Adult education in India has a long history and it was organised even during the pre independence period and therefore it can be expected that some research in this area should have been conducted since then. After independence students in various disciplines conducted researches in adult education and Kundu ( Adult Education Research-Future Directions) Salamatullah (Adult Education Research in India) and Bhatia and Patil (Research in Adult Education) and others have reviewed the studies conducted in this area. Pillia in his papers entitled "research in Adult Education - Past, Present & Future," perspectives in Adult Education Research, "Research in Educational Management" with special reference to non-formal education has concluded that research in Adult Education in India is rather weak. Since, the work of Salamatullah, more than ten years have passed and therefore a fresh look at the whole area of Adult Education Research has to be attempted and "With 93 Universities involved in adult, Continuing Education and Extension Programmes through their Departments/Centres with the commissioning of many TLC projects (many having completed), Adult Education having recognised as a discipline, and separate faculties being recommended and established for adult, non-formal education in Indian Universities, time is apt to persue of researches undertaken during 1980-94 at various levels to correct the false notions of many including administrators, practitioners and researchers in allied fields. At a time when interdisciplinary researches are most needed, there are some who try to under-rate such researches and create stumbling blocks in their attempts. Disciplines emerge gradually and all disciplines had infant and childhood illnesses/weaknesses. Adult Education is no exception. It will also gain its rightful place in the year to come.

The pioneering attempt on analysing the trends of research in adult education in Indian context as mentioned above was of Dr. Salamatullah (1984) and the main findings of this analysis were as given below :

Research concerning those sections of Indian people whose educational problems are most acute has received inadequate attention. Adult Education studies regarding general public are about one half of the total studies numbering

117. Rural people in general account for one quarter of the studies. The Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and the rural poor have received scanty treatment, only 8 studies being about them. The case of urban slum dwellers has gone totally by default. Studies on adult education specifically for women are very few in number.

Though the largest number of studies are related to the learner, there are few that throw light on the basic question of how adults learn i.e. psychology of adult learning. The same is true of curriculum and instructional material. Though there are some studies on "methods and techniques of teaching", there is no good study available on how to teach the 3 R's. The area of instructional material used for functionality or awareness remains almost untouched, while evaluation studies have attracted unduly greater attention of researchers. There is only one verbal adult intelligence group test constructed in Bengali, with a limited usability, as it cannot be administered to illiterate adults. Prof. Kundu has also attempted review of the research in Adult Education in his publication entitled "Adult Education Research - Future Directions" (1987) and accordingly the fact remains, however, that very few of these studies meet the canons of adequate research. Indeed these studies can only be called research in an exceedingly liberal definition of what constitutes research. A great deal of the published work on adult education in India is concerned with descriptions of the aims, methods, problems, structure, history and development of adult education in this country. He further says that experimental and psychometric approaches have been the most eminent types of

studies undertaken in the field of adult education, including literacy, the use of classical research such as surveys, KAP(Knowledge, attitude, practice) studies and other types of traditional research have been popular and have been extensively used. The research effort so far in the field of adult education has been sporadic and largely unsystematic and uncoordinated. Some Universities and Research Organisations have been conducting research studies but due to lack of structural linkages between universities and the implementing agencies, research projects, by and large, have not been linked to the urgent and practical problems relating to adult education programmes. Moreover, relevant research findings have not always been utilised for improvement of ongoing programmes for lack of adequate dissemination of such research efforts. On the one hand, implementing agencies have been affected by shortage of trained manpower for research, on the other hand, there is non utilisation of the potentialities of universities and research organisations for meaningful research effort for adult education programmes. The analysis of the researches made has revealed that studies in adult education researh have seldom responded to specific needs and have hardly become linked with national endeavours or goals of Indian society. Statistics show that studies display ad-hoc attempts resulting in superficial explorations, unwanted duplication and contradictory observations. Nevertheless, it has grown in a spectacular fashion. Most of it continues remedial in nature.

