3.+Research+Steps


 * LINK TO EDF689 SESSION 3 **

Assignment 1:
 * Is the article Think Before You Act an action research example, using the list of criteria? **

She has identified problem and wants to bring about change. She has not been directed to do this She identified a problem based on daily observations Pronoun “I” repeatedly used. I noticed… I wanted to guide my students… My Investigation was… I wanted my student || Real: Will physically and verbally aggressive students solve conflicts in a constructive manner if provided models of pro social alternative solutions (behaviour) This is a problem she is experiencing in class. Relates also at a higher social level –“ultimately, I wanted the children to become prepared for society at-large by learning and using constructive forms of conflict management” || During her first year as a grade one teacher experiencing student conflict on a daily basis. Semester 1: Implemented routine and general behaviour strategies that were failing to promote a positive classroom atmosphere. Semester 2: Identified problem – defining where I am Gather data – Identified 5 students for particular focus in addition to the rest of class. Surveys, resolution journals, tally sheets, observational notes and teacher journal physical and verbal Conflict fluctuates but decreases o Evidence of students declining use of ‘wheel of choice’ strategies suggested that they needed reminding to use the wheel of choice when conflict arose. || Seems that the action (Nelson’s positive discipline procedure – ‘wheel of choice”) was implemented at the start of year in semester 1. However changes were implemented based on research and she continued to use strategies implemented in semester 1 during her action research with class and Revisited the ‘wheel of choice’ strategies and reminded students to use them when conflict arose. Despite fluctuations the number of physically aggressive acts decreased throughout the study. Post survey indicated a successful action research on the grounds that students understood role of problem solving as a group… within school and beyond. Students also recognized that they had choices of appropriate strategies as opposed to the inappropriate physical or verbal responses to conflict previously relied upon. Students need time and practice to change negative conflict management habits. Implicitly implied that continued opportunities to practice using constructive problem solving strategies in a supportive environment in order to further develop thinking skills before acting. Implicit suggestion that students require continued opportunities ||
 * ** Central Ideas in Action Research ** ||
 * # ** Central Person ** || ** Identify Problem **
 * # ** I am asking a real Question about a real issue, hoping to move towards a positive solution ** || ** Identify Problem **
 * # ** I am starting from where I am ** || ** Gather Data (Qualitative and Quantitative) **
 * Interpret data **
 * # ** I am trying to bring about some improvements ** || ** Act on evidence (Action) **
 * Evaluate results (Reflection) **
 * Next Steps: **
 * ** Is this action research? ** ||
 * ** Purpose ** || ** Yes – Clear motivation for class behaviour and beyond in other social context. ** ||
 * ** Improve Practice ** || ** Raised awareness for need opportunities to practice. **
 * Action research provides insight into the benefits of continued application and development (Possibly through further action research) ** ||
 * ** Integrates theory, practice and meaningful applications ** || ** Yes, Yes and Yes ** ||
 * ** Develop deeper understanding of students ** || ** Yes ** ||
 * ** Teacher commitment to research ** || ** Yes – Reinforced and saw value on wider social levels ** ||
 * ** Strategies widely applied ** || ** Potentially ** ||

Assignment 2:
 * Identify variables and other elements in teacher vignettes. **

Dependent variables || Data Used || Results || Action || Multi-block integrated classes Dependent variable 1: Attitude Dependent variable 2: Score || Pre and post academic year 30 Item ‘Likert-scale’ attitude survey Compared basic test skills between this year’s treatment group and last year’s control group. || Improvement attitude amongst girls No significant differences measured. || Math-Science lessons over mulit-blocks will be continued in the next teaching year with anticipated improvements for student learning. || CAI with text book Dependent: Test Scores || t-test for scores Likert scale attitude survey || Improvement in test scores No improvement in attitude towards science || Beth is continuing to search for ways to improve her students’ attitude toward studying science. || Outcome based education approaches (master learning) Dependent: Opinions || Ten item survey with open ended questions (taught and tested) || 90% favourable towards this approach || Mike would like to continue assessing student attitudes towards performance based learning and evaluation. || Type of task Dependent: Gender || Taping tasks as they happened and assessing them using Bales Interaction analysis || 1 leader tended to dominate all tasks || Assigning roles within groups so a variety of students experience leadership roles || Metacognitive study habits Dependent: Test scores and attitude || Pre and post chapter test scores || Attitudes improved but no mention on if test scores improved || Don wants to continue teaching metacognitive skills to his other students ||
 * Vignette || Research Question || Independent
 * 1 || Will multi-blocked integrated math and science classes improve
 * 1) Scores
 * 2) Attitudes towards Math and Science || Independent:
 * 2 || Will the use of CAI, in conjunction with traditional text books, improve science unit test scores? || Independent:
 * 3 || Will outcome based learning improve attitudes and opinions towards outcome based learning? || Independent:
 * 4 || In mixed gender groups, does the type of activity influence who will lead the group? || Independent:
 * 5 || Will teaching students metacognitive study habits improve their test results? || Independent:

