Research Project in Education Inquiry - Essay Example

Social Research/ pg Developing a social research project from initial thought to the completion and presentation of the project to the targeted audience is a vast undertaking fraught with problems and perils. Recognizing those problems and perils before starting a project, as well as keeping them utmost in mind throughout the entire process will lead the researcher to be better prepared, and ultimately will lead to a more thorough understanding and presentation of the gathered material and summation of that material. Hubert M. Blalock, Jr. states in his book Basic Dilemmas in the Social Sciences, "social scientists face a number of fundamental complications that are not of our own making." He then continues on to explain how those complications will almost always "result in confusion, ambiguities and legitimate disagreements as to intellectual priorities and optimal strategies" (Blalock, 1984, p 5). Blalock states that he wrote the book to confront the perennial problems that all social scientists face and it was his desire to ask two questions. Those two questions are, "Why aren't we doing better, and how can we improve" (Blalock, 1984, p 6). In order to answer those two questions, we as social scientists/researchers must understand the background and environment in which we must toil. There are a number of "very tough intellectual challenges stemming from the complexity of the social world we are attempting to study" (Blalock, 1984, p 6). Blalock points out that we need to understand those intellectual challenges and the interplay of our individual intellectual backgrounds, interests and behaviors with those challenges. Social Research/ pg 2 He asks the questions of, "Who are we What are our expectations and intellectual orientations What do we want to explain and why How do we organize ourselves to do so" (Blalock, 1984, p 15). The answers to these questions are what we consider as we continue the process of research. James M. Black said that "One of the most important features of the training of research scholars is the acquisition of skills required to conduct sound scientific investigations" (Black, 1976, pg 6). We understand that there are a number of pitfalls and bias that we inherently will encounter as individuals in attempting research projects and that we will need to understand what and who we are in order to be proficient in our jobs and careers.. If we first work at gaining the skills that we need to answer those questions then our projects will be more readily presentable and understood by those we are attempting to influence. One of the understandings that we must address is the characteristics of scientific research. Black says that "sociology has the following characteristics of science; 1. sociology is empirical, 2. sociology is theoretical, 3. sociology is cumulative, 4. sociology is non-ethical" (Black, 1976, p 5). The book goes on to explain that empirical means that it is based on observation and reasoning, theoretical is the attempt to summarize complex observations in abstract, logically related propositions, cumulative shows how sociological theories build upon one another and that by being non-ethical means that sociologists do not ask whether particular social actions are good or bad, they merely seek to explain them. Social Research/ pg 3 The non-ethical statement could be the most important one of the four. As social scientists, a problem that we will almost always (in ourselves) is the urge to judge social actions, and present them as good or bad. That is not our job when conducting a research project. Our job should be conducted along the lines of maintaining the research process with stringent guidelines. As social scientists we must adhere to those guidelines in order for our presentation(s) of the material to be taken seriously. If we advocate the use of the material in certain ways, whatever ways those are, then we are no longer social scientists but could be considered as social advocates. Therefore, we must always strive to present the material in as unbiased a fashion as possible. Someone famous once said "just the facts, mam". In regards to presenting our research material that may be an adage that we keep in mind. As we follow the research process we are always going to be presented with challenges. This paper has discussed the why's and how's of preparing for a project. A number of key questions that the paper will now attempt to confront are the issues that researchers will encounter once the project has started. The three key issues that this paper will answer are: 1. How does the researcher show validity and reliability in the data and summation of the material 2. What are some of the most effective ways to access research sites and research subjects 3. What are the researcher's responsibilities in regards to anonymity and confidentiality of the subjects Social Research/ pg 4 One of the things we can do as a research scientist to achieve validity and reliability in our project is by stating the research process well in advance. Black states in his book that "Procedures for handling data in ways to assure the degree of anonymity guaranteed must be broadly stated." (Black, 1976, p 142) By assuring our subjects of anonymity we are ensuring more valid and reliable results that will be taken more seriously by the targeted community. Black says that one of the ways to establish this anonymity can be to publish a statement to the effect that the gathered data will be coded and tabulated in such a fashion that given individuals and/or situations will not be identifiable. How does this anonymity enhance the validity and reliability of our data It can enhance it by showing that the researcher understands the code of ethics set forth by professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association in regards to protection of subjects. Most agencies look for explicit statements and documents from investigators prior to approving studies. Without these prior statements, the researcher may not even be able to start the project at all. Validity of the project is deeply enhanced by obtaining a seal of approval from the sponsoring agency. Another way to establish validity and reliability is by having knowledge of your subjects and their bias, environment and lifestyles. Gaining this knowledge takes time and effort. Much of the knowledge to be gained will be done so by "entering the setting of some group and simply watching and listening attentively" (Berg, 1995, p 