METODOLOGIA DELLA RICERCA EDUCATIVA CON LABORATORIO DI METODI E TECNICHE DI RICERCA NEI CONTESTI EDUCATIVI E FORMATIVI

Module METODI E TECNICHE DI RICERCA EDUCATIVA E DI VALUTAZIONE DI INTERVENTI EDUCATIVI

Knowledge and understanding (DD1)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• knowledge of the fundamental concepts of educational research methodology;
• knowledge of approaches, methods, phases and tools of educational research.

Applied knowledge and understanding (DD2)
At the end of the course students will know:

•  to research and understand the scientific literature on empirical research in education;
•  to recognize and select the educational research methodologies most suited to the various educational and training contexts and different problem situations;
• to plan and conduct simple educational research in educational and training contexts, even in teams.

Autonomy of judgement (DD3)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• ability to autonomously reflect on and critically evaluate the methodologies and results of educational research;
• ability to integrate previous pedagogical-didactic knowledge with the theoretical and methodological knowledge acquired, in order to autonomously manage the complexity of doing research in educational and training contexts.

Communication skills (DD4)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• mastery of using the specific language of educational research;
• ability to reflect, argue and communicate, to peers or other subjects, including non-specialists, methods, tools and results of educational research.

Learning ability (DD5)
At the end of the course students will have acquired:

• ability to analyze and use the results of educational research based on scientific evidence in a continuous learning perspective;
• ability to promote self-evaluation actions of one's professional actions in educational and training contexts;
• ability to plan and conduct educational research activities to direct one's professional action in educational and training contexts.

The teaching is based on lectures supplemented by the presentation and discussion of case histories and by classroom practice, discussion and reflection activities, to be carried out individually or in small groups, including moments of presentation of the materials produced. Should the course be delivered in a blended or distance learning mode, the necessary variations may be introduced in order to comply with the syllabus set out in the syllabus.

Basic pedagogical and didactic knowledge and on the main educational and training contexts. Basic skills are required to operate MsWord, MsExcel, MsPowerPoint or similar software to participate in classroom exercises.

Module Metodologia della ricerca educativa

Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended, taking into account the complexity of the subject. During classroom activity, students will have the opportunity to actively work on the learning contents of the course and to self-assess the level of mastery of the contents and tools of the discipline, thus regulating their own learning process.

Non-attending working students can contact the teacher directly for clarifications on the programme.

Erasmus students have the possibility to study a special program after a meeting with the teacher.

Starting from a methodologically aware perspective, the key concepts and the main themes of empirical research in education will be developed. Research approaches, models, strategies and instruments will also be explored, with particular emphasis on what is related to the professionalism of the professional educator. The different phases of designing and conducting quantitative and qualitative research in educational contexts will be addressed, such as construction of the state of the art, process of defining research questions, construction of indicators and variables, identification and/or construction of instruments, sample definition, data collection and coding, exploratory data analysis techniques and the discussion and presentation of research reports.

• Coggi C., Ricchiardi P., Progettare la ricerca empirica in educazione, Carocci editore, Roma, 2005, pp. 1-131 (132 pages).
• Vivanet G., Che cos’è l’Evidence Based Education, Carocci editore, Roma, 2014 (109 pages).
• Pillera G.C. (2020). Sperimentazione e validazione dello Strumento di Autovalutazione della Qualità di una Progettazione Interculturale Inclusiva (SAQPII). I Problemi della Pedagogia, LXVI(1), pp. 177-206 (29 pages) [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Poliandri D., Perazzolo M., Pillera G.C., Giampietro L. (2023). Dematerialized participation challenges: Methods and practices for online focus groups. Frontiers in Sociology, 8:1145264. DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.1145264 (18 pages) [available online].
  
• Patton M.Q., Il dibattito sui paradigmi: una sintesi utilitarista, in N. Stame (ed.), Classici della valutazione, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2007, pp. 188-239 (52 pages) [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Guba E.G., Lincoln Y.S., La valutazione di quarta generazione,  in N. Stame (ed.), Classici della valutazione, Milano, Franco Angeli, 2007, pp. 128-155 (28 pagine) [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Teacher's notes [provided in pdf by the teacher].
• Two texts chosen from two lists of scientific articles of empirical research (one of quantitative research and one of qualitative research).

The texts provided by the teacher and further study materials are available in the MsTeams channel of the course.

The assessment of learning will be conducted orally. 

Students will have the opportunity to take an in itinere test, which will enable them to verify the acquisition of specific knowledge and procedures relating to educational research. Those who pass the test will be exempt from taking the relevant part of the syllabus in the oral examination.

• the inductive method;
• propositions, laws, theories;
• evidence-based education;
• systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
  
• the stages of a research project;
• bibliographic research and state-of-the-art construction;
• qualitative and quantitative paradigms;
• the use of mixed methods;
• observational and intervention research methods;
• experimental designs and their advantages and disadvantages;
• problems related to the internal validity of experimental designs;
• the validity of indicators;
• types of variables and their measurement scales;
• types of sampling;
• action-research;
• ethnographic research;
• the case study;
• indices of central tendency;
• dispersion indices;
• the concept of correlation;
• allospective and introspective survey instruments;
• documentary analysis techniques;
• observation techniques and tools;
• construction of a questionnaire;
• interview types;
• interview types;
• scales for measuring attitudes;
• sociometric tests;
• profit tests;
• item analysis;
• validity and reliability of a survey instrument;
• ethical and deontological aspects of research activity;
• the debate on paradigms in evaluation;
• the paradigm of choice in evaluation research according to Patton;
• the generations of evaluation;
• the fourth generation of the evaluation.