Graduate Introductory Educational Research Courses: A Comparison of Requirements of Veteran and Novice Professors.

Following up two previous studies which identified the course content, and essential skills and knowledge outcomes for graduate introductory educational research courses, further study was conducted to determine the following: which of the skills identified for graduate introductory research courses were quantitatively or qualitatively oriented; what demographic differences exist among professors who teach graduate introductory educational research courses; and specifically what differences exist between veteran professors (those who had taught the course for 15 years and more) and novice professors (those who had taught the course for less than 5 years). Questionnaires which sought demographic data were distributed to 139 Professors of Educational Research. A quantitative subscale which omitted some additional researcher judgements including validity, was constructed from among the 59 skills identified by classifying items as quantitative or qualitative. Twenty-two items comprised the quantitative subscale with a subscale score computed for each respondent. Analyses of Variance were conducted between the quantitative subscale scores and the various demographic variables. Study findings include the following: (1) 70% of the sample viewed the course as quantitatively oriented; (2) veteran professors displayed a higher quantitative subscale score. Among other observations, the study noted that a shift in methodological paradigms to include qualitative methodology is occurring in introductory educational research courses. Appended is the Research Skills and Knowledge Areas Questionnaire. Includes seven references. (LPT)