Cao Duy Trinh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGI IE 91(03): 53-57
RESEARCH METHODS CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IN CURRICULUM STUDY
Cao Duy T r i n h * ('olk'gc ol Sciences T\ I' SUMMARY
Researchers must know what they arc doing in their researches; the concepts related and the methods; the natural or social nature of the inquirv; Ihe viewpoints and attitude of the researchers towards the objects they are working on. If v\c want to study the curriculum, for example the exercise of power in the English course-books, then uc can use research methods of Critical Educational Research. Exactlv. wc can use Critical Discourse Analvsis (CDA) methods, I hese methods will help reveal the inequality established in the course-books for st)lutions for that abolishment.
This article will revise the conceptions of research and research methods with paradigms such as Positivism or Anti-positivism as the progress of history in scientific researching. It also offers the Critical Educational Research to be used for ideologies search in the curriculum. The author also suggests a link with Critical Discourse Analysis for a concrete study of liiglish course-books.
Key words: Research, research method, critical edueatioinil research, curriculum study.
RESEARCH & RESEARCH METHODS As language teachers, we know that Applied Linguistics, since its foundation in the 1950s, ashas stressed the relationship between experience of language teaching and the study of linguistics. Language teaching methodology has relied on linguistic traditions such as Chomsky s Transformational Generative Linguistics, Hyme's Sociolinguisties and Halliday s Systemie-Eunetional Linguistics. It has also been basing on psychological traditions such as Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism and Humanism (Canh, L.V.., 2004. ppl5-58) [1].
Research also has its own underlying assumptions, theories, methodologies and methods. Educational research is the investigation of activities and the undertakings of a science: the systemic and scholarly application in teaching and learning in social contexts and formal education framework. It helps us in achieving a sound knowledge to develop education and relating professions and disciplines.
Human always ask questions about themselves and the world around them. The ordinal^ questions then become ' Tel: 0912 621599
epistemologieal questions and assumptions.
To answer those questions with satisfaction, they need methodologies, instrumentation and data collection. In the process of finding out answers to questions about the nature of the phenomena around them, human have ever had their experience, reasoning and research as their means. Experience or the common sense knowing is our everyday tool of the world's discovery. Anyway, laypeople's personal experience usually relies on undetermined happenings and is nol thoroughly tested. Scientific research is done systemieally and tested empirically with firm explanations and professional concern with the relationships among phenomena.
Scientists have the control over the sources of influence in explaining the occurrence.
Research is the further means human uses to find out about truth, ll is systematic, controlled, empirical and critical study of hypotheses about the relations among the phenomena. And thus, research is different from experience. Research is the combination of experience and reasoning and become our successful tool for the world discovery.
Educational research comes from different views of social sciences: established and traditional view, interpretive view, critical theory, feminist theory and complexity theory.
Cao Duy Triiih I ap chi KHOA I IOC & CONG N(J1 ll.• 9l(03):53-57 How shall wc look nl social ivalih and wlial
arc the \ icws coiistriiclcd on dilTcrcnl \va\s of interpreting the rcalil\'' There can be four scls oi" explicit and implicit assumptions underlining the conceptions of the social world: onlologs, cpistcmolog). hnman nature and methodoKigN.
First, peojile have asked questions about the essence of social phenomena investigated as assumptions of an ontologiail kind.
Ontokigical assumption concerns on the nature of the world and human being in social contexts. The nominalist belicxcs that social reallt\ the product ol individual consciousness and realitv is the result of individual cognition, therefore, created b\
one's in\n mind. The\ think objects of though are nothing but mereK words and there is no independentl\ accessible thing that constitutes the meaning of a word. Meanwhile, the realist insists that objects exist independenth "out there" in the world and the\ impose on us from outside. They exist independenth from us.
Secondl\. the set of assumptions are of epistemological kind: knowledge and its
forms, acquisition, and the communication of it to other human being. The positivist thinks that knowledge is hard, objective and tangible, requiring an observer role of the researchers and natural science methods. The anti-positivist assumes that knowledge is personal, subjective and unique, requiring the researchers involvement with the subjects without natural science methods.
The third set of assumption is about human and their environment. Human being is not only the subject but also the object of the study - the products of the environment and also creators and producers of the environment. The three sets of above assumptions have been leading to different methods: survey, experiments, etc. for the objectivists and positivists who believe the world of natural phenomena to be hard, real and external to each individual; accounts, observation and personal constructs, etc. for the subjectivists, anti-positivists, considering the social world soft, personal and humanly created.
