Analytical Thinking Process of Students in a Fundamental Research Methodology in Social Science Subject

Abstract

The present research investigated students’ analytical thinking process in the subject “Fundamental Research Methodology in Social Science” based on Richard Paul’s theory of eight elements of thought. The participants of this study were 117 third year students who were enrolled in the subject “Fundamental Research Methodology in Social Science (SOC3301),” Social Studies major, Faculty of Education, Roi-Et Rajabhat University. The research methodology was a One-Shot Case Study. The research instruments included a constructed questionnaire and an interview concerning with students’ analytical thinking process. To analyze the data, statistics used in the study were means and standard deviation for quantitative data, and content analysis was employed for qualitative data. The results indicated that most of the students showed high overall mean scores of analytical thinking process in terms of problem viewing/entitling, purpose setting, and theoretical thinking respectively. The findings from the interview revealed that classroom group work enhanced students’ process of analytical thinking and understanding. They could interpret situations more clearly as the teacher supervised each group separately. The teacher’s supervision could better The teacher’s supervision could better stimulate their critical thinking and synthesizing skills than teaching in front of class. Moreover, the group work offered opportunities to the students to do group discussions in every class period which contributed to their thinking skills progressively and accordingly.