Development of Guidelines for Promotion of Research Ability of Teachers in the Schools for the Deaf in the Northeastern Region

Abstract

This research aimed: 1) to construct guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability; 2) to compare teachers’ research ability with the 70 percent criterion; and 3) to assess the guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability in the schools for the deaf in the Northeastern Region. This research employed the Research and Development design. The sample was composed of 1) 7 experts for focus group discussion, 2) 10 teachers of the implementation units, and 3) 17 school administrators and teachers. The research instruments consisted of  1) a focus group discussion record form, 2) an assessment form for appropriateness of the guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability, 3) a manual for using the guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability, 4) a short-term research training course, 5) a short-term training plan, 6) a test of research methodology knowledge, 7) an assessment form for research report writing skill, 8) a questionnaire inquiring about ability of conducting attribute research, and 9) an assessment form for the guidelines for promoting research ability. The statistics employed in the analysis of data were basic statistics—percentage, mean, standard deviation; and inferential statistics for testing research hypotheses—t-test for one sample and Wilcoxon signed rank test for one sample. The research findings were as follows:

1. The guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability comprised 2 principles: 1. The principle of management for promotion of teachers’ research ability which consisted of 7 guidelines: (1) establishing a network of cooperation between schools and higher education institutions; (2) applying the 5W2H management principles in planning for research ability development for teachers; (3) creating strategies to motivate teachers to do research; (4) planning projects to promote teachers’ research ability; (5) developing short-term research training courses; (6) building a research team and research mentor system for teachers; (7) providing sources for the Internet access within the school; (8) setting the online research clinic for teachers seeking advice; and (9) having experts to impart knowledge to teachers. 2. The principle of teachers’ research ability development which consisted of 4 guidelines: (1) organizing workshops focusing on hands-on experience; (2) using the process of professional learning community to drive the teachers’ research outputs; (3) providing advice on research by experts; and (4) supervising, monitoring and assessing teacher research works by the school internal supervision system.

2. The comparison of teachers’ research ability with the 70 percent criterion revealed that the teachers’ research ability regarding knowledge, skills, and attributes were higher than the criterion, with statistical significance at the 0.05 level.   

3. The results of the assessment of the guidelines for promotion of teachers’ research ability in the schools for the deaf in Northeastern Region, on the whole, were found to have appropriateness in the highest level.