Educational Research Methods - Essay Example

Running Head: Social Research Social Research in the Education sector [Writer’s Name] [Institute’s Name] Social Research in the Education sector Abstract Educational research methods are based on three main views. These views are used by the researchers so as to view and then analyze the situation in the research in these three different approaches. These are their approaches that can help the researchers gain an in depth analysis on the situation in many ways. There are many issues in the educational research that are being faced and that need to be solved using an analytical attitude. Introduction Research that has been of an interest to many scholars has been the educational reform that is needed in the schools as well as the other educational institutes these days. It has been seen that in general the schools are the bodies that are composed of union councils, the guardians as well as the administrators who are responsible for making the decisions on the schools and all the activities that are being undertaken by the school. The main theory that has been seen in the case of the school reformation has been to lengthen the class timings and that has been thought to be increased from mere 30 minutes to 90 minute class. In this way it has been said that the students can interact in the better manner (Stronach, & Maclure, 1997, p.20). However, still this is the topic that has to be investigated as well as analyzed in a better manner and there are three main approaches that can be applied in the case of the positivist approach. This is the approach that can be seen that by using all the previous experiences the research in the structural reformation in the education can be researched. This is the kind of research that can be reflecting the kind of information that has been gained from the experiences that are observable (Somekh, & Lewin, 2005, p. 22). It has been seen that the results that are obtained from the research on the social topics are not very reliable and thereby the research in these topics needs to be carried out in a manner that can be helpful in gaining the best of the analytical results. All the research that is done in this case is based on scientific results and the rest of the hypothesis and theories are not taken into account. Positivism can be used to carry out the research in education so as to explore the opportunities that can be achieved to make the reforms in the educational environment. The second approach that can be used so as to investigate the possibilities of the structural reforms in the education has been the constructivist approach and it is the approach that makes use of the ideas and models that have been created inside the word by the constructs. These are the models that have their effects on the perception that a person has in this world (Schwandt, 1997, p. 40). Thereby the ideas that have been existing in the world on the constructs can be used to make an analysis on the structural reforms in education as it has been seen that constructivism has been used in the research in many ways. In this case the best example has been given by Piaget and it is that the ideas and the theories that are important are constructed by the students and the researchers themselves in the ways that can assist them in building the logics and the rationales (Crotty, 1998, p. 33). In this case it has been that the researchers in the education field can have an idealistic approach in the educational field and they can have the ideas related to the structural reforms in the education. And these are all the main ideas that can be used to make an analytical approach as to what the main changes are that are needed in the education reforms. The third main approach that has been used is the interpretive approach and in this case it has been seen that people in some case have subjective as well as inter-subjective ideas that they relate to the world in their surroundings. Thereby, the researchers in the different fields who use the interpretive approach make use of different phenomena of the situation that has been assigned to the researchers. This is the way in which the education scenario can be researched in a deeper manner by taking into account the analytical meanings that are hidden in the phenomena that is related to the reforms in the educational fields (Lincoln, 2005, p. 50). A second approach that is being used by the interpretive research means that the knowledge related to the reality that is inclusive of the human actors in this domain. In this case it has to be seen that there is no reality in the objective sense that has been yet discovered by the researchers. Here it can be seen that the interpretive approach is the one in which theory as well as the practice are being implemented in the research and they are being linked so as to reach better conclusions. In this case the educational system can be critically evaluated for newer and better changes that are needed in this case so as the social reality can be transformed as have been needed in the case of the educational reforms. It has been realized as well as analyzed by the researchers that the social circumstances can be changes by realizing the potentials that are hidden within the reality and these are the potentials that can help in making the required changes (Lincoln, & Denzin, 2003, p. 55). The selected article discusses the school restructuring by making sure that the involvement that is required by the teachers is proper and they engage themselves in the teaching activities with all due diligence. The interests from the students in teaching is one aspect that has been taken into account as this is the main factor that has been playing a very important role, not only in the case of the students but also for the mentors as well as the administration of the school. Thereby, this article has been discussing the importance of the interest from the teachers and from the students. An inquiry process has been initiated in this