Investigating the Teaching of Research Methodology in Psychology and Education in Iran

The preparation of this article is based on studies and findings of a scientifically approved research, which took place for “investigating research methodology in psychology and education in Iran.” The research questions to be investigated were as follows:1- What are the epistemological and methodological foundations of the textbooks and resources used in university courses of research methods in psychology and education?2- What status do the articles that are being published in scientific-research-based journals in psychology and education in Iran have in terms of epistemology, methodology, and goal or type of research design?3- How much co-ordinance do the course syllabus that are taught in the research methodology courses in Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral levels of Psychology and Education in the nations’ large universities (i.e., Tehran University, Allame Tabatabaee University, Shahid Beheshti University, Tarbiat-Moallem University, Tehran-Azad University, Shiraz University, and Isfahan University) have with the most important university textbooks for the research methodology course?4- What are the theoretical foundations and the epistemology behind the content of the professors’ teachings in the research-methodology courses in Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral levels of psychology and education in nations’ large universities?5- To what extent do the students of the Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral levels in psychology and education in research methodology courses in nation’s large universities learn the nature of research or the theoretical foundations and the epistemology (the philosophy of science) of research?To answer questions one and two, sixteen main teaching textbooks in psychology and education and all articles in psychology, which have been published in the last issues of the country’s scientific-research-based journals have been considered and reviewed. As well, in order to answer questions three to five, 22 of the professors of research methodology courses in psychology and education in the Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate levels in the seven large universities of the country - who teach in the psychology and educational sciences faculties in these universities - were taken to structured interviews. The same was done to 119 university students who had had the highest scores in the psychology and educational sciences faculties of the mentioned universities.This research showed that:1- The epistemological and methodological foundation of the course textbooks for research methods that is taught in universities is of the positivism and post-positivism philosophy and the quantitative research methods.2- The psychological and educational articles that are published in scientific-research-based journals of psychology and education in the country are based on the positivistic and post-positivistic philosophy of science as well as on quantitative methodology and are mainly the results of strategic research projects.3- The numbers of teaching research method credits in the three levels of Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral level of psychology and education is very low and the syllabus of teaching by the professors during the courses is much less than those available in genuine research-methodology textbooks.4- The epistemological foundation behind professor’s teaching of research methodology is also of the quantitative, positivistic, and post-positivistic philosophy and no attention is paid to qualitative researches.5- The students of the research methodology course in the three levels of Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral of psychology and education are not made aware of the nature of research and the theoretical foundations of philosophy of science in psycho-educational researches and no previous training is given to them in this matter.