We've worked hard to deal with this issue in my Department.  We've structured our graduate topics so that students develop a proposal in an early topic.  Then in a later topic they develop that proposal again.  We workshop each proposal with the whole class, mostly around structure: does it have a clear research question? what are the aims? what is the national and international significance of the question? what data is needed to answer the question? can the data be obtained? are the methods appropriate? will they give results that address the original question?  what are the limitations of the data? what are the ethical obligations? what else?

This is a really hard class to teach. It is exhausting, for all of us.  However, we find that the students produce better proposals, and do more focussed research.  Having everyone workshop everyone's proposal, the way of looking at research changes and that gives people a skill to use in their own research.

We do these workshops for our large grant applications, to the Australian Research Council. Again, it is exhausting, but it creates a nice bond among us and we each try to help other staff do the best possible application. Our success rate as a Dept has gone up, so that 54% of our Dept now holds one of these large grants.

I have not published on this yet, but I have published on Success Strategies for a Career in Archaeology, and it has similar, practical strategies to help students.  I'll attach it here.

Good luck with your students.

Claire

Interesting proposal. We, from Spain, work in formative and shared assessment. Engaging students in their own assessment improves learning. I attach our investigations in this line.

Article Influencia del sistema de evaluación empleado en la percepci...

Article Evaluación entre iguales: Una experiencia de evaluación comp...

Article ¿cómo enseñar a futuros docentes?

Chapter El proceso de evaluación formativa en la realización de un “...

I think that it is important to give students models or templates to follow as they structure their papers, theses, or dissertations.  

Attached is a research paper outline I have developed that many people have downloaded.

At some schools, particularly those that are not research universities, I think that part of the problem is that the people reaching the research classes have not published extensively themselves.  Research classes should be assigned to the most prolific academic writers, not to the beginners.

Method Research Study Manuscript Outline

 Hi dear 

In fact, I taught my students research methods in previous year. In addition to the theoretical material I tried to make weekly workshops in which all students work in groups developing their researches each group with a topic. Then I took them to the library to show the books and to learn how to choose and how to document these sources. What I want to focus here is that practice is more important than theoretical material. 

Liqaa 

I think learning research methodology is an ongoing process. An expert researcher even learn methods in new ways depending on the situation and nature of the problems. What my teacher did, first of all tried to motivate us towards research and explained its rationale from different angles of thoughts. In the consequences they raised some current issues of education where research attention might be required. They then inspired us to narrow down the problem and to reach to a specific research attention. Then they instructed us to think some ways of exploring the issues or solving the problems. From these practices they reached to the research nature such as qualitative, quantitative or mixed. To teach sample and population they drew example from real life situation. After we reach in a considerable understanding they guided us to develop research proposal and before that we had to go through a vast world of literature. We ourselves developed our draft proposal and shared that with our course teachers/supervisor. We presented the proposal and while it got approval we started our individual research (thesis) which gave us a hands on experience of learning research. It's a very general description of my academic learning of research. If it helps I would be happy.

Dear Debra,

You ask the following: What are some of our best practice strategies for teaching students research methods? 

As the previous answers show there are several practical strategies for teaching students research methods. In what follows I refer to some strategies to teach students to perform research. Although presented in different sections, these strategies can be seen in a complimentary way.

(1) What is generally the case is to have students attending a discipline or course on research methods in their classrooms at their college/university. As you rightly say, when this is the only strategy to teach students research methods it is often the case that students are unable to apply what they learned inside their classroom to their supervised graduate research or independent research. Everyone who does research is well aware that his/her research often raises problems that no formal course on research methods had realized. Of course, authoritative teachers are more effective than their authoritarian counterparts to teach students qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research methods. The former tend to be mentors and organizers of learning experiences and situations, whereas the latter tend to teach their students ready made or established truths. In other words, the former reminds us of understanding, whereas the latter reminds us of indoctrination.

(2) Students can learn research methods by reading appropriate books on research methods. This procedure often goes along with the previous procedure. When I taught my students research methods in developmental psychology, I always stressed that, in addition to attending my lectures on research methods in developmental psychology, they could also read good literature on this topic. As it happens with the first procedure, to do research only with basis on what we learn from even excellent books often lead us, say, to research problems no book had anticipated.

