Fall 2007
Monday, 7:00 - 9:40 p.m.
North Education 273
Course
Schedule
Overview of the schedule
Each scheduled day includes at least the first
four components (and occasionally two additional
components):
- Topic: Provides a brief description of the topics for
the day
- Course notes: Takes you to page detailing the
topics for the day
- Activity: On-line activities to complete at home which
reinforce the ideas of the class
- Reflection question: A question to think about and be ready to discuss in class
- Resources: Leads you to supplemental information
- Due dates: The dates when completed assignments must be
turned in to receive full credit.
Day 1
- Topic: Introduction to the field
- Overview of course
- Approaches to research: Qualitative and quantitative
- Course notes
- Activities
(do not press the "submit" button, but print out and bring to class).
- Reflection question:
- How might our schools or corporate training departments
change if knowledge of valid educational research was more
widely disseminated?
- Resources
Day
2
- Topic: Selecting a research topic
- Research problems and reviewing the literature
- Formulation and statement of a hypothesis
- Tour of SDSU Library
- Read Chapters 1, 3, and 4 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activities
- Reflection question:
- What educational or training problem do you feel would be
worthy of your semester's work? Describe why this is a valid
topic.
- Resources
Day
3
- Topic: Creating a research plan
- Components of the plan
- Legal and ethical considerations
- Read Chapter 5 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question:
- What legal and ethical considerations will you consider
when approaching your research topic? How will these
considerations be approached?
Day
4
- Topic: Identifying a population and sample
- Target and accessible population
- Sampling methodology and biases
- Read Chapter 6 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activities
- Reflection question:
- Why is the selection of a representative sample such a
concern to educational researchers? Identify your population
and describe how you plan to select your sample. What sort of
biases might your technique generate?
Day
5
- Topic: Testing Instruments
- Characteristics, selection, and administration of
tests
- Validity and reliability concerns
- Read
- Course notes
- Activities
- Reflection question:
- What types of test validity concerns do you have in your
study, and how do you plan to address these concerns?
- Resources
Day
6
- Topics: Qualitative and historical research
- Purpose, design and method
- Analysis and interpretation; Cautions and trends
- Read Chapters 7 and 8 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question:
- If you were to conduct a qualitative study on your topic,
who, what, and how would the study be done?
Day
6.2
- Topics: Descriptive research and descriptive statistics
- Self reporting vs. observations
- Number scales and measures of central tendency
- Read Chapter 9 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question:
- Suppose you were conducting a laboratory-based, observational study on user interactions with a new computer interface. What items would be in your checklist, and what concerns would you have on the validity of your study?
Day
7
- Topics: Surveys (Special Guest: Dr. Marcie Bober)
- Using SurveyMonkey
- Legal and ethical considerations
- Read Chapters 2, 3, and 7 in the Salkind book
- Handouts from Dr. Bober
Day
8
- Topics: Correlational research and descriptive
statistics
- Purpose and basic process of correlational research
- Measures of variability
- Read Chapters 4 and 5 in the Salkind book prior to class.
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question:
- In your own words, describe the concept of standard
deviation and what it tells educational researchers.
- Resources
- Due: Literature review (including Problem Statement and Hypothesis)
Day
9
- Topics: Causal-comparative research and descriptive
statistics
- Purpose and basic process
- Measures of relative position
- Read Chapter 8 in the Salkind book prior to class
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question
- In your own words, describe when and why causal-comparative
research would be conducted rather than other forms of
educational research.
Day
10
- Topic: Experimental research
- Purpose of experimental research
- Threats to experimental validity
- Read Chapter 10 in the Leedy book prior to class
- Preview Chapters 9 and 10 in the Salkind book prior to class.
- Course notes
- Activities
- Reflection question
- What are the major threats to the research you have
proposed, and how can these threats be minimized?
Day
11 a
- Topic: Experimental research designs
- Group designs for experimental, quasi-experimental, and
pre-experimental studies
- Single-study experimental designs
- Read Chapters 9 and 10 in the Salkind book prior to class.
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question
- What are the major validity concerns with the experimental
design for your study, and how will you control for these
concerns?
Day
11 b
- Topics: Inferential statistics and the t Test
- Null hypothesis and tests of significance
- Conducting t Test for Independent and Nonindependent
samples
- Read Chapters 10 and 11 in Salkind
- Course notes
- Activity
- Reflection question
- In your own words, describe when it would be appropriate to
set alpha at .1 and .01 in an experimental research
project.
- Due: Research
plan on Nov 12
- Data sets
Day
13
- Topics: Inferential statistics; types of tests
- Simple analysis of variance and multiple comparisons
- Factorial analysis
- A
do-it-yourself usability kit (R.A. Harris, University of
Waterloo)
- Read Chapter 12 and 13 in Salkind
- Course notes
- Activity
- Choosing the correct test: Part
1
- Reflection question
- Describe an experiment, related to your project, in which a
factorial analysis would be conducted. What independent
variables would be examined and what type of interaction might
you expect?
- Data sets
Day
14
- Topics: Inferential statistics and post-analysis
considerations
- Analysis of covariance; Chi square
- Statistical versus practical significance
- Read Chapter 14 -17 in Salkind
- Course notes
- Activity
- Choosing the correct test: Part
2
- Data sets
Day
15
- Topics:
- Research presentations
- Exam preparation
- Due: Final Report
- Reflection question
- What questions do you want answered before you take the final exam?
Day
16
Grading
Resources
Competencies