focus on improving on the forthcoming. This usually enables them to overcome the obstacle of feeding their students on out of date information as a result of reprocessing ideas and information because they lack creativity and innovativeness. Possessing research skills is essential because it enables the educators make decisions that are scholar oriented because it is only through creativity and advancement that well rounded scholars are released in the waiting society. This enables the educators to focus on the future rather than meeting the immediate objectives. Through creativity, new ways of carrying out research are usually born, thus facilitating new learning techniques. Failure to posses the required research skills would mean inaccuracy and redundancy on the research findings of researches conducted by educators. Worse still, it could mean that no research at all. Since the educators have the role of transferring knowledge as well as the research skills to students, lack of relevant skills would result to inefficiency in their role. This would limit innovation and creativity among the students and hence a slower rate of advancement in terms of technology and innovativeness (Partnership for 21st Century skills 2009). Educators should thus advance their skills on research and as a result their creativity, critical thinking and communication skills necessary to enhance efficiency in knowledge transfer. Lastly but not the least, research skills are important to educators in accurately determining the problems experienced by students during the learning process and possible solution to such (). According to Binkley et al. (2010), students should be equipped with critical thinking skills which determine their level of creativity and innovativeness. In addition, should be equipped with collaboration and communication skill to achieve success in their quest for knowledge. This can only be gained if their educators possess relevant research skills which results to them being effective educators. Conclusion In conclusion, carrying out research that invests in education is usually essential because despite interdisciplinary relationship, most of the other disciplines derive their knowledge from the field of education. Research instils creativity and innovativeness in educators thus equipping them with the necessary skills that enable them to effectively administer to their scholars. Through research, educators are usually able to come up with the best practices that enable them to effectively involve their scholars and thus be able to understand each student’s needs. Moreover, research has found out those teachers who possess research skills know how to plan their lessons in order to fully meet their scholar’s needs. To that end, research is essential in every facet of education because it has greatly changed this field. Through research, achieving the principles of education has been made possible because although new ways of doing things are usually hard to grasp, initiating the scholars into research work has seen a considerable change in attitudes and behaviour. In addition, it is through research that educators are able to determine problems being experienced by students in their learning process. Without the relevant research skills, the educators might end up addressing the wrong problems resulting to a waste of time and other resources. Research is thus essential in every facet of life and educators must work towards attaining the relevant research skills. References Australian Government 2011, Research Skills for an Innovative Future. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 15/8/2013 http://www.innovation.gov.au/Research/ResearchWorkforceIssues/Documents/Research SkillsforanInnovativeFuture.pdf Barrett, D 2008, The Importance of Doing Research (Earnestly). Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research, Vol. 3. Binkley, M, Erstad, O, Herman, J, Raizen, S, Ripley, M & Rumble, M 2010, Defining 21st century skills. Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills draft white paper,The University of Melbourne. Commonwealth Government 2012, Definition of Research. University of New South Wales. Retrieved 15/8/2013 http://research.unsw.edu.au/sites/all/files/related_files/regular_page_content/definition_of _research.pdf Congdon, J, & Dungham, A, 1999, Defining the Beginning: The Importance of Research Design. Research and Management Techniques for the Conservation of Sea Turtles. Marine Turtle Specialist Group Publication 4. Council of Canadian Academies, 2010, Honesty, Accountability and Trust: Fostering Research Integrity in Canada. Report of the Expert Panel on Research Integrity. Elgin Street: Council of Canadian Academies. Devetak, I, Glazar, S, & Vogrinc, J, 2010, The Role of Qualitative Research in Science Education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 6(1) Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2009, P21 framework definitions. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_Framework_Definitions.pdf. Rajasekar, S, Philominathan, P & Chinnathambi, V 2006, Research Methodology. Retrieved 15/8/2013 http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0601009.pdf Reeves, T, McKenney, S, & Herrington, J, 2010, Publishing and Perishing: The Critical Importance of Educational Design Research. Proceedings Ascilite Sydney: Full Paper. Retrieved 15/8/2013 http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney10/procs/Reeves-full.pdf Stanovich, P, & Stanovich, K, 2003, Using Research and Reason in Education. Retrieved 15/8/2013 http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/Stanovich_Color.pdf Read More