Educational Research is the Heart and Beat of the Nation – Omoregie (Part 2)

What then is Educational Research?

Educational research is a branch of research. This implies that it has all the features of “research”. Whatever has been mentioned about the scientific research applies to educational research. It is the contention of this author that all research is education, and all education is research. Therefore, research is the soul of education, because there is no research that is not education, and there is no aspect of education that is not research. However, attempt is made briefly to define Educational Research. Simply put, Educational Research is the application of scientific procedure towards solving problems in Education. It is the controlled and objective inquiry into finding solutions for the sake of improving activities in Education (such as methods of teaching, class management, finance, administration, curriculum, insecurity, discipline, facilities management, etc). Interestingly, educational problems are mainly centred on need to improving students’ academic achievements. There are also problems of methods, administration and evaluation among others. As a result of continuous changing situation of the world, research and education have even greater roles to play today than before (Oyesola, 1988). Therefore Educational Research is the controlled process of inquiry into human behaviour for the sake of understanding it, explaining it, predicting, and to an extent controlling it.

 Research in Education can be broken into five main parts of various sub-headings. These are: the introduction, the review of literature, methodology employed, the data analysis and subsequent discussion of the results, and finally, the summary, conclusion and recommendations based on the findings. Thereafter, the entire research is reported through whatever medium or media at the discretion of the researcher. Basically however, the basic issue in a research endeavour is the identification of a problem because it is around this worry, agitation, complaint and gap that the research resolves. It is for the sake of this problem that the researcher exerts all his/her energies. The results of the researcher’s efforts are clearly for the sake of adding value to society. It is safe to state then that just as there can be no nation without education, there can be no education without research. Educational research is then imperative to national development.

Benefits of Educational Research to National Development

“As contained in the NPE, the educational process shall employ modern educational techniques that shall be used and improved upon at all levels. To this extent, the federal and state governments shall set aside a predetermined percentage of their education funds to support educational research, development and innovation” (FRN, 2004). No wonder the NERDC is a very vibrant agency of the Federal Ministry of Education. Part of the activities of the NERDC is the encouragement and coordination of educational research programmes throughout Nigeria.

            The objective of educational research may be grouped into the following:

–          Theoretical objective,

–          Factorial objective, and

–          Application objective (Sharma, 2011).

By implication some researches in education are geared towards formulating new theories, principles or laws, some others describe facts or events which happened previously, while others suggest new applications by improving and modifying existing practices based on current realities. Education research requires an approach that is inter-disciplinary, flowing from a “study of complex relationships of various facts” (Sharma, 2011).

The main benefit of educational research is to improve methods and activities in education through the rigorous acquisition of new skills and knowledge. All efforts of educational research are for the improvement of the educational process which would further impact positively on the development of the society and nation. Therefore, the following are the interests of every research effort:

• aiding the making of decision concerning the refinement of extension of knowledge.
• improvement of the students’ learning and classroom situation for more effective teaching techniques.
• aiding educational administrators to improve the educational systems.

Basically, all educational policies are products of one form of research or the other. There can be no policy without first carrying out a rigorous investigation of all situations that make the policy necessary. In the opening section of this paper efforts were made to establish the obvious truth that the existence and development of a nation is education, while research is the life of education. It is research that keeps education alive. The place of educational research in national development, cannot be overemphasized. Research in education according to Oyesola (1988) has the capacity of achieving the following:

1. development of new existing  theories and pushing back the frontiers of knowledge.
2. search for undiscovered facts and principles about education.
3. application of existing knowledge to many problems of life.
4. improvement of instruction and education generally.
5. the utilitarian values of being a panacea to problems, clearing misconceptions and making discoveries.
6. leading to improvement of instructional techniques and management of educational establishments.
7. contribution to the data bank which are of necessity to effective planning.
8. subject teachers, after reading through research reports would enjoy enhanced professional growth in their various subject areas.

