Integrating research proposal writing into a postgraduate research method course: what does it tell us?

Reflections on Active Teaching and Learning of Research Methodology from Undergraduates’ and Instructor’s Perspectives

“…Text refinement refers to students' attempts, with the instructor's support or feedback, to revise their tasks and enhance the quality of their final submitted tasks. This corroborates what was reported by previous studies (Vandiver & Walsh, 2010;Braguglia & Jackson, 2012;Keenan & Fontaine, 2012;Saeed & Al Qunayeer, 2020;) that the implementation of peer review in a research methodology course assisted learners in exchanging feedback and revising their texts. This is not to strongly claim that the final products submitted by students excelled the earlier drafts in all aspects rather than content and methods.…”

“…As summarized in Table 1, the study's findings suggest that the students reported perceived opportunities for learning afforded by the active learning approach used in the research methodology course. Consistent with previous research on active learning of research methodology (e.g., Ball & Pelco, 2006;Barraket, 2005;Edwards & Thatcher, 2004;Saeed & Al Qunayeer, 2020;Vandiver & Walsh, 2010), the findings of the present study have theoretical implications for research methodology courses. Student engagement in research-oriented tasks such as research proposals and critiques allowed them to enhance their learning about research methods.…”

“…The above studies indicate that research projects and proposals engage students in active learning through several steps: topic selection, problem identification/construction, literature review writing, and development of their research instruments. For instance, Saeed and Al Qunayeer (2020) revealed that the engagement of postgraduates in active learning through research proposals created opportunities for students to receive instructional feedback and peer feedback and motivated them to go through several drafts of their tasks. Similarly, in another recent study (Saeed et al, 2020), research proposal tasks integrated into a postgraduate research methodology course allowed the students to apply what they learned to their proposals (e.g., reviewing the literature, stating their problems, and designing their methods).…”

“…For instance, Saeed and Al Qunayeer (2020) revealed that the engagement of postgraduates in active learning through research proposals created opportunities for students to receive instructional feedback and peer feedback and motivated them to go through several drafts of their tasks. Similarly, in another recent study (Saeed et al, 2020), research proposal tasks integrated into a postgraduate research methodology course allowed the students to apply what they learned to their proposals (e.g., reviewing the literature, stating their problems, and designing their methods). However, projects also involved students collecting the data, analyzing the data, and interpreting and reporting the findings.…”

“…Studies focusing on the implementation of active teaching and learning in such courses reported that students and instructors are challenged by the complex nature of the content knowledge of the course itself (Keenan & Fontaine, 2012), the effort and hard work demanded and the time-consuming nature of doing research/research projects (Lundahl, 2008), the time allocated for the course (Lundahl, 2008;Coronel Llamas & Boza, 2011;Keenan & Fontaine, 2012;Engbers, 2016), and the large number of students and the large number of student groups (Engbers, 2016). Other challenges identified by Saeed and Al Qunayeer (2020) are (a) those related to the subject matter (e.g., difficulty in successfully selecting and applying research designs to research proposal tasks), (b) those related to students themselves (e.g., pre-assumption and anxiety about the course), and (c) those related to instructors (e.g., being challenged by the content knowledge of the course).…”