Research Methodology in Mathematics Education

On successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• Judge the coherence and congruence of the ontology, epistemology and methodology of published research within a variety of contrasting paradigms.
• Critically evaluate the trustworthiness, reliability and validity of research within the field of mathematics education.
• Organise a logical and convincing argument for the design, methodology, approach and methods of data collection, analysis and reporting of research within the field of mathematics education.
• Further develop and gain a level of mastery of a broad range of research methods, quantitative and qualitative, used within the field of mathematics education research.
• Develop and integrate within their own value system a methodology for research in mathematics education consistent with an ethically and theoretically sound paradigm.
• Justify and communicate clearly and convincingly the relevance and coherence of research methodology based upon a clearly articulated set of personal beliefs and values.

The course will:

• address the nature of research in mathematics education, starting from epistemological perspectives;
• introduce and explore a range of research paradigms with associated qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods;
• provide opportunities for deep and critical discussion of key approaches and methods alongside examples of their use from real research studies;
• provide practical experience of approaches and techniques in data collection and analysis;
• provide substantial opportunity for deep and critical consideration of research ethics, validation of results and presentation of findings;

The course will be centrally related to the research areas of the participants who will be required to use their own research focuses as a basis for discussing research approaches and methods;

Participants will be expected to develop expertise in reading research that uses methods beyond those used in their own research;

The course has a wide reading list and participants will be encouraged to read centrally indicated key texts, to select for themselves from the wider list and to find their own articles by using established search techniques.

Teaching and learning will be through exposition (lecture), teacher and student led discussion, workshops, guided reading and reflection, student presentations, seminars.

Students are expected to take a full part in the whole course and undertake the prescribed reading. Attendance at all classes is a basic requirement. In special circumstances students may, in consultation with the course leader, be absent from no more than 20% of classes, additional reading tasks will be assigned.

The course will be assessed on a piece of written work (~ 5000 words) which should be a forerunner of the methodology chapter of your thesis. Students will be required to give an appropriate title.

Essay. Pass/Fail.

The person responsible for the course decides, in cooperation with student representative, the form of student evaluation and whether the course is to have a midway or end of course evaluation in accordance with the quality system for education, chapter 4.1.