Problem-based learning in research method courses: development, application and evaluation

Abstract

Background The undergraduate curriculum in Indonesia generally requires students to take a research methods course as a prerequisite course for the preparation of scientific reports. The objective of this course is to teach students how to present research results both orally and in writing using the styles and forms of each university. However, this course is not popular among students because the material is complex and technical. As a result, there is a gap between learning outcomes and their application when students prepare scientific reports. Improving pedagogy and teaching interventions through student-developed research projects is important in complementing lectures. The purpose of this study was to analyze the improvement of students’ ability in writing scientific reports through research method courses using problem based learning (PBL). Methods This research was a case study to report the integration of scientific report writing in research methods courses through PBL at the Universitas Islam Bandung in Indonesia. PBL was implemented by involving students in research-related tasks with the following stages: writing research questions, determining the research design, collecting data, analyzing data, and presenting research results. Results The research results showed that there was an increase in scientific writing skills in the good category. Normalized gain for indicators of increasing accuracy using research report formats, suitability for using literature and research methods is 0.064 and 0.209, including the low category, and the plagiarism level is 0.509, including the medium category. Conclusions This finding implies that assigning students to write scientific reports using PBL in the research method classroom is useful for improving learning outcomes, presentation, reasoning, communication, ambiguous problem-solving, and reducing plagiarism. The findings of this study strengthen the findings of previous researchers, namely increase students’ abilities in using formatting to prepare scientific reports, using appropriate literature, mastering research materials as well as reducing the level of plagiarism.