Selecting a suitable research approach
The approach or the framework for collecting data, should be selected to fit the research purpose. The table below shows some of the main purposes of pedagogic research and approaches commonly used to address them. Within the approach, methods will be chosen. These 'instruments' or 'tools' can be interviews, questionnaires, observations, document analysis, discourse analysis or other investigative procedures.
| Research aims or purpose |
Approach |
Comments |
| Describe; explore and understand what is happening |
Case study, survey |
Will use multiple sources of data to provide a picture of a 'case'. Cases may be groups of students, the institution, a subject area... |
| Solve a problem understand and improve practice |
Action research |
A highly practical approach that is deeply embedded in everyday practice; could be seen as a systematizing or formalizing of the everyday efforts undertaken by teachers to improve their students' learning experience, or other aspects of professional practice. |
| Evaluate; understand what works |
Quasi-experimental studies; theory-based evaluation |
Explores the impact of programmes or activities on participants, organizations, policies. What works, where and how? |
See
Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. London: Routledge. 2nd Edition
p223 'Selecting the method(s)'
and for a review of methodologies and methods appropriate for research in teaching and learning see the following pages at University College Dublin
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