89). Social Research/ pg 5 Berg states that listening and watching an entire group or setting at one time would be virtually impossible and that the solution to this problem would be, first to know what you are looking for, and then to concentrate on the different sections of the setting. He continues by saying that this can be accomplished by bracketing certain subgroups of inhabitants of the domain and observing them during specific times, in certain locations and during the course of particular events and/or routines. Berg also suggests guides and snowballing. Guides will assist the researcher, both in gaining knowledge about the group or setting and with establishing validity and/or reliability with the project. A guide is a person who can help establish the researcher with a group by introducing the researcher to the individuals in the group and with such an introduction establishing validity to both presence and purpose. R. Horowitz, who describes herself as a "Jewish, educated, small fairly dark woman" described how she gained a guide to a group she wished to study. It was a Chicano neighborhood that was the subject of her interest. She says: I chose to sit on a bench in a park where many youths gathered from noon until midnight. On the third afternoon of sitting on the bench, as I dropped a softball that had rolled to me, a young man came over and said, "you can't catch" (which I acknowledged) and "you're not from the hood (neighborhood), are you" This was a statement, not a question. He was Gilberto, the Lion's president. When I told him I wanted to write a book on Chicano youth, he said I should meet the other young men and took me over to shake hands with eight members of the Lions". (Horowitz, 1983, p 7). Social Research/ pg 6 Gilberto, by his actions gave validity to Horowitz. Once she was "validated" by her guide, she employed that validity in order to gather information and data for use in her findings and presentation. One of the drawbacks to watch for when using a guide is that the guide may by restricted in their group. The guide might be resented or disliked by the individuals in the group, which could lead to distrust. One way to overcome this obstacle is by having a large number of guides. Berg states in his book that the larger a network of guides and informants, the greater will become your access and ability to gain further cooperation (Berg, 1995, p 89). In the trial research project I participated in, we used a guide to introduce us to the classroom and the individuals participating in that classroom setting. Our guide was a young man whom I befriended that spoke the same language as I. We did not experience any of the problems connected with the use of a guide that Berg espoused in his book. I could see how the use of a guide that was not entirely trusted or liked by a group would be quite an obstacle to overcome. My thought would be that once I discovered such feelings, that it might behoove me to adhere to Berg's admonition to have more than one guide. Other guides in the same group would be very beneficial at that point. There were a couple of problems that we encountered during our project that influenced the validity of the project itself and the reliability of our data. The first problem was the fact that there was no man in our group, which led to some very biased views. Social Research/ pg 7 Another problem we encountered was that the interviewer was too domineering during the interview process. This led to the participants agreeing with the interviewers ideas, or at the very least being so intimidated that they had no desire to state otherwise. During our project we also had individuals that were not part of the project (friends) that insisted on assisting us with the project. This ensured that the project immediately became a game, rather than a scientific project. Having friends participate created an atmosphere that was not professional in nature. Such an atmosphere ruined our credibility. We tried to keep in mind what Brinberg and McGrath said in their book Validity and the Research Process. They wrote, "Validity is not a commodity that can be purchased with techniques." (Brinberg, 1985, p 10). They went on to say that validity depends on the relationship of your conclusions to the real world. I'm not sure that our conclusions are reflections of that real world. As researchers, we also discovered that we had a weak hypothesis. In A Handbook of Social Science Research we find the definition of a hypothesis is "a statement which asserts a relationship between two or more concepts." (Dixon, 1987, p 104) It goes on to tell the reader that a hypothesis is developed in order to focus the aim of the research. In our class project we developed a hypothesis of why we thought there were only two men in a class total of 42 individuals in a TESOL class. The conclusion we came up with was a result of the data, but a question that must be asked would be, how valid and reliable was the data Did we manipulate the data to suit our hypothesis It is an interesting thought but not really along the lines of comparative research. Social Research/ pg 8 We asked the question why there were only two men, and then asked questions that would lead us to the conclusion. We could have asked comparative questions, ie; do females attend the course for the same reasons as the males who also attend the course. In The Researcher's Toolkit we find that one way to combat the mistakes made within our project could have been by using ethnography. "You may be required to observe directly the activities of a particular social group with a view to providing an accurate description or evaluation of those activities." (Wilkinson, 2000, p 50). There are essentially two forms of ethnography; participant and non-participant. They descriptions are self- explanatory. In our research project we could have observed a group of students in the classroom that may have helped our understanding of why the numbers show that more females participate in TESOL classes than do males. The problem with that scenario is the access to research sites and subjects. Joseph A. Maxwell states in his book Qualitative Research Design that, "your methods are the means to answering your research questions." (Maxwell, 1996, p 41). He gives an example of what he meant in the following lines: Kirk and Miller who conducted research in Peru on the use of coca coca leaves. Their open-ended questions about coca use, drawn fairly directly from their research questions, elicited a uniform. limited set of