The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the views of educational researchers across the dimensions that comprise research paradigms. The development of the instrument, entitled the Research Paradigm Inventory (RPI), was conducted in the hope of providing a mechanism for future research that will enable the examination of prospective links between the ontological, epistemological and methodological orientations of researchers and graduate students who will serve as future inquirers in the field of education. During its development and validation, various aspects of the RPI were examined in accordance with the validity framework outlined by Samuel Messick (1989). According to Messick (1989), the validity of measure interpretation and corresponding action can be examined in terms of content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external and consequential forms of evidence. During this study, the content aspect of validity was addressed through the creation of instrument specifications and the development of items that were mapped to those specifications. In addition, the content aspect of validity was addressed by selecting items that were reviewed by experts, pilot tested, field tested and exhibited high technical quality. The substantive aspect of validity was addressed through an analysis of item rating scale functioning, person fit, item difficulty hierarchies and relationships among instrument scale measures. The structural aspect of validity was addressed through a confirmation of the instrument's dimensionality. The generalizability aspect of validity was addressed through an analysis of person reliability, the precision of item/person parameter estimates and item calibration invariance. The development activities and analyses described above resulted in the creation of six subscales measuring: (1) Realism in Research, (2) Research Objectivism, (3) Quantitative Methodology, (4) Relativism in Research, (5) Research Interpretivism and (6) Qualitative Methodology. Given the evidence collected, these scales appear to provide reasonably reliable and defensible estimates of individuals' attitudes toward various research practices and beliefs, and should be appropriate for future research studies exploring educational research paradigms. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Yes / The aim of this review is to create awareness about uses of available social research methods and to provide a guideline in adopting appropriate methods specifically in qualitative and mixed methods research genre. Based on the review of contemporary social research methods I believe that mixed methods research produces more accurate results than relying on either qualitative or quantitative methods alone in explaining complex social issues. This paper contributes to the methodological literature in two areas. First, create awareness among social researchers and students about the available research methods in order to help them to adopt suitable research designs in addressing their particular research questions. Second, encourage scholars from all disciplines to theorize further, especially in the field of mixed methods, and engage in a dialogue in order to improve methodological appropriateness for future research in social sciences. / Please Note: The "Publication Date" of 2005 is the date added to the Bradford Scholars Repository. The paper was presented at the Annual PhD Conference, University of Bradford School of Management in June 2014.

This Mixed Method Research Project examines the possible marketing strategies that can be used to market township schools in the Gauteng province, within an increasingly competitive educational system. These strategies are investigated within the largely unbalanced infrastructural and resource dichotomy that exists between most township schools and the former Model C schools; the results of which has seen among many other challenges, the ever increasing learner migration from the township schools to the former Model C suburban schools. This pedagogical manuscript adopts a case study approach while simultaneously integrating the influences of established research paradigms like pragmatism and enterpretivism. Within the attempt to find the best marketing options for township schools, the project also consciously attempts to identify the challenges (and possible solutions) that the said schools face as they try to market themselves. The benefits of implementing the marketing matrix within the education product are henceforth highlighted within the narrative of the project. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This Mixed Method Research Project examines the possible marketing strategies that can be used to market township schools in the Gauteng province, within an increasingly competitive educational system. These strategies are investigated within the largely unbalanced infrastructural and resource dichotomy that exists between most township schools and the former Model C schools; the results of which has seen among many other challenges, the ever increasing learner migration from the township schools to the former Model C suburban schools. This pedagogical manuscript adopts a case study approach while simultaneously integrating the influences of established research paradigms like pragmatism and enterpretivism. Within the attempt to find the best marketing options for township schools, the project also consciously attempts to identify the challenges (and possible solutions) that the said schools face as they try to market themselves. The benefits of implementing the marketing matrix within the education product are henceforth highlighted within the narrative of the project. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

This study aimed to explore the present state of educational administration scholarship in Turkey as perceived by the educational administration scholars working actively at universities in Ankara. In this study, qualitative research technique was employed. It was conducted in Educational Administration Programmes of Departments of Educational Sciences at the three state universities in Ankara. The participants were 8 professors, 1 associate professor and 10 assistant professors from Ankara University, Hacettepe University and Gazi University. The main data collection instrument was the semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis technique. Based on the review of the literature and the results of the study, the findings revealed that the present state of the educational administration scholarship is in kind of a turmoil related with some concerns and problems in the field as perceived by the scholars in Ankara.

No description available.

