Validity and Reliability Essays

Validity and Reliability Essays Validity and Reliability Essay Validity and Reliability Essay My role as a researcher and as a teacher was difficult and there were a lot of issues that I should consider. Different external factors influenced the whole teaching process and it was hard to get over them. As a solo observer researching in the field of my professional area, I was realizing that in a lot of cases there were dangers of bias and assumption that were influencing my observations. Also, it wasnt easy taking notes and teaching at the same time, so my notes during the teaching process were limited. In order to avoid that I asked from a friend to help by taking some notes about specific characteristics that she could observe during the teaching process. I have tried that in one meeting but it wasnt easy since my friend didnt have any knowledge or skills on taking notes about the things that I wanted to observe. Therefore, I found it more useful to take my own notes. Another limitation that occurred in the current research was the fact that students didnt have much time and meetings of each group were narrowed in just two, instead of three that were the initiative purpose. However, even if the time of the study was limited the fact that I was present while students were working revealed to be valuable since I had the opportunity to ask questions during the process in order to gain greater and specific knowledge about the questions that this research seeks to answer. Moreover, the fact that the meetings werent conducted during school time, in a real learning environment with classroom settings, was another restriction. I realized that in some cases students didnt face their participation in the whole process in a similar way that they would see their participation in a school lesson. In addition, students didnt see me as a regular classroom teacher and this made my role more difficult. It was hard for me to make them focus on the teaching process, because they didnt see the whole procedure equally as a real classroom lesson, but as an evening activity. The main criticisms about observations lie in the fields of validity and reliability. According to Foster (1996), coders might be influenced by wrong prior assumptions they might have. For that reason patterns for general human behaviour must be distinguished from expectations and predictions about particular individuals (Sanger, 1996, p.41). The researcher should adopt a dual role and exchanging between been involved and been detached (Simpson and Tuson, 1995). However, as Sanger (1996) indicates is difficult to see with new eyes, or with the eyes of others. Otherwise our very familiarity with the environment blinds us to perspicacity (p.9). Accordingly, being an observer and a teacher involved issues of bias and objectivity that should be considered in order to ensure validity and reliability in my research. I found it difficult to detach myself from the role of researcher and not become biased from what I expect to see. In some cases, I realised that as a researcher I was expecting to see some things and therefore as a teacher I was pushing students to a certain direction so that I could collect more data about this study. Consequently, in order to ensure more reliability and validity in my analysis I tried to act like a classroom teacher rather that a researcher during the period that the meetings were happening. After all the sessions ended I got involved with the transcription and analysis of students conversations as a researcher. With that way my role as a teacher didnt influence much my role as researcher. Ethical Issues  When conducting a survey with children observations there is variety of ethical issues that emerge and need to be thought. One of the most important matters is be careful between invasion and protection of privacy (Cohen et al, 2000). As Richards (2003) advises, you have to keep in mind that you are getting is someone elses world, who is helping you. So, instead of being frustrating you have to be discreet, especially with note taking and recording procedures. Consequently, the first thing that I had to arrange was to ensure parents permission for the participation of their children in the current study. So, information sheets and consent forms were given to parents in order to take their permissions and guarantee that observations would be made under privacy, anonymity and confidentiality. Moreover, during the study and the written report, information about students wont be mentioned, excluding their first names. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS In the present section of the study results from VAK are illustrated along with the findings from contextual analysis of students conversations during the teaching activities as well as the program strategies they used. Moreover, the results from group interviews that were analyzed in detail are presented, in order to identify students motivations toward the two learning approaches. All the above are mentioned in separate sections for each group, while later on a comparison between the two groups and some discussion takes part.