Open Educational Research Assets (OPERA)

How to use OPERA

OPERA houses a lot of material and so it is worth reflecting on the nature of the information that you require before you access the material. This will be also useful if you are using OPERA to support an application to The Open University’s Doctorate in Education programme.

Educational research methods

As you can see from the diagram, the resources are located in different areas. Each area houses materials that relate to different aspects of educational research methods. You can click on the relevant areas of the diagram to access the collections of resources, or use the menu bar on the left-hand side of the screen.

What is educational research? Principles and debates

This material examines the influence of natural sciences on educational research methodology and the criticisms that have been made of this influence. It also considers the diversity methods that has arisen within the field.

Methodological paradigms in educational research

Martin Hammersley discusses the concept of paradigms and typologies of educational research

Engaging with educational research

Begin this section at Activity 3. This material introduces the area and discusses how different ontological and epistemological positions lead to different paradigmatic positions and methodological orientations.

Approaches to educational research and its assessment

This section looks at the general approaches , and considers the relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches, and notions of validity, reliability and relevance. It is taken from E835 Educational research in action, a masters-level programme.

Ethics in educational research

Ethics is an important and integral part of educational research. These materials were produced for the British Educational Research Association (BERA):

• Ethics and educational research: How to identify the ethical principles that can arise in different research situations
• Ethical issues in online research: This resource discusses general ethical issues online research and draws distinctions between ethical practice in online and traditional environments.

Selecting a methodology

Two audio podcasts on qualitative versus quantitative approaches to gathering evidence discuss some of the issues for consideration when deciding whether qualitative or quantitative approaches are likely to be most appropriate for answering different types of research questions.

Methods and practices

These materials examine qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and issues to consider when planning a research study with a qualitative or quantitative focus. There is also a Methodological Research Guide, which may be helpful in suggesting further reading in this area:

• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Doing a qualitative study
• Doing a quantitative study
• Methodological literature guide

Mixed methods research

This video presentation suggests a framework for researchers seeking to quantitative and qualitative research approaches within the same study

Meta-analysis

This video presentation examines and critiques meta-analysis of quantitative data, illustrated with examples from educational research.

Experimental design

Research Methods by Dummies contains a range of materials, which although introductory, provide good accounts of different aspects of experimental method and other research approaches.

Experimental research design.

The Psych files are created by Michael A. Britt, Ph.D, and this podcast series is useful if you wish to refresh your understanding of concepts in experimental research.

Hypothesis Testing

In this YouTube video Linda Centennial discusses the steps a researcher goes through in testing a hypothesis.

Longitudinal research

In this audio seminar Stephanie Lalonde discusses key issues in longitudinal research, in relation to professional interventions aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable children

Qualitative Longitudinal Methods and the Timescapes archive.

These two seminars introduce qualitative longitudinal research and the developing the secondary analysis of archived data.

Discourse analysis

DA On-Line is an interactive on-line journal publishing discourse analysis research. It is an excellent resource for different discourse analysis methods.

Social Network Analysis

This is a collection of resources concerning the concepts and techniques of network analysis.

Observational Research

This is another introductory resource from Research Methods by Dummies, with links to examples of the method.

Participant Observation

This article discusses the history, uses and limitations of participant observation as a research method. It is from the open access journal Forum Qualitative Social Research, an excellent resource for qualitative methodology research

Interviewing: Creating the Space for Views 

John Schostak, reflects on the nature of interviews and inter-view methodology.

Grounded Theory

The open access journal Grounded theory review contains useful discussions of the application of this approach.

Practical guidelines for practitioner research

Educational research is very often carried out by teachers and educational practitioners. This section from the Research Methods in Education Handbook offers guidance for those working in this way.

Action research

• Action research in education: An introduction to action research and the action research cycle, with a bibliography of suggested future reading.
• Action research guide for associate lecturers: An introductory guide was written for Associate Lecturers that is useful for a wider audience. It also offers guidance on developing a collaborative action research project.
• Applied and action research: This collection of resources contains many downloadable resources on action research. For example:

  • ‘Collecting, analysing and reporting data in action-research: some methods and techniques’ by John Elliot.

  • ‘Action research: a contradiction in terms?’ by Martin Hammersley.

• The full collection can be accessed here.

Ethnography

• Ethnography: Professor Penny Harvey introduces ethnography as an anthropological research method in these videos.
• Using film in ethnographic research: Angel Torenson discusses the link in research between visual anthropology and ethnographic film-making.

• Ethnography: a teaching resource.Here Dan Goodley examines ethnography in the context of  disability studies and inclusive education. The associated readings  are not open access but the overall content remains useful in considering the methodologies, methods and analyses of ethnography.

Case studies

• Case study method in anthropology: This presentation gives the background to the use of case study approach and some developments in how it has been used.

• Case Studies in Education and Social  Science Research .

  Case studies are a popular research method in both the social sciences and education. These three readings consider the development of the case study method and how it relates to other research approaches.

  Case Study: Introduction

  Case Studies and Surveys

  Case Studies and Experiments

• Using a case study approach to analyse data: In this video Vanessa May talks about analysing data from a life story archive and why she moved from a thematic analysis to a case by case analysis.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires in Education Research covers the ‘ground rules’ and processes of questionnaire design and analysis. It has useful links to related information, for example software for data analysis.

Grounded theory

• The literature review in grounded theory: This video presentation discusses how the literature review is used and integrated into research using a grounded theory approach.
• A historical and comparative note on the relationship between analytic induction and grounded theorising: Martin Hammersley examines and problematises the relationship between analytic induction and grounded theorising.

