ETR 520

1. ETR 520 Introduction to Educational Research Dr. M C. Smith

2. Blackboard http://webcourses.niu.edu Z-number and Z-ID password (815) 752-7738 or http://www.niu.edu/directory.html

3. Blackboard • You will find: • ETR 520 syllabus • course requirements and optional project(s) with complete instructions • due dates for assignments • on-line lecture notes and PP overheads • Weekly/daily schedule of topics • Assigned readings • Grading criteria • External links (useful resources)

4. ETR 520 Core Assignments • (1) Educational research problem paper • (2) Library database search and paper • (3) Critique of research study paper • (4) Research methods and design paper + IRB application

5. Final Project & Paper Attend, participate in, and evaluate American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in Chicago, April 21-25: -attend 1 or more days of the conference; -write an evaluation paper.

6. OptionalProfessional Development Activities (PDAs) • PDA options: • attend & evaluate a graduate research colloquium or doctoral dissertation defense • interview an educational researcher • Internet web site search and evaluation paper

7. Other course-relevant information • Individual vs. paired or team collaboration • In- and out-of-class participation • Blackboard for course announcements, research labs (i.e., discussions), and other materials • APA (5th ed.) required for papers • Revising and resubmitting papers • Final course grades

8. REsearchMentor™ An intelligent tutoring system (CBT) that assists students in developing research designs that are appropriate to their research questions.

9. Learning about educational research • What is educational research? • Can anybody do educational research? • What are the activities of educational researchers? • Is educational research like other forms of social science research?

10. Some activities of classroom teachers that parallel formal research activities: -planning activities (for teaching, research) -maintaining records of activities and students -gathering information about students observing students interviewing students -developing, administering, and scoring classroom (student) assessments (e.g., tests and other paper-and-pencil measures -identifying teaching, learning, and assessment problems

11. Activities of Classroom Teachers that Parallel Formal Research • asking questions and forming hypotheses • monitoring and evaluating changes in teaching and learning • collaborating and sharing information with others • professional development practices (e.g., conferences, workshops)

12. Some Benefits of Educational Research • Helps teachers to: • grow professionally • engage in self-analysis • learn new solutions to old, persistent problems • communicate more effectively with other teachers, administrators, and parents.

13. Increasing attention given to quality of educational research: Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-279) To advance education research, making it more rigorous in support of evidence-based education.

14. Evidence-based education: “the integration of professional wisdom with the best available empirical evidence in making decisions about how to deliver instruction” (relies upon scientifically valid research)

15. SCIENTIFICALLY VALID RESEARCH: applied research, basic research, and field-initiated research in which the rationale, design, and interpretation are soundly developed in accordance with scientifically- based research standards.

16. SCIENTIFICALLY BASED RESEARCH STANDARDS • apply rigorous, systematic, and objective methodology to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs  • present findings and make claims that are appropriate to and supported by the methods that have been employed

17. Characteristics of scientifically based research (1) • employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment; • data analyses are adequate to support the findings; • measurements or observational methods used that provide reliable data; • claims of causal relationships made only in random assignment experiments or designs that eliminate competing explanations for the results;

18. Characteristics of scientifically based research (2) • methods are presented in sufficient detail to allow for replication; • acceptance by a peer-reviewed journal or approval by independent experts through rigorous, scientific review; and • designs and methods appropriate to the research question posed.

19. Education needs empirical evidence in order to advance.

20. Without empirical evidence, education cannot: • resolve competing approaches to curriculum and instruction • generate cumulative knowledge about teaching and learning • avoid fads, flights of fancy, and personal biases

21. What is empirical evidence? • Scientifically based research findings from fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, and neuroscience, and from applied research in educational settings. • Objective measures of performance used to compare, evaluate, and monitor progress in education.

22. Some research evidence is better than is other evidence!

23. Levels of evidence • Randomized trials (true experimental designs) • Quasi-experiments, including pre- and post-testing • Correlational studies with statistical controls of confounding variables • Correlational studies w/out statistical controls • Descriptions and case studies of schools, classrooms, teachers, and students • Anecdotes, stories, and idiosyncratic experiences

24. RESEARCH METHODS:the systematic, purposeful ways in which the scientist obtains and analyzes information for some purpose--usually to discover new knowledge.

25. Educational research…is concerned with a variety of educational problems, including human learning and the conditions under which learning can best be accomplished across settings and for many different kinds of tasks.

26. Is Educational Research Scientific? Scientific inquiry: the ultimate aim of any science is to generate and verify theory. Scientific inquiry can be defined as the search for knowledge by using recognized methods in: -data collection -data analysis -data interpretation Education research is sometimes scientific.

27. PURPOSES of SCIENCE • describe phenomena(e.g., aspects of student learning) • predict phenomena(e.g., student achievement) • control phenomena(e.g., aspects of instruction) • explain phenomena(e.g., instruction-learning relationship)

28. Theory: predicts and explains natural phenomena (including human behavior).Although there are many theories of human learning, and of good instruction, much educational research is atheoretical.

29. Using the scientific method • 1. Researcher moves inductively from observations of specific phenomena (e.g., student behavior) to formulating a hypothesis (an educated guess) about the general situation (e.g, how students best learn); • 2. tests the hypothesis via research method; • 3. proceeds deductively from the logical implications of the hypothesis, that is, from the general situation to the specific case.

30. Steps in the Scientific Method • 1. Formulate a hypothesis. • 2. Test the hypothesis. • 3. Accept or reject the hypothesis.

31. Sources of knowledge(for decision-making in education) • Authorities and experts • Customs and traditions • Our own lived experiences • Inductive reasoning (specific to general) • Deductive reasoning (general to specific) • The scientific method

32. Educational research cannot produce definitive answers! • It can provide working concepts, language for understanding these concepts, data, and hypotheses that allow for the investigation of various possibilities: • (e.g., “How does reduction in class size affect teacher-student interaction and, subsequently, student achievement?”)

33. Educational research can be used to rule out certain approaches or methods as ineffective and can suggest plausible hypotheses about promising new methods.

34. Avoid the temptation to say that a single piece of research has“proven” X to be true! • No single study is ever definitive • Science progresses gradually, on the basis of multiple confirming/disconfirming evidence from many studies • Remember that not all educational or social research is “scientific”

35. Misconceptions About Scientific Research • 1. There is one right, best, or scientifically sound method for conducting true research. • 2. All methods or research techniques are equally sound or appropriate. • 3. Research is too difficult for the layperson to understand or to carry out. • 4. Conducting and interpreting research is easy; it’s just common sense.

36. Misconceptions (Cont’d): 5. If a study is published in a scholarly journal, it must be good and the findings true. 6. If a study is flawed in some way, it is not of any value. 7. If the research is truly scientific, it must be totally objective and value free.

37. Skepticism • (1) An attitude of doubt or a predisposition to incredulity in general or toward a particular object; • (2) the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain; • (3) the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt or criticism characteristic of skeptics.

38. A critical consumer of educational research • Does not reject every research study and research findings out of hand. • Approach to criticism is an appraisal: there are positive and negative aspects. • Do the positives outweigh the negatives? • What can be learned? What is of value?

39. Basic research concepts • Ethical practices in conducting research • Reviewing the scientific literature • Methods and research design • Operationalizing/defining variables • Hypotheses or predictions • Populations and sampling procedures • Measurement • Data analysis (statistics etc.)