Video summary

20.05.2024 р. | ЄФВВ | Методи дослідження у педагогіці та психології

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas and concepts covered

1) Webinar purpose and agenda

  • The webinar series (free) prepares applicants for the master’s program admission within a regional center for blended education of the university “Skovoroda Pap…” (name appears truncated in subtitles).

  • Today’s session (Part 1) focuses on planning and ensuring the quality of research, specifically two big questions:

    1. Scientific research: varieties/types, and the core components problem, goal, tasks, object, subject

    2. Research program: document structure, main sections, stages of research, and research hypotheses (theoretical, empirical, statistical).

2) Classification/varieties of scientific research

Scientific research is classified in several ways:

A. By purpose/role: fundamental, applied (search), exploratory, development

  • Fundamental scientific research

    • Conducted as experimental and/or theoretical activity to obtain new knowledge about basic laws of:
      • construction, functioning, and development of a person
      • society
      • the natural environment
    • Motivation/need:
      • arises from needs of industry and/or economy
    • Possible outcomes:
      • scientific publications
      • recommendations that help formulate applied research and indicate possibilities for practical use of knowledge obtained from fundamental research

  • Applied (search) scientific research

    • Aimed at applying new knowledge to achieve practical goals and solve specific problems
    • Focus: solving problems of practical use of knowledge obtained from fundamental research

  • Exploratory research

    • Aimed at identifying prospects of work on a topic:
      • finding ways to solve scientific problems
    • Includes selecting factors affecting the object and searching for ways to create new technologies/equipment based on methods proposed from fundamental research

  • Development (R&D)

    • Aimed at bringing results of specific fundamental/applied research into practice
    • Considered the process of transforming applied research into technical applications
    • Includes:
      • creating new equipment, materials, technologies
      • design and technological work
      • creating research samples/products
      • design work, research, and development
    • Compared with exploratory research, it is more specific and oriented toward creating equipment/technologies or recommendations

  • Scientific-industrial development

    • Focus: bringing development results to conditions of practical use
    • Includes:
      • experimental verification of recommendations
      • coordination with the needs of specific organizations/enterprises or groups of people

B. By duration

  • Long-term: developed over several years
  • Short-term: carried out over a short period (depending on forms/methods)

C. By method/form (examples listed)

  • Experimental
  • Methodological
  • Descriptive
  • Experimental-analytical
  • Historical-biographical
  • Mixed type (combination)

D. By funding source

  • Research financed by business contracts (customers)
  • Research financed from the state budget or initiative funds

3) Core components of scientific research

The video presents foundational elements for research work:

A. Research problem

  • The research begins with the choice of a research problem
  • Definition:
    • the main part/component of research
    • a form of scientific knowledge expressing insufficiency of what is already achieved
  • How it is chosen:
    • based on the researcher’s professional readiness and interest
    • may derive from institution plans, industry ministry/department plans, academy/university educational institution topics, or thematic tasks/orders for research and targeted complex industry/regional scientific-technical programs
  • Scientific problem definition:
    • a question requiring a scientific solution
    • a set of theoretically/practically complex issues contradicting existing knowledge or methods in a science
    • requires solving through scientific research

B. Goal of scientific research

  • The goal is a comprehensive and reliable study of:
    • the object/process/phenomenon
    • its structure of connections and relationships
  • Basis:
    • scientific principles and methods of cognition
  • Includes obtaining and implementing useful results
  • The goal is specified and developed through tasks.

C. Research tasks

  • Tasks are subordinate to the main goal
  • Purpose:
    • consistent achievement of the goal
  • Important rule stated:
    • tasks should not be formulated as mere “study” or “familiarization”
    • they must indicate the expected outcomes of scientific development
  • Typical task types (as listed):
    • solving theoretical issues related to the research problem, e.g.:
      • introducing new concepts and revealing their essence/content
      • developing new criteria/indicators
      • developing principles/conditions/factors for application of methods/techniques
    • methodologically substantiating:
      • essential nature, structure of the studied object
      • trends and patterns of process development
      • the real state of the subject of research
      • dynamics of internal contradictions
    • ways/means to improve the phenomenon/process
    • substantiating a system of measures for solving applied tasks
    • experimental verification of developed proposals
    • preparing methodological recommendations for practical use

D. Object and subject of research

  • Object
    • a process or phenomenon that creates a problem situation
    • studied in order to identify the problem
  • Subject
    • a part/element or aspect of the object
    • the phenomenon/process that is considered within the object

4) Research program (document structure, content, functions)

A. What the research program is

  • A program is a document regulating all stages of preparation and conducting a specific study.
  • Must include:
    • theoretical justification of methodological approaches and techniques for studying a phenomenon/process
    • definitions of:
      • the problem
      • purpose
      • tasks
      • methods for solving them
      • main ways/forms of implementing expected results into practice
  • Role (“core/root” of the study):
    • determines the study’s meaningful semantic value
    • affects the quality and reliability of obtained information

B. Three main functions of the research program

  1. Methodological
    • defines the problem being studied
    • formulates purpose and objectives
    • fixes initial provisions about the object
    • compares with previously conducted studies
  2. Methodological (continued) / planning logic
    • develops a general logical plan of the study
    • determines methods of collecting and analyzing information
    • defines the research procedure
    • enables comparative analysis of results
  3. Organizational
    • establishes division of labor among research team members
    • provides control over the research process and publication of results