Focus groups

• Conducting focus groups: This video presentation by Kingsley Purdam describes the issues of setting up and running a focus group.
• Interviewing: The are many different forms of interviewing and this resource contains information on different methods.

Further resources

• Jorum: A collection learning and teaching resources, shared by the UK further and higher education community. Its search facility will allow you to look for specific methods and approaches.
• British Educational Research Association (BERA): The website includes a range of online resources, including information on research methods. These are part of a searchable database.

Introducing observational approaches in research with children and young people

This material explains the use of small-scale observational research.

Evaluating school classroom discussion

This resource adopts a sociocultural perspective on spoken language in classroom and looks at researching classroom activities and interactions from this standpoint.

Researching student learning

This book – Researching Student Learning: Approaches to Studying in Campus-based and Distance Education by John T.E. Richardson, first published in 2000 – is an important resource for all those concerned with learning and teaching in universities.

Oral history research method

In this interview Sue Johnson introduces the area and its methods.

Researching educational leadership and management

This material explores the influence that researching and analysing real situations might have in leading to subsequent change and improvement.

Anthropology and YouTube

In this video presentation, Michael Wesch explains the context of, and methods for, his ‘global’ research.

An introduction to technology and innovation policy research

Issues that arise in interdisciplinary research are discussed here. A selection of research tools that are appropriate for researching technology policy and innovation are introduced.

The analysis of data

This material is designed to help the reader to develop a critical understanding educational data analysis and its evaluation. In doing this it covers several methods of analysis and drawing conclusions:

Resources for programme evaluation and social research methods description

The focus of this site is on the evaluation and analysis of social research. It was created by Dr Gene Shackman.

Quantitative Analysis

This is the Analysis section of William M. Trochim’s ‘The Research Methods Knowledge Base’, (2006).  This is a comprehensive web-based textbook and gives a detailed, well written, account of issues in quantitative analysis.

Statistical Analysis- Online Statistics Textbooks

There are several online statistical textbooks, which may prove useful in addressing specific issues in analysis. Some useful examples are given by the Social Psychology Network (see Online Statistics Textbooks section)

Practical Exemplars on the Analysis of Surveys

This resource has been created mainly for survey researchers by a team at Napier University (Edinburgh) and at the National Centre for Social Research (London) funded by the ESRC Research Methods Programme.

Longitudinal Data Analysis

This website, created by the Longitudinal Data Analysis project, has a focus on the quantitative longitudinal analysis of large scale secondary survey data.

Learning Qualitative Data Analysis on the Web

This resource presents a range of resources (texts, video and software) concerning qualitative analysis.

Discourse analysis

In this video Stephanie Taylor talks about the nature of Discourse Analysis, illustrates an example of analysing discourses about nations.

Conversation Analysis.

This material comes from e-Source and although based on examples of medical data the analytical approach itself is applicable to educational research.

New Methods for the Analysis of Media Content

The focus of these resources is on methods of analysis of news media. They will have particular relevance for educational researchers examining policy representation and dissemination.

Approaches for Mixed Methods analysis.

WarwickUniversity provide a range of resources, which have links to further information and extended readings in the field of mixed methods research.

A User-Friendly Handbook for Mixed Method Evaluations

This handbook is edited by Joy Frechtling and Laure Sharp Westat. It considers several research approaches and their use within mixed methods analysis.

Data analysis: online manuals and guides to software packages

Data analysis often requires the use of software. This collection of online resources was created by the British Library (http://www.bl.uk/ reshelp/ findhelpsubject/ socsci/ topbib/ methsocial/ methodsresearch.pdf) and includes the following:

ATLAS.TI product site

ATLAS.TI is also a CAQDA. This developer site includes video guides and instructive tutorials and offers a free trial.

UCLA SPSS resource site

SPSS is a statistical data management and analysis package. The University of California have developed extensive online guides regarding the use of SPSS

The Computer assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) project  offers a range of resources about using software for data analysis.

This includes a guide to choosing the correct type of CAQDAS software for your research

Learning qualitative data analysis on the web

This site provides support and teaching for researchers who wish to use qualitative data analysis and computer assisted qualitative data analysis. It offers a range of video and text tutorials, tailored for different levels of research experience.

Qualitative software

This resource contains information on different types of qualitative analysis software.

The analysis of talk as data in educational settings

The analysis of talk can be carried out in different ways and this material includes discussion of ‘linguistic’ discourse analysis and sociocultural discourse analysis.

• What is discourse analysis?: In this presentation Stephanie Taylor talks about discourse analysis using two working definitions, illustrated by discourses about nations.
• Discourse analysis: a bibliographic guide: This documents introduces some of the methodological literature on discourse analysis.

Making sense out of all that quantitative data

These two audio podcasts are designed to support research students in writing up a quantitative analysis.

Educational open access publications

Open access journals and publications provide a way for those who are not necessarily students or staff of a university to access educational research information. This information can be used to inform applications to doctoral programmes or research projects, or to keep abreast of developments in an area of interest after, or outside of, graduating.

• Connecting Repositories (CORE): CORE aims to facilitate free access to scholarly publications distributed across many systems. It gives access to millions of scholarly articles aggregated from many open access repositories.
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): DOAJ offers a gateway to a growing number of scientific and scholarly journals.

Preparing a research proposal

Educational researchers who wish to develop their knowledge of a particular area may consider applying to study for a Doctorate in Education. This application will require writing a research proposal and demonstrating an appropriate level of methodological and subject knowledge.

• Research design: Beginning with problem formulation, this material helps the reader to develop their research design and a research proposal.
• Preparing for the EdD: Entry to a Doctorate in Education programme will usually require a well-developed research proposal. This material describes how to prepare a research proposal for The Open University’s Doctorate in Education programme and includes examples of research proposals.