This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Research in Education I: Epistemology and Foundations

Code: 45003 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
4313815 Research in Education OB 0

Contact

Name:
José Tejada Fernández
Email:
jose.tejada@uab.cat

Teachers

José Tejada Fernández
Gustavo Alonso Gonzalez Valencia
Xavier Fontich Vicens
Laura Arnau Sabates

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

This module is mandatory within the master program.


Objectives and Contextualisation

 

This module introduces students to epistemology, foundations and design of research in the field of education.


Learning Outcomes

  1. CA01 (Competence) Formulate a research problem, justify its relevance and define the research questions and goals.
  2. CA02 (Competence) Defend criteria of methodological quality.
  3. CA03 (Competence) Propose innovative designs that are aimed at improvement and based on evidence obtained from research.
  4. KA01 (Knowledge) Describe the paradigms, approaches and methodological designs of education research, assessing how suited they are to the nature of the research goals and questions.
  5. KA02 (Knowledge) Understand and appreciate the ethical principles of education research.
  6. SA01 (Skill) Produce a comprehensive review of the scientific literature, selecting databases and methodologies on the basis of the subject of study and the purpose of the review.

Content

• Introduction to research in education: meaning, contexts and objects

- Epistemological/philosophical framework for educational research

- The nature of scientific knowledge

- Research paradigms. Emerging paradigms

• Statement of the problem, theoretical and contextual frameworks of reference

- Delimitation of the problem. From the identification of the topic to the research question

- The problem in its theoretical context. The literature review: sources of information and theoretical references.

The research design: the research project

- Decision making: design and completion of the proposal

- Phases of the research process.

• Ethical and deontological aspects in the educational research process

 

 

 

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 20 0.8
One-to-one and group tutorials 12 0.48
Personal study activities, complementary readings, case studies, search for further information 78 3.12
Workshops / Class exercises 12 0.48
Type: Supervised      
Final Module paper (readings, final written paper) 24 0.96
Public oral presentation 4 0.16

The training activity will be developed based on the following dynamics:
 
• Lectures / lectures
 
• Reading of articles and documentary sources
 
• Analysis and collective discussion of articles and documentary sources
 
• Classroom practices:
 
• Public oral presentation 
 
• Tutorials
 

The recommendations on gender perspective and inclusion will be pursued.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attendance and participation in sessions 10% 0 0 CA01, KA01, KA02
Classroom activities 20% 0 0 CA01, CA03, KA01, KA02
Final report 40% 0 0 CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, SA01
Presentation and monitoring of work 30% 0 0 CA01, CA02, CA03, KA01, KA02, SA01

The evaluation of the module will be carried out through the activities indicated.

The final grade will be the weighted average of the planned activities. In order to apply this criterion, it will be an essential requirement to obtain at least 5 in each one of the planned evaluation activities.

The oral presentation of the research project will take place during the two sessions prior to the completion of Module 1. The development of the Final Project will be delivered, via Moodle, once the module is finished. The rest of the classroom activities will be distributed throughout the entire module, timed on the start and delivery dates; these dates will appear in the course program that will be accessible on the first day of class.

If a student wants to undertake the Single Assessment modality, they must present, via Moodle, a PORTFOLIO with the set of evidence established as assessment activities, and also make the face-to-face oral presentation of the research project in the two previous sessions at the end of Module 1. The oral presentation will be videotaped.

The return and follow-up of the activities that are part of the qualification will be given in less than three weeks. The student who wants to review the mark must do so within 15 days of its publication in the tutoring schedule that the teaching staff has established for this subject and that is part of the program of this module. Class attendance is mandatory. In order to obtain a positive final assessment, students must have attended a minimum of 80% of the classes.

The recovery of the Final Work of the Module and/or of some classroom activities (in the case of the students who are assessed continuously) or of the Portfolio (in the case of the students who are undertaking the Single Assessment) it is planned to be carried out within a maximum period of one month after the end of the module. The oral presentation (both if it is the continuous evaluation or the Single one) will not be recoverable.

The copy or plagiarism in the case of the final work and/or class assigments, is a crime that involves suspending the subject. An activity will be considered "copied" when reproduces all or part of the work of one / another partner. It will be considered that a work or activity is "plagiarized" when a part of a text by an author is presented as its own without citing the sources, regardless of whether the original sources are paper or digital.

