METHODOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH WITH LABORATORY M - Z

Module METHODOLOGY OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

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 autonomously manage the complexity of doing research in educational and training contexts.

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

• mastery of using the specific language of educational research;
• 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 analyze and use the results of educational research based on scientific evidence in a continuous 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.

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.

Starting from a methodologically aware perspective, the key concepts and the main themes of empirical research in education will be developed. Research approaches, models, strategies and instruments will also be explored, with particular emphasis on what is related to the professionalism of the early childhood educator. The different phases of designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research in educational contexts will be addressed, such as construction of the state of the art, process of defining research questions, construction of indicators and variables, identification and/or construction of instruments, sample definition, data collection and coding, exploratory data analysis techniques and the discussion and presentation of research reports.

• Lucisano P., Salerni A., Metodologia della ricerca in educazione e formazione, Carocci editore, Roma, 2002 (369 pages).
• Trinchero R., Manuale di Ricerca educativa, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 202, chapters 1-2 (61 pages).
• Vivanet G., Che cos’è l’Evidence Based Education, Carocci editore, Roma, 2014 (109 pages).
• Harms T., Cryer Reid D., Clifford R.M., Scala per la valutazione dell'asilo nido, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 1992 (128 pages).
• Teacher's notes [provided in PDF by the teacher].

The texts provided by the teacher and further study materials are available in the MsTeams channel, which students can request access to via the code ir0ph5o

or following the link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3aN1hHhPFwgCfCa4lAcT_9P4iK6a1YmJA5ZagYms0CLls1%40thread.tacv2/Generale?groupId=fe4999db-8d74-4a6e-b595-c71ab1fb4a02&tenantId=baeefbc8-3c8b-4382-9126-e86bfef46ce6

The assessment of learning will be conducted orally. 

Students will have the opportunity to take an in itinere test, which will enable them to verify the acquisition of specific knowledge and procedures relating to educational research. Those who pass the test will be exempt from taking the relevant part of the syllabus in the oral examination.

• the inductive method;
• propositions, laws, theories;
• evidence-based education;
• 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 composition of the SVANI (scales and subscales)
• the use of SVANI