EDU712/720 Assignment 1

Weighting

40%

Learning outcome

1 Critically evaluate major methodologies and methods used for educational research.

Teaching Council Standards

This assessment is aligned to the following Teaching Council Standard:

Professional learning | Akoranga ngaiotanga

Use inquiry, collaborative problem-solving and professional learning to improve professional capability to impact on the learning and achievement of all learners

Instructions

Complete and submit your assessment according to the Open Polytechnic’s Assessments webpage. This includes information on academic integrity, formatting, word limits and referencing.

• Include your name, student number and the assessment number.
• Number your pages.

Submission

• Submit your assessment in one file.
• Submit your work through your iQualify course.
• Emailed assessments will not be accepted.
• You will receive an automated notice advising you of your successful submission.

By submitting your assessment, you confirm that it is your own, original work.

Task: Evaluation

Your task is to critically evaluate the methodology and methods of two selected, published research articles on early childhood or primary education topics.

• One of the articles you choose must have a qualitative approach
• The second article must have either a quantitative or mixed-methods approach

Note: that the length of each article should not exceed 8000 words

You will critically evaluate the articles by providing:

1. A brief summary of both articles. Discuss the possible impacts they may have on either primary or early childhood education.
2. Identification of overarching methodology and whether this is inductive or deductive – within this ‘an appraisal of the use of methodology’.
3. An appraisal of the research methods used – with discussion on strategies used for generating and analysing data.
4. An evaluation of the validity, robustness, reliability, and trustworthiness of the articles

(Wordcount: 1500 words)

(90 Marks)

Overall presentation and referencing

Marks will be awarded for overall presentation, including grammar, spelling, structure/flow, appropriate acknowledgements through in-text citations and references in APA style.

(10 marks)

References

Suggestions for early childhood education and primary education research publications. We recommend that you:

• Go to the Library Homepage
• Select Databases
• Select Education
• Select Education Research Complete.
• Education Research Complete contains journals that cover all levels of education, from early childhood to higher education, as well as policy, administration, funding, and related social issues.

Marking schedule