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Master of Science Education
1. Connotation of educational research method Scientific method: it is a procedure or process of understanding nature or acquiring scientific knowledge. Educational research: Like all scientific research, it consists of three basic elements: objective facts, scientific theories and methods. Guided by the discovery or development of scientific knowledge system, it promotes the development of generalized principles and principles through the explanation, prediction and control of educational phenomena. The outstanding feature is creativity. Educational research method: the method of organizing, planning and systematically conducting educational research and constructing educational theory in a certain way is a systematic research process with educational phenomena as the object, scientific methods as the means and certain research procedures as the goal. Characteristics of educational research methods: Educational scientific research methods have the characteristics of general research methods, that is, the commonness between educational research and other research is: (1) The purpose of research is to explore educational laws and take solving important educational theoretical and practical problems as the guidance. (2) There are scientific assumptions and statements about the research problems, and the research problems have clear objectives and test indicators. (3) Scientific research and design, accurate and systematic observation and analysis, and collection of reliable data. (4) Emphasize the scientificity of methods: it is to use certain scientific methods, follow certain scientific research procedures, and have a purposeful and planned understanding of activities. Therefore, the method itself is identifiable, the application process and the research results are testable, and the research results should be tested in practice. (5) Creativity: breaking through the original theoretical system, thinking mode and research method is the most important feature of research. Educational science research is different from natural science and thinking science research, which is mainly manifested in: (1) has strong comprehensiveness and integrity. (2) The research period is long. (3) pertinence and practicality. (4) The active participation of educators, researchers and practitioners has a broad mass base.

2. The significance of educational research and the value of educational research methods: (1) The role of educational research in the development of teachers ① Educational research is the requirement of educational reform itself ② Educational research is the essential quality of educators in the new century: it is the requirement of teachers' specialization; This is the requirement of educational innovation; It is the requirement of improving the quality of education and forming the teaching style of independent education. (2) In order to solve the new problems and situations in education and serve the modernization, it is necessary to carry out educational scientific research and establish an educational scientific system with China characteristics. The importance of research methods in educational science: after the direction and purpose are determined, methods play a decisive role. If the research method is correct, we can achieve the purpose of research in the right direction, and play a role in distinguishing the authenticity of knowledge, expanding the quantity and scope of knowledge, obtaining new discoveries and inspiring people's thoughts. On the other hand, if the method is improper, the research work will be futile and the expected purpose will not be achieved.

(2) The history, present situation and development trend of educational research methods 1. The scientific course of educational research, the main historical stages and characteristics of the development of educational research methods (1), the period of direct observation (from ancient Greece to16th century), ① The starting point of educational research is based on the requirements of social development at that time and the fundamental interests of the ruling class; Moral education is the main content and method of education. ② Using observation, induction, deduction, analogy and other methods to study educational phenomena and form a theory. ③ The preliminary application of dialectics and simple system view. ④ Based on different philosophies, natural views, social views and educational views, various schools have formed different educational research methods and ideas. During this period, people could not dissect and analyze nature, society and education, but observed and studied education as a whole. Materialism and dialectics are primitive, spontaneous and simple. (2) The period of analytical methodology (from the end of 17 to the end of 19 to the beginning of the 20th century) ① The study of education as a development process not only describes the characteristics of phenomena, but also focuses on revealing the relationship and development process between phenomena. (2) The research method is largely combined with epistemology, and induction and deduction are initially formed. ③ Psychological thoughts began to become the theoretical basis of educational science research methodology. ④ Oppose arbitrary authority and advocate that education should conform to nature and transplant "experimental methods" from natural science. (3) The period of forming an independent discipline (since the 20th century) ① The research method of educational science was separated from philosophical methodology and became an independent special research field. ② The methods that constitute the research method system of educational science are mostly transplanted from other disciplines. ③ The basic schools of educational science research methods and theories —— progress and tradition, experience and speculation, practice and theory have further parted ways, and their respective development research has opened up new fields for the development of methodology. (4) Influenced by the western pragmatism education idea, it obviously shows pragmatism tendency. ⑤ While the research methods of educational science form an independent discipline, the research methods of different disciplines in the field of educational science have made remarkable progress. The emergence and wide spread of Marxist dialectical materialism and the development of psychology and psychological research methods directly affect the development of educational science research methods.

