[MTC Global] Educators must become critical consumers of educational research.

There is no such thing as a perfect study. All research has strengths and limitations.  The five elements below will enhance your ability to become a critical consumer of all types of research. 

• Researcher credibility. Background knowledge is necessary to guide all phases of the inquiry. Does the researcher's degree or current position indicate adequate knowledge in the particular field of research? Expertise in a field enables one to know what questions to ask, how to ask these questions, how new knowledge connects to existing knowledge, and what's relevant and irrelevant. 
• Literature review. New knowledge builds on old knowledge. The literature review should provide a solid theoretical context and support for the research question or purpose and make a case for the importance of the study.
• Research question or purpose. The research question or the defined purpose of the study should flow directly from the literature review. As well, the research question or study purpose should be clearly stated and easy to understand. Everything that follows should be directly related to this question or purpose. 
• Integrity. It is impossible to be totally objective. Subjectivity can occur simply in deciding what questions to ask, what data to collect, and what measures to use to collect data.  However, where there may be subjectivity or a conflict of interest, it should be stated up front by the researcher. Questions to ask here: Does the study appear to be free of bias or hidden agendas?  Are there groups who might benefit from a particular result?  Is the researcher connected with a group that has a particular agenda?  Does the researcher start with the answer and then look for data to support their answer?
• Validity of the results or conclusions. Do the conclusions made by the researcher come from the data? Are they directly supported by the data?  The conclusions, recommendations, or applications made at the end of a study should be confined only to that which can be supported by the data collected and described in this study. 

Do not be discouraged if your initial reading and review of research articles seems slow and cumbersome. This is common.  One becomes better at this by practice. 

Thanks and Regards,

Dr. S.S. Dey

--
The views expressed are individual and not necessarily MTC Global also share the same views. To unsubscribe from the group , please send an email to join_mtc@googlegroups.com and write the heading as 'Unsubscribe'. Immediate action will be taken.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Management Teachers Consortium, Global" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to join_mtc+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.