Designing an internationally publishable research study

Richard Watson Todd

KMUTT

What is research?

• Research is an attempt to understand something better through the systematic and formal collection and analysis of empirical data.

– Shanahan (2002)

What is research?

• Research is an attempt to understand something better through the systematic and formal collection and analysis of empirical data.

– Shanahan (2002)

Research does not try to prove something

For internationally publishable research, the audience should be motivated to want to understand the “something”

What is research?

• Research is an attempt to understand something better through the systematic and formal collection and analysis of empirical data.

– Shanahan (2002)

The collection and analysis needs to be grounded in theory

What is research?

• Research is an attempt to understand something better through the systematic and formal collection and analysis of empirical data.

– Shanahan (2002)

The research needs to be rigorous

What are your research ideas?

Key issues

• You want to investigate how assigning roles in groupwork promotes meaningful interaction between students

• You cannot make a prediction if you don’t know why something happens

• You cannot know why something happens if you don’t know what is happening

• Description• Explanation• Prediction

Key issues

• You want to investigate the extent to which there is meaningful interaction between students in groupwork

• What terms need defining and operationalising?

Key issues

• You want to investigate the extent to which there is meaningful interaction between students in groupwork

• What terms need defining and operationalising?

What is meant by ‘interaction’? Should non-verbal interaction be included?

Key issues

• You want to investigate the extent to which there is meaningful interaction between students in groupwork

• What terms need defining and operationalising?

How can “meaningful interaction” be identified? What makes interaction meaningful?

http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/books/main.asp

Key issues

• You want to investigate the extent to which there is meaningful interaction between students in groupwork

• What framework to use?– Previous research into groupwork– Previous research using video recordings– Previous research into interaction

http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/crs/rmd/home.phpGroupwork

http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/crs/rmd/home.phpVideo recordings

http://arts.kmutt.ac.th/crs/rmd/home.phpInteraction

Key issues

• What theoretical framework to use?– Previous research into groupwork:

• Coded interaction analysis• Discourse function analysis

– Previous research using video recordings• Conversation analysis• Categorical function analysis

– Previous research into interaction• LRE (language-related episode) analysis• Conversation analysis

Strengthening research ideas

• Building on traditional research approaches to provide insights or rigour

• 3 cases

Case 1: Teaching method evaluation

• Traditional: Pre- and post-test on a teaching method

• Problems– How does this lead to understanding?– Why should others be interested?– Where’s the explanation?

Case 1: Teaching method evaluation

• Investigation of effectiveness of data-Driven Learning (DDL): use of concordances to improve writing

• For a word in their writing, students generate concordance lines, identify patterns of use, apply these to their writing

• What types of words is DDL effective for?– Parts of speech– Polysemy– Variation in possible patterns

Case 2: Interviews on attitudes and beliefs

• Traditional: conduct interviews, group responses into themes intuitively

• Problems– Themes reflect interview questions– Lack of rigour

Case 2: Interviews on attitudes and beliefs

• Investigation of long-term changes after curriculum innovation

• Teachers interviewed with course outlines (changes over 4 years) as stimulus

• Interviews conducted using active listening

• Themes identified from frequency list/keyword analysis

Case 3: Attitude survey

• Traditional: distribute rating-scale questionnaires, calculate means for questions

• Problems– Validity of the responses– Perceptions, not behaviours

Case 3: Attitude survey

• Survey of Thai students’ attitudes to native-English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-NESTs

• 2 surveys focusing on different issues:– Stated preference– Level of comfort

• Implicit Association Test for unconscious attitudes

Summary

• Internationally publishable research needs to– Improve understanding of an issue– Be relevant to the audience– Be grounded in theory– Be rigorous– Consider the Description – Explanation – Prediction

sequence– Have clearly and thoughtfully operationalised

variables