Research methods in education and psychology 9th edition 2017 by Dr. Sami Mohammed Melhem

Research methods in education and psychology Professor Dr. Sami Muhammad Malha Educational research is an essential requirement in all training courses and school work. And research in general is an applied study conducted by researchers, working in the field of school work to verify their acquisition of one of the basic competencies necessary to perform their work proficiently. And this authoring has been prepared, which is in your hands, to be the educational material for students in various university specializations and for researchers in various fields of humanities in general, and for those working in the field of school education in particular, so that it provides learners enrolled in these fields with a theoretical and practical background on a number of concepts, principles, and objectives related to scientific research. This book addresses the concept of successful scientific research and its main manifestations represented in its four main dimensions: inputs, processes, outputs, and evaluation controls. This authoring takes into account the retrospective information contained in specialized scientific research and the successive chapters it contains. The researcher would like to point out in this field that these are not final steps for a scientific research plan, but rather proposed steps to build a scientific research plan, in which the researcher has provided practical examples for each step of this authoring without providing extensive explanations of many of these steps, leaving room for students of research methods to offer sound opinions and efforts until the picture becomes clear and complete before participants in this program, and the benefit is widespread for all. And the subject of this book is one of the most important topics in psychology, indeed it is the pillar upon which psychology as a science is based. Psychology did not transform from the field of philosophy into the field of humanities except when researchers adopted the scientific method; that method which relies primarily on precise scientific observation. The presentation of any science is measured by the degree of accuracy achieved in measurement. However, the process of measurement and evaluation in education and psychology is much more complex than in any other science, because the subject of measurement here is the human being as a living entity: he loves, feels, perceives, reacts, remembers, imagines, learns, and thinks, and in all that he is influenced by internal and external factors. External factors include the society in which he lives and relies on, and his surrounding environment, and he takes from these social and material aspects as material for his thinking and measurement; all of which are subject to control and experimentation. This book aims to provide the reader, student, researcher, and those engaged in scientific research and its various methods with answers to many questions: Do we seek to adopt an organized scientific approach to acquire knowledge, solve our problems, and organize our thinking? Do we scrutinize what we observe in the field of study and examine various aspects of our performance in our work comprehensively and in detail to identify all the nuances and relationships, and to uncover weaknesses or flaws that research can address, and then find solutions to avoid shortcomings or flaws? Do we seek to identify data collection methods, verify their validity, analyze them, and benefit from them? Do we try to conduct experiments to verify a more useful educational method or approach than other traditional methods? Do we seek to improve our usual practice by reorganizing and optimally utilizing available facilities in the field of work? Do we try to analyze what can be reached from research results on an objective scientific basis and interpret them in the best way to achieve the advertised benefit from the results and benefit practically? Do we use research as a method of treatment for problems we may face in our work and in various aspects of our lives? All these questions and many others find clear answers within the pages of this book. And in an effort by the author to make this book a new educational event; he committed in its preparation and writing to the following principles: Dividing the book into seven main units, each of which is a comprehensive unit that discusses a specific topic related to scientific research, organized according to the following structure. The first unit of the book includes basic concepts related to science, scientific research, researcher, and variables of scientific research. The second unit covers preparing a research plan as the foundation of conducting scientific research as a system with its inputs, processes, outputs, and evaluation controls. The third unit includes basic concepts in statistics related to the relationship between statistics, measurement, evaluation, and tests, methods of presenting statistical data, analyzing, and interpreting it, and using several statistical methods in interpreting and analyzing data. The fourth unit covers scientific research tools related to observation, questionnaires, interviews, tests, and scales. The fifth unit discusses how to use the library and cite references from Arabic and foreign sources in various forms, and how to document this within the research and in the reference list. The sixth unit is dedicated to discussing various scientific research methods used by researchers in organizing research and preparing its chapters and sections. The seventh unit explains how to write a research report and evaluation criteria through a practical example embodying scientific research as a system with inputs, processes, outputs, and controls, so that the student of this authoring can apply the practical exercise, look at the evaluation criteria to be a self-assessment for him to develop and improve his work as a researcher. Each unit of this book begins with a number of behavioral objectives that clarify to the reader, student, researcher, and practitioner the questions and exercises addressed. Presenting new useful methods in research in education and psychology, their applications, and strategies in a clear and precise manner. Using dialogue style and language that focuses on practical application, making this science close to the minds of readers and facilitating its practical application in various educational and learning situations. 