8 IMPORTANT TERMS IN EDUCATION RESEARCH

Basic terms in education research represents the vocabulary used in the topic. In educational research, there are several key terms and concepts that are commonly used. Here are some of the basic ones:

Population

It refers to the group of individual, events/ objects having common observable characteristics

• It may also refer to the aggregate of all that confirms to the given specifications.eg. all students and pupils in the country
• The research identifies the population which he/she wants to generalize results. This is referred to as target population/universe.
• Example of a sample population may be all standard 8 pupils in a particular district

SAMPLE IN EDUCATION RESEARCH

• It is a smaller group of obtained from the accessible population
• Each member of case in a sample is referred to a subject
• Sometimes researches call the subjects Respondent’s/interviewers

SAMPLING

• This is the process of selecting a number of individuals for a study in such a way that individuals selected represents the larger group from which they are selected
• The individuals selected forms the sample and the larger group from which they were selected is the population
• The purpose of sampling is to secure a representative group which will enable the researcher gain information about a population

VARIABLE

• It is a measurable characteristic that assumes different value among the subjects. It is therefore a logical way of expressing a particular attribute in a subject.
• Some variables that are expressed quantitively includes:
• Age expressed in years
• Height expressed in metres
• Area expressed in square metre
• Weight expressed in kilograms

• Other variables are expressed in categories e.g.
• Occupation may be expressed as a farmer, a doctor, engineer
• Gender may be expressed as male and female
• Color may be expressed as black, green, red, yellow, red e.t.c

• There are different classifications of variables. These includes: Independent, dependent, intervening, confounding, antecedent variable
• The common one used are the first two

DATA

• It refers to all the information researcher gather for his study
• Researchers  recognizes two types two types of data i.e. 1 and 2 meaning primary and secondary data

• First degree 1( primary data )
• This refers to the information obtained from the field i.e. from the subject in the sample
• This data may be in form of value obtained from the operational definition of variable. This are usually represented in form of frequency distribution (i.e. one in figure )

2. Secondary data (2)

• This refers to the information obtained from the research articles, book and casual interviews
• Data may be classified as a quantitively ( numerical ) or qualitative ( use of words and phrases)

PARAMETER

• It I a characteristics that is measurable and can assume different values in the population
• The different between a variable and a parameter is that a parameter refers to population characteristics while a variable is related to a sample characteristics of a sample drawn from the population e.g. a parameter is the average income per person in Kenya

HYPOTHESIS

• It is a researches anticipated explanation or opinion regarding the results of the study e.g. In a study on productivity or Labour within a manufacturing industry, a researcher may hypothesis that more monetary insensitive would lead to increase in productivity of labor
• It is what is expected to happen after something has been introduced

THEORY

• Theory is a concepts explaining contrasts and interrelation that are assumed to exist among the concepts
• A theory provides the basis for establishing hypothesis to be tested in a study
• A good theory can be broken down into a set of hypothesis which can be verified through experiments or observations
• The process of developing hypothesis from theories and then testing these hypothesis is through experiment and observations, it is called deductive logic
• Inductive logic is the process of contrasting hypothesis and theories from repeated observations

Purpose of research

1. Discovery of new knowledge and new facts and correct interpretation and practical interpretation
2. Describe the phenomenon
3. Enables predictions
4. Enables control i.e. ability to regulate phenomenon
5. Enables explanation of phenomenon
6. Enables theory development

Related Topics

• Introduction to Communication
• Communication Theory
• Education research: Introduction 1