2. The current situation of China's educational research and the problems existing in research methods In recent years, China's educational research has made positive progress and many new phenomena have emerged. (1) A major theoretical breakthrough and a new academic perspective have entered the 2 1 century, and a new situation of "letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend" has emerged in the educational theory circle. No matter from the research fields, perspectives, methods, or from the proposed theories, viewpoints and conclusions, there are more important breakthroughs, which give people a sense of freshness and reflect the new scene of innovation and enterprising in the educational theory circle. Theoretically speaking, the main manifestations are as follows: ① Educational innovation in Theory of Three Represents and Theory of Three Represents is the new development of Marxism in contemporary China. Scholars regard Theory of Three Represents as the guiding ideology of China's educational reform and development, which is reflected in the in-depth discussion of the relationship between "Theory of Three Represents" and educational practice, as well as the discussion of the significance and core content of educational innovation. It is proposed that educational research should be innovative in an all-round way, keep pace with the times and make practical contributions to educational innovation. (2) Educational Orientation in Social Transformation With the comprehensive deepening of the reform of political system and educational system, the external and internal environment of education has undergone tremendous changes. Under this brand-new background, education is facing new orientation and challenges. How to define and position education scientifically and reasonably in the period of social transformation is the premise of engaging in educational theory research and educational practice. Regarding the orientation of education, the researcher points out that education is the third sector between the market field and the political field, and schools and their educational institutions are non-profit social organizations between the government and enterprises. Educational products are non-monopoly public products, which can be provided to the society through two resource allocation mechanisms: government and non-profit organizations. To this end, we should encourage limited market participation and maintain appropriate government supervision functions. ③ Theory and Methodology of Educational Policy Research In the late 1990s, educational policy research began to be paid attention to by academic circles, and "towards educational policy research" and "towards educational policy analysis" became the consensus of educational circles. On the basis of studying the theory of educational subjectivity, educational intersubjectivity scholars absorbed the understanding of education from postmodernism and philosophical hermeneutics, and made a new interpretation and analysis of education and moral education by using intersubjectivity theory, and began to pay attention to the relationship between education and communication, education and understanding, and education and life. On the issue of intersubjectivity, researchers began to pay attention to the equality, mutual understanding and integration, two-way interaction, communication characteristics and relations of subjects in language and action, and the subjectivity problem in pedagogy further deepened into new fields such as consensus among different subjects and consistency of different subjects' expression through consensus. (2) There are two obvious breakthroughs in the theory of quality education in specific research fields, namely, the new curriculum reform of basic education and the teaching reform. First of all, the significance of quality education to life development is put forward. The second is to discuss the quality structure of people as the main body of activities, which is considered to be the premise for contemporary education to highlight people's subjectivity, innovative spirit and practical ability training requirements. In terms of curriculum, scholars mainly focus on the principles of the Outline of Basic Education Curriculum Reform (Trial). Typical viewpoints are as follows: first, from the perspective of curriculum implementation, the unique value of "comprehensive practical activities" is the integration of wisdom and knowledge; Secondly, the goal and significance of the integration of information technology and curriculum are studied, and it is proposed that the integration of information technology and curriculum can provide an ideal teaching environment for the design of new teaching structure; Thirdly, the relationship between "subject curriculum" and "comprehensive curriculum" is discussed, and it is pointed out that the two are moving from complete separation to mutual integration and unification, thus forming a "student-centered curriculum" based on the constructivist curriculum view. In the research of teaching theory and teaching reform, scholars have conducted extensive research and discussion on the impact, challenge and future trend of teaching theory system under the new situation of teaching reform and curriculum reform, the relationship between teaching transformation and basic education curriculum reform, classroom teaching values and process views. It is pointed out that the development trend of teaching theory from tradition to modernization is to establish an open modern teaching theory system, realize the transformation of learning-centered teaching theory research mode, and strengthen the research of teaching and learning in the network era. (3) Research on Educational Equality and Fairness With the continuous development of China's economy and society, people's educational concepts are constantly updated, and the demand for educational resources, especially high-quality educational resources, is getting higher and higher, and people's attention to educational equality and fairness is unprecedented. Specifically, it includes the research from the fairness and justice mechanism of education policy to the balanced development of compulsory education and then to the fairness of higher education. It is a new perspective to discuss the equality and fairness of education from the perspective of education policy. Pursuing educational equality and fairness is the basic value choice of contemporary China's educational policy. (4) The research on "educational industrialization" and "educational marketization" points out that the educational cause or industry is not the inherent attribute of education, but the regulation of the operating characteristics of educational activities in a certain historical stage, which depends on people's subjective judgment on whether it is beneficial to run a school as a cause or as an industry. At the institutional level, it is considered that public universities in China, as the first sector organizations, have lost their social and economic foundation in the process of transforming from planned economy to market economy and joining WTO. To solve the problems existing in public schools, what is needed is not tinkering and improvement, but profound transformation, and the more feasible direction choice is to turn to the third sector. On the institutional level, regarding the reform of China's general higher education investment system, it is proposed that the future reform will be a compulsory institutional change process under the leadership of the government by using the institutional change theory of institutional economics. In the aspect of higher education funding input mechanism, it is proposed to establish a truly output-oriented funding input mechanism.

