This course is designed for graduate students in the first year of their programs and is intended as an introduction to various issues, methods, and techniques in educational research. As a first course in research, the focus is on a range of methodological possibilities, guided by the hope that this sort of introduction will enable you to make more informed decisions regarding those issues and methods that you might investigate further. As such, you should leave the course with a broad familiarity of the field, not with a detailed knowledge of particular methodologies. In addition to more clearly defining your research interests, then, an important part of the course is an interrogation of some of the personal, contextual, and historical conditions underlying those interests. On that point, the instructors take the position that educational research should not be understood merely as research that is situated within educational contexts, nor merely as research that focuses on educational issues.
Educational research is research that educates.
Describe the kinds of knowledge claims that various research methodologies can make. Determine the relationship between the research question or problem and the selection of a methodology. Critically evaluate and build on previous research undertaken in their area of inquiry. Look forward to their own research journey as graduate students and practioners. A package of required course readings is available in the UBC Bookstore.