Abstract
Nowadays, researching and innovating teaching processes is vital for teachers at higher education to improve their teaching quality, especially in applied linguistics and language education. experimental research is a useful approach for researchers, educators, teachers and managers at universities. The chapter may aim to achieve the following objectives: (1) Present a comprehensive overview of experimental research methodologies; (2) Provide guidelines for designing experiments, including defining research questions, selecting appropriate variables, and establishing control conditions; (3) Discuss various data collection methods, including observation, surveys, and laboratory experiments; (4) Detail the importance of random assignment and statistical analysis techniques to ensure robust results; (5) Highlight ethical considerations and potential limitations in experimental research; (6) Showcase examples of successful experimental studies in different disciplines to provide practical insights.
TopIntroduction
Imagine you are teaching second language (L2) pronunciation to a new class of learners. As you observe their performance, you notice their pronunciation skills are inadequate, with some struggling to articulate basic sounds of the target language (TL). This prompts you to consider the use of Oral Corrective Feedback (OCF) techniques (Li, 2018; Lyster, Saito, & Sato, 2013; Saito, 2021).
During each lesson, when a learner makes an error, you provide them with the correct form of their errors. This feedback can be explicit, directly informing them of their mistake and providing the correct form, or indirect, such as repeating the word, phrase, or sentence with the correct pronunciation (Bryfonski & Ma, 2020; Mahmood, 2023).
After some time, you question whether the provision of OCF effectively improves learners’ pronunciation abilities. How can you find answers to this question? These inquiries aren’t limited to the realm of L2 teaching; people ask similar questions in their daily lives and seek answers (Gonzalez-Marquez, Mittelberg, Coulson, 2003). Therefore, it can be concluded that academic research is a process of investigation that revolves around posing questions and seeking corresponding answers (Nunan, 1992). In that sense, academic research is defined as “an intellectual act to discover new facts or knowledge by attempting to go beyond existing knowledge” (Phakiti, 2015, p. 4). Therefore, the following sections will explore how to approach such questions using the scientific methodology, focusing on experimental research. Additionally, practical considerations will be addressed to serve as a preliminary guide for conducting experimental research.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Research Design: When researchers plan to use some certain research strategy to address the research questions and the hypotheses is called research design.
Informed Consent: It is one of the main principles of ethical consideration, and through informed consent, the participants must be informed and provided with adequate information about a research study before voluntarily agreeing to participate.
Research Instrument: When the researcher(s) use some methods or tools to collect data in a research study, such as surveys, questionnaires, interviews, tests, observation protocols, or physiological measures.
Participants: When the participants are human beings, they are those whom the data will be collected from, then, the data will be analysed and interpreted to answer the research questions.
Participants Confidentiality: When the data were collected from the participants, the researcher(s) must ensure the privacy and anonymity of research participants by keeping their identity and personal information.
Variables: It is the object(s) of the study that can be measured to test hypotheses or answer research questions.