1. Introduction to science and scientific research Objectives presented: Science and its objectives, definition of science, objectives of science, scientific assumptions, types of knowledge, methods of acquiring knowledge, scientific thinking and its characteristics, scientific research, definition of scientific research, importance and benefits of scientific research, characteristics of scientific research, factors affecting the validity of scientific research, ethics of scientific research, scientific research institutions, elements of scientific research, scientific research methods, the role of scientific research in change and reform, obstacles to scientific research, researcher, definition of researcher, researcher competencies, scientific trends of the researcher, difficulties faced by the researcher, common mistakes made by researchers in scientific research, variables in scientific research, definition of variable, types of variables, operational definition of the variable, controlling extraneous variables, summary, supplementary readings. 2. Preparing a research plan Objectives presented: Introduction, research problem, definition of research problem, sources for obtaining the research problem, selecting the scientific research problem, defining the scientific research problem, elements of the research plan, research title, introduction to the research, defining the research problem, research objectives, research questions, importance of the research, research field and limits, research hypotheses and assumptions, research hypotheses, research concepts and terminology, research sources, research topic and its background, previous studies and research, summary, supplementary readings. 3. Documenting scientific research data Objectives presented: Using the library, classification in the library, modern classification systems, characteristics of a good classification system, Dewey Decimal Classification, Library of Congress Classification, using indexes and cards, searching for information sources via computer, computer network and the Internet, information services, documentation in psychological and educational research, types of documentation, documentation in the main body of the report or research, documenting Quranic verses, documenting Hadiths, documenting heritage books, citing sources, citing scientific and educational studies, documentation of personal communication, documentation at the end of the report, documentation methods, technical terms used in documenting data, summary, supplementary readings. 4. Analyzing scientific research data (basic statistical concepts) Objectives presented: Introduction, statistics, measurement, evaluation, tests, definition of statistics and its necessity, relationship between statistics, measurement, evaluation, and tests, procedures for classifying primary data, tabular methods for statistical data, frequency distributions, frequency classes, graphical representation of frequency distributions, bar chart, line graph (frequency polygon), curve graph (frequency curve), pie chart, pictograms, measures of central tendency, mean, median, mode, relationship between measures of central tendency, how to choose measures of central tendency when analyzing data, measures of dispersion, range, variance, how to choose appropriate measures of dispersion when analyzing data, measures of relative position, percentiles, percentile rank, standard scores, properties of standard scores, measures of association, scatter plot, linear correlation, non-linear correlation, correlation coefficient, inferential statistics, standard error, null hypothesis, significance tests, significance levels, one-tailed or two-tailed tests, degrees of freedom, normal curve and its properties, analysis of variance, chi-square, factor analysis, introduction, characteristics of factor analysis, uses of factor analysis, different patterns of factor analysis, some basic concepts and principles of factor analysis, some stations for choosing the appropriate factor analysis method, designing and conducting factor studies, how to select the appropriate statistical method for research data, using computers in data analysis, data analysis using statistical software, summary, supplementary readings. 5. Scientific research tools Objectives presented: Introduction, samples, research population, choosing a research sample, types of samples, sample size, observation, definition of observation, types of observation, organized scientific observation, participatory observation, recording observation, interviews, definition and importance of interview, characteristics of interview, types of interview, preparing for the interview, success factors for the interview, recording the interview, advantages and disadvantages of the interview, questionnaires, definition of questionnaire, conditions for a good questionnaire, types of questionnaires, procedures for designing the questionnaire, distributing the questionnaire, rules for formulating and constructing the questionnaire, advantages and disadvantages of the questionnaire, tests, definition of test, purposes of tests, disadvantages and harms of tests, types of tests, specifications of a good test, constructing the test, summary, supplementary readings. 6. Scientific research methods (theoretical and applied foundations) Objectives presented: Introduction, classification of scientific research, descriptive research, experimental research, basic or pure research and applied research, academic and professional research, quantitative and qualitative or descriptive research, educational research and research in education, developmental research, definition of developmental research, steps in developmental research, patterns of developmental research, advantages of developmental research, experimental method in research, definition of experimental method, characteristics of experimental research, validity of experimental research, types of experiments, evaluation of the experimental method, systems approach, definition of systems, relationship of the system with other systems, concept of system analysis, systems approach and scientific research, elements of the system, types of systems, operational research, definition of operational research, principles of operational research, fields that can be addressed using the operational research method, characteristics and features of operational research, steps of operational research, summary, supplementary readings. 7. Research report and evaluation book Objectives presented: Introduction, contents of the research report, preliminary pages, research introduction, research plan, research results, research recommendations, evaluation of the research with criteria for evaluation, summary, supplementary readings, list of appendices, terminology related to research methods.