WELCOME TO ED790 NEW LITERACIES AND DIGITAL EPISTEMOLOGIES

Dr. James D BrownTouro University CaliforniaFall 2013

LET’S GET ACQUAINTED!

Where you teach and at what level…. Something personal about you that

you’d like others to know…. What you hope to learn from the

program…. What is the focus of research you might

want to conduct?

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO FIRST?

This is a class where you will learn to do research, so: Institutional Review Board Training (Online) National Institute of Health (NIH)

http://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/register.php

After the training, complete the IRB form: http://cehs.tu.edu/gsoe/research/irb.html

Submit to the Professor for review and approval.

TASKS FOR THE SEMESTER

Text: Mertler Epistemology: Article by Cunningham and

Fitzgerald (Note: You may need to read this more than once!)

New Literacies: Edmodo and Blackboard Glog Voicethread Prezi Etc.…

7 SESSIONS: (BE SURE TO PRINT SYLLABUS)

Planning Acting Developing Reflecting

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design refers to the plan and structure of the investigation used to obtain evidence to answer research questions.

The purpose of a research design is to produce the most valid, accurate answers possible to research questions.

RESEARCH DESIGN

It is important to match the research design to the question.

Using a data matrix can assist you with collection and analysis of your data.

4 MAJOR TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS Experimental Non-experimental Ex post facto Qualitative

EXPERIMENTAL

In an experimental design the researcher manipulates what the subjects experience.

The researcher may impose or withhold specified conditions. For example, the researcher “imposes” the retelling strategy on some students (experimental group), while “withholding” it from others (control group).

EXPERIMENTAL

The unique characteristic of a true experimental design is random assignment of subjects to different groups (e.g., experimental and control).

Every subject has an equal chance of being in either group so the laws of probability will be in operation.

QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL

A research design that approximates the true experimental type, quasi-experimental also attempts to determine cause and effect by direct manipulation of conditions.

Quasi-experimental is often used with intact classes of students. Since the subjects are NOT randomly assigned and may have different teachers, the investigation is said to be quasi-experimental.

NON-EXPERIMENTAL

Non-experimental designs describe something that has occurred or examines relationships between things without suggesting direct cause and effect relationships (although in some situations these designs are used to investigate tentative or exploratory cause and effect relationships).

NON-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

There are generally three types of non-experimental research designs:

1. Descriptive 2. Correlational3. Survey

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

The researcher describes an existing phenomenon by using words or numbers to characterize individuals or a group.

The research assesses the nature of existing conditions, or characterizes something; the researcher measures things as they are.

CORRELATIONAL DESIGNS

Correlational designs are a type of descriptive design, but because they are used extensively in education they are classified as a distinct type of research.

The design is concerned with assessing relationships between two or more phenomena.

This type of study usually involves a statistical measure of the degree of relationship between the variables, called a correlation.

CORRELATIONAL DESIGN

A positive correlation means that high values of one variable are associated with high values on a second variable.

CORRELATIONAL DESIGN

A negative correlation or relationship means that high values of one variable are associated with low values of a second variable.

CORRELATIONAL DESIGN

No correlation means there is no apparent relationship between the variables.

SURVEY RESEARCH

In survey research the investigator selects a sample of subjects and administers a questionnaire or conducts interviews to collect data.

Surveys are used frequently in educational research to describe attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and other types of information.

Information on a population through a selected group or sample.

EX POST FACTO DESIGNS

An ex post facto design is used to explore possible causal relationships among variables that cannot be manipulated by the researcher. That is, rather than manipulating what will happen to subjects, the research focuses on what has happened differently for comparable groups of subjects, then explores if the subjects in each group are different in some way.

EX POST FACTO DESIGNS

An example would be an investigation of the effect of different types of day care on the readiness of young children for school.

The researcher would identify two groups of children who have similar backgrounds but who have attended different types of day care.

The subjects would be given a school readiness test to see if those who attended a highly academically oriented day care facility differ from children who attended a less academically oriented day care.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS Qualitative research designs are less structured

than quantitative ones. In a qualitative design, some of the specific procedures tend to be identified during the research rather than ahead of time. They “emerge.”

Traditional qualitative research is also distinguished by using a case study design in which a single “case” is studied in depth. This could be an individual, one group of students, a school, a program, or a concept. The purpose is to understand the phenomena.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

Since qualitative designs investigate behavior as it occurs naturally in non-contrived situations, there is no manipulation of conditions or experience. In this sense, qualitative designs are non-experimental.

Finally, the data consist of words in the form of rich verbal descriptions, rather than numbers.

MIXED METHOD DESIGNS

Mixed-methods Research: Studies that combine both quantitative and

qualitative data Many individuals consider action research

studies to be most similar to mixed-methods research (than purely quantitative or qualitative research)

PERSPECTIVES

Emic perspective: The researcher is an INSIDER who understands the context. Strength for description; weakness is bias.

Etic perspective: The researcher is an outsider who must analyze and become familiar with the context. Strength: less bias; weakness is also less bias and less understanding.

ACTION RESEARCH

Systematic inquiry conducted by educators with a vested

interest in the teaching–learning process or environment

for purposes of gathering information about how their

school operates, how they teach, and how their students

learn

Research done by teachers for themselves

Systematic inquiry into one’s own practices

Research then has increased utility, effectiveness

OVERVIEW OF ACTION RESEARCH

Call for school improvement… Mass media and public outcry Lack of applicability of more traditional research

findings Serious need for increased practice of teacher-led,

classroom-based action research

Action research Focused on solving specific classroom or school

problems, improving practice, or helping to make decisions at a local site

Overarching goal is to improve practice immediately

OVERVIEW OF ACTION RESEARCH Reflection…

Act of critically examining one’s own practice (i.e., what you do, why you do it, what are its effects)

Integral part of action research process

Reflective teaching—process of developing lessons with thoughtful consideration of theory, existing research, and practical experience, along with examination of lesson’s effect on student learning

Process of systematic collection of information followed by active reflection, with the anticipation of improving the teaching–learning process is at the core of action research

MERTLER’S FOUR-PART PROCESS

Planning stage: dentifying and limiting a topic, Gathering information, Reconnaissance, Reviewing the related literature, Developing a research plan

Acting stage: Implementing the plan and collecting data, Analyzing the data

Developing stage: The ‘action’ part of action research

Reflecting stage: Sharing and communicating results, Reflecting on the process

MODELS OF ACTION RESEARCH

Stringer’s interacting spiral Lewin’s action research spiral Calhoun’s action research spiral Bachman’s action research spiral Riehl’s action research model Piggot-Irvine’s action research model Hendrick’s action research model