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Show Me "The Research' · The Reading Instruction Show

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  This is The Reading Instruction Show. I'm your
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  host, Dr. Andy Johnson. Topic of today's podcast
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  is, show me the research. Part one, researchers
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  are not research. Now, I appreciate hearing from
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  people online who disagree with me. It helps
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  me evolve and expand my thinking. And it also
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  invites me to revisit issues and to reify or
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  revise my stance on things. And it helps me identify
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  issues that need a bit of explaining. The research
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  is one of these. In a recent online conversation,
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  a conversationalist was explaining that, quote,
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  the research, unquote, said something with The
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  assumption that the issue was settled and we
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  should believe what she was saying was true.
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  Now when I asked for supporting research, the
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  conversationalist responded by providing the
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  name of a researcher. Dahin, go read Dahin, she
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  said. Have you read Dahin? You need to read Dahin,
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  Dahin, Dahin, Dahin. And for the record, I've
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  read Dahin, Stanislaus Dahin. He's a famous cognitive
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  neuroscientist whose research focuses on the
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  neural basis of reading. I'm using him here as
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  an example of a famous person. Simply naming
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  a researcher even a famous researcher like Dahin
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  is not research. Regardless of how well known
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  that person might be or how extensively the person
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  may be published, Researchers are not research.
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  Citing a book or article written by a famous
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  person who has conducted research is not research.
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  Their research is research. They are not research.
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  Research is the process of asking a question
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  and using a systematic method to collect data
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  to answer the question. However, data is not
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  the same as research. Research is not research
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  unless or until it has been subjected to blind
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  peer review. Again, researchers are not research.
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  Individual research studies conducted by researchers
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  are research. And again, when making a declarative
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  statement about research, you have an obligation
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  to cite the research. not the research -er. So
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  let's take a look at original research, secondary
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  research, and research -based theory. Original
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  research. This is when researchers conduct a
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  study, write up the results, and send it out
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  for peer review. Here the authors are the originators
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  of information. And since it's impossible to
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  study large populations, Original research in
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  the social sciences often takes a detailed look
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  at a small population and attempts to generalize
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  this data to larger populations. Any applications
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  that are made are or should be based solely on
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  the data collected. Original research doesn't
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  prove things or debunk things. It supports things
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  and it strengthens or reifies the theory upon
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  which it was based. And most importantly, research
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  must always be evaluated because there can be
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  methodological concerns or misinterpretations
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  of the data. Secondary research and theoretical
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  articles. Secondary research is when authors
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  of a paper synthesize and apply the research
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  that others have done. These are sometimes referred
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  to as theoretical articles. In a theoretical
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  article, writers set their propositions within
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  the context of research -based theory. They take
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  a broader look. And if you look at the citations
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  for most academic books and journal articles,
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  you will find these kinds of sources are often
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  cited. And I would posit they are most often
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  cited. So the importance of theories. You can
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  find research to support almost any silly thing.
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  And this is why theories are important. Theories
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  provide context for research. Research -based
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  theories are built on many research studies conducted
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  over time that have been replicated and confirmed
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  by other studies. They've been shown to adequately
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  explain a wide set of facts and to understand
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  a range of phenomena. Theories are neither right
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  nor wrong, rather they are robust or weak. Robust
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  theories explain and help us understand a lot
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  of things. Weak theories explain and help us
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  understand a few things. Research snobbery. There's
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  a natural tendency for those conducting original
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  research to think that their kind of knowledge
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  is the best kind of knowledge. That their kind
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  of knowledge trumps all other kinds of knowledge
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  in academic conversations. Well, this is kinda
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  true. It's only true when one uses some variation
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  of the term research says. However, knowledge
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  from original and secondary research are both
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  legitimate sources of knowledge in academic conversations.
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  Let me explain. Original research takes a narrow
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  and very focused look at a single phenomena.
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  Secondary research takes a much broader look
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  at a wide range of phenomena. In other words,
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  one describes the elephant, the first one, from
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  a distance of two inches, while the other, the
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  second one, describes an elephant from a distance,
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  where they can see the whole elephant, interacting
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  with other elephants in its environment. Both
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  views are equally legitimate and important. One
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  is no more important than the other. But again,
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  any time a person uses the word research followed
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  by a verb, there must be a citation to a specific
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  research study. and not a person who's done research.
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  Basic and applied research. Basic research is
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  research conducted apart from the setting in
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  which it's used or applied. And in the case of
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  education, it would be research conducted outside
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  a classroom or similar learning environment.
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  And this would include research related to brain
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  imaging, eye movement, miscue analysis, and priming
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  study. This kind of research is essential in
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  building theories and understanding how the brain
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  creates meaning with print. However, this kind
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  of research does not translate to actual classroom
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  practice. Basic research may suggest certain
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  practices, but applied research is necessary
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  to study how practices work in a real -world
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  environment. So let's take a look at applied
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  research. Applied research is that which is conducted
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  in the setting in which it's used. In this case,
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  of course, it would be a classroom setting or
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  real -world learning environments. In a classroom,
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  the researcher studies human behavior. Does a
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  certain teaching behavior or approach impact
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  a learning behavior? Now remember, we never study
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  learning directly. It's a cognitive thing. We
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  can only study the effects of learning. Now according
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  to Tim Shanahan, the science of reading is a
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  set of applied research studies applied, used
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  to show that one teaching behavior is effective
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  in producing learning behaviors, or one teaching
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  behavior is more effective than another teaching
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  behavior. So in book one, when I talked about
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  the science of reading, I said it seems to refer
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  to a general consensus. related to the strategies
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  and practices that lead to improved reading outcomes.
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  These strategies and practices have been determined
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  to be effective using experimental or quasi -experimental
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  research and conducted in authentic learning
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  environments. Also, this research has established
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  a causal link between strategies or practices
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  and student outcomes, which in this case is reading
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  achievement. So, reading research articles. You
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  can't read research articles in the same way
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  that you read an article in People magazine.
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  It takes time and practice to be able to effectively
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  read and critically evaluate research articles
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  published in an academic journal. But it also
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  helps to know what to look for and how to interpret
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  what you see. But this doesn't mean that research
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  articles are the only valid source of information,
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  or that to be well informed you must only read
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  research articles. I'm not suggesting that teachers,
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  parents, policymakers, and administrators should
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  only read research articles, and I'm not suggesting
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  that academic books like the one I'm working
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  on should only include citations of authentic,
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  peer -reviewed, original research studies. That
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  would lead to a very narrow and distorted view
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  of the world, especially since the Education
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  Science Reform Act of 2002 effectively banned
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  qualitative research from the conversation. But...
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  If somebody makes the claim that research says
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  something, one has an obligation to have read
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  a research article at least once in their life.
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  And if someone says, show me the research, that
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  person should know what research is and how to
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  read and interpret it. A recent online conversationalist
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  tried to challenge a proposition made by saying,
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  show me the Research. And this is a common tactic.
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  Here the conversationalist knows that things
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  should be supported by research, but doesn't
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  quite understand how research works. the correct
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  way to challenge that proposition would be with
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  a question. Can that proposition be supported
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  by research, or is there research to support
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  that proposition, or is that a research -based
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  proposition, or do you have supporting evidence
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  for that proposition? I can show you research,
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  but I can't show you the research. The research
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  doesn't exist. This has been the Reading Instruction
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  Show. I am your host, Dr. Andy Johnson.