Methods, for the positivislic model in normative research, means giving responses to questions. measurement recording, phenomena describmg and experiment performing, in interpretive paradigms, they means observation ol' the participants, interviewing, role-playing, episodes and accounts. These are techniques and procedures, Methodology is about the scientific process. It describes the approaches.
kinds and paradigms oi research, not the products of scientific mquiiA
Positivism, since the M>"' century, has regarded observation and experiment as only means of behavior understanding and scientific explanation. I his is the influence of natural methodologies on social sciences. And the social scientist will i)bserve social reality with the products formulated like the ones of natural sciences. Anwvay. the complexity and intangible quality ol social phenomena are quite different from the natural world. The great challenges lor positivistic researchers can be seen in the context of cla>sroom and school in teaching, learning and interaction.
Positivism has been successfully used, especially for natural researches. However, in the second half of the nineteenth century, it has been criticized fox its mechanistic and reductionist view of nature. It is always trving to measure the objects instead of learning things from inside and with choices, experience. individuality. moralitv and lesponsibilitv of human beings as living organisms. Positivism tails to consider to capacity of human subjectivity, dehumanizing effects of social science, focusing onlv on discovering general laws governing human behavior. Quantification, computation and statistical theories lack of exploring the circumstances of human conditions. For positivism, scientific knowledge then becomes everything to human, which ignore the creative, moral, critical, aesthetic and hermeneutic sides of knowledge. Behavior means only techniques. Positivism has also been accused of being banal and trivial as it show little connection to whom it is intended for and their environment.
Cao Duy Trinh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGI IE 91(03): 53-57 Replacing positivism, there appears anti-
positivism movement - the naturalistic approaches. The anti-positivists agree that the world can be understood from the views of the individuals with their autonomous models.
Social science, for them, should be seen from inside subjectively with different participants' direct experience in certain contexts.
Developments in psychology, social psychology and sociology have made the understanding and treating of human beings as persons more satisfactory. Working as alternative to positivist approaches, naturalistic, qualitative, interpretative approaches have some distinguishing features: people are active and creative in their meaningful activities; they construct their social world deliberately; situations change, events and behaviors evolve;
individuals and happenings are unique and not generalizable; social world is studied naturally, with no intervention of the researcher; fidelity is important; events must be interpreted in real contexts and situations;
one event or situation, many interpretations and perspectives; reality is complex with many layers; thick descriptions are better than simplistic ones; situations should be studied from the view of participants, not researchers.
Anyway, research methods are not merely technical exercises. They are our understanding of the world: our viewpoint, consideration, and aims of understanding it.
More ever, educational research, politics and decision-making are always going together in researching for the truth. The funding of local authorities and government will favor the policy-related research which guides the policy decisions, improves their quality and implements them. Who will be sponsored, who will control and release the data and findings, whose research will be chosen for educational service are, therefore, the problems. Research involves indirectly in the decision-making process with concepts, propositions, explanations, strategies, methodologies, theories and evidence to make inputs, guidance, gloss, orientation, insights
and generalization. The relationship of education research, politics and policy- making is very dialectic and complex.
Researchers can influence the policy-makers by the links with power groups. Only politically acceptable research will survive.
That means the research will be used when it agrees with the political agenda of the governments and the policy-makers. In fact, research is also part of political process in which who does the research, whal knowledge is worthwhile and how the results will be used will matter.
CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND CURRICULUM S lUDY
Critical educational research is an emerging approach while positivist and interpretative paradigms are incomplete accounts of social behavior as they ignore the political and ideological contexts in the educational researches. Positiv ist and interpretative paradigms are too much interested in technical and hermeneutic knowledge.
Critical theory does nol only describe or understand the society and behavior. It calls for a society of equality and democracy through social changes. Cohen writes about the origin and the aims of the theory:
""The paradigm of critical educational research is heavily influenced hy the earlv work of Habermas and, to a lesser extent, his predecessors in the Frankfurt School, most notably Adorno, Marcuse. Horkheimer and Fromni. hiere the expressed intention is deliberately political the emancipation of individuals and groups in an egalitarian .society...In particular it seeks to emancipate the disempowered. lo redress inequality and to promote individual freedoms within a democratic society.
Cohen et al. (2007:26) ) [2]
Critical theory points out the problems in the common sense and legitimacy of power and powerlessness, suppression and suppressed, inclusion and exclusion, voicing, ideology, participation, interest and representation. For this theory, even the researches will not be for
Cao Duv Irinh lap chi KlIOA \H)C cK: CONG NGHE 91(03); 53-57 the interest of all people, fhe ihcorv will help
ihe icsciircher uncover the mtcicsl in certain situaliiMis before hcMic can do something to chiingc the society and olhei iiuliv iiluals for a real dcmocnicy, Ihe resciireh o\' critical education is praclicnl as it aims nl abolishing ii society ol" inequality iiiul illcgitimncy Marxism can be the departure o\' such iilciis.
