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COE 501 Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Education

COE 501 Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Education. Dr. Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh tganesh@asu.edu. What is Science?. Let us begin with your definition of science What is science ? What makes something scientific ?

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COE 501 Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Education

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  1. COE 501Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Education Dr. Tirupalavanam G. Ganesh tganesh@asu.edu

  2. What is Science? • Let us begin with your definition of science • What is science? • What makes something scientific? Science is a way of obtaining knowledge by means of objective evaluation.

  3. What are the goals of Science? • The discovery and description of regularities in the universe. • [our world—countries, states, cities, neighborhoods, homes, schools, classrooms …] • [living organisms—animals, human beings: policy makers, educators, teachers, students, parents, social workers …]

  4. What are the goals of Science? • The development of theories to explain these regularities. • Some examples of theories: • Theory of evolution (Charles Darwin) • Theory of relativity (Albert Einstein)

  5. What is a Theory? • A theory does not mean an unsubstantiated guess or hunch. • A theory is a logically self-consistent framework for describing the behavior of a related set of natural or socialphenomena.

  6. What is a Theory? • Theory originates from and/or is supported by experimentalevidence obtained via the scientific method. • It is a way of “knowing”.

  7. Ways of knowing . . . • Science is not based solely on authority or logic. • Galileo defied authority to put forth the notion that the Sun does not go around the Earth.

  8. Ways of knowing . . . • Science uses empiricalmethods. • What makes something empirical? • Empirical means to be based in experience. The ways that we gather data are all based in experience—What we see, hear, touch...

  9. Characteristics of Science • Science is objective • Science is self-correcting • Science is progressive and tentative • Science is parsimonious

  10. The Assumptions of Science • Reality- we exist, the world exists • Rationality - the world is understandable • Regularity - there are recurring patterns • Discoverability - we can discover the solutions to the problems we study • Causality - events happen because of preceding causes

  11. The Goals of Science • Discover Regularities • Describe the Behavior • Discover Laws • Search for Causes

  12. The Development of Theories • Help provide explanations for the laws that we discovered

  13. Scientific Progress • Thomas Kuhn emphasized the role of scientific revolutions and the concept of the scientific paradigm • Scientific progress isn't always smooth. It is punctuated by Scientific Revolutions where old ideas and theories are overthrown by exciting new ones.

  14. Summary • We have methodologies that let us explore and understand the world around us. • We have procedures that can discover and test the lawful nature of many things - especially in psychology. • We form hypotheses and we test them. Our decisions are (should be) based on the results.

  15. References • Ary, Donald ; Cheser, Lucy Jacobs; Razavieh, Asghar; & Sorensen, Christine K. (2006). Introduction to Research. Florence, KY: Thompson Learning. • http://www.historyworld.net/ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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