Launching of NAEP in 1978 promoted directly or indirectly research in adult education and consequently a scheme for promoting research in NAEP was also formulated by Directorate of adult education and the scheme envisaged "any type of systematic fact finding analysis and inquiry which broaden and deepen understanding of the processes of adult education programme, adult learning behaviours or designing any innovative approaches for improving ongoing programme could be regarded as research in adult education programme. Research in adult education could particularly be useful in the following areas :-

- for providing better insights into problems relating to AE;

- for designing innovative approaches and methods for improving programme;

- for integrating new ideas and insights of different disciplines making adult education a vital input for development.

The comprehensive guidelines forming part of the research scheme indicated the role of universities and research organisations, listed significant research areas for NAEP and also highlighted the specialised role of the Directorate of Adult Education and procedure inviting proposals, their screening, amount of financial assistance available etc.

The scheme envisaged the following roles to be performed by organising action and applied research activities :

(i) To animate useful and high quality research;

(ii) To coordinate research activities;

(iii) To disseminate research findings in a manner that would be comprehensive and practical for the improvement of ongoing programmes; and

(iv) To undertake/commission research in the crucial areas of adult education programmes

The areas of research which were supposed to be paid attention were :-

- Methods of learner evaluation particularly in respect of functionality and awareness;

- Methods of literacy learning;

- Language of literacy, particularly where the language is a dialect.

- Impact of adult education on enrolment and retention of children in primary schools, and on implementation of other development programmes;

- Learning through the traditional and folk media;

- Retention and use of literacy;

- Post-literacy and follow up activities.

However, the pace and progress of implementing the scheme has been tardy, mainly because the response to the scheme has not been very encouraging. A perusal of the type of research studies sponsored by DAE in this area clearly indicate that the coverage was inadequate and was hardly of much use for policy planning or relevant to applied research and fundamental research.

Some of the studies sponsored and completed were as given below :-

1. Educative Component of Holistic Health Care

-Institute of Child Health, Calcutta

2. Adult Education for Women - Eight Case-studies

-Institute of social Studies, New Delhi.

3. Effect of socio-psychological variaties on

participation and use of message by

literates under NAEP

4. Methodology for Numeracy learning and Teaching

of Adults in Rural Areas (Tamil Nadu)

-L.S. Saraswati, Mandara Education Centre.

Madras.

The areas covered under the sponsored studies were the following :-

* Motivation

* Materials - Curriculum

* Media

* Training

* Evaluation

* Retention

* Workers Training

* Testing

* Planning/Management

* Language

With the establishment of the State Resource Centres for adult non-formal education in different parts of the country for providing resource support to the programme of Adult Education, efforts were initiated to conduct research in various areas of the Adult Education Programme, particularly on curriculum issues and IPCL approach, efficacy of the compaign approach, training strategies, media promotion, impact evaluation and methodology to test literacy and education with special reference to sustaining interest of learners etc. etc. Since the establishment of National Literacy Mission and expansion of State Resource Centres in the country an interest has been created in conducting research. Recently National Literacy Mission has taken a good initiative by conducting annual competition for awarding the best researches conducted in the field of literacy and adult education. It has further given a boost to the programme of research in India. Universities were expected to conduct researches but the contribution has been the minimal. An eminent educationist Shri Anil Bordia has described the state of research and the National Literacy Mission in the following words:-

"Evaluation in NLM has consisted mainly of the number and percentage of illiterate persons made literate with reference to achievement of grades corresponding to the three grades laid down under NLM. There was considerable thoroughness in evaluation at the initial stages of NLM - but the rigour of evaluation declined as the programme progressed, and there were pressures to show good and quick results. Evaluation work in NLM, from the very beginning, was not assigned to institutions, but ad hoc teams were created for each district. Further, evaluation has all along been at the conclusion of a district campaign and it has been utilised mainly to declare, or not declare, the district literate. Consequently, rather than contributing to an improvement of the programme, evaluation ha tended to push the programmes towards a quantitative orientation to a neglect of the qualitative aspect. Evaluation in NLM has also contributed little to an enquiry or study of processes which contribute to adult learning, or to organise scientific investigation to solve problems, test hypotheses, etc.

Research has taken a back seat in the drive to cover more and more districts. Even universities, including their departments of extension and adult education, have joined the bandwagon of literacy workers overlooking their role and responsibility in the area of research."