It’s necessary for the student to show a good general communicative competence, both orally and in writing, and a good command of thevehicular language or languages that appear in the teaching guide. Therefore, in all activities (individual or in group), linguistic correction, writing and formal aspects of presentation will be taken into account. Students must be able to express themselves fluently and correctly and must show a high degree of understanding of academic texts.An activity can be returned (not evaluated) or failed if the teaching staff considers that it does not meet these requirements. In addition, before submitting any activity or exam, the student must verify that he or she has correctly written the sources, notes, citations and bibliographic references following the APA regulations.


Bibliography

Albert, M.J. (2007). La investigación Educativa. McGraw Hill

Anguera A., M.T. (2010) La función social de la investigación [En línia] REIRE: Revista d’Innovació i Recerca en Educació, Vol. 3, núm. 1, 01-16.

American Psychological Association. (2019). Concise Guide to APA Style (7th Edition). American Psychological Association.

Arnal, J., Del Rincón, D., & Latorre, A. (1992). Investigación educativa. Labor.

Arnau, L., & Sala, J. (2023). La construcción de un redactado científico: normas de estilo, pasos a seguir y checklist de autocorrecciónhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/274378

Arnau, L., & Sala, J. (2020). La revisión de la literatura científica: pautas, procedimientos y criterios de calidadhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/222109

Bisquerra, R. (coord.) (2004). Metodología de la investigación educativa. La Muralla.

Bunge, M. (1980). Epistemología. Ariel.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education (6th edition).  Taylor & Francis

Creswell J.W., & Creswell, J.D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. SAGE Publications

Chalmers, A.F. (1989). ¿Qué es esa cosa llamada ciencia?. Siglo XXI.

Denzin, N. K. (2008). The new paradigm dialogs and qualitative inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 21(4), 315–325. 

Feyerabend, P. (1986). Tratado contra el método. Tecnos.

Gadamer, H.G. (2001). Verdad y método. Sígueme.

Gadamer, H.G. (2002). Verdad y método II. Sígueme.

Habermas, J. (1982). Conocimiento e Interés. Ed. Taurus

Habermas, J. (1990). La lógica de las ciencias sociales. Tecnos.

Hernández, R., Fernández, C. & Baptista, P. (2014). Metodología de la investigación. McGraw-Hill.

Hernandez-Sampieri, R., & Mendoza, C. (2020). Metodología de la Investigación. Las rutas cuantitativa, cualitativa y mixta. McGraw Hill Educación

Jhangiani, R. S., Chiang, I. A., Cuttler, C., & Leighton, D. C. (2019). Research Methods in Psychology (4a ed.). KPU Open Education. Available on: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/psychmethods4e/

Kuhn, T. S. (1987). La estructura de las revoluciones científicas. FCE.

Lakatos, I. (1989). La metodología de los programas de investigación científica. Alianza.

Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. Guilford Publications.

León, O., & Montero, I. (2015). Métodos de investigación en psicología y educación: las tradiciones cuantitativa y cualitativa. McGrawHill.

McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2010). Research in education: evidence-based inquiry. Pearson

McKenney, S., & Reeves, T. C. (2018). Conducting educational design research. Routledge.

Mertens, D.M., & Ginsberg, P.E. (Eds.) (2009).The Handbook of Social Research Ethics. Sage

Opie, C., & Brown, D. (Eds.) (2019). Getting started in your Educational Research. Sage

Popper, K. R. (1985). La lògica de la investigació científica. Ed. 62.

Sala, J., & Arnau, L. (2014). El planteamiento del problema, las preguntas y los objetivos de la investigación: criterios de redacción y check list para formular correctamente. DDD: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/126350

Thonney, T. (2011). Teaching the Conventions of Academic Discourse. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 38(4), 347-362.

Van Manen, M. (2003). Investigación educativa y experiencia vivida: ciencia humana para una pedagogía de la acción y la sensibilidad. Idea Books.

Wagensberg, J. (1998). Ideas para la imaginación impura- 53 reflexiones en su propia sustancia. Tusquets


Software

No software is used


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAULm) Classroom practices (master) 1 Spanish first semester afternoon
(PAULm) Classroom practices (master) 2 Spanish first semester afternoon