B029547 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Italian

The course aims to address the epistemological and methodological issues of empirical research in the educational field, to plab and implement empirical research, to critically use research results and strategies to improve professional practice.

C. COGGI, P. RICCHIARDI, Progettare la ricerca empirica in educazione, Roma, Carocci, 2005, ISBN: 9788843032846
S. MANTOVANI (a cura di), La ricerca sul campo in educazione: i metodi qualitativi, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 1998 (rist. 2006), ISBN: 9788842494720I R. TRINCHERO, D. ROBASTO, I mixed methods nella ricerca educativa, ILANO: Mondadori Università, 2019, ISBN: 8861846246
Un articolo di ricerca empirica in ambito educativo scelto dallo studente tra quelli reperibili all'interno delle banche dati messe a disposizione dall'Ateneo o su riviste scientifiche consultabili online o in biblioteca.
TestI di consultazione e approfondimento:
R. TRINCHERO, Manuale di ricerca educativa (cap. I-III-IV-V), Milano, F. Angeli, 2015, SBN: 8846441583
S. COLAZZO, A. MANFREDA, La comunità come risorsa. Epistemologia, metodologia e fenomenologia dell'intervento di comunità. Un approccio interdisciplinare, ROMA, ARMANDO, 2019, ISBN: 8869925846

Knowledge and understanding
The student is expected to know:
- theoretical foundations and strategies of empirical research in education,
- the phases of the implementation of a quantitative empirical research,
- main quantitative and qualitative research tools,
- connections between empirical research in education, educational planning and evaluation.
Applying knowledge and understanding
The student is expected to be able to:
- find, understand and use the results of research in his professional practice,
- design educational researches, using an adequate scientific language,
- build and use useful tools for data collection in educational research,
- conduct basic data analysis.
Making judgements
The student is expected to be able to:
- critically analyze a scientific issue of empirical research in education,
- critically analyze an empirical research plan,
- choose an appropriate research plan for the empirical study of an educational problem,
- choose data-gathering tools consistent with the search object and with the research plan chosen.
Communication skills
The student is expected to be able to:
- synthesize and communicate results of empirical research in education,
- describe the phases of design and implementation of an empirical research,
- write a research project on a given topic,
using an adequate scientific language.
Learning skills
The student is expected to be able to:
- will be able to analyze useful skills to encourage self-management of one's professional development;
- will be able to use appropriate tools to monitor own learning, reflect on it and activate a review process in order to improve it also through peer evaluation;
- will be able to identify the appropriate tools and training paths for the development of own cultural and specialist knowledge and professional skills.

There are no specific prerequisites.

Frontal lesson and dialogue lesson, integrated by presentations with power points, multimedia materials; workshop of content reworking (individually / small group / large group); expert interventions with presentation of good practices; systematic use of the moodle platform.

The slides presented in class, the outline and indications for searching and analyzing the article and the exercises to be carried out progressively are made available to students (attending and not attended) in the e-learning platform of the course.

For attending students, the course includes formative assessment activities at the end of each learning unit. These activities will have a laboratory form (exercises). The reports of the laboratory activities, included in the Moodle platform according to the indications that will be provided during the lessons, constitute ongoing and final evaluation matters. The accuracy of the works, the completeness and punctuality in the delivery will be evaluated.
The presentation of the critical analysis of an article found independently (according to the methods indicated in the course program) will also be evaluated. To take the exam it will also be necessary to set up a small research project within the course hours and its implementation, with data collection, in ways that will be indicated by the teacher. The project and the data collected must be upload on the platform five days before the exam session. Information on the format of the project will be provided during the lessons.
Non-attending students are invited to agree with the teacher on how to prepare the research project.

During the lessons the different types of quantitative and qualitative empirical research and their implementation phases will be described.
Specifically, the following topics will be addressed:
- concept of empirical research in education
- quantitative and qualitative research;
- collaborative research and participatory research;
- the phases of quantitative research (choice and formulation of a theme and problem, drafting of the theoretical framework, formulation of hypotheses, identification of variables and operational definition, construction of instruments, choice of sample, identification of the observation or experiment plan , implementation of any interventions; detection, analysis, interpretation of data, socialization of research results, evaluation of the research process);
- qualitative research and its moments;
- the connections between empirical research in education, educational planning and evaluation.
Each student (attending and non-attending) must search for an empirical research article in the educational field among those available in the databases made available or in scientific journals that can be consulted online or in the library and critically analyze it according to the scheme provided by the teacher.