case so as to increase the interest from the teachers and the students so that the grades from the students are improved as well as the teacher learning in this aspect can be improved. As the article is read in detail, the main thing that has been noticed is the issue as well as the problem in hand regarding the educational scenario in relation to the grades of the students that highly depend upon the interest being shown by the teachers as well as the students has been discussed in a great detail. In addition to this it has been seen that the phenomena of interest of the students as well as the teachers, in this article, has been well connected with the outcomes from the studies in the form of their grades. Thereby, the problem in this case has been described in a clear and comprehensive manner (Banks, & Banks, 1998, p. 44). There are many purposes to this study. Quantities part of the study has been the one in which it has been dealt in detail that as to how some of the children in the schools can learn the spatial aspects in education as compared to the rest. Empirical research as well as the analytical part of the research has been used in this case so as to make the results analyze the main situation that is being faced in the schools. The audience for the research article has been the teachers, administrators as well as the parents whose children are in the schools. In this case the school restructuring is being done for the students and their parents too. The school restructuring as has been discussed earlier can play very important roles in the lives of the parents as well as the teachers. In this case the study has been justified by the results that have been shown in a detailed manner. Research in this case has been conducted in a detailed manner that includes surveys and questionnaires. As the school restructuring has been considered as a big issue, but in this case, the issue has been broken down into many contexts and the results have been linked to the issues in a detailed manner. Moreover, in this research and methodology there are three levels of schools that have been taken into account and the students from these schools, belonging to different grades have been taken into account in relation to the outcomes that they reflect in part of the school restructuring. Levels of the schools that have been taken into account are the technical high schools, the high school as well as the urban academies (Ancess, Jacqueline, 2000, p. 600). The validity of the results has been given in a way that the results have been linked in a pragmatic manner to the schools and the outcomes from the students. It has been seen that the educational situation in this case becomes easier to understand when the results reflect the different stages in the schools in relation to the teachers’ interests as well as that of the students. There have been many social theories that have been given in relation to the restructuring of the educational scenario in the schools. In this case it has been seen that the theories have their own importance in this regard but there needs to be research that can properly investigate into the matter, with all the relevant materials. Thereby, this is the research that has been able to answer some of the important questions in this case. There have been some answers that have been given in relation to the theories that have been dealing with the educational drawbacks. Thus, there have been no blank spots seen or noticed in this analytical research. The concept from the knowledge has been gained as well as applied in a proper manner in the research. It has been seen that all of the research based on the theories have been based on previous researches that have been conducted on the educational and the school restructuring. As it has been realized by the researchers the newer kinds of the reforms have been needed in the schools and the technical institutes so that the outcomes from the students can be improved (Ancess, Jacqueline, 2000, p. 609-613). In addition to this it is noticed that the newer questions have been raised in the research and these are the questions that have been pointing out the main weaknesses in the educational sector. In addition to this it has been seen that the weak points have been addressed in a detailed manner and these issues have been not pointed out by the theories in the past by the researchers. This research has been able to answer the major questions but still there is a lot of space that has been seen in this case (Crotty, 1998, p. 100). Conclusion Research in educational fields has been carried out by making use of all of the older theories that have been given in by the researchers. These theories are having blind spots in them as these do not address the problems in a proper and detailed manner as the problems have not been addressed in the way in which the solutions can be addressed. There are three main theories in which the educational research has been related and it has been implemented in many cases. References Journal articles Ancess, Jacqueline. (2000). The Reciprocal Influence of Teacher, Learning, Teaching Practice, School Restructuring, and Student Learning Outcomes. Teachers College Record, 102 (3), 590–619. Bibliography Banks, S., & Banks, A. (Eds.). (1998). Fiction and Social Research: By Ice or Fire. Walnut Creek. Crotty, M. (1998). The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin. Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2005). The Handbook of Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Lincoln, Y., & Denzin, N.. (2003). Turning Points in Qualitative Research: Tying Knots in the Handkerchief. Lanham, MD: Alta Mira Press. Schwandt, T. (1997). Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms. Sage: London. Somekh, B., & Lewin, C. (Eds.). (2005). Research Methods in the Social Sciences. London: Sage. Stronach, I., & Maclure, M. (1997). Educational Research Undone: The Postmodern Embrace. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Read More