week 9

terms you should look up in Vogt• manifest variable• marginal frequency distribution• matched pairs• maturation effect• measurement error• meta-analysis• missing data• mutually exclusive• N!• nested variables• non sequitur

research is

• challenging accepted or “received” knowledge (Alfred North Whitehead)

• going beyond what is known (Bruner)• making the inaccessible accessible• getting smarter about the world in

order to make it a better place (Lee Shulman)

• figuring out what the devil people think they are up to (Geertz)

• explaining links in a system (Bob Pianta)

all researchers must attend tofunding• which funders are funding whatjournals• which journals are publishing whatpromotion• what kinds of research are valued in

a given department, college, university

more on theory • theory needed to “see” data

– creative or invented spellings•RUDF•hrp, ihovr, fih, bateg, jopt, ldr•chrk, jrgn

– theory: children use the alphabet to produce creative & linguistically accurate spellings

– educators couldn’t see this because of lack of linguistic knowledge—hear sounds that are not there. linguistic knowledge required to see and produce theory

fieldwork-based

research

basic assumptions

•all people are smart•all people make sense•all people want to have a

good life (heard this from Ray

McDermott)

characteristics• occurs in natural setting

(remembering that not much natural about many settings)

• stress on understanding participants’ perspectives

• prolonged and repetitive: generally takes 6 months to a year or more in the field

• focus on action rather than behavior– behavior: what people do– action: what people intend as

they do• search is for meaning constructed

in daily interactions• data record is constructed from the

concrete particulars of everyday life

fieldwork cycle

• desk > field >desk >field >desk >field >desk . . .

• observation >interview >observation >interview. . .

• field jottings > fieldnotes > data record > analysis > writing > field jottings > fieldnotes > data record > . . .

generating data

• observing• interviewing• collecting artifacts

rules

• write it down• write it down

• write it down

• observe carefully, systematically, with discipline, and creatively

• keep interviews short• construct fieldnotes immediately—

same day• back data records up• write early, write often• for every hour in the field allot 2

hours at the desk

field jottings• notes taken in the field

fieldnotes• constructed at the desk from field

jottings, from memory, from “head notes,” reflection, etc

• fieldnotes become part of the data record

coding• process of constructing categories

from data records:– recurrences, patterns, salient

events, threads• taking large data record and

turning it into something small enough and manageable enough to work on

example of using statistics in field work

Jefferson and Madison Combined poor not poor total2-year 24 34 581-year 6 65 71 total 30 99 129 chi-square: 19.4 (1 df) p < .0001

Jefferson and Madison Combined non-white white total2-year 10 48 581-year 9 62 71 total 19 110 129 chi-square: .530 (1 df) p < .5

Qualitative Methods

Frederick Erickson

What is General Nature? is there such a Thing? What is General

Knowledge? is there such a Thing? Strictly Speaking All

Knowledge is Particular William

Blake

• a central research interest in human meaning in social life and its elucidation and exposition by the researcher (119)

• basic validity criterion: the immediate and local meanings of actions, as defined from actor’s point of view (119)

• research interpretive as a matter of substantive focus and intent, rather than procedures in data collection (119)

central substantive concerns• the nature of classrooms as socially

and culturally organized environments for learning

• the nature of teaching as one, but only one, aspect of the reflexive learning environment

• the nature (and content) of the meaning-perspectives of teacher and learner as intrinsic to the educational process (120)

• My work is an attempt to combine close analysis of fine details and behavior in everyday social interaction with analysis of the wider social context—the field of broader social influences—within which the face-to-face interaction takes place. In method, my work is an attempt to be empirical without being positivist; to be rigorous and systematic in investigating the slippery phenomena of everyday interaction and its connections, through the medium of subjective meaning, with the wider social world. (120)

fieldwork• intensive, long term participation in

the field• careful recording of what happens in

the setting• subsequent analytic reflection on

the record and reporting using detailed description, vignettes, quotations, analytic charts, summary tables, and descriptive statistics (121)

interpretive methods useful to discover

• specific structure of occurrences rather than general character and overall distribution

• meaning-perspectives of particular actors• the location of naturally occurring points

of contrast to be used as natural experiments

• identification of specific causal linkages not identified by experimental methods, and development of new theories about patterns identified by surveys or experiments.

to answer the following questions• what is happening, specifically, in the

social action in this setting• what do the actions mean to the actors

at the moment they took place• how are happenings organized socially

and culturally• how related to other system levels

inside and outside the setting• how does organization of daily life here

compare to other places and times (121)

why answers needed (121-122)• the invisibility of everyday life• need for specific understanding

through documentation of concrete details of practice

• need to consider local meanings• need for comparative understanding of

different social settings• need for comparative understanding

beyond the immediate circumstances of the local setting

perspectives of actors often overlooked (124-125)

• people who hold meaning-perspectives of interest often relatively powerless, e.g., teachers and students

• meaning-perspectives often held outside conscious awareness by those who hold them, and not explicitly articulated

• meaning-perspectives viewed as peripheral or irrelevant—needing to be eliminated in order for objective inquiry to be done

action and behavior• one cannot assume that the same

behavior has the same meaning to different individuals. Thus the crucial analytic distinction is that between behavior, the physical act, and action, which is the physical behavior plus the meaning interpretations held by the actor and those with whom the actor interacts (126-127)

social action (127-128)• Weber: a social relationship exists

when people reciprocally adjust their behavior to each other with respect to the meaning they give it, and when this reciprocal adjustment determines the form it takes.