beliefs and practices that simply confirmed the things they had already read about coca. Frustrated.they began to ask nonsensical questions. Social Research/ pg 9 Their informants began to open up and talk about their personal experience with coca, which was far more extensive that the previous data would have indicated. (Maxwell, 1996, p 43) Maxwell's words emphasize the importance of asking the right questions of our subjects. Of course, that assumes that we have access to those subjects and sites. Gaining access to human subjects leads the researcher back to the earlier discussed responsibilities of protecting the anonymity and confidentiality of the subjects. "Scientists have always understood that they are subject to a set of ethical constraints and expectations." (Chapin, 2004, p 6) Some of those expectations would include the requirement that the scientist care for and provide safety and anonymity for his subjects. "Arguably the most important ethical requirement of any scientist is to protect the well-being of the people who participate in a research project, whether as collaborators, students, or research subjects." (Chapin, 2004, p 12) If, it is indeed the researcher's most important ethical requirement, then by meeting that requirement right "up front" the researcher will be a step ahead of the competition in regards to accessing the data through human subjects. Chapin states that the basic principles in research are that human subjects of research should give informed consent to participate and that they should not be exposed to greater risks than normal living unless they were informed (and understand the information) before using them as subjects. Social Research/ pg 10 A fairly simple way to gain access to subjects, especially at the University level, would be to approach professors and students about their participation. Of utmost importance is the researcher's relationship with the guide (either a professor of the class we wish to study or a student therein). A good relationship can be a door-opener, a bad relationship would have the exact opposite effect. Running advertisements in the newspapers and journals is another way to gain research subjects, offering inducements is often a good idea. Once the researcher has a number respondents, and/or a classroom or research site, it is important that the researcher have a set program that all individuals involved in the project are aware of. As researchers it is also important that we approach the subjects in different ways. Direct questioning can often lead to superficial responses. Researchers are not looking for the surface answers, but wish to delve into what the real question is. A way to accomplish that is by differing approaches. "The importance of different approaches to interviewing was underlined as early as the Hawthorne studies in the 1930s." (Cunningham, 1993, p 84) Cunningham continues by showing an example of how to use interviews. He said that sometimes it is better to let the interviewee direct the interviews. When researchers tried this approach "the researchers gained surprising understandings about human relations." (Cunningham, 1993, p 94). Social Research/ pg 11 The difficulties experienced by researcher who use open-ended or unstructured interviews are many. "School teachers might assess the intelligence of the same five children and feel very confident about the accuracy of their assessments. However they can disagree widely between themselves." (Wilkinson, 2000, p 118) Even though open-ended questions can lead to a plethora of information, social research scientists must be careful in their interpretations of the response. Because the interviewer can forget much of the interview's content within minutes after its conclusion, structured and well organized interviews are far more reliable. Another key is analyzing the collected data as quickly as possible. On a research project I usually try to graph my data on the same day I collect them. From day to day the points on the graph tell me about my progress. Also, since nature is complex I let it lead me, trying not to get too far ahead, so that I don't have to backtrack." (Wilkinson, 2000, p 119). Whether the data is information gathered from interviews with human subjects or behavior of animals in research facilities it is still important to track and analyze the material in a clear and concise way. As a research scientist the ultimate goal is to publish and disseminate the research findings. To do so with incorrectly analyzed data is something no research scientist should do. This paper addresses a number of the issues, although not all of them, that research scientists are confronted with in an ongoing manner. Confronting these issues, then overcoming them, is key to the success of a researcher's projects. Social Research/ pg 12 A basic understanding of what is expected from the social scientist, the social scientist's projects and, most importantly, the collected and correctly analyzed data that is being presented by the social scientist, will lead to the scientist experiencing influence and a satisfaction of watching theory evolving into practice and/or change. Social Research/ pg 13 References Berg, B.L., Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, 2nd ed., Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA, 1995 Black, J.A. & Champion, D.J., Methods and Issues in Social Research, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1976 Blalock, H.M. Jr., Basic Dilemmas in the Social Sciences, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, 1984 Brinberg, D & McGrath, J.E., Validity and the Research Process, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, 1985 Chapin, P. G., Research Projects and Proposals, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004 Cunningham, J.B., Action Research and Organizational Development, London, (1993) Dixon, B.R., Bouma, G.D. & Atkinson, G.B.J., A Handbook of Social Science Research, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987 Heinrich, B., In a Patch of Fireweed, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, (1984) Horowitz, R., Honor and the American Dream, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ, (1983) Maxwell, J.A., Qualitative Research Design; An Interactive Approach, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, (1996) Wagner, D.J., The Growth of Sociological Theories, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, 1984 Wilkinson, D. ed., The Researcher's Toolkit, RoutledgeFalmer, London, (2000) Read More