3. The main trend of the evolution of educational research methods in contemporary educational research is that the degree of intuition is reduced, the degree of abstraction is improved, and the logical thinking method is highly developed. At the beginning of the 20th century, educational research mainly focused on collecting relevant descriptive materials, compiling testing tools and emphasizing the role of experience in testing theory. The formation of various schools of educational theory leads to the unity and diversity of educational research methods, and the complexity of educational laws requires the diversity of research methods. With the development of natural scientific methods and the formation of a large number of new disciplines brought about by the contemporary scientific and technological revolution, the resulting new methods will once again impact educational research. The diversification of educational research methods is helpful to better grasp the educational phenomenon and its development process. Supplement: New progress in research methods (1) Researchers' awareness of questions has been enhanced in three aspects: First, some researchers have discussed the criteria for judging whether the questions are true or false, and opposed the emergence of "pseudo-questions" that still exist in the field of educational research in the past and even now. Second, problem research has become an important educational research paradigm. Such as educational innovation, education and communication, teacher training, educational equity, compulsory education funds, popularization of higher education, etc. All of them are "real questions" in the construction of educational theory or educational practice. Third, the enhancement of the research subject's awareness of problems is further reflected in the enhancement of policy awareness. Researchers try to solve the problems in educational practice by participating in the formulation of educational policies. (2) Diversification of research perspectives is a prominent feature of the development of today's times. Educational research also follows the general law of the development of this discipline, and researchers' research horizons are increasingly diversified. They study education from many angles and disciplines, which enriches the content of education research, broadens the field of vision and makes theoretical argumentation more comprehensive and powerful. (3) New development has been made in specific research methods. For a long period of time, the research methods adopted by educational researchers are relatively simple, and similar methods such as literature, history and testing are often adopted, but this does not mean that researchers have not developed their own research methods. Experimental methods and investigation methods, case analysis combined with case methods, action research methods and qualitative research methods are adopted by most educational researchers. Throughout the world, educational science research is showing a trend of integration of basic disciplines and marginal disciplines, cross-disciplinary fields, emphasis on empirical analysis and application results, and positive impact on decision-making. Therefore, it is especially necessary to comprehensively summarize the practice of China's educational reform and development, strive to improve the theoretical, scientific and practical nature of educational scientific research, and constantly tap the inexhaustible source of educational scientific innovation. With the mind of facing modernization, the world and the future, we should learn from the excellent educational scientific achievements of all countries in the world, adhere to the principle of taking me as the main body and serving me, and provide nutrition and broaden our horizons for China's educational science. We should focus on the way to achieve the educational goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way, formulate a national medium-and long-term educational development strategy, analyze the institutional factors that hinder the sustained and balanced development of education, explore the new characteristics of the educational management system, school-running system and investment system that are compatible with the socialist market economy system and public finance system, study the innovation of curriculum materials, teaching methods and even talent training mode, and especially strive to make breakthrough progress in educational informatization in line with national conditions, so as to narrow the gap in education level between different regions and different groups and accelerate education.