C. How the program is created (stepwise logic)

  • Begins with a research concept
    • core idea + conceptual principles are fixed in the methodological section
  • Methodological section includes:
    • problem situation → need for the study
    • choosing the research topic
    • choosing object and subject
    • structural-logical analysis of the object
    • defining goal and main objectives
    • substantiating working hypotheses (not mandatory, per subtitles)
  • Procedural methodology section includes:
    • research methodology:
      • methods of data collection and processing
      • analysis
      • sampling approach:
        • sample type, structure, and volume
      • tools for collecting information
      • reliability level of main results
  • The program should include an experimental research section:
    • experiment ends with:
      • processing empirical data
      • logical generalizations of analysis
      • theoretical interpretation of factual material

D. How research results are presented

  • Results of scientific research are provided in final documents, such as:
    • information note
    • analytical note
    • report on research work

5) Planning and stages of scientific research

A. Planning concept

  • Planning is necessary to optimize work and achieve best results at minimal cost.
  • A work plan:
    • basis for research direction and sequence of implementation
    • structure depends on volume/complexity

B. Types/forms of plan content (as described)

  • Either:
    • fully formulated points reflecting the content
  • Or:
    • theses that characterize research proposal main features
  • Plan may be prepared further at later stages.

C. Suggested plan scheme (explicit structure)

  • Introduction
  • Sections
  • Paragraphs
  • Conclusions
  • List of used literature
  • Appendices

D. Stages of scientific research (main sequence)

  1. Choice of research topic
  2. Justification of the need for research
    • relevance of goal formulation and tasks
    • defining object and subject
    • stating scientific novelty of expected results
    • stating practical value
    • determining expected effect from implementation
  3. Selection of research methods
  4. Conduct theoretical and experimental research
    • theoretical work and experiments
  5. Analyze and interpret obtained results
  6. Register research results and implement them in practice
    • producing scientific works (implied: publication/author reporting)
    • steps also include manuscript preparation/author support

E. Preparatory / research / manuscript / implementation (more detailed breakdown)

  • Preparatory stage
    • select topic
    • justify need (reasons for development)
    • preliminary literature review:
      • how studied the issues are
      • which questions have no answers or are insufficient
    • formulate hypotheses, goals, objectives
    • develop research plan/program
    • prepare research tools (all tools to be used)
  • Research stage
    • system study of sources and/or statistical information
    • theoretical and empirical research:
      • collecting information/materials
    • generalize and analyze data
    • explain new scientific facts
    • argumentation + formulate provisions, conclusions, practical recommendations/proposals
  • Third stage (composition/manuscript)
    • determine internal structure:
      • specify name, section/point/sub-point titles
    • prepare and edit manuscript
    • text design including:
      • list of used literature
      • appendices
  • Final stage (implementation)
    • implement results in practice
    • provide author support for implemented developments

6) Research hypotheses: theoretical, empirical, statistical

A. General definition

  • A hypothesis is a scientific assumption based on theory or empirical data, not yet confirmed or refuted.
  • Must meet verifiability criterion:
    • ability to be confirmed or rejected in an experiment
  • Formulated as a proposed solution to the research problem.

B. Types and roles

1) Theoretical hypotheses
  • Purpose:
    • overcome internal contradictions in theory
    • eliminate inconsistencies between theory and experimental data
  • Function:
    • creates general context that helps formulate a specific empirical study hypothesis
  • Can be expressed as:
    • interrogative sentence
    • declarative sentence
  • Three reasons given for first formulating a theoretical hypothesis/context:
    1. Helps understand objectives and place of the study in modern research problems
    2. Enables clearer formulation of the experimental hypothesis
    3. Imposes responsibility/obligation on the researcher for subsequent justification and theoretical generalization after results are presented
2) Empirical hypotheses
  • Address solving the problem by empirical research methods
  • Do not necessarily need direct dependence on theory (per subtitles)
  • Definition (as presented):
    • reformulation of the original research question
    • clarifies predicted relationships between variables the researcher manipulates
    • specifies research procedures, materials, and measurement methods for dependent variables
3) Statistical hypotheses
  • A statement about an unknown parameter expressed in mathematical statistics
  • When testing statistical hypotheses, only two concepts are used:
    • hypothesis of difference
    • hypothesis of identity
  • Used to organize procedure for comparing measured experimental parameters

C. Criteria for hypotheses (must meet several conditions)

  • Must be logically related to existing knowledge
  • Must be meaningful:
    • explicitly specify a relationship between two basic concepts
  • Must allow operationalization:
    • transformation into measurable variables

D. Key peculiarity of an experimental hypothesis

  • It must be operationalized:
    • formulated in terms of a specific experimental procedure

E. Classification by content

  • Hypotheses about:
    • existence of a phenomenon
    • relationship between phenomena
    • causality (cause-and-effect) of one phenomenon to another

F. Closing

  • The session ends by previewing that the next lecture will further discuss hypotheses and related issues.

Speakers / sources featured

  • Oksana Albertivna — Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Head of the Department of Primary Vocational Education (main presenter)

Original video