METHODOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND EVALUATION TECHNIQUES IN EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING CONTEXTS

Knowledge and understanding (DD1)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• knowledge of the fundamental concepts of educational research methodology;
• knowledge of approaches, methods, phases and tools of educational research.

Applied knowledge and understanding (DD2)
At the end of the course students will know:

•  to research and understand the scientific literature on empirical research in education;
•  to recognize and select the educational research methodologies most suited to the various educational and training contexts and different problem situations;
• to plan and conduct simple educational research in educational and training contexts, even in teams.

Autonomy of judgement (DD3)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• ability to autonomously reflect on and critically evaluate the methodologies and results of educational research;
• ability to integrate previous pedagogical-didactic knowledge with the theoretical and methodological knowledge acquired, in order to understand the complexity of doing research in educational and training contexts and to be able to evaluate its opportunities and constraints.

Communication skills (DD4)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• proficiency in the use of the specific language of empirical research in education;
• ability to reflect, argue and communicate, to peers or other subjects, including non-specialists, methods, tools and results of educational research.

Learning ability (DD5)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• ability to select and use educational research findings in a longlife learning perspective;
• ability to promote self-evaluation actions of one's professional actions in educational and training contexts;
• ability to plan and conduct educational research activities to direct one's professional action in educational and training contexts.

Module Metodologia della ricerca educativa

Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended, taking into account the complexity of the subject. During classroom activity, students will have the opportunity to actively work on the learning contents of the course and to self-assess the level of mastery of the contents and tools of the discipline, thus regulating their own learning process.

Non-attending working students can contact the teacher directly for clarifications on the programme.

Erasmus students have the possibility to study a special program after a meeting with the teacher.

• Coggi C., Ricchiardi P., Progettare la ricerca empirica in educazione, Carocci editore, Roma, 2005, pp. 1-131 (132 pages).
• Vivanet G., Che cos’è l’Evidence Based Education, Carocci editore, Roma, 2014 (109 pages).
• Patton M.Q., Il dibattito sui paradigmi: una sintesi utilitarista, in N. Stame (ed.), Classici della valutazione, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2007, pp. 188-239 (52 pages) [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Guba E.G., Lincoln Y.S., La valutazione di quarta generazione,  in N. Stame (ed.), Classici della valutazione, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2007, pp. 128-155 (28 pagine) [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Teacher's notes [provided in pdf by the teacher].

Learning outcomes are assessed through two components:

the written component, which will consist of a multiple-choice test, will account for 50 per cent;

the oral component, which will consist of an interview, will account for the remaining 50 per cent.

Both assessments are designed to assess students’ knowledge of theoretical and methodological content and their ability to apply this to the analysis or discussion (in the case of the oral) of situations and case studies in the field of education.

Grades for both assessments will be expressed out of 30. A pass mark of at least 18/30 in the written assessment is required in order to sit the oral.

• the inductive method;
• propositions, laws, theories;
• evidence-based education;
• systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
  
• the stages of a research project;
• bibliographic research and state-of-the-art construction;
• qualitative and quantitative paradigms;
• the use of mixed methods;
• observational and intervention research methods;
• experimental designs and their advantages and disadvantages;
• problems related to the internal validity of experimental designs;
• the validity of indicators;
• types of variables and their measurement scales;
• types of sampling;
• action-research;
• ethnographic research;
• the case study;
• indices of central tendency;
• dispersion indices;
• the concept of correlation;
• allospective and introspective survey instruments;
• documentary analysis techniques;
• observation techniques and tools;
• construction of a questionnaire;
• interview types;
• interview types;
• scales for measuring attitudes;
• sociometric tests;
• profit tests;
• item analysis;
• validity and reliability of a survey instrument;
• ethical and deontological aspects of research activity;
• the debate on paradigms in evaluation;
• the paradigm of choice in evaluation research according to Patton;
• the generations of evaluation;
• the fourth generation of the evaluation.