Pedagogical reality requires constant study. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of pedagogy for modern society. This is a science that educates and educates future generations of those who will become direct members of society, those who will participate in the governance of the country, etc. Therefore, it is important to find effective teaching methods.
As in any science, research is constantly conducted in pedagogy, which includes experiments, observations, etc. Their goal is to gain new knowledge, confirm theories or refute them. Including studies that are new research methods in pedagogy.
Obtaining knowledge about the surrounding pedagogical reality is always subject to certain rules. Often these rules have been formed over time, they required the hard work of many famous teachers. But since then, they began to be divided into several main groups.
Division of methods into main groups
There are several main groups into which research methods in pedagogy are divided. All of them are aimed at learning objective reality. Each science uses its own research methods, they help to acquire new knowledge and move forward. In pedagogy, such methods also exist, but they are only classified in a different way.
The first group includes traditional pedagogical research methods in pedagogy. As the name implies, this includes all those methods that have been known for a long time and which have passed into modern science by inheritance. Some of these methods can be hundreds of years old, and the period of their origin can date back to Plato, Comenius or Pestelozzi.
What are the traditional methods of scientific research in pedagogy can be distinguished? Of course, these are observations that were used in antiquity. Only it has nothing to do with ordinary observation, it is a much more subtle scientific process, which is assigned specific tasks, and all the data obtained are subjected to deep analysis. Other methods are the study of the experience and products of student creativity. They will help answer many questions facing educators and researchers.
An important method of research, without a doubt, is a pedagogical experiment. This is a kind of experience that can be put in pedagogical research. Its main feature and difference from other methods is that it can create and simulate a specific situation that a researcher faces, while other methods only help to capture data.
Any experiment should be based on a specific theory or hypothesis. This experience is aimed at obtaining information that will help confirm or refute the theory. Other research methods in professional pedagogy are often deprived of this.
An experiment helps to create conditions that are sometimes impossible to obtain in a natural environment. This may lead to some desired result, or vice versa, the results may be negative, but based on this, conclusions can already be drawn.
Relatively new are various tests, which also include research methods in pedagogy. Testing began to be applied to obtain information in the 80-90 years of the twentieth century. After receiving positive results, they began to spread throughout the world and widely used in pedagogy.
Testing helps to compile a statistical idea of changes in the student’s performance, about what he achieved and how this or that system affects him. They help to express qualitative changes in numbers, which helps to better understand how effective these or those research methods in pedagogy are.