Self-efficacy and research methods

2010

2014

Over the past several years social work educators have struggled with developing curriculum and teaching methods that facilitates students’ competence in understanding and conducting research. In an attempt to add to the current knowledge base, Albert Bandura’s (1977a) theory of self-efficacy is applied to teaching research to college students in a bachelor’s level social work program. Teaching strategies and assignments are presented along a continuum of learning; each assignment is linked to one of Bandura’s four sources of self-efficacy. The intent of this paper is to expand the knowledge base which applies theory to educational practices.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2021

One of the goals of graduate education is to produce graduates equipped with excellent research skills. With the challenges on the quality education and demands on excellence, the current priority of the Commission of Higher Education is on research. Graduate schools offering graduate programs are mandated to guide students develop the research skills expected of them. The purpose of this study is to determine how specific factors such as research efficacy and research interest contributed to research knowledge of the students. The participants of the study are the Master's and Doctoral student enrolled in the school. The study utilized descriptive research design. The results showed that the Graduate students have good research interest and good level of self-efficacy, but poor research knowledge. Moreover, there is a significant contribution of interest in research to research knowledge, but a negative contribution of research self-efficacy to students' research knowledge. These findings imply that the development of the graduate students' research interest should be prioritized by the School of Education. These also denotes that there could be other factors to be looked into that may have contribution to students' research knowledge, not only efficacy and interest.

Cypriot Journal of …, 2011

The purpose of this research is to develop a scale towards identifying research-related self-efficacies of university students. Research Self-Efficacy Scale (RSS) has been applied to 310 students pursuing academic education at the Near East University (NEU). For structural validity of the Scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed. As a result of the EFA, a structure with a single factor composed of 18 items and explaining 31% of the variation has been identified. Structural validity has been especially observed also through the Scale scores of those groups whose properties are known. Analysis results have shown a higher Scale point in favour of those who have taken research methods modules as opposed to those who have not, and those who have previous research experience as opposed to those who do not. The analysis for concurrent validity has produced a significant negative correlation between the Scale scores and the scores of the research anxiety scale, and a significant positive correlation between the Scale scores and perceived academic achievement. The alpha coefficient of the Scale scores is .87 and the split-half reliability coefficient is .85.

Eurasian Journal of Educational Research

The main aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between research selfefficacy and the perception of the research training environment, interest in research, research mentoring experience, and research knowledge within a sample of Ph.D. students (N=120) at a local university in Malaysia. Method: Correlation and regression analysis were employed to investigate the impact of research mentoring, research training environment, interest in research and research knowledge on research selfefficacy. Self-reported questionnaires and a research knowledge test were distributed to the Ph.D. students in the university to collect the data.

2016

Existing literature examining the teaching of research methods highlights difficulties students face when developing research competencies. Studies of student-centered teaching approaches have found increased student performance and improved confidence in undertaking research projects. To develop a student-centered approach, it could be beneficial to teach students through active participation, with the development of their research agendas as the basis for progression. To develop this goal, the research methods module for graduate students at a UK business school was restructured into a two-week block utilizing a student-centered approach. The performance of the students was then compared to the performance of students who undertook the same course material presented in a traditional semester-long module and the results were then statistically analyzed. The results of this study provide new and interesting evidence of increased student achievement and understanding through the new format and provide new avenues for future research.

Nurse Education Today, 2010

Mentoring in nursing is an important process for socializing nurse researchers, developing a body of professional knowledge, and influencing career choices of students. Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) is concerned with one's perceived ability to perform tasks within a specific domain.

Innovative Higher Education, 2003

Gains in research self-efficacy for 60 Social Work and 75 Speech-Language Pathology students were compared. Our interest was to investigate whether students enrolled in both research and practice courses made greater gains in research self-efficacy over a semester, as compared to students enrolled in practice courses only. Findings indicated that Speech-Language Pathology students taking both research and practice courses showed the greatest gain. Examination of the Speech-Language Pathology curriculum suggested that when research courses were augmented with opportunities to apply research learning outside of class, greater gain in student confidence was achieved. We discuss implications for curricular development and interdisciplinary discourse on curriculum matters, and these implications reach beyond the two specific disciplines.

South African Journal of Higher Education, 2019

The study investigated the significant role that self-efficacy and attitude play in determining preservice teachers' performance within research modules at HEIs. Almost 90 per cent of final year education students (n = 128) at private HEIs, emphasise their dislike for research. They also express their struggle in understanding research modules and how the research modules in their training relate to the teaching profession. This concurrent mixed-method study uses both qualitative and quantitative research to help explain the findings regarding pre-service teachers' apprehensions and challenges relating to research modules. The study also determines preservice teachers' self-efficacy and attitude by administering a survey before the commencement of the research methodology module and qualitative questionnaire upon completion of the research module. By determining pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and attitude, the effectiveness of the research modules is also determined. The relationship between pre-service teachers' selfefficacy, attitude and research module performance as an aspect of the B.Ed. Foundation Phase education curriculum is established. The generic nature of research methodology modules within the B.Ed. curriculum allows this case study's findings to be useful to any other discipline's research methodology modules at other HEIs. This study adds to the advancement of institutional research across HEIs and motivates interdisciplinary collaboration across South Africa.

Bioscience Education, 2003

The Scientific Training by Assignment for Research Students (STARS) project (http://www.ucc.ie/research/stars) comprises of an internet-based learning resource that has been designed to help undergraduate students develop a number of fundamental skills associated with conducting scientific research. In particular, it aims to improve the ability of students to plan, design, manage and execute scientific research whilst providing opportunities for formative assessment and rapid feedback. We describe the content and pedagogical approach adopted by STARS with a particular emphasis on its incorporation of the principles of experiential learning. We use our experience of designing the STARS resource to reflect more generally on both science education and the development of research skills in undergraduate degrees.