R. Rowe, Inquiry based approaching to teaching and assessing Psychological Research Methods

Inquiry based approaching to teaching and assessing

Psychological Research Methods

Richard Rowe

Department of Psychology

University of Sheffield

Inquiry Based Learning

• Learning through self-directed exploration

• Open-ended scenarios

• Different approaches may provide valid solutions

• Students choose the methods employed

Transferable inquiry skills

• Information literacy

• Collaboration– Interpersonal skills

• Reflection

• Independent learning

Research Methods and IBL

• Statistical analysis is not inherently inquiry based

• Psychological research IS an inquiry task

• Psychology students not well motivated to learn research methods– Become interested during Level 3 project– When using statistics as an inquiry tool

The quantitative research process

Topic choice Literature searchHypothesis generation

AnalysisData CollectionExperimental design

Reporting Interpreting Write-up

Existing exam question

• An experimenter wants to know whether anxiety is related to running time in high level athletes…

The quantitative research process




Inquiry based revisions

• Combine with didactic lectures• Want to cover the whole research process at Levels

1 and 2• Introduce

– Information literacy– Hypothesis formation and experimental design– Collaboration

• Develop– Analysis and interpretation in context of research literature– Transferable skills:

• interpersonal, communication, reflection, independence

Resources available

Level One4 postgraduate led tutorials2 coursework assignments

Level Two2 lab classes2 coursework assignments

(130 students)

Level OneInformation literacy activity




Collaborative review

• Run in Groups of 4-5• Write single collaborative review

– Use of different research methods in…

• Topic chosen by PG tutors

• Face-to-face tutorial– Introduce topic– Introduce literature search (Web of

Knowledge)

Collaborative review

• Search Web of Knowledge for relevant papers– 1 week to find 1 each

• Discuss suitability with tutor via on-line discussion board

• 1 week to write up integrated joint collaborative review

On-line tutorial

Submission

• Single integrated literature review– All receive the same mark

• Individual reflection on process of literature search and teamwork

• Accounted for 8% and 2% of course mark

Evaluation

• Introduced students to independent study gently

• First experience of a literature review

• First time asked to write without a reading list

• Engages students with research literature

• Engages students with different research methods

I feel more confident using the Web of Knowledge database

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree

Disagree Undecided Agree Str Agree

89% Agree

I feel I have improved my ability to evaluate the published literature

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


77% Agree

Selected qualitative student feedback

“Group work just tends to be left to one person who has to take responsibility for it.”

“The other members of my group had not put as much effort in as they should, especially one member that did a 2-second job of copying an articles abstract and writing a useless concluding section. ”

I enjoyed working collaboratively with my group members

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


75% Agree

Feedback from tutors

“Lots of questions were asked about the topic and how to reference, showing an improvement in communication between the group members…”

Feedback from tutors

“I found this tutorial rewarding because it was nice to talk about my area of research and to see that this was interesting to other people”

“While I made sure to give the information clearly and concisely, there was the risk of an information overload!”

Discussion

• Expansion of research methods focus

• Value of reflection

• Involvement of postgraduate tutors

• Approach to collaboration

Level One Design and Analysis




Literature search activity

Research design tutorial

• Tutors present choice of research questions

• Collaboratively design study to test one

• Fill out summary sheet at end of tutorial– Hypothesis, IV levels, Design choice, DV

choice, confounds

Analysis Workshop tutorial

• Collaboratively analyse data from experimental design

• Data not collected – time constraint

• Data simulated to have properties expected from collected data– More variables than specified to allow all Level

One Tests

Analysis Workshop tutorial

• Analyze and write-up data in one hour session (groups of 4):– Choose statistical tests, run tests, interpret,

write-up– 2 Laptop computers provided (running SPSS

and Word), notes and books allowed, Tutor as a resource

• Submit report at end of tutorial• All get same mark: 10% of course

Analysis worksheet

• Describes variables in data set

• 5 questions address:– T-test (related)– T-test (unrelated)– Pearson correlation– Chi-square

Example data description• age (measured in years), sex (0=f 1=m)

• driving aggression (dragg) pre intervention scored on a questionnaire, range 0-20, higher scores means more aggressive

• driving aggression post intervention (dragg2). The same driving aggression scale conducted at a later date. In the interim all drivers had taken part in an anger management course.

