Research Methods in Advanced Studies in Education

The literature review shows that there is a lack of research on the teaching of research methods in advanced studies in Education in Portugal although the international literature points to the need to improve the quality of learning research methods in advanced studies in Education. Therefore, the ReMASE Project pursues the idea that teachers in higher education will benefit from the use of a framework as a tool to design and implement research methods courses in Education. The project takes the idea that the quality of research in education will impact in the quality of its results and therefore will provide evidence that may inform decision makers and other stakeholders in education. This leads to the need for rethinking the design of research methods courses and the pedagogical approaches taken.

The research team is constituted both by experienced researchers teaching research methods in advanced programs in Education, as well as by young researchers, embracing the task of interrogating and improving the design and implementation of research methods courses. The key research question of the Project is: What principles and guidelines are appropriate to constitute a framework for the design of research methods courses in advanced studies in Education in Portugal?

It is organized in 3 phases. Phase I is concerned with mapping the field (theoretical and empirical). Phase II is the time for data collection and analysis (survey-questionnaire followed by focus-group interviews). Phase III takes the results of the theoretical mapping and the empirical results to produce a framework–constituted by principles and correspondent guidelines–for the design of research methods courses.