EAF 509: Research Design in Education

John K. Rugutt, Ph.D.1

ILLINOISSTATEUNIVERSITY

HOME|WebCT

EAF 509: RESEARCH DESIGN IN EDUCATION

FALL 2006

Instructor: Dr. John K. Rugutt

Place of work: 323 DeGarmo

Phone: (309) 438-2051

Office Hours: By appointment (Email preferable).

Class Meets: Wednesday5:30-8:20 pm, Room: DEG 307

Email:

Department Name /

Educational Administration and Foundations

Course Number / EAF 509
Course Title / Research Design in Education
Catalog Description / Examination of issues related to designing and planning research studies. Students learn to apply techniques to specific educational research problems. Prerequisite: EAF 410 or equivalent

Course Overview

/ This is the second part of a five-semester course that provides students with the skills necessary to design a sound thesis or dissertation. The course will introduce students to research design fundamentals, both in terms of planning and conducting educational research. Students will be exposed to issues related to the design and planning stages of the research process. EAF 509 follows up and builds upon some of the concepts presented in EAF 410 (or it equivalent) and students are expected to possess the background and vocabulary taught in EAF 410. Similar to EAF 410 course, instead of concentrating on how to enter numbers in formulas, emphasis is on understanding concepts and processes behind statistical procedures. The emphasis of the course will be on practical applications of statistical techniques educational research design.
The course will concentrate more on statistical inference involving one sample, independent measures t-test and related sample t-test, simple and one-way analysis of variance, bivariate correlation analysis and chi-square using conceptual definitions, without access to formulas. Ability to use SPSS for data analysis is also expected.
Technology components:
As a part of this course, students make use of a variety of technological tools. These include computer databases and the Internet that are accessed to locate relevant research articles, and word processing packages to type and format class assignments. Students will also be required to constantly check for class materials updates from the class website. All class reading assignments, supplemental materials, lab projects and semester projects will be posted on the class website alongside their due dates (WebCT). It is the responsibility of the student to stay current on all class activities up to and including the last day of the semester.

Topical/Content Outline...Subject to Change

The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the course syllabus as necessary.

It is the student's responsibility to keep up with changes to the syllabus

Week / Date / Topic / Assignment & Participation / Chapter
1 / 08/23 / Introduction and Review
2 / 08/30 / Organizing and Graphing Data
Research Design, Measurement, & Analysis / AF-Ch1*
Vogt, Ch1**
3 / 09/06 / Organizing and Graphing Data
Research Design, Measurement, & Analysis / Literature Review*** / AF-Ch3
Vogt, Ch1
4 / 09/13 / Distributions: Central Measures of Tendency and Measures of Variability
Standard Deviation and Correlation / Assignment #1 / AF-Ch3
Vogt, Ch2
5 / 09/20 / Normal Distribution
Variables and Relations among Them / Ethics and Research / AF-Ch4
Vogt, Ch3
6 / 09/27 / The Normal Distribution
The Use of Descriptive Statistics / Causal-comparative / AF-Ch4
Vogt, Ch4
7 / 10/04 / Hypothesis Testing with One-Sample (Z or t distribution)
Statistical Inference / Article Critique
Sampling / AF-Ch5,6
Vogt, Ch8
8 / 10/11 / Hypothesis Testing with two-Samples (t distribution) / Experimental Research / AF-Ch6,7
9 / 10/18 / Midterm Examination!!!
10 / 10/25 / Hypothesis Testing with Two/K-Samples (One-way Analysis of Variance)
Survey and Sampling / Survey Research / AF-Ch7
Vogt, Ch5
11 / 11/01 / Hypothesis Testing with Two/K-Samples (One-way Analysis of Variance)
Multiple Comparison Procedures / Assignment #2
Measurement (Reliability and Validity) / AF-Ch7
AF-Ch12(12.2)
Vogt, Ch5
12 / 11/08 / Correlation Analysis
Standard Deviation and Correlation / Correlational Research / AF-Ch9
Vogt, Ch2
13 / 11/15 / Simple Linear Regression and Correlation Analysis
Regression Analysis / Single-subject Research / AF-Ch9
Vogt, Ch9
14 / 11/22 / Thanksgiving Holiday / No Class / No Class
15 / 11/29 / Ordinal and Nominal Procedures (Non-Parametric Statistics: Chi-square Distributions)
Research Design, Measurement, and Analysis / Internal and External Validity / AF-Ch8
Vogt, Ch1, 7,11
16 / 12/6 / Non-Parametric Statistics: Chi-square Distributions / Project Presentation / Vogt, Ch6,7
17 / 12/13 / Final Examination!!! / Research Project Due

Note: * Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 3rd Ed. (Alan Agresti and Barbara Finlay)