• Ever had an accident (accid: 0=no 1=yes)

Example questions• 1. Is age related to pre-intervention driving

aggression?• 2. Are male drivers more aggressive than female

drivers (pre-intervention)?• 3. Are male drivers more likely to have been

involved in an accident?• 4. Did the anger management program reduce

driving aggression?• 5. Choose one further analysis to run based on

your dataset.

Conceptual evaluation• Test interpretation and writing• Also test

– choice of statistical test– Use of SPSS

• Without risk of unfair collusion

• More like real research– Collaboration, tutor as “expert” resource

• Group obscures individual assessment– 80% course assessed via exam

• Too many questions in assignment!

Collaboration and tutor role

• Shared responsibility for daunting task• Tutor helps to ensure success

– Mimics availability of real-world expert resource– Unsure how much help to give

• Tutorial is a learning environment– Assessment provides motivation to engage

• Fewer scripts to mark– Easier to provide detailed feedback

I feel more able to formulate research questions

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


69% Agree

Tutor feedback

Design tutorial“I have learned that by speaking in an enthusiastic way

about an area of research, it is possible to inspire students to take a deeper level of interest.”

Analysis workshop“The atmosphere was quite different to normal and I

realised I had to be very considerate of the instructions I issued.”

“The students seemed familiar enough with the material being tested, but had trouble applying their knowledge to a practical problem.”

Tutor feedback

“The students completed the task within the set guidelines and seemed pleased with their work-although they may just have been relieved it was over!”

The group projects helped me develop my communication skills

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


71% Agree

The group projects helped me develop my negotiation skills

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


63% Agree

I feel more confident working collaboratively with others

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


51% Agree

I feel more confident studying independently

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


60% Agree

I feel the IBL activities encouraged me to take an active role in class

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strdisagree


74% Agree

Discussion

• Introducing students to research process

• More interactive teaching

• Drawbacks to IBL approach– Issues in collaboration– Tutor uncertainty about contribution– Logistic demands

Level 2:Putting it all together




Level 2

• Semester One– Research proposal– Analysis and report simulated data

• Semester Two– Full experimental design and report

Semester 1 Research proposal

• Work in groups of 4 during lab class• 2 computers per group

• Choose research topic between group• Search for papers on topic• Design experiment to follow-up• Constrained to design suitable for 1-way ANOVA

• Summarize proposal during class

Data generation and analysis

• Dataset simulated to mimic that which might have been collected

• Personalised versions for each student

• Analysis in own time– 1 way ANOVA (all significant)– Post hoc test (all 2 groups same, 1 different)

Semester 1 Submission

• Individual research proposal– Comprises literature review– Details hypothesis and methods

• Individual results write-up– Write-up analysis of simulated data

• 10% of module mark

Semester 2 activity

• Similar topic choice and literature search– Design suitable for multiple regression required– Data simulation

• Write up as if a real experimental study– Individual analysis and write-up

• 20% of module mark

Evaluation

• Historically research methods has lots of maths• Challenge to fill the void

– Conceptual understanding of statistical tests?– Full engagement with entire research process

• Inquiry based methods well suited• Also develops transferable skills• Further test of efficacy will be project students in

2008-2009

Acknowledgements

Psychology Department

Paul Norman

Myles Jones

CILASS

Pamela McKinney

Jamie Wood

Inquiry based approaching to teaching and assessing

Psychological Research Methods

Richard Rowe

Department of Psychology

University of Sheffield

Technology

R. Rowe, Inquiry based approaching to teaching and assessing Psychological Research Methods