Measuring Undergraduate Elementary School Teacher Candidates' Research Skills

Abstract

This paper reports the knowledge and skills of undergraduate students of Universitas Negeri Semarang. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative used in this study. For achieving this study's objective, nine indicators and four aspects (seeking for information, solving problems, communication, and methodology) were developed and validated. Sixth-semester students, that have taken the Methodology of Educational Research course, were asked to work on a diagnostic test to examine their knowledge and skills during their time in composing a research proposal. The techniques of data analysis were the interactive model by Miles and Huberman and Rasch model. The results revealed that although their initial knowledge about educational research was lacking (52.5%), their research skills were dominantly good. This study implies that the involvement of students in lecturers' research either as research subjects, data collectors, or research assistants is needed to generate skilled and knowledgeable students in the field of educational research.