Research paper (Essay Sample)

Research Methodology Name Institution Instructor Date due Introduction The research methodology requires gathering appropriate data from various sources that will be useful in arriving to a more complete understanding and historical reconstruction of personalized verses student-centered learning in classroom teamwork activities. The research methodology used hope to shed lights to the appropriate methods used in the research and the materials useful both to students and teachers (Federman & Sandra Hurd, 2000). This chapter includes a review of the research method and the design appropriateness strategies of the research which I based from the research questions and my objectives of the study. The research methods will burrow deeper to fully understand the extent of designing lessons around teamwork in our institutions and the concepts that are already in use both to students and teachers in learning process. This will be achieved through a discussion of the population sample which I used to collect data required in the study. This chapter will first discuss the research framework and approach utilized in collecting the data that was necessary to obtain in order to address the purpose of study; secondly the methodology will address the procedures and perspective that explore what has being done before in learning process (Stein & Sandra, 2000). I adopt social constructivism while using exploration of the participants through interviews; the purpose of the study, scope and limitation of the methods employed are highlighted here. This will be followed by research design that aims to explore the student-designed strategies and how effective these designs could be in the perspective of the students and the teachers, followed by research methodology which I will use in order to improve the state and procedures that are practiced in various contexts analyzed in chapter 2. This is followed by a discussion of the model appropriate to this study. I will then discuss the limitations and issues that technically will arise from the methodology I used. However, action research method used has both advantages and disadvantages as will be seen in the process of information gathering. Lastly, I will give an analysis of the data collected following the engagement of student centered learning strategies, followed by summary of the findings. This chapter will also discuss the ethical considerations given throughout the formulation of my methodology and during the whole research process. Conclusion and summary of the chapter are presented at the end. In order to achieve my purpose I created data collection method that would address the following objectives; Research Objectives The objective of this research is to find out how education practices can be improved and thus enhance positive learning outcomes of students. To achieve the above objective the researcher will be specific and, therefore, narrow down to the objectives below: 1 To highlight outcomes of student centred learning strategies for children 2 To explore the outcomes of student centred learning strategies for teachers 3 To explore the students' experiences of student centred learning through the vehicle of teamwork 4 To understand the benefits that have been secured by the students through the learning experiences provided by the investigation 5 To examine how students perceive the assessment of student centred learning strategies 6 To analyse how this investigation supports students in taking ownership of their learning Motivation to Research Methodology From the objectives above I made use of the perspective and procedure that explore what has not been very widely studied before. Consequently, phenomenology theoretical perspective through application of social constructivism was adopted. I used a number of research process which in one way or the other they are related. Crotty (2004) shows the elements I used in my research. Epitemology The theory of knowledge (p.3) Theoretical Perspective The stance informing the methodology and grounding its criteria (p.3) Methodology The strategy, design and process lying behind the choice and use of particular methods (p.3) Methods The techniques used to gather and analyse data( p.3) Constructivism (Social) Phenomenology Action Research (Participatory) Observation Semi-structured interviews Field notes Intervention Focus group Narrative diary / journal Theme identification Document analysis Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 Crotty, 2004 The process involved exploration of participants' beliefs and analysis of data from various qualitative methods of data collection that is related to my methodology of participatory action research. Motivation to using Crotty's illustration I have chosen Crotty's illustration and understandings of the key terminology in relation to this chapter, whilst acknowledging that there are variations on these definitions, as he has been a significant figure in giving me the foundations from which to develop the depth of theoretical understanding required at this educational level and will provide a coherent framework for this research. Epistemology From the research theories in chapter two, the research borrows two research philosophies that are commonly used on applied research that are aimed at improving current practices in various fields of study, in this case, it is in improving education practices, specifically mine, that would enhance learning outcomes of students in my classroom, these two theoretical perspectives are positivism and phenomenological (Stein & Sandra, 2000). However, my research will only use phenomenological theoretical perspectives in my data gathering process. Phenomenological theoretical perspective This is the most appropriate theoretical perspective to employ for this research. The reasons why I opted to use this perspective is because it assumes that the truth and reality could be constructed both socially and individually, and so differ, depending on various factors like varying situations, individual differences on views and mental processes; thus reality is not universal and absolute (Thomas, 1992). Research under this perspective involves the immersion of me into the natural context and environment of the constructs and population being investigated; to form the meanings and relevance of the constructs and to get a wide view of the concepts, research methods that are appropriate for this perspective are employed (McNeese, 2007). Phenomenological research process is much more appropriate for the purpose of my research for several reasons. The assumptions of my research agrees with the scope of the phenomenological perspective, for instance, it takes into consideration the individual feelings, perceptions, and learning outcomes of the students and the teachers involved in my study, which means that the research acknowledges the subjectivity of the information that were collected. Secondly, during the research I made use of various methods and strategies in order to provide relevant meanings to the concepts that arose during my data collection. Thirdly, this research required me to be immersed in and to participate within the natural setting of the participants during the data collection procedure. These boundaries are in accordance to the scope of phenomenological perspective, including social constructivist epistemology, as enumerated by Hussey and Hussey (1997). However, this theoretical perspective would not adequately address the purpose of the research thus creating some cons. One, my research aims to explore the experiences and outcomes of newly designed learning strategies, thus, existing literature on these strategies and their outcomes are very limited or even not yet available, and confirming or validating previous information is not what this research is all about (McNeese, 2007). Secondly, since the strategies that were studied in this research are relatively new and designed especially for the purposes of the research, it would be difficult to quantify the constructs involved in my study since these constructs would only be apparent during the data analysis phase of the research. And lastly, the purpose of my research is also to improve my personal teaching practices, thus, it would require my participation within the context of the research which is within the classroom, thus, employing an objective positivist theoretical perspective would be counterproductive in achieving the different objectives of my study. Research Approach From the phenomenological design method selected, I considered the appropriate research approach that could help in coming up with teamwork related lessons design and farther explore the outcomes. From the two possible approaches, Inductive and deductive, I choose to use Inductive approach. The deductive approach requires the researcher to formulate hypotheses about the potential outcome of the research; these hypotheses are done before the start of the data collection and after studying the past studies that are related to the current study in order to form educated suppositions. The data analysis of a study employing a deductive approach is aimed at coming up with accurate evidences that would either confirm or reject the already formed hypotheses (David-Fox, 1997). This research approach is very structured and it requires scientific procedures, and controlled variables and defined scope of the research. For the purpose of my research, employing this approach would be disadvantageous since it diminishes the flexibility I would have to explore potentially important and useful constructs that would arise during the process of data collection that I have not initially included withi...