Though the state of affairs described above to a great extent is realistic and correct, but in recent past some of the research studies conducted are fundamental and also applied in nature and useful.

The National Institute of Adult Education was established by National Literacy Mission, Government of India 1991 and its number one responsibility was to provide academic, technical and research support to the National Literacy Mission generally and specifically, to enhance the quality of research in the field of Adult Education. During 1992-93 the following broad programme areas were identified for research work.

1. Communication in Adult Education.

2. Gender Equity in Literacy.

3. History of Adult Education.

4. Policy Issues in Adult Education.

5. Evaluation Research in Adult Education.

6. Post-Literacy and Continuing education.

7. Statistical Data Base for Literacy

The specific research studies that were taken up were the following according to a report :-

1. Popular Culture and Adult Education.

2. International Cooperation in Indian Adult Education.

3. History of Adult Education in India.

4. A Chronological Study of Indian Adult Education.

5. Annotated Bibliography on women and Literacy.

6. Textual Analysis of Literacy primers : A collaborative study.

7. Programme Evaluation Research in Adult Education in India : A study of the art.

8. National Literacy Mission : A Policy study.

9. Post Literacy efforts through newspaper and weekly Broadsheet in Chittoor and Nellore districts of Andhra Pradesh : A feedback study.

10. A study on organisational and pedagogical aspects of post-literacy programme in TLC districts.

11. Weekly Broadsheet for Neo-literates.

12. News and feature Service for Neo-Literate Materials.

13. Development and Continuing Education : The Post-Literacy Phase.

14. Income Generation and Post-Literacy an Action Research project.

15. Investigation in Organisation and Pedagogy of Adult Education and Literacy Programme in the context of socio-political movements.

16. TLC studies-Dungarpur and Bharatpur.

17. Development of statistical Database-Literacy.

These initiatives were taken but due to apathy of the Government the institute could not function properly and complete the research studies planned. Subsequently, a new development took place and in order to have expert advice on Evaluation of Literacy Campaign in India an expert group to streamline process of evaluation was constituted under the Chairmanship of Professor Arun Ghosh in 1993 and this expert group submitted it reports in September,1994. Since, it influenced research in India the recommendations are worth reviewing for trend analysis and these are :-

The major evaluation objectives as recommended by Ghosh Committee are :-

(i) to provide objective and reliable assessment of the literacy achievement of the learners and to highlight the apparent social impact of the campaign so as to provide feed back to the organizers of the campaign and to initiative corrective measures where necessary for improvement of the programme and to provide academic output for policy makers, layman and administrators at various levels.

(ii) Adoption of a participatory approach for evaluation of literacy campaigns and for this purpose it was suggested by the Ghosh Committee to involve Statistical Department of the district for designing the sample, SRCs/RRCs for designing the tools and college student and village leaders for administering the test and providing facilities for test administration.

(iii) The final evaluation should be conducted only when 60% of the learners enrolled have completed Book-III of/are near to its completion.

(iv) Internal evaluation should be conducted on all the learners enrolled and not on a sample basis. The internal evaluation should follow the same evaluation procedures, evaluation tools and the evaluation techniques as has been recommended by the expert group for the external evaluation.

(v) The task of external evaluation may be assigned to the Department of Statistics and Social Sciences of some local/regional universities or the research institutions. In the bigger States, where there are many such agencies conducting the evaluation, a nodal agency may be identified to coordinate and monitor the work of all the external evaluation agencies.

(vi) With regards to the evaluation design, the expert group has emphasised the sampling design that in truly representative of the universe. For selection of the sample, stratified random sampling design may be adopted choosing the strata from different social groups and geographical regions. For a good evaluation design, 10 blocks may be selected at the first stage and four panchayats from each selected block and four villages from each selected panchayat may be selected at the second and the third stage. The sample thus derived should be 5% to 10% of the universe.

(vii) The evaluation agencies should concentrate on measuring the literacy achievment of the learners alongwith some apparent impact of the literacy campaign while the social impact can be assessed only after one or two years after completion of the campaign.

(viii) So far the weightage of marks to reading , writing and numeracy in the test paper and cut off points, the expert group has not deviated from the Dave Committee Recommendations.