(3) Basic types of educational research methods 1. Methods according to the stages of the research process, it is divided into design stages: the method of determining the theme, the method of consulting literature, the method of research and design; Methods of implementation stage: methods of forming facts and methods of forming theories. Methods of summarizing the evaluation stage: methods of writing reports and methods of evaluating results. 2. Classification theories and methods based on the nature of problems (induction, deduction and analogy; Classification, comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization, etc. ): Theoretical research is to analyze and synthesize the essence and relationship of complex educational problems in theory, abstract and summarize them, and then discover their internal laws or general conclusions. Empirical methods (observation, questionnaire, interview, measurement, etc. ); Experimental research method (true experiment-an experiment that controls all factors that may affect the experimental effect; Quasi-experiment-is a kind of experiment that is close to the experimental method, but not very qualified. From the point of view of this method and the purpose to be achieved, it is close to the experimental method, that is, it reveals the causal relationship between things, but from the point of view of control requirements, it is not enough to be called the experimental method, because the control process can not be very strict, and most educational experiments can only be quasi-experiments; Pre-experiment-an experiment that is not standardized enough. There are no clear assumptions before the experiment, especially no verifiable propositions. The control of the experimental environment is not strict enough, and there are many factors that interfere with the experimental results, so this experimental conclusion is probable. ): The main purpose of experimental research is to create a system and environment that can verify the experimental hypothesis in educational activities, actively control the research objects and eliminate the interference of irrelevant factors. Historical research methods (literature method, content analysis method, etc.). Historical research involves the understanding and interpretation of past events. Its purpose is to help explain current events and predict future events by studying the causes, results or trends of past events. 3. Other classified educational value research and educational fact research: In the previous research on educational axiology, the research framework of philosophical axiology was often used as the basic framework of educational axiology research, and the all-inclusive pan-axiology research was used as the basic framework. This kind of educational value research does not conform to the reality of value existence and its essence in the field of education. The core of educational value research should take into account the general value research vision, and at the same time adjust the research focus to the research of educational value orientation. Basic research and applied research: Basic research and applied research are distinguished according to their different goals or purposes. The basic purpose of basic research is to discover new facts, clarify new theories or re-evaluate the original theories through research, and answer the question of "why", which is related to the establishment of the general principles of educational science; Applied research aims at applying or testing theories and evaluating the role of theories in solving practical educational problems. Its purpose is to solve the current practical problems and answer the question of "what is it". Quantitative research and qualitative research. (4) Basic principles of educational research methods 1. Principle of objectivity: It means that educational scientific research must adopt a strict objective attitude, seek truth from facts, comprehensively and systematically possess materials, faithfully reflect objective facts, and ensure the objectivity and accuracy of the research process and results to the greatest extent. This is the most basic principle that education and scientific research must follow. 2. Innovation principle: we should develop and create on the basis of the original understanding. This is mainly reflected in the fact that there is little or no research on predecessors, and the research that has been done by predecessors is in a deepening or opposite direction. 3. The principle of integrating theory with practice: We should attach importance to the guidance of both theory and practice. Theory and practice should be dialectically unified and closely linked with education and teaching practice, so that all scientific research conclusions can be based on extensive and strict scientific experiments. 4. Principle of combining quantitative with qualitative: They complement each other and reflect the relationship between quality and quantity of objective things respectively. In order to use quantitative research methods according to the characteristics of education, it is important to find the potential quantitative relationship, and on this basis, put forward corresponding mathematical methods to describe the quantitative relationship and laws of related objects. 5. Supplementary ethical principles: 1. According to the generalization of the scope of application: the first level is the specific scientific methodology (Marxist methodology); The second level is the general research methods applicable to various sciences, such as induction and deduction. The third level is about understanding and transforming the world, namely materialism and dialectics. 2. According to the purpose, function and role of the research, it is divided into basic research, applied research, development research (the main purpose is to formulate effective strategies for schools, and the question to be answered is "how to improve"), evaluation research (the process of judging the relevant value of an educational goal and educational activities through collecting and analyzing data, and the question to be answered is "how") and prediction research (the main purpose is to analyze the future development prospects and trends of things, and answer. According to the research methods, it can be divided into historical research, descriptive research (collecting data through questionnaires, surveys, interviews, observations and tests to verify hypotheses or answer questions about real research), correlation and comparative research (judging whether there is correlation and degree between two or more variables, with the purpose of establishing correlation or making predictions), experimental research, theoretical research, qualitative research and quantitative research.

