Conducting education research

This chapter will present a detailed explanation of the methodology conducted to find the answers to the research questions and will also provide a rationale for using interviews and questionnaire as research tools in this study.

3.2 Research Design

The research design for this study is a survey and it was carried out through the help of questionnaires and interviews. Surveys are important instruments in conducting research as they help the researcher gather participants’ opinions. Interviews and questionnaires are key devices used in a survey. (Creswell, 2008)

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Cohen and Manion (2007, p. 205) explain one of the main reason for using surveys: “Typically, surveys gather data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions, or identifying standards against which existing conditions can be compared, or determining the relationships that exist between specific events.”

Morrison (1993) in Cohen and Manion (2007) illustrates the advantages of survey: they are economical, efficient, represent a large research population, generate numerical data, and capture data from various sources. In my study I had a large sample size; 300 students of both genders therefore I chose a survey because of the above explained advantages and its scope for taking a large research population into account.

Weisberg, et al. (1996) in Cohen and Manion (2007, p. 207) also observes that surveys are useful while dealing with a large scale sample: “Surveys are useful for gathering factual information, data on attitudes and preferences, beliefs and predictions, behaviour and experiences both past and present.”

3.3 The research population

In order to measure the effectiveness of using video content as an instructional tool at the college of basic education it seemed significant to choose a large sample so that the opinions of a large group of students can be collected and analysed. The danger of selecting a small sample can be that it would only represent the views of a few and would not have the capacity of representing the views of a majority, and hence results may only reflect the view of a minority. “The quality of a piece of research stands or falls not only by the appropriateness of methodology and instrumentation but also by the suitability of the sampling strategy that has been adopted” (Cohen & Manion, 2007, p. 100).

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The reason I chose the sample of students of different gender is that in the college where I did the study, there are separate campuses for men and women, and the study may also offer interesting observations as to how these male and female students view the importance of video and whether different results are obtained from male or female students.

Sapsford (1999) in Cohen & Manion (2007) argues, that when conducting a survey a researcher needs to make sure that the target population show representativeness. At the same time a researcher should think about the issues of how to access the population. In my study the students selected were doing their majors in a wide range of courses so that the data obtained is representative of students across the College. As Thompson (2000) in Wong (2009, p. 38) states: “sample representativeness is more important than sample size”. The students were doing their majors in subjects such as; Arabic Language, Art Education, Computer Science, Education Technology, English Education, Interior design, Islamic Education, Physical Education, Music Education, Social Studies, Mathematics, and Psychology. The wide range of subjects helped the researcher to understand the efficacy of using videos for educational purposes in a wide variety of courses and the views of students from various academic streams. Sample size is also determined to some extent by the style of the research. For example, a survey style usually requires a large sample. “Sample size might also be constrained by cost – in terms of time, money, stress, administrative support, the number of researchers, and resources” (Cohen & Manion, 2007, p.102).

Accessibility issues i.e. how easy is it for a researcher to contact the participants of a research project is also something to be considered carefully. In my project, I know some of the teachers in the college where I did the data collection. These teachers were helpful and provided me with opportunity to visit the classes they were teaching and distribute my questionnaires. Without the teachers’ support I would not be able to contact such a large group of students. The sample also included a group of teachers with whom I conducted semi-structured interviews. As I conducted this study in an educational institution, therefore besides students it is also important to see what teachers think about the usefulness of video content in the classes.

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3.4 Research tools

3.4.1 Questionnaires

As observed in the previous section, questionnaires are used as a research tool in this study. “The questionnaire is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the researcher, and often being comparatively straightforward to analyse” (Wilson and McLean,1994) cited in Cohen & Manion (2007, p. 317).

As my sample size was sizeable, therefore questionnaires appeared as the most suitable method for collecting data quickly, efficiently and economically. Interviewing such a large number of students would not have been possible. However, in the case of teachers interviews were conducted as the number was smaller.

Sellitz et al. (1976) in Cohen and Manion (2007, p. 320) outline a guide for constructing questionnaires that states that before developing a questionnaire a researcher has to think about the purpose of the questions, decisions about question wording, and about the sequence of questions. As the questionnaire was meant for the students who are not English speakers I decided to administer these questions in their native language e.g. Arabic and later translated their responses into English. “Although there is a large range of types of questionnaire, there is a simple rule of thumb; the larger the size of the sample, the more structured, closed and numerical the questionnaire may have to be, and the smaller the size of the sample, the less structured, more open and word-based the questionnaire may be”. (Cohen & Manion, 2007, p. 320). As I had a large sample therefore I designed statements with a Likert scale and also added tick the appropriate answer in the first section.

The questions were designed to get response to the following areas: how videos for educational purposes are used in the institution, how often students watch these videos, how comfortable they are with these videos, how stimulating and enjoyable they find them, whether they prefer them to lectures (Please see appendix 1 for the complete questionnaire). It is also necessary to note that Likert scale and tick box questions are suitable to be used with students as they do not have to give detailed responses and can easily complete the questionnaires.

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“In general closed questions (dichotomous, multiple choice, constant sum, and rating scales) are quick to complete and straightforward to code (e.g. for computer analysis), and do not discriminate unduly on the basis of how articulate respondents are” (Wilson and McLean, 1994) cited in Cohen & Manion (2007, p. 321). However, at same time as making the questionnaire more comprehensive, respondents were also encouraged to add their comments in Part 1 of the questionnaire. Therefore, not all the questions are of the closed type.

“On the other hand, [closed questions] do not enable respondents to add any remarks, qualifications and explanations to the categories, and there is a risk that the categories might not be exhaustive and that there might be bias in them” (Oppenheim, 1992) cited in Cohen & Manion (2007, p. 321).

“Open questions enable participants to write a free account in their own terms, to explain and qualify their responses and avoid the limitations of pre-set categories of response” (Cohen & Manion, 2007, p. 321).

3.4.2 Piloting Questionnaire

“A pilot has several functions, principally to increase the reliability, validity and practicability of the questionnaire” (Wilson and McLean, 1994) cited in Cohen & Manion (2007, p. 341). It also helps in checking the reliability and to see whether the objectives of answering the research questions can be achieved or not. For a novice researcher like me who was doing such a project for the first time it was necessary to test the questionnaire and to get some confidence before starting to collect the data. The main goal of the questionnaire was to collect data which I needed to answer my research questions. It was the first time for the researcher to create a questionnaire. He built two types of questions which are open ended questions and Likert scale. The piloted version revealed a number of difficulties:

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