Drake University School of Education
EDUC 201-701

Tentative agenda with notes

September 6

Introductions.

• Who is here?
• What programs are you in?
• Does everyone have e-mail and access to the Internet?
• Why are you here
  • How many of you have been really looking forward to taking this course?
  • Why are you taking it (is it just because it's a requirement?)
  • What do you hope to learn?

We will go around the class and share thoughts and expectations concerning this course.

 

My promise to you is this: I will do everything possible to help you see that research design is not all that difficult, at least at the level of this course. Also, when it comes to understanding statistical concepts, if you can do basic arithmetic, understand fractions and proportions, and can remember a couple of basic algebra concepts (and I do mean just a couple) - that's all the math you need - even for learning more about statistics if you should take 202.

Review of syllabus.

Chapter 1: Using research to improve educational practice

• The nature of educational research
• Applying educational research to practice
• Characteristics of research
• Quantitative and qualitative research

Conducting a literature review

A major part of this course is learning to reading and understand the literature, and develop a review of the literature. Three chapters in your text are devoted to this subject. We will review the concepts presented in these chapters.

Chapter 2: Conducting a review of the research literature

Chapter 3: Using preliminary sources to search the literature

Chapter 4: Reading secondary sources

We will plan to begin a discussion of this topic the first night, and continue it on Saturday morning.

Additional resources

Text Resources Galvan, J. L. (1999). Writing literature reviews. A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences. Los Angeles: Pyrczak Publishing. Gall, Borg, and Gall, Chapter 4 Web Resources The Literature Review Some tips on conducting and writing a literature review from the University of Toronto.

Identify topics for literature reviews.

We will identify different topical areas which can serve as the focus for literature review projects.

Small group work: Reading secondary sources

The purpose of this activity is to look at some examples of secondary sources. In small groups, you will review and discuss the three articles reprinted in Chapter 4 (one article for eachgroup), and prepare a brief presentation for the larger group about the article. Consider including the following in your summary:

• What are the main points or conclusions in the article you can share with the entire class?
• What do you like about this type of a secondary source? What don't you like?
• Are there things you need to have clarified about the article?
• Do any research questions come to mind after reading the article?

End of day wrap-up

September 7

Morning:

Introduction to research design

• Variables
• Types of relationships
• Introduction to validity

  Some introductory information on research design can be found in chapter 5

  Additional resources

  Bill Trochim's Center for Social Research Methods

Conducting a literature review (cont.)

I will provide suggestions for what you need to do. There will be a discussion of resources you have available, and the nearest research libraries. We will look at examples of reviews that appear in the literature (the paper for your midterm exam being one example), and begin to talk about what it means to analyze and synthesize the literature, and how such a review is written. We will also talk about the differences between primary and secondary sources, peer-reviewed articles vs. those that have not gone through the review process, and how to use various preliminary and secondary resources to find published research.

Discussion of midterm exam

Afternoon: Individual/small group work on projects

I will be available to work with each project group or individuals on their literature reviews. We will plan to go to the library for the afternoon, so that you will be able to use their resources for your searches.

For the next class...

• By the time of the next class, you need to have found and read at least one primary article that you will use in your literature review, plus several secondary sources and a basic outline of your review. You will share these in small groups in class. Click here to get information on the details of this literature review and the expectations for the final product.
• Please bring at least one of the primary research articles you have found related to your research topic. Be prepared to discuss it in small groups. We will use examples of articles you have found to talk about actual research studies and different kinds of designs that researchers use. In discussing these articles, we will look at the following:
  • The research question(s) for the study.
  • Adequacy of the literature review in the article.
  • Research design and methods used.
  • How data were analyzed.
  • Conclusions drawn.
  • Criticism/critique of the study (i.e., were the methods appropriate, was the literature review adequate, what are any threats to validity and reliability, are the conclusions drawn consistent with the data, etc.)

  You don't need to prepare anything on paper for this discussion - simply be prepared to talk about one of these articles.

• Remember to bring your midterm exam to class (unless you decide to e-mail it to me early)

September 27

Please bring to class all of the research articles as you have been able to find. We will use these as examples as we study different kinds of research methodology.

Updates, housekeeping, problems, questions, etc.

Introduction to statistics (chapter 6)

• Purpose
• Populations and samples
• Introduction to research designs
• Scales of measurement
• Statistical notation

Statistics: Frequency distributions

• Tables and graphs
• Shapes of distributions

Statistics: Measures of central tendency

• Mean
• Median
• Mode
• Selecting a measure of central tendency

Statistics: Measures of variability

• Range, interquartile, and semi-interquartile range
• Variance and standard deviation

Statistics: Probability and samples

• Probability and the normal distribution
• Distribution of sample means
• Standard error
• Sampling issues

Additional statistics resources

Text Resources Gravetter, F.J. & Wallnau, L.B. (2000). Gall, Borg, and Gall, Chapter 5 Web Resources Basic Statistics Review Covers the things typically covered in the first half of an undergraduate social science statistics course. Hyperstat Online An introductory Web-based textbook. WebStat A Java-based statistics package. WebStat is freely available data analysis software for use over the World Wide Web

Descriptive research and "causal-comparative" methods - Chapter 7

Discussion will focus on information from Chapter 7, along with examples of descriptive research you have found in your literature search. Keep in mind that you might have a study that basically uses some other methodology (such as correlational or experimental methods), but which also includes descriptive data as a part of the study.

Correlational designs - Chapter 8

End of day wrap-up

September 28

Statistics: Normal distribution and z-scores

Statistics: Introduction to hypothesis testing

Validity continued:

• Conclusion validity
• Internal validity
• Construct validity
• External validity

Experimental designs - Chapter 9: Methods to enhance internal validity, and random sampling for external validity.

Small group work

Each group will share the draft work they have done so far in developing their literature reviews.

Large group discussion of article summaries, issues you want to raise concerning literature reviews, etc.

Discussion of final exam

November 8

Updates, housekeeping, problems, questions, etc.

Summary of basic concepts in qualitative methods (chapter 10)

Statistics: Analysis of variance

November 9

Questions, general discussion, etc.

Designing research studies

We will look at possible research studies that might be conducted to follow-up on the research you have found. If you are planning to do a field study, thesis, or other research study in the future, we could discuss some possible design issues.

Action research (chapter 15)

Additional resources

Web Resources Some action research sites from around the world: University of Denver Action Research Action Research at Cornell University (PARnet) Action Research at Queen's University Action Research at Florida Atlantic University Action Resarch at Southern Cross University Action Research from NTAEA Refereed on-line journals for action research Educational Action Research A refereed international journal concerned with exploring the unity between educational research and practice. Site contains many full text articles Action Research International A refereed on-line journal of action research, sponsored by the Institute of Workplace Research Learning and Development (WoRLD) within the School of Social and Workplace Development (SaWD) and by Southern Cross University Press.

Final exam: Part 1

Course evaluation, final review, and wrap-up

November 22: All materials due

Please send via e-mail, or mail to my home address.