(5) The general process of educational research methods 1. Topic selection in the design stage of topic selection 1. Education and topic selection "The problem is the contradiction of things. Where there are contradictions in solving problems, there are problems. " Scientific research begins with problems. First of all, we should be able to find problems creatively and ask scientific questions. Generally speaking, not all problems can become scientific research topics. In the process of establishing scientific research topics, it is generally necessary to first make clear the objectives to be achieved by scientific research tasks, then put forward scientific research questions and make a decomposition analysis, so that the problems will not be too general and too advanced, so as to determine their scope and significance, make the problems specific and clear, and thus carry out research under the existing conditions. Don't be big and empty, empty and mysterious, scattered Criteria for judging whether a problem is worth studying (basic requirements for selecting a topic): 1. This question is put forward on the basis of certain scientific theories and facts. The reality of the problem mainly lies in that the topic should be targeted, the guiding ideology and purpose should be clear, and the theoretical basis should be substantial and reasonable. The scientific nature of the topic selection lies in the time basis and theoretical basis. 2. The problem itself should be novel and of research value (whether the problem has not been solved). The selected problems should be unsolved or not completely solved by predecessors, and should be innovative, innovative and contemporary through research. Therefore, the choice of research topics should be based on summing up and developing predecessors' practical achievements and theoretical ideas, otherwise, any new development and breakthrough will be impossible. The selected questions should have good intrinsic value for this discipline (that is, there should be a new breakthrough in theory and an important guiding role for education in practice), and should also have high external value for other related fields. 3. The study of the problem should be feasible (whether the problem has universal significance). Feasibility means that the problem can be studied and there is the possibility of solving it. Feasibility includes the following three aspects: (1) objective conditions. Besides the necessary information, equipment, time, capital, technology, manpower and theoretical preparation, there are also scientific possibilities. (2) subjective conditions. Refers to the researcher's original knowledge, ability, foundation, experience and expertise, the materials he has mastered and his interest in the subject. (3) timing. The key period must be grasped when selecting a topic, and when to propose a research topic depends on the development and maturity of relevant theories, research tools and conditions. 4. The problem statement must be specific and clear (whether the scope of the problem and the task of research are clear and concentrated). The selected questions must be specific, the boundaries should be clear, the scope should be small and not too general. Whether the question is specific and appropriate often affects the success or failure of the overall research. Second, the topic source 1. Problems raised by social change and development on educational research (from the outstanding problems faced by education and teaching) II. Problems arising from the deepening, expansion or reform of discipline theory (from doubts or puzzles in education and teaching) 3. Problems arising from personal observation and thinking of researchers in educational practice. 4. Propose topics from successful educational experience, as well as from newspapers, magazines and other people's research results. Third, the principle of topic selection 1. The value principle is 2. The principle of feasibility is 3. The principle of innovation is 4. The dominance principle is 4. The strategy of topic selection is 1. Step by step strategy is 2. The strategy of edge search is 3. The strategy of Lenovo transplantation is 4. The strategy of storing hair and thinning hair is 5. The design of the research is 1. Select the whole research object, that is, the whole research object. The combination of many individual things in a certain same nature, when it becomes the object of statistical research, is called population. Population is the sum of all the research objects in a certain time and space. A sample is a representative part of an individual extracted from a population, also known as a sample group. It enables a certain number of basic observation units to represent the whole. The number of individuals contained in a sample is called the sample size. Sampling is a process of extracting a certain number of representative individuals from a group for research according to certain rules. The purpose is to obtain information and general conclusions about this population with a sample, infer the population from the characteristics of the sample, and draw the corresponding research conclusions. 2. Determine the research method (1) Choose the research method according to the purpose and requirements of the research topic (2) Pay attention to the independence and relationship of various methods (3) Make a research plan. The research plan is a comprehensive plan for the whole research process and an arrangement for the main work of the research. The questions to be answered in the research plan are: what is the purpose and significance of the research; How to arrange the tasks in each stage; What kind of method to study; How to collect the required information; The form of research results and how to evaluate and identify research results; The organization and division of labor of researchers and the research funds needed. A complete research plan mainly includes: research topics; A brief description of the research topic and significance; The basic content of the study, what problems are expected to be broken through; Research ideas and methods, research work plan and time arrangement; The working basis and related conditions of the research topic; The estimated value and application scope of the research results; Budget and equipment procurement. The basic content of the argument of intransitive verbs 1. The value of topic selection II. Master the accuracy and comprehensiveness of similar research and related research. 