However, the Committee was of the view that atleast 80% of the learners must be evaluated and the evaluation report should be submitted in a proper form indicating the sample design, the procedures adopted by the external evaluation agency, the achievement rate of learners of various social groups - strata, sex, age group, and geographical area wise and the basis for calculating the results.

Inspite of all these constraints some good researches which are fundamental research to Adult Education have been conducted recently and these are:-

(A) ANALYTIC AND SYNTHETIC METHODS OF TEACHING.

(B) A STUDY INTO THE NATURE OF IPCL PRIMERS AND THEIR EFFICACY IN IMPARTING BASIC LITERACY SKILLS TO ADULT ILLITERATES.

(C) EVALUATION REPORT OF GYAN SAMAJ PADDHATI DEVELOP BY SHRI G.P. JAIN.

(D) EQUIVALENCY OF NEW LITERATES VIS A VIS PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS.

The first one is a comparative study of the Analytic and Synthetic Methods of teaching and the teaching to Adults and the second one evaluates the improved pace and content of learning (IPCL) which is important for policy decision making and improving the IPCL approach. In other words it helps in understanding the strengh and limitations of the IPCL approach for teaching literacy. The next study on Gyan Samaj Paddhati is almost based on Laubach Method and it gives good clues whether the Laubach Method could be applied to the teaching of literacy or not because the method is almost similar.

The equivalency study is another very classical study in the literature of Adult Education Research which establishes that adult learners are not equal to class 3 passed students , as was assumed so far, but even better than class IV student in the basic abilities of 3'Rs . According to this study primary school students acquires the same basic abilities in 3'Rs at a much higher cost then the adult learner . Thus, in recent past due to efforts of SRC's and other experts, good research studies have started coming in Adult Education. Recently, (1997) NLMA sponsored 3 research studies on the impact of Adult Education Programme on social economic development of individuals and communities in 3 districts of India and it was a first systematic national level attempt to measure the social economic impact of Adult Education Programme in the country. The research design of this study is worth mentioning for trend analysis and is given below :-

The following designs were used :-

Experimental Design

Two group pretest-post test field experimental design was adopted. Learners made literate in the adult education programmes were considered to be the "treatment group", while those who did not participate or dropped out early and remained literate were considered to be the "control group"

A field experimental study was conducted in three backward districts in different parts of the country where the adult education programme has been successfully implemented. The districts selected are : Bilaspur (Madhya Pradesh), Birbhum (West Bengal) & Dumka (Bihar).

In all, a sample of 1669 adults were selected following systematic random sampling procedure.

Various methods of date collection for the field study included:

* Structured interviews with learners (Treatment & Control Group).

* Focus Group Discussions with neoliterates.

* Unstructured interviews with functionaries.

* Tracer (case) studies of individuals/communities tracing the path of their development since the acquisition of literacy skills.

Correlational Design

A cross-sectional correlational design was adopted in which a large set of socio-economic development variables was analysed at a point in time.

The data for the correlational study at state/district level was collected from several secondary sources including the population census and some national Sample surveys including Sampling Registration System (SRS). National Family Health Survey (1993). National Human Development Survey. NCAER (1995). The analysis of information available from these studies has been used as a collateral evidence to the conclusions derived from the primary (field) surveys undertaken in three locations.

Analytical Methods

* Data collected from the field (primary) study was analysed using the Chi-square test of goodness of fit to test the hypothesis of the field study.

The null-hypothesis was tested at a high significance level of 0.5% and where the chi-square value is above 7.88, the null hypothesis was rejected thereby concluding that there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In such cases, it is inferred that the impact/effect of adult education programme on the study variable is overwhelming.

* Correlation and factor analysis were used to analyse relationships between adult literacy and a host of variables on which data has been collected from secondary sources. The correlation coefficients, which reflect the index of strength of relationship between two variables were calculated and tested for statistical significance at 99% level of confidence.

An overview of the facts described above could be summarised in the form of trends as given below:

Trend 1 - Adult Education Research paid less attention in India.