Education generally is to meet the needs of the community. For this to be effectively achieved, then education must change with the changing society. This buttresses the already stated fact that education must be given life through research. Therefore it is only through research that the goals of a nation can be achieved. This implies that all efforts of various governments and individuals in areas of education are geared towards making Nigeria among others a united, strong and self-reliant nation. How can this be achieved outside education, and by implication, research. It is pertinent therefore to state very categorically that the goal of educational research is to develop individual and the nation. In short, once the individual is equipped and developed, then by translation, there is national development.

In summary then, educational research will through its efforts achieve national development in the following ways:

1. make Nigeria a free and democratic society;
2. make the country a just and egalitarian society;
3. make Nigeria a united, strong and self-reliant nation;
4. make Nigeria a great and dynamic economy; and
5. a land full of bright opportunities for all citizens.

The question is how can these five goals be achieved outside education; and how can education achieve these, if not through research? It has been mentioned severally that no nation can arise above its education; just as no education can rise above the quality of its research. It therefore becomes of great concern that research efforts in education should be of good quality so that they can achieve the purpose of developing the education system and therefore the nation. As clearly stated in the NPE, education is clearly an instrument for national development which implies same for research in education.

It is important to note therefore that for educational research to achieve its role, it must meet some of the following criteria:

1. Clearly identify a problem in education.
2. Clearly identify variables of interest, and raise some issues.
3. Have a framework(s) as guide(s).
4. Note the significance of the research.
5. Have a design and methodology.
6. Gather and analyze data generated.
7. Have results and discuss them.
8. Conclude and recommend based on the emerging results.
9. Clearly bring out the report of the research through relevant medium (media) where all stakeholders would benefit from the efforts.

Very clearly too, though hypotheses testing is one of the ingredients of research (though not compulsory) must be concluded upon with caution in Education. The issue here is that it is not for us in Education to just be interested in retaining or rejecting hypotheses. It is the thinking here to go beyond that in Education. That “there is no significant difference or relationship” does not mean that there is no difference or relationship. Every difference (no matter how small) and every relationship (no matter how low) should capture the interest of every educational researcher. Therefore research efforts in education, because of its importance should always investigate every difference and relationship and make efforts to bridge the gaps that exist, no matter how narrow. A difference or relationship may not be significant, but attractive. It is worth noting that many issues considered not significant may accumulate to be significant. For educational research which is the heart of every research to achieve national development, it must be interested in every gap. There is no gap that is not worthy of note in education. Any area of difference or relationship that is neglected has the capacity and capability of influencing some other areas of education and even other sectors since the issues in education are inter-related with other disciplines. For instance, instead of just concluding there is a significant or no significant relationship between the variables, why not dwell on the strength and index of such relationship? This will be more meaningful to us in Education.

Conclusion

            Efforts have been made in this paper to present the goals of Nigeria as the bane of national development. The NPE is presented as the document through which the goals of the nation can be realized. In order for education to achieve the purpose of achieving the national goals, it must be made alive through research efforts. Part of these efforts that accounted for the birth of the NPE in 1977, and the subsequent review of the policy for three times, so that the nation now operates the 4th edition of the policy. Research is the logical investigation of problems and solutions towards acquiring knowledge for the good of individuals and community, society or nation. However, for this research to be effective and relevant to the needs of the nation, it must be of good quality. Research in education should be interested in every form of difference and relationship. It should go beyond mere finding out whether significant difference or relationship exists. It is the contention of this author that every difference or relationship should be of great concern to the researcher in education.

            On a final note, the questions are:

• Can there be education outside a nation?
• Can there be a nation outside education?
• Can there be any development outside education?
• Can there be any education outside research?
• Can there be any research outside education?
• Is the NPE a product of research? etc.

            It is safe to conclude that education is the nation, the nation is education, education is research, research is education, and educational research is the nation. Therefore, educational research is the heart and beat of the nation.(

(Concluded.)