Introduction to Inquiry in Education

The purpose of this course is to survey the field of educational research specifically with regard to the modes of inquiry, variety of methodologies, and ethical standards for conducting research with human participants.  In this class, we will broadly define educational research as research that “strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good” (American Educational Research Association Mission Statement).  Educational research can be conducted in both formal and informal school settings.   It is my hope that by the end of the course you will be able to:

• Identify the different traditions of research and their associated modes of inquiry.
  • Define, give significance of, and use key concepts associated with quantitative and qualitative modes of inquiry.
• Critique empirical articles that employ both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
  • Classify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various research designs
  • Specify the “fit” among the purpose, methods, data, interpretations and the underlying argument educational research both as published in refereed journals and as represented in policy/political debates in the popular press.
• Choose appropriately, and describe in detail sufficient to justify to a non-specialist, a research design for a specific research project.
  • Understand formalities of scholarly written formats.
  • Appropriately use the APA formatting to craft reports and reference works cited.
• Understand the ethics of working with human participants in an educational setting.
  • Define, give the significance of, and use key concepts in research ethics (particularly but not exclusively research with human subjects) as they apply to research design.

Outline of Topics and Assignments (SP13)

Week 1: Course Introductions / Overview of Research Ethics

• Readings: Chapters 1 & 7 APA Manual; Chapter 1 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008)
• Watch Video: What is the purpose of Institutional Review Board (IRB) review?

Weeks 2-3: Part I: Philosophical Foundations

1. Ontology & Epistemology: Assumptions, Pragmatics, and Relationship w/ Participants
2. Literature Review, Hypothesis Formation, Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning
3. Ethical Concerns in the Research Process (Part 1) and APA Principles & Format
4. At the end of this unit students will submit an Annotated, APA Formatted Literature Search (noting the databases and keywords used to complete the search).

• Week 2 Readings: Lincoln & Guba (1996) * Maxwell, 2006; * Boote & Beile, 2005, 2006; Chapters 2, 3 & 5 APA Manual
• Watch Video: Interpreting Data Tables (APA Formatted)
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3010/Interpreting-Data-Tables-APA-Formatted
  This video serves as a guide to reading CH 5 of the APA Manual. The goal is to develop junior scholars skills with interpreting numeric data displayed in tables.
• Week 3 Readings: Chapters 2, 4, & 5 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008); * Beckner (2004): Tillman (2002)

Weeks 4-7: Part II: Introduction to Quantitative Research

1. Positivism, Post-Positivism: Assumptions, Populations, Distributions, Probability
2. Theory Driven Research Questions, Independent (IV) and Dependent (DV) Variables
3. Overview of Quantitative Designs: Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, Trends
4. Issues with Measurement/Scales: Reliability, Validity, Bias, Confounds
5. Outcomes of Quantitative Research
6. Introduction to SPSS Software: Exploring Quantitative Data
7. At the end of this unit students will submit an APA Formatted Write up of Quantitative Methods and Findings

