Introduction

The purpose of introducing course of research methods is to provide understanding of a general definition of research design, knowledge why educational research is undertaken,  familiarity with ethical issues in educational research, knowledge of primary characteristics of quantitative research and qualitative research, skill to write introduction, a literature review, methodology, results and discussion on findings for a scholarly educational study. Furthermore, searching and surfing the databases will be practiced. The ways of organizing the material found, steps in the process of quantitative data collection,  how research questions are operationalized in educational practice, link between quantitative research questions and data collection current uses of the terms reliability and validity in educational research, the criteria that can be used to select an appropriate statistical test to answer a research question or hypothesis, the conventions with good APA style for scholarly writing will be discissed. Goal of this course is to seek to contextualize findings within the larger body of research. This course suggests to produce research that must be of high quality in order to produce knowledge that is applicable outside of the research setting.  

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of course, the student will be able to

• distinguish a purpose statement, a research question or hypothesis, and a research objective
• identify a research problem stated in a study
• identify the overall process of designing a research study from its inception to its report
• design a good qualitative purpose statement and a good central question in qualitative research
• analyze the data and interpret the results
• carry on research independently  

Recommended Books

1. Andrew, C.O. and P.E. Hildebrand. (1993) “Applied Agricultural
2. Research”, Foundations and Methodology, Western Press. Hashmi, N. (1989) “Style Manual of Technical Writings”, USAID/NARC, Islamabad.

Evaluation Criteria

Sessional: 20

Assignment: 10

Presentation: 10

Mid Term Test: 30 

Final Exam: 50

Time Table SS: Wednesday-Thursday 12:30 - 02:00pm.