3. The basic idea and scientific content framework of the research. 4. Rationality of research steps, methods and means. 5. Study the feasibility of basic conditions. Topic selection theory is to avoid the blindness of topic selection. It analyzes, predicts and evaluates the selected problems based on detailed information, complete reference and detailed analysis. Through project demonstration, we can further improve the project plan and create conditions for implementation. The subject demonstration mainly answers the following questions: ① the nature and types of research questions; ② The urgency and pertinence of this study; (3) the level of preliminary research and development trend in this field; ④ The theory, factual basis and limitations of this topic, the possibility of research, and the basic conditions of research (including personnel structure, task assignment, materials and equipment, budget, etc.). ) and whether substantial progress can be made; ⑤ Study the appropriateness of strategies, steps and results. Lexical translation: educational research, educational research methods in education, applied research, basic research, qualitative research, quantitative research, identification of research problems, constants, variables, independent variables, dependent variables, operational definitions, assumptions and problem statements;

Literature retrieval is an important step in education and scientific research, which runs through the whole process of scientific research. First of all, the meaning of educational literature and its role in educational research. 1. The basic concept of educational literature: the carrier for recording educational scientific information and knowledge. The quantity and quality of educational literature is an important symbol to measure the development level of educational science in a country or region. 2. The role of educational literature in educational research (1) Select the research topic and determine the research direction. Comprehensively and correctly grasp the situation of the problems to be studied; (2) Providing scientific basis and research methods for educational science; (3) avoid duplication of work and improve scientific research efficiency. Second, the types and main distribution of educational literature 1. There are three levels of educational literature: including original literature such as monographs, papers, investigation reports and archives based on the author's own practice. It is a literature that directly records events, research achievements, new knowledge and new technology, which is creative and has high direct reference and use value. Secondary literature: it is a systematic and orderly retrieval of the original literature, which generally includes title, bibliography, index, abstract and abstract. The second-level literature is reportable, compilations and conciseness, which is the understanding of the first-level literature and the main part of the retrieval tool. Three documents: based on the secondary documents, the reference documents are comprehensively condensed after extensive and in-depth analysis and research on a certain range of documents, including dynamic review, special review, data manual, progress report, annual encyclopedia, special research report, etc. 2. The main distribution of educational literature: (1) Books: including classic works, educational monographs, teaching materials, informative reference books and popular science books, are the most diverse, largest and oldest information sources in educational scientific literature. (2) Newspapers and periodicals: Newspapers and periodicals are continuous publications. Newspapers are regular and continuous publications, which mainly publish news and comments. Periodicals are regular or irregular continuous publications, including weekly, monthly, bimonthly and quarterly. (3) Educational archives: original documents and materials with preservation value directly formed by human beings in various social practice activities. Educational archives include educational yearbooks, educational decrees, educational statistics, educational investigation reports, academic conference documents, data sets, catalogues, etc. (4) Expert inquiry: information is collected through informal channels of personal contact, and researchers talk with researchers and scholars in this major or similar majors to exchange and discuss academic issues. (5) Electronic information retrieval system. Third, the basic process and main methods of educational literature retrieval 1. Basic process analysis and preparation stage of educational literature retrieval; Search stage; Processing stage 2. The main method of educational literature retrieval is sequential retrieval: according to the time range, according to the time sequence of events, from far to near, from old to new. Reverse search method: contrary to sequential search method, search is conducted in the order from near to far, from new to old. Citation retrieval method: based on mastering the cited documents listed in the literature and the reference documents in the appendix, find the documents related to the subject. Comprehensive retrieval method: a variety of methods are combined to achieve the purpose of retrieval. The correct retrieval method should meet four requirements: accuracy and high precision; Integrity and high recall rate; Depth, diversity of information and depth of content; Come on, come on. 3. The application of modern information technology in the retrieval of educational literature The main ways to retrieve literature by computer are CD-ROM retrieval and online retrieval. General method: determine the question and the search scope. Select a database; Select and combine the main word code; The number of references searched from the database; If necessary, expand the search scope.