Exploring the relationship between assessment and research

The discussions we have had so far in this column concerning assessment issues might have led you to wonder what the relationship between assessment and research is. We indicated that assessment is an interactive, iterative multifaceted and multidimensional process which gathers and evaluates information on what learners know, understand, and can do, for purposes of making informed decisions. Interactive in that it is a shared activity between the assessed and assessor; iterative in that it should never be done once; multifaceted in that it should never be done using one method; and multidimensional in that it measures different abilities – skills, knowledge and attitudes.

Then what is research?

It is a systematic and orderly collection and analysis of information with an ultimate purpose of making useful decisions to solve problems or generating new knowledge.

The process of research includes identifying the purpose, articulating the research problem, reviewing literature , preparing how the research will be conducted ( research design), deciding on the proportion of learners who will take part in the research ( sampling), developing data collection instruments, collecting data, analysing data, interpreting data, and writing the report. Understandably, the starting point in conducting quality assessment is understanding the purpose for assessing.

There are many and varied purposes for assessment such as diagnostics, selection, and placement among others. Consequently, the term assessment can be applied broadly ranging from classroom to external assessment conducted by a dedicated examination body or a research organisation. If assessment is conducted as research, it has to follow the research process. Likewise, research should be done for a purpose, which will depend on the situation at hand. It could be finding a practical solution for an immediate problem in the society or evaluating an intervention that was implemented as a solution to a problem or it could be just to create or advance knowledge in a particular area. Both educational research and assessment employ the same methods of data collection and use the same varied data collection instruments. Whilst in research, a sample is normally used it is uncharacteristic to use a sample when conducting classroom assessment unless the assessment is conducted as action research.

Action research in this context is the research that can only be conducted by the classroom teacher.

Depending on the instrument that was administered, in either research or assessment, it can be scored or coded and data is subsequently captured. Scoring or coding should be done accurately to ensure that validity and reliability are not compromised. Because in a classroom there are normally fewer learners than are normally in a research study, data cleaning is not an issue while in assessment conducted as research, it is. However, both require that data be validated before it is analysed. Analysis involves both qualitative and quantitative methods for both assessment and research.

In qualitative methods, data is analysed non- numerically in the form of words and meaning ( e. g. text, video, or audio), whilst quantitative analysis uses numbers and statistical techniques, descriptively and inferentially.

As we said in research we normally use a sample instead of the whole population, this therefore allows the results to be generalised to the whole population. That is, it allows us to infer the performance of the population from the sample. After administering a test to the class, the teacher calculates the average, the lowest mark, the highest mark, the range, frequencies, and so on. All these are aimed at helping understand learners’ performance either in end of month or quiz or end of term assessment.

Sometimes the highest scoring learner goes on to be given the prize during the prize- giving ceremony, something that should be highly discouraged in the 21st century learning, as it encourages competition at the expense of collaboration; rote learning; individualism; and selfishness.

Assessment as research is a collaborative endeavour and should always be done as a teamwork activity. One major difference between classroom assessment and research is that in the classroom assessment, the teacher has the liberty to link the test scores to the learners since improvement is geared towards an individual, while in assessment as research the issues of confidentiality are very imperative and the learners’ identity should never be revealed, hence the aim is improvement of the education at system level. Considering what assessment as research entails, teachers in their daily teaching transaction, conduct a lot of assessment which can easily be transformed into research. Depending on your vantage point, assessment is a function of research.

Recall the discussion of the national assessment in our last previous four articles.

Yes, it’s possible!

The Author holds PhD in ‘ Assessment & Quality Assurance’ and writes in his personal capacity as a Psychometric Researcher. Contact/ WhatsApp: 71713446 or masoletm@ gmail. com or facebook page: Trust Mbako Masole