Ill their stutlics. icsciiichcis must claim their standpoinl and there is no place lt>i neutrality ov ideological iiiul political innocenee, ( ritical llieoiy and critical cdiicalional research, as C\ihcii <7 (//, (:()()7;27) ) | 2 | siiy :
,,have their suhstaiilive agenda for cxiimplc cxiiminiiig and inleiii>giiliiig: the lelatitMiship between school and society htnv school pcrpeluale or reduce inequality;
the social conslruetioii ol knowledge and curricula, who define worthwhile knowledge.
what ideological inlerests this serves, and how this reproduces inequality in society;
how power is produced and reproduced through ediiealion; whose interests are served by education and how legitimate these arc (e.g. the rich, while, middle class males rather than poor. niMi-whiic females).
1 he impact ol' critical theory on curriculum research is far-reaching, Ihe rationale lor curriculum is expressed in I y ler's questions;
IVhal educational piirjHJses should the school seek to attain'
What educational experiences can he provided that are likely to attain these purposes.^
Hinv can these educational exjierienccs be effectiveh organized/
How can we determine whether these f)urfloses are being attained.'
Cohen etal, (2007:30) [2|
fhe above positivist view comes from the ideas that the curriculum is controllable, predetermined, ordered, predictable, uniform and behaviorisl. fhis assumption does not lake ideology and power into consideration. It is kind of positivist political neutrality and objectivily. ignoring psychology and psycho- pedagogy offered in eonslriietiv ism. ll is a closed system, different from the view seeing postmodern society open, diverse.
mullitlimensional and fluid. In fact, power is less monolilhic and more problematical. The contemporary curricula are rather the products of chaos and complexity. Curricula lire rich, relational, recursive and rigorous with an emphnsis on emergence, process cpislemology and eonstnictiv ist psychology,
Ihe knowledge selected in the society and curricula expresses ideologies and power. The choice of knowledge is neither political neutral nor innocent, kicologics. as beliefs.
come from powerful groups in the society and knowledge selection for the curricula will scenic their interests. Ibis is why curricula arc viilue-laden or value-based and never viilue-lrcc. Values and power are strongly conneeled; not only what knowledge is but also whose knowledge is. for whom the knowledge is and. finally, whose interests the currieulii will serve (or not serve) will count.
Ihe currieiilum is really ideologically eonstrueled.
For critical research, knowledge is not purely intelligence. It belongs to different interests,
lechnieal interests will guarantee the power of then owners because interest, in general, has ideological liinction. Interests and know ledge go together in ihe possession.
control, interprelation etc. of that knowledge.
Cohen et cd. (200" V ) ) | 2 | mentions the llabermas's naming o\' technical, practical and emancipatory interests. I echnical interest ilciils with scientific and positivist method, focusing on laws, rules and the prediction and control of behav lois, Practieal interest try to
interpret the subjects with hermeneutic.
interpretative methodologies of qualitative approaches from the eyes of the participants in the interaction with other people.
I luaneipatory interest points out the exercise ol" power and the necessary change for a better socielv. Ibc idea that ideology of the authorities, the dominant groups with their values and practices outgo other disempowered social groups is not new. One of the ideology critical approaches is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) [3.4.5]. This method can be used for the study of language, culture and ideologies expressed in different curricula (Ejiglish text-books, for example), as a special kind of discourse.
Cao Duy Trinh Tap chi KHOA HOC & CONG NGHE 91(03): 53 57 REFERENCES [4]. Nguyen 116a (2000). in Introduction lo [1]. Canh, L.V. (2004), Understanding Foreign Discourse iinilysis. National University College Language Teaching Methodology, Hanoi National of Forciun l.iumuimcs. Hanoi.
University. j^j ^..,^, j^^,^ -|-,.ji^l^ (2006). I.xplnraiion [2\. Cohen L., Manion L., rrison K. (2007). • J , • , ' , • i t i i
r, , , , , , . r. , . r^ . , tdeolo\iteul power relations in a vlohal document:
Research Method tn Educalton, Routlcdiic. , '
London and New York. ^ ^'''' ^'"'"'' ^•""'•^•"""" .I'"' i'^'-' proleetnm of [3]. Fairclough N. L. (2001). Language and hieraiure and artistic works. \,mn vikn \.\\ac sU.u Power, Lonuman, London. Dai hpc Ngoiii Ngir, Dai hpc Quoc gia Ha nt)i.
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