(3) Students can learn research methods by examining carefully good and even excellent research published research papers. Such analysis can teach students how to structure a research paper in terms of form (introduction, method, data presenting and analysis, data discussion, conclusion) and distinguish, for example, among research goals, questions, and hypotheses. Again, these papers may not address problems we find in our research.

(4) As I see it, the best strategy to teach students research methods is to involve them in some of our researches or research proposals. This is a kind o learning by doing. I often appealed to this strategy.

All that said, more important than to teach research methods to our students is to motivate them to look for the unknown and the truth, and to raise "irritating" questions or doubts, that is, questions and doubts whose response leads us to new knowledge in any scientific domain. Actually, students may know almost everything about research methods and never become good or even excellent researchers. This means that to teach research methods to our students should be seen as a means not as a end. Indeed, we may know a lot about research methods, and yet never perform good and excellent research.

I hope that I have got your question and that this is of some help for you.

Best  regards,

Orlando

Good answer, Orlando.  I particularly like your point about motivating students to ask irritating question or doubts.

Joan Gero of the American University in Washington DC wrote a thoughtful paper on ambiguity and certitude, which I'll attach here.  I think all graduate students should read.  Though the paper is written for archaeology, it is more generally applicable. 

I think graduate students should undertake an exercise in which they employ the methods outlined in Gero’s (2007) paper ‘Honoring ambiguity/problematizing certitude’ to analyse a body of archaeological data. In this article, she unveils routine archaeological practices that convert ambiguous data into unassailable knowledge. She identifies a series of conventionalized practices ‘routinely employed to stabilize evidence and interpretation in order to produce a knowledge product that is unassailable and unambiguous’ (Gero 2007:320). These include: cleaning the data through the use of ‘semantically broad but conceptually limiting categories into which all evidence is accommodated’, disguising variation and heterogeneity in the data; machining data by presenting analyses based on observing or measuring the data against some universal standard, such as density or refraction, without reference to intra- or inter- variation in interpretation or cultural significance; pushing the data by sequentially building on tentative interpretations to reach a ‘secure’ conclusion; stretching the data by using specific case studies to make unwarranted and sweeping claims; going small by focusing on a tight, empirically defined research question whilst ignoring ‘the messy issues of underdetermined or over interpreted data’; providing visual focus through the use of ‘redundant visual templates as central displays’ that verify the cultural reconstruction and obliterate outlying or competing interpretations. She argues that, taken together, these practices inform an archaeology that ‘over-emphasizes and over-rewards unambiguous certainty in our interpretations, even though our conclusions are usually drawn from necessarily partial, underdetermined and complex evidence’ (Gero 2007:311).

The lessons to be learnt are lessons for students in all disciplines.

Claire

Good reply, Claire.

Thank you for the attached file. I will read Gero's (2007) paper with much interest. You were quite competent to provide me with, say, its gist. The series of conventionalized practices (i.e, cleaning the data; machining data; pushing the data, and so forth) to which you refer by borrowing from Joan Gero's ideas deserve attention on the part of all students and researchers of any domain of knowledge. As I see it, all of these practices aim at eliminating doubt and uncertainly. Because of this, they remind me of Wittgenstein's astute remark that when there is no place for doubt, certainty does not make any sense either (see his book On certainty). Those and similar practices are partly responsible for what Paul Meehl (see his seminal paper in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1978) called the slow progress of soft psychology. In other words, psychology, let alone other human and social sciences, often take illusions of rigor for true rigor. Paraphrasing again Wittgenstein, in psychology there are experimental methods but conceptual confusion (see his famous Philosophical Investigations). From your answer and message, I got the impression that we both are a bit dissatisfied with many common practices that afflict the present state of affairs in psychology. This was the reason why referred to "irritating" questions in my previous answer to Debra's question (see, for this respect, C.S, Pierce). With regard to the conventionalized practices you mention, the one that refers to the use of ‘semantically broad but conceptually limiting categories into which all evidence is accommodated’ draw my attention. Indeed, as I see it, an experiment run in at atmosphere of conceptual confusion rarely, if ever, clarifies anything. Psychology is also full of examples of unassailable conclusions because they derive from experiments that "test" untestable hypotheses because such hypotheses are true by definitions and hence, not subject to falsifications. These and other serious issues  are not generally mentioned and explicated in research methods books nor are they always addresses in research methods courses.