Little worthwhile research has been done and neither Government nor universities have paid much attention towards this important area. NLMA has been engaged in the framing of policies and programmes and launching the campaigns and evaluating the learning outcomes only interms of reading, writing and numeracy. Universities and Research Institutes through their adult and continuing education department have hardly paid any attention for promoting research. The National Institute of Adult Education was established by the Government of India but because of some administration problems this institute which was supposed to conduct research also could not do much. Some NGOs like Indian Adult Education Association, PRIYA New Delhi have made good attempts in this direction.

Trend 2 - Majority of the research work relate to evaluating the programmes.

Since the programme implementers are interested in finding out the achievement level in reading, writing and numeracy it is mostly programme oriented and literacy oriented. Concurrent evaluation, terminal evaluation and final evaluation is necessary in the literacy campaigns and therefore in most of the cases evaluative researches have been conducted.

Trend 3 - Theoritical framwork and theory based conceptualization is almost lacking.

Theory building through research has not been attempted in most of the cases and the theoritical orientation is almost absent based on research.

Trend 4 - Quantitative methodology is dominant than the qualitative approach of research.

Large scale quantitative data are being collected from the Adult Education projects and data analysis in many cases is also weak. Survey methodology is a preferred methodology. Systematic designs are lacking and qualitative research methodologies, case studies including participant observation and indepth interviewing and ethnographic studies are lacking. Action research is almost negligible.

Trend 5 - Financial resources and time frame is very limited.

Funding for research from the Govt. as well as from other agencies is almost lacking and if at all some funds are released for conducting the studies quick results are expected which is a great strain for conducting the proper research in the field.

Trend 6 - Interdisciplinary research in Adult Education is lacking.

Foundational studies of Adult Education such as psychology of education, sociology of Adult Education, adult learning, media and adult education, need the expertise of other disciplines and there is a need of multi-disciplinary approach for Adult Education Research. But there is hardly any research study which demonstrate this approach.

Trend 7 - Practice oriented research dominate and discipline oriented research is lacking.

Practice oriented research in some cases have been done but we lack in discipline oriented research and therefore to test the generalisations already made in this field cannot be tested without both type of researches and coordination between the two is lacking.

Trend 8 - Gender issues and empowerment have received little attention.

Though some studies are available in this area but adequate attention has not been paid so far for examining gender issue in Adult Education. Cliental group of the programme in many cases is women but still we lack research in this area.

Trend 9 - Documentation and clear house activities almost non-existance.

Whatever little research has been done is not being documented properly, so that the findings are analysed and utilised in policy planning. Innovative work by some of the NGOs has been done. But systematic documentation of these efforts is lacking. Wider dissemination is also insignificant.

Trend 10 - Professional training of researchers in adult education inadequate.

Indian Adult Education Association has been conducting one course on research methodology in Adult Education. But there is a dearth of such courses which are required on a bigger scale.

At present the situation is not very bright interms of research in adult education in India. But recent trends indicate that the future of Adult Education Research in India is very bright. Recently, NLMA has taken a lead by taking initiative and steps in the following direction for promoting research in adult education.

(a) Holding an annual competition of best research reports in adult education at National Level and awarding the best entries by a group of Jury.

(b) Issuing guidelines to all the TLC districts on concurrent evaluation, so that scientific studies at the field level are conducted.

(c) By constituting a core group on evaluation which has identified reliable dependable research organisations and institutions for conducting the research and evaluation.

(d) By creating cells on research and evaluation in the State Resource Centres.

(e) By publishing the standard manuals on evaluation of the total literacy campaigns both on summative and concurrent evaluation for the guidance of research evaluators and their institutes.

What is actually required urgently is the revival of the scheme of research which at present is under abeyance so that proper funding for research and quality research is promoted in this vital area of national importance.

(i) TREND ANALYSIS OF RESEARCHES IN ADULT EDUCATION (1982) BY SALAMATULLAHA & BARETH.

(ii) AFTER 1983 - NO SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS & DOCUMENTATION.

(iii) SCHEME OF RESEARCH IN ADULT EDUCATION FRAMED & EXECUTED BY DAE ENCOURAGED RESEARCH TO SOME EXTENT.