Assignment 3: Create 3 research questions based on webs on hospital study – descriptive / associational / intervention

. Are the hospital rooms clean and hygienic? . . What impact does room temperature have on a patient’s sense of satisfaction? . . Does natural lighting affect patient satisfaction?
 * 1) **Descriptive study ** - survey research. Use Likert scale of questionnaire (5=strongly agree, 4=agree, 3 =uncertain, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree)
 * 1) **Associational study **—correlation. Measure physical conditions that already exist (the temperature is constant in all rooms). Ask questions of a sample of patients and find out in what way the variables (temperature/ satisfaction) are related. Tabulate/ scatterplot the results of the relationship.
 * 1) **Intervention study **—. Hypothesis that natural lighting (as opposed to fluorescent) affects patient sense of satisfaction. Conduct trials where patients are in a room with florescent lighting, which is then changed to natural lighting.

= = Assignment 4: || . Strong positive relationship; correlation coefficient : R = + 0.83 was calculated on our small sample of data. [|Take the Survey]
 * Plot your data from last week to make a scatter plot. **
 * [[image:xandreasx/scatter_results.jpg width="293" height="1234"]] || [[image:xandreasx/scatter.jpg width="650" height="337"]]
 * Sample of 57 respondents in our survey to investigate the correlation between 'number of years driving' and 'number of cars owned'. **

Gradient of the line of best fit suggests a feasible estimate for the average rate for changing cars = 16 cars / 59 years, roughly one car change per four years. . We are not rocket brain surgeons (who is?), but we intuitively expected a result in this ball-park based on our observations, knowledge and experience. Clearly drivers who have been driving for longer periods of time are expected to have owned more cars.   n = 57

**The correlation coefficient between (years driving and number of cars) and (age and ability to hit home runs) are coincidentally both equal to + 0.83 (Page 76 Stats techniques)**

__ Tutor Feedback __

Hi everyone,

We have been reviewing your posts and responding to some of them. While we may not directly comment on each of your postings, we do summarize major themes each week when we note patterns of both understanding and misunderstanding. We are happy to report that most of you understand the concepts presented and are posting thoughtful comments. We appreciate the comments you give each other even when they are not required. Such commitment to the course shows your desire to participate fully.

We offer special appreciation to all of you who have been mastering posting graphs and figures directly into the discussion board. Bravo!!

One favor, though, please make one link for all your assignments. It is much easier to keep track of your work and your understanding. Label each assignment within the link.

This brings up to another point, which is a concern. We hope all of you understand that when you are posting as a group you are responsible for being involved with all the assignments. You are not to divide them among you. We expect you to meet as a group and answer each of the items. You are to help each other understand the content. We understand that you divided up the Scavenger Hunt but that was different. If you divide up the assignments, there is no way we can conclude that all of you are mastering the content. To conclude, you may not work in a group unless it meets regularly and the posts represent group thinking.

You will each be receiving an email with a summary of how you are scoring on your posts in the near future.

** FEEDBACK FROM SESSION 3 **

Below are some comments concerning the assignments.

As most of you concluded, the article you read is an example of action research. A teacher identifies an issue that is important to him or her in his classroom or teaching practice. Then she sets out to set up a study to answer the question. Yes, there certainly are some flaws in her research design but all in all she did systematically document the success her students had ,and she was encouraged to continue to use and refine the wheel of choice strategy.

Although not as rigorous as the quantitative and qualitative methodologies applied in the articles your read previously, action research is a systematic way that teachers can examine their own practice. The methodologies for this type of research are more relaxed and suited for classroom applications.

In our program, the master’s project is an action research project not a thesis. We feel that teachers conducting action research is a valuable skill inviting improvement in teaching and learning. Most schools today are looking at data-based decision making. As part of their school improvement plans. That makes conducting action research particularly relevant. Using action research is probably the highest level of reflective practice.

Jimbo, from the Indonesia, etc. group summed up the ideas concisely when he said

The last paragraph says it well: “I believe my students are on the road to becoming successful problem solvers, both at school and beyond… The author is certainly motivated to effect change in these children which is not only at the classroom but for the rest of their lives.

