A Critique of the Journal Article ‘Examining Teacher Effectiveness within Differentially Effective Primary Schools in the People’s Republic of China’ by Charles Teddlie and Shujie Liu (2008)

Abstract

This paper will evaluate the journal article ‘Examining Teacher Effectiveness within
Differentially Effective Primary Schools in the People’s Republic of China’, co-authored by
Charles Teddlie and Shujie Liu and published in the journal ‘School Effectiveness and School
Improvement’ in 2008. It presents the philosophical classification of the research text, with a
particular focus on the underlying view of post-positivism. It outlines two different types of
evaluation criteria and, based on the criteria, identifies both the strengths and weaknesses of
the research text respectively. It discusses the improvements that could be made for
improving the research and concludes with reflections on how the philosophical approach
could impact on the coherence between research design and research methodology as well as
the recognition of the advantages and disadvantages of combining quantitative and qualitative
methods in a piece of mix-methods research.