(iv) THE SCHEME ENVISAGED THE FOLLOWING ROLES :-

(i) TO ANIMATE USEFUL AND HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH;

(ii) TO COORDINATE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES;

(iii) TO DISSEMINATE RESEARCH FINDINGS IN A MANNER THAT WOULD BE COMPREHENSIVE AND PRACTICAL FOR THE IMPROVEMENTOF ONGOING PROGRAMMES; AND

(iv) TO UNDERTAKE/COMMISSION RESEARCH IN THE CRUCIAL AREAS OF ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMME.

(v) AREAS OF CONCERN UNDER THE SCHEME

- METHODS OF LEARNER EVALUATION PARTICULARLY IN RESPECT OF FUNCTIONALITY AND AWARENESS;

- METHODS OF LITERACY LEARNING;

- LANGUAGE OF LITERACY, PARTICULARLY WHERE THE LANGUAGE IS A DIALECT;

- IMPACT OF ADULT EDUCATION ON ENROLMENT AND RETENTION OF CHILDREN IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS, AND ON IMPLEMENTATION OF OTHER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES;

- LEARNING THROUGH THE TRADITIONAL AND FOLK MEDIA;

- RETENTION AND USE OF LITERACY;

- POST-LITERACY AND FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES;

(vi) AREAS COVERED UNDER THE SPONSERED STUDIES

* MOTIVATION

* MATERIALS - CURRICULUM

* MEDIA

* TRAINING

* EVALUATION

* RETENTION

* WORKERS TRAINING

* TESTING

* PLANNING/MANAGEMENT

* LANGUAGE

(Vii) ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE RESOURCE CENTRES AND RESEARCH IN ADULT EDUCATION.

(Viii)NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADULT EDUCATION IDENTIFIED THE FOLLOWING RESEARCH AREAS.

1. COMMUNICATION IN ADULT EDUCATION.

2. GENDER EQUITY IN LITERACY.

3. HISTORY OF ADULT EDUCATION.

4. POLICY ISSUES IN ADULT EDUCATION.

5. EVALUATION RESEARCH IN ADULT EDUCATION.

6. POST-LITERACY AND CONTINUING EDUCATION.

7. STATISTICAL DATA BASE FOR LITERACY.

(DUE TO ADMINISTRATIVE REASONS MUCH COULD NOT BE DONE)

(ix) DAVE COMMITTEE ON LEARNING OUTCOME.

(x) ARUN GHOSH COMMITTEE ON EVALUATION OF LITERACY CAMPAIGNS IN INDIA.

(xi) MANUAL ON EVALUATION (SUMMATIVE)

(xii) GUIDELINES ON CONCURRENT EVALUATION AND MANUAL FOR GUIDANCE.

(xiii)CORE-GROUP ON EVALUATION AGENCIES.

(xiv)SUMMARIES OF THE FINDINGS OF EVALUATION STUDIES-VOLUMES RELEASED BY DAE.

(xv) SOME GOOD RESEARCH STUDIES COMPLETED.

(xvi)NATIONAL LEVEL ANNUAL COMPETITIONS FOR AWARDING THE BEST RESEARCH.

SUMMARY OF TRENDS

(A) ADULT EDUCATION RESEARCH PAID LESS ATTENTION IN INDIA.

(B) MAJORITY OF THE RESEARCH WORK RELATE TO EVALUATING THE PROGRAMMES.

(C) THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND THEORY BASED CONCEPTUALIZATION ALMOST LACKING.

(D) QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY IS DOMINANT AND QUALITATIVE APPROACH IS MISSING.

(E) FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND TIME FRAME VERY LIMITED.

(F) INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH LACKING.

(G) PRACTICE-ORIENTED RESEARCH DOMINATE AND DISCIPLINE ORIENTED RESEARCH LACKING.

(H) GENDER ISSUES AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN PAID LESS ATTENTION.

(I) DOCUMENTATION AND CLEARING HOUSING NON-EXISTANT.

(J) PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF RESEARCHES INADEQUATE.

Contact Info:

Dr. J.P. Gupta
Consultant
Indian Adult Education Association
17 B, I.P. Estate
New Delhi -110 001