Module 1
Types of Research in Educational Psychology
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: The discipline concerned with teaching and learning processes; it applies
the methods and theories of psychology and has its own as well: Study learning and teaching and, at the
same time, strive to improve educational policy and practice
What happens when someone (a teacher or parent) teaches something (math or weaving or dancing) to
someone else (a student or co-worker or team) in some setting (a classroom or theatre or gym).
Studies:
o Child and adolescent development
o Learning and motivation (how people learn different academic subjects)
o Social and cultural influences on learning
o Teaching and teachers
o Assessment (testing)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF STUDIES
Descriptive studies:
Studies that collect detailed information about specific situations, often using observation, surveys,
interviews, recordings, or a combination of these methods.
o Ethnographic methods to study naturally occurring events in the life of classrooms
o Videotaping teaching and learning activities, and then analyzing the differences between two
groups (e.g., expert teacher vs. novice teacher)
o Researcher as participant-observer who actually interacts with teachers and students in the
classroom, in order to understand the goals and intentions of the participants
o A “case study”, i.e., studying in-depth the actions and intentions of one individual — which could
be either the teacher or the student
Correlational studies:
Statistical description of how closely two variables are related.
Correlation: a number that indicates both the strength and the direction of a relationship between two
events or measurements
o Describes the strength and the direction of a relationship
o Correlational relationship can be positive (+) or negative (-) or zero (0).
EX: positive correlation (+): The more I pay, the better quality it is.
EX: negative correlation (-): The more I spend, the less I save.
,EX: zero correlation (r = 0) : Curly hair and salary have
→ A zero correlation means that the two phenomenon are not likely to occur
o The strongest correlational relationships are either +1.00 or -1.00.
Experimental studies: (detect causes)
Research method in which variables are manipulated and the effects recorded.
1. Comparison groups that are randomly assigned
2. Quasi-experimental study: Comparison groups that are NOT RANDOMLY assigned (naturally
existing)
Experimental studies rely on statistical tests to determine if the effect of “X” on “Y” happens simply by
chance. (The stronger the statistical significance, the more unlikely that “Y” happened because of “X”)
#cause & effect
EX: A study that yielded statistically significant results would suggest that teaching phonics is likely to improve reading fluency .
o Single-Subject Experimental Studies: Involves only one individual, by observing the
individual’s behaviour both without intervention and with intervention.
ABAB Approach: baseline/intervention/baseline/intervention
Micro-genetic studies:
o Explains the underlying mechanism of change of a particular phenomenon
o Intensely follows a period of change, and documents microscopically the behaviour during
the entire period
Longitudinal studies:
o Follows the same group over a period of time
o Often time-consuming and therefore costly
Cross-sectional studies:
o Select different age groups and study how each age group differs from the others
o Advantage: You may be gaining knowledge about the characteristics in each age
group at the same time.
o Disadvantage: Your results may not show how developmental changes over time may
also be influenced by socio-cultural changes in our society.
,Action research:
o Conducted by teachers
o Also called teacher-research or teacher-inquiry
o A type of problem-solving investigation aimed to gather information to improve
teaching
Qualitative VS Quantitative Research:
o Understand meaning Formal/controlled
o People in depth Stats, analyzes, OBJETCIVE
o Interviews, case studies)
(Clinical Interviews + Case Studies):
o Use open-ended questioning to examine
(Ethnography):
o Researcher becomes a participant (studying life within a group)
PRINCIPLE: Established relationship between two or more factors (when many research studies
repeatedly arrive at a similar conclusion)
THEORY: Interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain a body of data and to make predictions about
the results of future experiments
o Provides research hypothesis to be tested
, MODULE 2
Development: Changes that occur over a rather long period of time, and in an orderly manner (Growth &
maturation)
Follows a typical sequence (crawl before walking/alphabet before reading)
Individuals develop at different rates
Occurs over time (gradually)
Result of co-action of both nature and environment
Some aspects are continuous and change quantitatively, while other aspects are discontinuous,
resulting in qualitative changes
Examples:
When we look at a child growing taller over time, it certainly appears that development is a continuous
process. However, when girls begin menstruation, or boys change their voices, these changes signal the
onset of a very different stage #controversies
Physical development: changes in the body
Personal development: changes in an individual’s personality)
Social development: changes in the way an individual relates to others
Cognitive Development: Refers to changes in the way an individual thinks, reasons, learns, and acquires
knowledge over time
Brain:
Birth/early infancy:
Rapid brain growth occurs in utero (last trimester)
Brain = 1Lbs at birth and contains 100 to 200 billion neurons (1lbs/7lbs: the proportion of an
infant’s brain weight to their body weight is considerably larger than that of adults)
Neurogenesis: The production of neurons continues well into adulthood
A child’s brain doubles in volume during the first year, and then slows down until puberty, when
rapid growth occurs again.
The rapid increase in neurons and abundant neuronal connections create a purposeful oversupply
of the neurons' synaptic connections = synaptic pruning — unused neurons are “pruned” — which
supports cognitive development.