• Standing is a behavior; standing in line is social action

meanings-in-action shared by group are local in two ways (128-129)

• they are distinctive to a particular group who come to share certain specific local understandings and traditions—a microculture

• they are local in the sense of the locality of moment-to-moment enactment of social action in real time (e.g., today’s enactment of breakfast differs from yesterdays)

meanings also non-local in origin• the influence of culture (learned and

shared standards for perceiving, believing, acting, and evaluating the actions of others)

• the perception that local members have interests or constraints beyond the local group

goal: to discover how local and non-local forms of social organization relate to specific people interacting together (129)

• The search is not for abstract universals arrived at by statistical generalization from a sample to a population, but for concrete universals, arrived at by studying a specific case in great detail and then comparing it with other cases studied in equally great detail. Some of what occurs is universal—across culture and time; some is specific to the historical and cultural circumstances of the situation. Each instance a unique system that nonetheless displays universal properties. (p. 130)

• A central task for interpretive, participant-observational research is to enable researchers and practitioners to become much more specific in their understanding of the inherent variation from situation to situation. This means building better theory about the social and cognitive organization of particular forms of life as immediate environments for the actors involved. (p. 133)

ethics

Seiber 9: maximizing benefit• risks to subjects (must be) reasonable

in relation to anticipated benefits, if any, to subjects, and the importance of the knowledge that may reasonably be expected to result.

• look carefully at the hierarchy of benefits and hierarchy of beneficiaries

iv: vulnerable populationsch 10: children and adolescents

10.1 legal constraints• IRB approval• documented permission of parent or

guardian and assent of child—consent of both parents may be required

• no greater risk than usual, unless IRB finds risk justified by anticipated benefits

• exempted research (but one must still go to IRB)– research in normal educational

settings, involving normal practices– use of educational tests if subjects

anonymous• waiver of parental permission

– minimal risk, will not adversely affect subjects, cannot be be carried out without waiver

– if permission will not protect child– see 4 other circumstances on page

113

• waiver of assent– if IRB determines children incapable of

assenting, or if assent would render research impossible

• research with greater than minimal risk– possible but one must be very careful

10.2 risk from developmental perspective

• discussion based on outdated developmental theory, but one must consider the issue

10.3 privacy and autonomy from developmental perspective

• be aware of children’s right to privacy, and their lack of control in general

• parents’ desire to know not a right

10.4 assent, consent, and parental permission

10.5 high risk behaviorsinstitutionalized kids• unlikely to believe research

independent of institution or that she can decline with impunity

• unlikely to believe promises of confidentiality

• issues of privacy, normally salient for adolescents, heightened for these kids

• maltreated kids likely to experience research as more stressful than normal kids

researchers (of high risk kids) should• anticipate ethical dilemmas—keep

detailed logs• hold frequent staff meetings—address

problems early• secure assent and consent when

possible—avoid parental consent only when it would jeopardize kids

• take special precautions to protect confidentiality—collect data anonymously if possible

• involve community in design of intervention

10.6 schools• Buckley Amendment: protects

records• school permission must come from

district• avoid coercion

– minimize coercion in request to participate

– minimize peer pressure or fear of ridicule for not participating

– keep rewards small and not valuable

writingwriting

lit review grading• 20: writing—clear, explicit, concise,

grammatical• 20: APA—citations, references,

headings, format• 20: organization—necessary parts,

balanced• 40: content—critical, convincing,

clear

organization• cover page• abstract• intro • review section

– organize review according to explicit and logical scheme

– note whether pieces reviewed empirical, theoretical, or polemical

– end each section with summary– this section should be the bulk of the lit

review, at least 75%

• discussion– synthesize lit reviewed. Critique lit as

whole—what is known, not known, what needs to be known, how well what is known is known.