** Quantitative Research Methods for Professionals (W. Paul Vogt)

*** Notes provided by the instructor (PowerPoint)

1Research Design in Education

1.1CourseObjectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify a variety of research designs among both qualitative and quantitative paradigms (focus will mainly be quantitative designs).
  2. Understand the concepts of internal and external validity.
  3. Identify a researchable problem and conduct research on it.
  4. Use a research library and other public sources of data and research.
  5. Demonstrates ones’ ability to critically analyze and interpret published research (through literature reviews and/or article critiques).
  6. Understand the issues related to testing, particularly the concepts of test score validity and reliability.
  7. Correctly calculate and interpret basic descriptive and inferential statistics.
  8. Understand the logic of statistical inference and hypothesis testing.
  9. Be able to calculate and interpret inferential statistics on z, t, F, chi-square statistics.
  10. Write according to APA guidelines.

1.2 Class Format

The format of the course will be a combination of lectures, seminar, and computer time. Each topic that we cover will have a combination of lecturing by me, to give you the necessary background for the topic, lab exercises so that we can learn how to interpret output, and a discussion period where we all read papers that apply the topic and then critique using guidelines provided by the instructor.

1.3Texts and Software

Required texts are:

(AF) Agresti, A., & Finlay, B. (1999). Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences (3rd ed).Prentice Hall.

ISBN: 0-13-526526-6

(Vogt) Vogt, W. P. (2007):Quantitative Research Methods for Professionals.Allyn & Bacon.

ISBN: 0-205-35913-2

Primary software: SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). We will use the Windows version as much as possible. The examples I will offer in class and the lab computer exercises will be computed in SPSS. SPSS online tutorials are available on

1.5 Required Student Tasks

Course Requirements and Required Student Tasks:

  • Participate in all class activities, complete all assigned readings, and be prepared to discuss them in class;
  • Complete the assignments by the due dates;
  • Complete a final paper and deliver presentation of the paper.

1.Class Participation/Attendance.Attendance and active class participationis very important and will be part of your grade. Note that work on data analysis using computers will be primarily an in-class activity, so attendance is particularly crucial. Being sick will not count as an absence.You will receive a maximum of 5 points for class participation and attendance.

2.Assignments.Each student will complete two major assignments that together describe a process for writing a research project. More details are provided on the assignment link within the WebCT courseware.

1.6Student Performance Evaluation Methods

The following point allocation will be used to determine final grades for the class:

1. Class participation/attendance 5 points

2. Assignments 1 & 2 10 points

3. Midterm 25 points

3.Final Project 20 points

4. Presentation of Final Project 5 points

5.Article Critique 10 points

6. Final Exam25 points

Assignments. Assignments 1-2 are worth 5 points a piece for a maximum of 10 points. Handing in a well thought out and well written assignment on the due date is worth 5 points. Assignments turned in late will receive half-credit of 2.5 points if well done. A high-quality final paper submitted on time will receive 20 points. Final papers turned in one day late will receive a maximum of 15 points and final papers turned in more than one day late will receive half-credit, or a maximum of 10 points. A well-done final presentation of your results will receive 5 points. Students who do not present their results in will not receive credit for the presentation.

Letter grades will be assigned in accordance with the following scheme:

Points Letter Grade
90-100 A (Exceptional Performance)

80-89 B (Above Average Performance)
70-79 C (Average Performance)
60-69 D (Below Average Performance)
0-59 F (Failing)

ISU Policies

ISU Regulations state:

"Written or other work a student submits in a course must be the product of his/her own efforts: plagiarism, cheating, or other forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited." Cases of suspected copying, cheating, or plagiarism are referred to Student Dispute Office for a University hearing.

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TDD).

1.7Outline of Topics

Statistics

  1. Introduction and Review of EAF 410
  2. Organizing and Graphing Data
  3. Distributions: Central Measures of Tendency and Measures of Variability
  4. The Normal Distribution
  5. Hypothesis Testing with One-Sample (Z or t distribution)
  6. Hypothesis Testing with Two/K-Samples (One-way Analysis of Variance)
  7. Linear Regression and Correlation Analysis
  8. Ordinal and Nominal Procedures (Non-Parametric Statistics: Chi-square Distributions)

Research Methodology Topics

  1. Nature of Educational Research
  2. The Research Problem
  3. Variables and Research Questions/Hypotheses
  4. Ethics and Research
  5. Review of Literature
  6. Sampling
  7. Measurement (Instruments and Instrumentation)
  8. Validity and Reliability
  9. Internal and External Validity
  10. Research Designs (Experimental, Causal Comparative, Survey, Correlational, Single Subject, etc)

1.8Delivery System

This course will be presented using a variety of delivery systems: The class will combine lecture, seminar/discussion(in-class and through online), statistical computing and student presentation.