Lateralization: the specialization of the two sides (hemispheres) of the brain
Types of Research in Educational Psychology
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: The discipline concerned with teaching and learning processes; it applies
the methods and theories of psychology and has its own as well: Study learning and teaching and, at the
same time, strive to improve educational policy and practice
What happens when someone (a teacher or parent) teaches something (math or weaving or dancing) to
someone else (a student or co-worker or team) in some setting (a classroom or theatre or gym).
Studies:
o Child and adolescent development
o Learning and motivation (how people learn different academic subjects)
o Social and cultural influences on learning
o Teaching and teachers
o Assessment (testing)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF STUDIES
Descriptive studies:
Studies that collect detailed information about specific situations, often using observation, surveys,
interviews, recordings, or a combination of these methods.
o Ethnographic methods to study naturally occurring events in the life of classrooms
o Videotaping teaching and learning activities, and then analyzing the differences between two
groups (e.g., expert teacher vs. novice teacher)
o Researcher as participant-observer who actually interacts with teachers and students in the
classroom, in order to understand the goals and intentions of the participants
o A “case study”, i.e., studying in-depth the actions and intentions of one individual — which could
be either the teacher or the student
Correlational studies:
Statistical description of how closely two variables are related.
Correlation: a number that indicates both the strength and the direction of a relationship between two
events or measurements
o Describes the strength and the direction of a relationship
o Correlational relationship can be positive (+) or negative (-) or zero (0).
EX: positive correlation (+): The more I pay, the better quality it is.
EX: negative correlation (-): The more I spend, the less I save.
,EX: zero correlation (r = 0) : Curly hair and salary have
→ A zero correlation means that the two phenomenon are not likely to occur
o The strongest correlational relationships are either +1.00 or -1.00.
Experimental studies: (detect causes)
Research method in which variables are manipulated and the effects recorded.
1. Comparison groups that are randomly assigned
2. Quasi-experimental study: Comparison groups that are NOT RANDOMLY assigned (naturally
existing)
Experimental studies rely on statistical tests to determine if the effect of “X” on “Y” happens simply by
chance. (The stronger the statistical significance, the more unlikely that “Y” happened because of “X”)
#cause & effect
EX: A study that yielded statistically significant results would suggest that teaching phonics is likely to improve reading fluency .
o Single-Subject Experimental Studies: Involves only one individual, by observing the
individual’s behaviour both without intervention and with intervention.
ABAB Approach: baseline/intervention/baseline/intervention
Micro-genetic studies:
o Explains the underlying mechanism of change of a particular phenomenon
o Intensely follows a period of change, and documents microscopically the behaviour during
the entire period
Longitudinal studies:
o Follows the same group over a period of time
o Often time-consuming and therefore costly
Cross-sectional studies:
o Select different age groups and study how each age group differs from the others
o Advantage: You may be gaining knowledge about the characteristics in each age
group at the same time.
o Disadvantage: Your results may not show how developmental changes over time may
also be influenced by socio-cultural changes in our society.
,Action research:
o Conducted by teachers
o Also called teacher-research or teacher-inquiry
o A type of problem-solving investigation aimed to gather information to improve
teaching
Qualitative VS Quantitative Research:
o Understand meaning Formal/controlled
o People in depth Stats, analyzes, OBJETCIVE
o Interviews, case studies)
(Clinical Interviews + Case Studies):
o Use open-ended questioning to examine
(Ethnography):
o Researcher becomes a participant (studying life within a group)
PRINCIPLE: Established relationship between two or more factors (when many research studies
repeatedly arrive at a similar conclusion)
THEORY: Interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain a body of data and to make predictions about
the results of future experiments
o Provides research hypothesis to be tested
, MODULE 2
Development: Changes that occur over a rather long period of time, and in an orderly manner (Growth &
maturation)
Follows a typical sequence (crawl before walking/alphabet before reading)
Individuals develop at different rates
Occurs over time (gradually)
Result of co-action of both nature and environment
Some aspects are continuous and change quantitatively, while other aspects are discontinuous,
resulting in qualitative changes
Examples:
When we look at a child growing taller over time, it certainly appears that development is a continuous
process. However, when girls begin menstruation, or boys change their voices, these changes signal the
onset of a very different stage #controversies
Physical development: changes in the body
Personal development: changes in an individual’s personality)
Social development: changes in the way an individual relates to others
Cognitive Development: Refers to changes in the way an individual thinks, reasons, learns, and acquires
knowledge over time
Brain:
Birth/early infancy:
Rapid brain growth occurs in utero (last trimester)
Brain = 1Lbs at birth and contains 100 to 200 billion neurons (1lbs/7lbs: the proportion of an
infant’s brain weight to their body weight is considerably larger than that of adults)
Neurogenesis: The production of neurons continues well into adulthood
A child’s brain doubles in volume during the first year, and then slows down until puberty, when
rapid growth occurs again.
The rapid increase in neurons and abundant neuronal connections create a purposeful oversupply
of the neurons' synaptic connections = synaptic pruning — unused neurons are “pruned” — which
supports cognitive development.
Lateralization: the specialization of the two sides (hemispheres) of the brain
