Deck 1: The Nature of Educational Research

Question 1

Studies that seek to identify the students who will drop out of high school or the students who will do well in college are examples of

A) descriptive research.
B) intervention-oriented research.
C) prediction research.
D) theory-building research.

Answer 1

prediction research.

Question 2

Studies that seek to assess how well students are mastering different curriculum subjects are examples of

A) descriptive research.
B) intervention-oriented research.
C) prediction research.
D) theory-building research.

Answer 2

descriptive research.

Question 3

Which of the following statements best reflects the current status of improvement-oriented research?

A) Researchers have discovered only a few interventions that improve learning.
B) Researchers have discovered many different types of interventions that improve learning.
C) Researchers have conducted few improvement-oriented studies in education.
D) Researchers have not yet conducted studies on forms of cultural oppression that affect student learning.

Answer 3

Researchers have discovered many different types of interventions that improve learning.

Question 4

"Intelligence is that which is measured by intelligence tests."This statement is an example of

A) an operationally defined construct.
B) a constitutively defined construct.
C) a theoretical law.
D) grounded theory.

Question 5

Theories are considered "small" or "large" depending on

A) how much research evidence is available to support them.
B) how many phenomena they can explain.
C) the number of constructs they contain.
D) the number of scientific laws they contain.

Question 6

Unlike the "grounded theory" approach, a research hypothesis in the conventional "scientific method"

A) can be proved or disproved by a single study.
B) only can be tested if the constructs have been constitutively defined.
C) is formulated after the data have been collected.
D) Is formulated before the data have been collected.

Question 7

To date, research has had the most impact on educational practices involving

A) teacher decision-making.
B) school organization.
C) assessment of students' academic achievement.
D) individualization of instruction.

Question 8

The findings of a well-done educational research study

A) will be value-free.
B) nonetheless will be value-laden.
C) nonetheless will have no generalizability beyond the situation that was studied.
D) will yield clear prescriptions about what ought to be done to improve educational practice.

Question 9

Richard Schön's model of reflection-in action as a guide to practice

A) precludes the use of research knowledge as a basis for professional action.
B) supports the assumed relationship between research and practice posed by the technical rationality model.
C) assumes a stable, consistent reality about which generalizations can be made and applied.
D) involves experimentation based on practitioners' analysis of each unique situation.

Question 10

Which of the following is not an example of basic research in education?

A) Research to identify the parts of the brain that control memory
B) Research on physiological changes in students during test-taking situations
C) Research on the effects of a pharmaceutical drug on the classroom attention span of students diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder
D) Research on factors that explain artistic aptitude

Question 11

In their study of research on the treatment of heart diseases, Julius Comroe and Robert Dripps found that

A) medical doctors have more confidence in basic research than applied research.
B) important advances in the treatment of heart diseases resulted from basic research.
C) most advances in the treatment of heart diseases resulted from applied research.
D) basic and applied research did not advance the treatment of heart diseases nearly as much as the informal research conducted by medical doctors in their daily practice.

Question 12

Karl Popper claimed that a theory

A) is untestable through empirical research.
B) can by proven correct or false if it survives replication tests conducted by researchers who are skeptical about the theory's validity.
C) can be proven correct or false if research designed to test it has sufficient controls for researcher bias.
D) can be proven to be false, but cannot be proven to be true.

Question 13

Postpositivists believe that

A) physical and social research is independent of those who observe it.
B) there is an objective reality, but it can only be known imperfectly.
C) all epistemologies have equal value in the search for truth.
D) generalizations from the research sample to other samples from the same population are impossible.

Question 14

Progressive discourse requires that researchers

A) maintain a willingness to change their views in response to criticism and new research findings.
B) conduct a replication study before reporting the findings of the original study.
C) give equal weight to case studies and case research.
D) all of the above.

Question 15

In writing a research report, the author includes her own reactions to the classrooms she has studied. This style of reporting typifies

A) positivist research.
B) scientific realism.
C) reflexivity in research.
D) postmodernism.

Question 16

Researchers who subscribe to constructivist epistemology believe that

A) they might view social reality differently than the individuals whom they are studying.
B) objectivity can be achieved if they take responsibility for collecting data, but leave the responsibility for data interpretation to the research participants.
C) objectivity can be achieved through the use of a positivist reporting style.
D) as individuals mature, they assimilate physical and social reality with more objectivity and less private interpretation.