Abstract This thesis aims to contribute to the restructuring of the research field of ICT in education by trying to reduce the complexity of the research with an analysis of the research from the perspective of research of science. The analysis provides a second order observation of research especially from a paradigm point of view. The concept of paradigm has been re-defined by applying Niklas Luhmann's (1995) theory of social systems. The main research task of this thesis is to describe the paradigms structuring scientific communication in research on ICT integration in education. The research questions here are based on the understanding that paradigms are structures of the social communicative systems of science, creating expectations for the researcher about the scientific nature of the research. The definition of the paradigm as a selective structure in a social communicative system of science implicitly defines that the communication within the system is language by nature. In this research, to separate it from linguistics, the focus is in the use of language in research context, not in language itself. In practice, the paradigms of research on ICT integration in education are analyzed through qualitative analysis of metaphors containing ontological assumptions of research and rhetoric convincing the scientific community of the scientific nature and the interest of research. The sample articles have been selected according to such a criteria that they can be seen representing the core of the scientific communication in the field. From the education point of view, the mainstream of research on ICT integration in education has led to an immersion of the learning theoretical foundation of the research into techno-economic paradigms - and in a sense led to fading of broader educational and social perspectives. The mainstream of the research is shadowing the research that has social and cultural approaches and critical research interests related to a changing education system and global educational problems. Although the research puts emphasis on constructive learning theories, techno-economic paradigms of the research field continue the tradition of instructional technology, which is framing the concept of "e-Education". This mainstream is not viable in solving the current problems of education globally. This is not to say that the research field of ICT in education is growing obsolete. On the contrary, the research is needed urgently but it should focus also on the broader educational and social developments in a global context. / Tiivistelmä Tämä tutkimus liittyy tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön poikkitieteellisen tutkimusalueen jäsentämiseen ja selkiinnyttämiseen. Tutkimuksen lähestymistapa on tutkimuksen tutkimus, jossa tutkimusaluetta tarkastellaan reflektiivisesti ns. toisen tason havainnointina. Tutkimuksessa lähestytään tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön tutkimusaluetta paradigma -käsitteen avulla, joka määritellään Niklas Luhmann'in (1995) sosiaalisen järjestelmän teoriaa hyödyntäen tieteellisen kommunikaatiojärjestelmän valikoiviksi rakenteeksi. Tutkimusongelmat keskittyvät näiden rakenteiden kuvailemiseen olettaen, että nämä valikoivat rakenteet luovat tutkijoille odotuksia tutkimuksen perusolettamuksista. Paradigmat tieteellisen kommunikatiivisen järjestelmän rakenteina perustuvat kieleen, jota käytetään tutkimusten raportoinnissa sekä muussa tieteellisessä kommunikaatiossa. Tässä tutkimuksessa näitä rakenteita tutkitaan kansainvälisissä tutkimusartikkeleissa esiintyvien tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäyttöön liittyvien metaforisten ilmauksien sekä tutkimuksen lähtökohtiin ja intresseihin liittyvän retoriikan kautta. Tulkinnassa käytetään kielen käytön tutkimuksen menetelmiä, pitäytyen metaforisten ilmausten sekä retoriikan yhdenmukaisuuksien ja erojen analysoimisessa. Analyysin tarkoituksena on jäsentää tieteellisen kommunikaation paradigmaattisia rakenteita. Tutkimuksen tuloksena voidaan lyhyesti todeta, että tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön tutkimusta luonnehtii voimakas instrumentaalinen sekä teknis-taloudellinen suuntaus. Suurin osa tutkimusta hallitsevista metaforista sekä paradigmoista voidaan nähdä tämän laajemman suuntauksen osina. Orastava sosio-kulttuurinen tutkimus-suuntaus on selvästi edellä mainitun pääsuuntauksen varjossa. Oppimisteoreettisesti orientoitunut opetusteknologinen tutkimus korostaa yhteistoiminnallisuutta ja sosiaalista kontekstia oppimisen edellytyksenä. Tutkimusparadigmojen näkökulmasta myös tämä tutkimusorientaatio noudattaa pääosin teknis-taloudellista tutkimussuuntausta. Tämä on havaittavissa teknologian instrumentaalisuuden korostamisessa sekä tutkimuksen perustumisessa pääosin luonnontieteelliseen tutkimustraditioon. Tutkimus ei siten erotu olennaisesti teknis-taloudellisesta tutkimus- ja kehitystyöstä erilliseksi suuntaukseksi. Tutkimuksen keskeiseksi käsitteeksi nousevat erityisesti "e-education" ja "e-learning", joiden varaan uusi koulutus- ja oppimismuoto on jäsentymässä. Sosio-kulttuurinen tutkimusorientaatio, institutionaaliset tutkimuskohdetta kuvaavat metaforat sekä koulutuksen muutosta korostavat tutkimusintressit ovat tutkimusalan kokonaisvaltaisen jäsentymisen ja globaalien koulutuksellisten ongelmien kannalta tärkeitä. Poikkitieteellisen, eri tieteenaloja ja metaforia syntetisoivan viitekehyksen sekä kulttuuritutkimuksellisen lähestymistavan korostaminen ovat tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäytön tutkimuksen kehittymisen kannalta keskeisiä.