Purpose

The study assesses pre-service teachers' attitudes, confidence in research and intentions to use research by comparing the effectiveness of practical versus theoretical training in research methods courses.

Design/methodology/approach

This natural experiment examines the impact of the adaptations made to a research methods course for 848 pre-service teachers, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were naturally divided into two cohorts, each attending either the applied version, which required the completion of a whole research study, or the theoretical version, which did not require data collection and analyses. The data were collected through three questionnaires measuring attitudes, confidence and intentions toward research.

Findings

Inferential statistics revealed that pre-service teachers in the theoretical course (1) had more positive attitudes toward research and less anxiety, (2) had more intentions to integrate research in their daily practice and (3) had more confidence in engaging in educational research, compared to the pre-service teachers who completed the applied version of the course.

Originality/value

This study uniquely capitalizes on course adaptations, imposed due to the pandemic, to compare attitudes toward research. This is an ideal comparison because comparing attitudes of participants from different contexts involves many confounding variables. The study’s significance is amplified as, it not only elucidates the variances in attitudes, but also underscores the intricate relationship these attitudes share with the design of research courses. The insights yielded by this study offer substantial potential for reshaping pedagogical strategies in research methods instruction, thereby serving as a cornerstone for future educational innovations.

中文翻译：

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职前教师的研究态度：自然实验中出现的意外结果

目的

该研究通过比较研究方法课程中实践与理论培训的有效性，评估了职前教师的态度、对研究的信心和利用研究的意图。

设计/方法论/途径

这项自然实验考察了由于 COVID-19 大流行而对 848 名职前教师的研究方法课程进行调整的影响。参与者自然地被分为两组，每组要么参加需要完成整个研究的应用版本，要么参加不需要数据收集和分析的理论版本。数据通过三份问卷收集，衡量对研究的态度、信心和意图。

发现

推论统计显示，理论课程的职前教师（1）对研究的态度更积极，焦虑更少，（2）更有意愿将研究融入日常实践中，（3）对从事教育研究更有信心，与完成应用版课程的职前教师相比。

原创性/价值

这项研究独特地利用了因大流行而实施的课程调整来比较对研究的态度。这是一个理想的比较，因为比较来自不同背景的参与者的态度涉及许多混杂的变量。这项研究的意义被放大，因为它不仅阐明了态度的差异，而且强调了这些态度与研究课程设计之间的复杂关系。这项研究得出的见解为重塑研究方法教学中的教学策略提供了巨大的潜力，从而成为未来教育创新的基石。