A researcher is interested in developing a study to find out what works best and how best to teach doctoral students about research methods. Develop a specific research question that could be used in this study.Explain how you might proceed to think about, organize, and create a diagram of a potential study to address your question.Explain why you think a mixed method is appropriate or not for the study you have designed.
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Introduction:
In this scenario, the researcher is interested in developing a study to find out what works best and how best to teach doctoral students about research methods. To design an appropriate study, the following research question could be used.
Research question: What are the most effective teaching methods to educate doctoral students about research methods?
To address this research question, I would proceed by first defining the population of interest, which would be doctoral students studying research methods. From there, I would identify potential teaching methods to be evaluated and create a diagram to outline the study design.
The study could be designed utilizing a randomized controlled trial (RCT) approach, whereby participants are randomly assigned to treatment groups, such as lecture-based instruction, practical or hands-on experience, or a combination of both. A pre-test could be conducted to assess the participants’ knowledge of research methods, followed by the intervention phase. To determine the effectiveness of teaching methods, a post-test would be conducted to evaluate knowledge gained through the specific teaching method used.
Mixed methods may be appropriate for this study, as it would allow for the gathering of both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data could be used to compare the effectiveness of different teaching methods and identify which produced the most significant gains in knowledge. Qualitative data could be collected through interviews or surveys to gather feedback from participants on their experiences and provide insight into potential areas for improvement.
Overall, a mixed methods approach could provide a more comprehensive understanding of teaching methods’ effectiveness and provide valuable information for educators to develop effective strategies for teaching research methods to doctoral students.