• conclusion– address original question(s). limitations,

implications, further research needed• personal reflections

– personal statement about what you have learned in the process, about research, about being a researcher.

general hints• do not write linearly, i.e., don’t start

at page 1, the 2,3,… to 30• write sections and subsections—

when you get stuck, move to a different section

• think of the process as putting together already written sections—like a puzzle

• get an entire rough draft done before you start to rewrite and edit

• need to convince reader you have reviewed a literature– if part of a literature, specify

parameters and explain why– if parts of different literatures,

specify and explain why• not just a list of studies—organize

them and explain relationship of parts to whole

• make the weaknesses of your search explicit—this is a beginning lit review, a preliminary version, weaknesses inevitable

citations in text (207-214)one work by one author• Chen (2000) found that . . .• Teachers reported that kids . . .

reading levels (Chen, 2000).• do not repeat year within same

paragraph: Chen (2000) found that . . . . In the same research, Chen also found . . . .

one work by multiple authors• 2 authors: cite both names every

time• 3, 4, or 5 authors: cite all names first

time, after that, Chen et al.• 6 or more authors: Chen et al. always

– exception, if two references would shorten to same, e.g., Chen et al. (2000) and Chen et al. (2000), include enough names to differentiate them, e.g., Chen, Martinez, et al. (2000), Chen, Zodiates, et al. (2000)

groups, organizations, acronyms• short name or unfamiliar

abbreviation, cite in full each time• identifiable abbreviation, cite in full

first time then abbreviation– (National Institute of Mental

Health [NIMH], 2000), thereafter (NIMH, 2000)

authors with same surnames

• include initials in all citations: J. C. Chen (2000) and L. Chen (1999) . . . .

2 or more works within same citation

• same author: (Chen, 1995, 2000, in press) or (Riley, 1995, 2000a, 2000b)

• different authors—alphabetical order separated by semi-colons: (Chen, 1995, 2000; Suzuki, 1995; Vasconcelos, 1999)

margins (p. 286-287) leave at least 1-inch (2.54 cm)

uniform margins at the top, bottom, right, and left of every page

left justify only—leave right ragged

page numbers and page headers (p. 288)

• number the manuscript pages consecutively, beginning with the title page, upper right-hand corner

• page headers– first two or three words from the title– five spaces to the left of the page

number* use the automatic function of your word

processor to insert the headers and page numbers on each page.

title page (pp. 296-298)• running head

•an abbreviated title•flush left at the top of the title page•All UPPERCASE letters < 50 characters

• title•recommended length 10-12 words •uppercase and lowercase letters, centered

•if the titles more than one line, double-space

byline and institutional affiliation• author(s)’ name(s):

– uppercase and lowercase – centered– one double-spaced line below the title

• institutional affiliation: – one double-spaced line below name

• your institutional affiliation isUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign

Abstract

No indention. Abstract should be brief

and double spaced. No more than half

a page. APA has word count rules. We

are not going to count words. So keep

to the half page or less rule. Words

words words words words. Words

words words words words. Words

words words words words.

Individual Differences inBimodal Processing and Text Recall

Start the text right after the title. Do not begin with a heading. Indent first line. Double space throughout. No extra spaces anywhere in the manuscript. The title is not counted as a heading. Begin first heading with level 1 (centered, upper and lower case). No bold anywhere in the manuscript.

Becker

5: learning to write as a professional• No one learns to write all at once, that

learning, on the contrary, goes on for a professional lifetime and comes from a variety of experiences academia makes available (91)

• I began to see that finishing a paper didn’t mean you were done with it (92)

• “Stink! Stink! Stink!” (93)• Knowing you are essentially right takes a

lot of pressure off your writing (95)

• I have spent relatively little time at the typewriter. I would begin what eventually became a paper by talking, to anyone who would listen, about the topic I was going to write about (101)

• I added up my production frequently and announced to anyone who would listen that I had done 6 pages . . .2500 words (102)

• After a second or third draft, I have something I can send to some friends (103)

• . . . that the most important thing a photographer can do is photograph and that making thousands of bad photographs is no disgrace as long as you make a few good ones too and can tell the good from the bad (104)

grad lifegrad life

recreation• pool: Jillians• bowling: G.T.’s Western Bowlbars• beer selection: Mike ‘n’ Molly’s,

Blind Pig• live music/dance bar: The

Highdive• neighborhood bar: Huber’s• liquor selection/quiet drink:

Boltini Lounge

best getaways• state parks with lodges: hiking etc

– Turkey Run (60 minutes east on 74)– Starved Rock (2 hrs, north from

Bloomington-Normal on 39)– Brown County (3 hours—near

Bloomington, Indiana)• with kids

– the children’s museum of Indianapolis (www.ChildrensMuseum.org)

day trips• Arthur/Arcola: Amish country (1

hour): shops, woodworking stores (57 south)

• Tuscola outlet mall (on the way to Arcola)

Chicago• Art Institute• Sears or John Hancock observation

decks• walk Michigan Avenue from river to

Oak Street beach and back• Watertower Place• Aquarium, Field Museum• Museum of Science and Industry• Marshall Fields (Christmas windows)

• Lincoln Park Zoo • Lincoln Park• Navy Pier• walk Lake Front from Aquarium to

Navy Pier (dress warm on windy cold day)

• lunch at the Berghoff bar (not restaurant)

• lunch at Billy Goat’s tavern (under Michigan avenue near Wrigley Building)