What truly caught me in this article is the wealth of data/evidence that is being gathered during the course of research. There is the use of surveys, journals, tally sheets, observation notes etc. It just brings me to a strong realization that everything that we do in the school can be systematically gathered, analyzed for relationship and be a tool to improve our daily practice.

Paul from Ecuador made outstanding points as well and represented what many of your expressed in your posts:

Action research, in as much as it may be so localized and particular in its target and procedure may not necessarily speak of the greater population. I think that there may be a danger in using action research results as a generalized conclusion/fact of the problem at hand. Further, the validity of results may only be particular of a small amount of population like class size. With regard to the selection of a research design and the interpretation of the data, the action research and the scientific inquiry do not seem to be different. In fact, the article makes use of logic and mathematical analysis to interpret the results of the investigation—a practice common in scientific inquiry. Perhaps the main difference in both of these aspects in the article is that the survey employed did not require extensive review of literature, so the methodology also uses qualitative information.

Lastly, the main characteristics that distinguishes the article as an action research is that the outcome of the investigation will affect directly the researcher’s practices. In scientific inquiry the outcome of the investigation, as remarkable as it could be, does not generally affect the future behavior of the scientist directly. As a result, in the context of a positive and timely improvement of a professional opinions and practices, the action research is superior to scientific inquiry because its purpose is meaningful and immediate application of results.

Most of you did a fine job in analyzing the teacher vignettes. I hope they gave you ideas for the action research study you will design in this course and later implement for your Masters Project in EDU 690. A couple of things we would like you to consider.

1. The independent variable is the name of the treatment such as phonics approach, computer assisted instruction, or master learning model. It is the variable that the researcher is manipulating and over which he or she has control.

2. When identifying the dependent variable use the construct not how it is measured. Achievement is the dependent varuabke while test scores is how it is measured. I realize that in my sample I used the word improved in front of the actual dependent variable. OOOPS, it should have said attitude and achievement. Whether it improves or not is revealed by the study.

3. A t test is an analysis of significance not a result in and of itself. You will learn more about this later in the course.

But aside from those minor issues, you are all set to begin thinking about your own study.

The only tricky vignette included the leadership and gender research. In this case the type of activity is the independent variable while leadership performance is the dependent variable. Gender is what we call an attribute variable. We will discuss this more in the lecture for this session.

In the mastery-learning vignette, the independent variable is a mastery-learning model and the dependent is attitude. The test score (achievement) is already embedded in the independent variable (master learning implies some mastery level--it comes with the treatment. It does not depend on the treatment). This study is too shallow. You will be designing more complex studies.

Those of you, who still are confused about variables, should read the variable review in the resource section of this week's lecture. Please remember that only intervention studies name variables independent and dependent.

In reviewing the questions you generated from the hospital webs, it became apparent that many of you had a difficult time designing an associational study--looking for relationships. Remember: 1. Associational studies look for a relationship between two independent variables like age and eyesight, or grades and hours spent studying. 2. Descriptive studies explore variables to get a better understanding of what is. Surveys, observations, and interviews are often used to measure these variables. 3. Intervention studies try to establish cause and effect relationships--if I do this (independent or experimental or treatment variable) then this will happen (dependent or outcome variable).

Here are some fine examples of these purposes. · Descriptive study-- Which foods would patients like to see served for each mail? · Associational study-- Does the number of visitors a patient receives relate to recovery time? · Intervention study-- Will the group receiving counseling recover more quickly than that group who receives no counseling?

Finally we asked you to play with developing a scatter plot to look at relationships or correlations. (This by the way was an associative study.) . We were thrilled by the discussions posted. Most of you did not find a relationship between your two variables.

However, Elvia, Katie , Rosaelisa , and Jeff from Tampico found a moderate positive relation between lexile reading scores and time spent reading outside of school. Notice we cannot say that one caused the other but rather these variables share some commonality. It might be that both represent a child’s interest in reading.

Fiorella, Maria Angela & Mariella from Lima also found a relationship. They explain, “We have made a scatter plot with the age that 20 persons learned how to drive and the amount of crashes they’ve had during their years of driving.

Variables tend to increase together. We cannot affirm that car crashes depend on age, even though they might have certain relationship. Therefore, this correlational study shows a medium positive relationship between age and car crashes.

We calculated the quantitative magnitude of the relationship (r statistic) using the formula in Excel.

// r= 0.519 //

If you have any questions about last week’s session please email us directly and we will do our best to answer you questions and clarify any confusions. 104976 <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;"> <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: 0.5in; top: -25px; width: 1px;">