• Week 4 Readings on Populations, Variables, and “Screening Data”: re-read Chapter 5 APA Manual; Chapter 3, 6 & 7 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008); Huck & Corimer (1996) Chapter
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Populations
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3032/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Populations
  In this short mini-lecture we review the fundamentals of making inferences to larger, ‘abstract’, populations based of data collected from a ‘tangible’ sample. We review the assumptions about populations that underlie the mathematics for many inferential statistics.
• Week 5 Readings on Measurement & Test Distributions: Benson (1998), Gay, Mills & Airisian (2006) Ch 5; Phillips (1994) (Optional readings posted on MOODLE about methods of scale development).
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Understanding Test Distributions
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3033/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Test-Distributions
  In this mini-lecture we review the concept of a ‘test distribution’ and how we use our knowledge about test distributions to make ‘educated guesses’ about the ‘likelihood’ of our inferences from our sample being ‘true’ in the abstract population. We review the NULL hypothesis and how to craft null hypotheses.
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Understanding “Fit” Statistics
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3034/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Fit-Statistics
  In this mini-lecture, we briefly review the fundamentals of fit statistics (Chi Square). Fit statistics like X2, fall somewhat outside the scope of this course because 1) the assumptions that underlie Chi Square are not the same as the other ‘fundamental statistics’ we introduce and 2) Chi Square is more commonly used in advanced statistics. However, because you may encounter “Fit” as you review the literature, we briefly introduce it here.
• Week 6 Readings on Fundamentals of Comparison, Dependency, and Prediction: Gilborn (2010); Huck & Corimer (1996) Chapter (Optional: Capella, Massetti, & Yampolsky (2009); Friskoff, White & Perfetti (2009) for students interested in school- or classroom-based experimental design)
• Watch Video: Using the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL)
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3028/Using-the-Virtual-Computing-Lab-VCL
  In this video Dr. D. walks students through logging into the NCSU Virtual Computing Lab (VLC).
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Fundamentals of Comparing Groups
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3035/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Comparing-Groups
  In this mini-lecture we review the fundamentals of comparing groups. We review the steps for designing a comparative study and review how to craft hypotheses for comparative designs. We examine T-Tests, the fundamental statistic underling may advanced comparative statistics (ANOVA, MANOVA). We discuss the additional assumptions that underlie comparative designs and we discuss interpreting comparative data.
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Fundamentals of Dependency
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3036/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Fundamentals-of-Dependency
  In this mini-lecture we review the fundamentals of identifying ‘trends’ between two variables. We review bi-variate correlation, as one of the fundamental statistics that underlies more advanced analyses involving dependency (paired T-Tests, Repeated Measures ANOVA etc). We review how to craft hypotheses and to interpret correlations presented in a correlation matrix.
• Watch Video: Intro Inferential Stats: Fundamentals of Prediction
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3038/Intro-Inferential-Stats-Fundamentals-of-Prediction
  In this mini-lecture we review the fundamentals of linear prediction (i.e. regression). We explore how to craft hypotheses for a predictive study and how to interpret output. We introduce the concept of ‘collinearity’ and evaluating the ‘unique’ contributions of individual variables in the ‘set’.
• Readings for Week 7: Jigsaw (5 Groups) on Quant Designs: Chapters 13-17 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008);  *Johnson (2001)

 Weeks 8-11: Part III: Introduction to Qualitative Research

1. Assumptions, Populations, Truthfulness, Credibility, Researcher Bias
2. Generating Research Questions, Data Collection Techniques, Overview Part I
3. Generating Research Questions, Data Collection Techniques, Overview part II
4. Exploring Qualitative Data (Looking at the same data through different lenses)
5. Introduction to N5 / Qualitative Software: Opportunities to Explore Coding Data
6. At the end of this unit students will submit an APA Formatted Write up of Qualitative Methods and Findings

• Week 8 Readings: Chapter 18-20 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008); Peshkin (1988); Hankins (1998)
  
• Week 9 Readings: Stake (2000); Merriam (1996 Chapter); Bogden & Biklen (2000 excerpt)
• Watch Video: Intro to Analyzing Qualitative Data
  http://cedvideo.ncsu.edu/video/3255/Analyzing-Qualitative-Data
  In this video we review some of the common approaches for analyzing qualitative data (i.e. interviews / observations) from an interpretive perspective. We describe four phases of systematically describing data: open coding, axial coding, selective coding, and establishing theoretical propositions.
• Week 10 Readings: Umana-Taylor (2004);  Mathison (1988)
• Week 11: * Creswell (2006): Chapter 4
  • Jigsaw (5 Groups) on Qual. Designs: * [Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9 from Creswell (2006)],

Weeks 12 & 13: Part IV: Observational & Mixed Methodology Designs

1. Choosing a Perspective and Designing Instruments / Protocols for Observational Research
2. Rationale for Mixing Methods / Traditions
3. Ethical Concerns in the Research Process (Part 2): IRB
4. Studying Diverse and Vulnerable Populations
5. At the end of this unit students will submit a Critical Review of Empirical Article of their choice. (Students are encouraged to work with their major professor to identify a ‘seminal’ work to review.)

• Week 12 Readings: Angrosino & Mays de Perez (2000); Hamre, Pianta, & Choormat-Mooney (2009)
• Week 13 Readings: DeCuir Gunby (2008); Sandelowski, Voils & Barroso (2006)
  • Jigsaw: Teddlie & Tashakkori (2006); Green (2006); Buck et al. (2009); Creswell (2006); Onwuegbuzie & Johnson (2006)

Weeks 14: Part V: Faculty Research Review

1. Internal to Class: We will review a body of work (3-4 articles) by a NCSU CED faculty member and generate questions concerning research design and research program for the faculty member. (1st half of class)
2. External to Class: We will then invite the faculty member to give brief presentation of his/her work (past, present, future) and to answer class questions. (2nd half of class)

• Readings: (2-3 Empirical Articles Selected by Invited Faculty Member)
• Chapters 4 & 7 APA Manual, Chapter 24 Fraenkel & Wallen (2008);  Bellmore & Graham (2009); Cary (2009); Beckner (2004); Sales & Lavin (2000)