Orlando

So, if this is the situation in psychology and archaeology, it is probably more general in the humanities and social sciences - and elsewhere?  'Irritating Questions' is a nice title for a paper on this subject.

They can be asked to solve complex problems in their local communities by partnering with them so they can see the benefit of their giftedness

We use simulations in the classroom to help students plan, and execute their lesson in front of their peers for feed back. We have close partnerships with mentor teachers and intensive observations/praticums for students prior to methods, and during methods to provide them real experiences followed with their student teaching. In a sense they have an year long experience at on site.

Dear James,

Many researchers shared nice information on teaching strategies to students of research methods. for any preparation whether it is lesson/ review/research papers, we should the  subject in depth and between lines as our teachers told us in 1990.

with out knowing the subject any body can face the problems, so we need to study the research papers thoroughly why because problems may vary, people may vary conditions and locations. depends upon out topic and study the research methods may vary.

it is good take advise from our guides and mentors who teach us.

Thanks

p.phani. 

This depends on many factors such as the level of students {undergraduate vs. graduate} and the time you have as a teacher in the course.

For best outcome, I will suggest the following

1.       Presenting and discussing the theoretical concepts of research

2.       Ask students to do critique for a selected published article

3.       Ask students to write a proposal

4.       Let students get involved with a faculty member in the publication experience

I taught research to graduate students for about 25 years.  None of them probably would have taken the course if it was not required. I love doing research. I tried to instill the joy of it into the students.  I used many of the methods recommended above but I added one unorthodox method trying to make the strange (research) familiar based on a creative problem solving approach called Synectics.  I likened the research method to dating in the US.  When it was time to choose a research topic, I'd say when you are dating you have a list of characteristics you would like to have in someone you date.  Research topics have characteristics you need to look at, too, feasibility, cost, access to subjects etc.  Choosing inclusion and exclusion variables was like deciding who you want to invite to your wedding.  I would tell them you don't want to invite someone who is going to spoil the event.  You need to exclude factors that would spoil the validity of the research study.  This went on and on in the course.

Doing this through out the course helped the students enjoy the process more and understand research better.  At one class a student came in announcing she had just gotten divorced.  We all offered our support and help.  She laughed and said no, she just had divorced her research topic since it wasn't working for her any more as if she had just stopped dating someone. 

Research is for me a great adventure.  Once students can see that more instead of just focusing on the rules and methods they become engaged.  Creativity in teaching seems to help. 

Folks:

I thank you for sharing your very insightful and helpful responses to my question. I am beginning to see of new possibilities on how to re conceptualize teaching students research methods. Madelaine, I truly appreciate your sharing on the use of creativity. I will be sharing your insights with my fellow-faculty at an upcoming meeting on the former.

Many, many, thanks,

Debra

I am posting up this resource that an RG colleague shared that I found very relevant to our discussion here:

http://www.thinkingwriting.qmul.ac.uk/node/41

Thanks to Mary for sharing.

Debra

I haven't taught the research method course and cannot tell my own practice strategies. However, the following paper found on the Internet might be one of useful references on this topic:

http://www.naspaa.org/JPAEMessenger/Article/Vol15No2-SP2009/Aguado.pdf

When it was time to choose a research topic, I'd say when you are dating you have a list of characteristics you would like to have in someone you date

The variety of teaching strategies currently employed seems to accommodate learning styles well – confirming the importance of using a variety of teaching approaches. and also suggests that strategies that suit dependent styles are needed early in courses in preparation for more independent and collaborative approaches. And there is an identified need to get students to develop more independence in particular.

I wrote an article which addresses some of the challenges of teaching research methods — it’s a difficult area. Article Critical debates in teaching research methods in the social sciences