Question 17

If a constructivist researcher was interested in the effects of cooperative learning, he most likely would select for study

A) a large sample of teachers who were using this method.
B) a few teachers who were using this method.
C) every teacher in a school district who was using this method.
D) a large sample of staff developers who were training teachers in this method.

Question 18

Positivist researchers believe that

A) they should study cases in order to determine local interpretations of social reality.
B) features of social reality retain a high degree of constancy across settings.
C) if consistent findings are obtained from several case studies, these findings can be generalized to a population.
D) an investigation starts with sample selection and ends with the determination of a population to which the findings apply.

Question 19

A constructivist educational researcher would most likely argue that

A) features of the social environment retain a high degree of constancy across time and space.
B) quantifiable features of the social environment do not reveal what is most important about teaching and learning.
C) most of the significant advances in the physical and social sciences involve quantification.
D) symbolism, mythology, and religion are the best guides to explain human events and physical phenomena.

Question 20

The view that the real world consists of layers of causal structures is a primary tenet of

A) positivism.
B) postpositivism.
C) scientific realism.
D) both postpositivism and scientific realism.

Question 21

The view that interpretations and intentions are causal agents in social reality characterizes

A) constructivism.
B) scientific realism.
C) postpositivism.
D) scientific realism and postpositivism.

Question 22

Postmodernists would argue that

A) positivist research is not superior to literary studies.
B) positivist research is superior to literary studies.
C) literary studies has a privileged position in the search for truth.
D) it is necessary to combine literary studies with positivist research in order to make scientific progress.

Question 23

Qualitative research is sometimes called

A) interpretive research.
B) case study research.
C) constructivist research.
D) all of the above.

Question 24

Quantitative and qualitative researchers

A) differ in their reliance on variables and holistic observation.
B) differ in their methods of data analysis, but agree on report-writing procedures.
C) share the belief that social reality can be studied objectively.
D) share the belief that they should become personally involved with their research participants.

Question 25

Advocates of mixed-methods research believe that

A) studies should be designed using qualitative-research epistemology and quantitative-research statistics.
B) quantitative and qualitative methods can be combined in a study, but only if the data are collected from an emic perspective.
C) quantitative and qualitative research methods can be combined in a study to generate useful findings.
D) different quantitative methods can be combined in a study, but these methods cannot be combined with any qualitative methods.

Question 26

Briefly describe four types of knowledge yielded by educational research.

Question 27

State two reasons why theories are useful.

Question 28

How is D. C. Phillips's distinction between is and ought relevant to the application of educational research to practice?

Question 29

A common criticism of basic research in education is that it seldom leads directly to improvement in educational practice. What are two reasons that basic research nonetheless should be supported?

Question 30

Describe two distinctive beliefs of researchers who subscribe to postpositivist epistemology, and explain whyyou think these beliefs have merit or are misguided.

Question 31

Why do constructivist researchers distinguish their perspective from the perspectives of the individuals whom they study and of the individuals who will read their research reports?

Question 32

Give one reason why constructivist researchers study cases rather than samples or populations.

Question 33

State one criticism of relying on numerical data to measure variables in educational research.

Question 34

Explain one way in which constructivists and scientific realists differ in their explanation of the causes of social phenomena.

Question 35

Explain why postmodernists would be critical of educational research as a basis for describing, predicting, improving, or understanding educational phenomena.

Question 36

State one assumption that must be satisfied in order to use quantitative research to verify the findings of a qualitative research study.

Question 37

Formulate a small theory about education, that is, an explanation of an observed set of phenomena in terms of a system of constructs and laws the relate these constructs to each other that you believe to be true. Generate a plan for a research study that would allow you test this theory that includes the following three steps:
1. Formulating a hypothesis based on your theory.
2. Deducing observable consequences of the hypothesis.
3. Testing the hypothesis by collecting research data.

Question 38

Suppose the federal government decides to fund a new program for training high school students in study skills. Some educators argue that all of the appropriated funds should be used to develop model programs and materials, to train teachers in summer institutes, and to hire additional school staff. Other educators argue that at least 15 percent of the appropriations should be allocated for research on study skills. What defense could you offer for the latter proposal? Sample

Question 39

Suppose you are asked to design a study of teachers' attitudes toward recent school reforms. How would you select a sample and measure teacher attitudes if you were doing (a) a quantitative research study, or (b) a qualitative research study?