SFCE 400: Community Action Research Methods

NEW COURSE

CREDITS: 3 semester hours

PREREQUISITES: SFCE 200: Introduction to Community Education

PREREQUISITES/COREQUISITES:SFCE 315W: Cultural Studies & Civic Engagement

EMU COE THEME: Caring and Professional Educators for a diverse and democratic society.

CATALOG DESCRIPTION

This course covers quantitative and qualitative techniques with an emphasis on community based action research. Prior knowledge of research methods is not expected.

OUTCOMES/OBJECTIVES Students will be able to:

  1. describe the major steps and procedures in conducting research and reporting results
  2. conduct and report a basic research study
  3. define and use the basic terminology of educational research
  4. distinguish among different methods and identify strengths and limitations of each method

SUGGESTED TEXTS AND READINGS:

Creswell,John W. 2014. A Concise Introduction to Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Johnson, Laura R. 2016. Community-Based Qualitative Research: Approaches for Education and the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Stoecker, Randy. 2013. Research Methods for Community Change: A Project-Based Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Stringer, Ernest T. 2013.Action Research (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

COURSE OUTLINE:

  1. The Logic of Research
  2. Community Based Project Design & Evaluation
  3. Sampling
  4. Designing Questions
  5. Observation, Fieldwork, and Data Collection
  6. Interviewing and Focus Groups
  7. Surveys
  8. Data Analysis
  9. From Write-Up and Dissemination to Action

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

These range from direct instruction/lecture, whole-group discussion, structured small-group activities, and student presentations and productions. A conceptually based, inquiry approach is utilized as much as possible. Community engagement/education beyond the classroom may be encouraged.

ASSESSMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS

General Description: Students are evaluated through a variety of measures, including analytic essays, individual and group projects, in-class participation, and discussions. All assessments are designed to encourage critical reflection on the primary political and economic uses to whichnew media and digital technologiesare put.

Types of Requirements:

  1. Short response essays
  2. Data gathering activities
  3. Data analysis activities
  4. Individual, small or whole group projects

Criteria for Evaluation of Assignments:

  1. Quality of content (relevance to course, treatment of basic issues, significance or fullness of meaning, and mastery in synthesizing course materials and outside readings).
  2. Precision of expression and accuracy of reasoning.
  3. Veracity of evidence presented to support interpretations, criticisms and conclusions.
  4. Creative, insightful expression of ideas.
  5. Relevance to community reflection and responsiveness, community engagement and education, democracy, and sustainability

GRADING SCALE:

A (95%), A- (90%), B+ (87%), B (83%), B- (80%), C+ (77%), C (73%), C (70%), D+ (77%), D (73%), D- (60%), F (<60%)

KNOWLEDGE BASE: BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Cheryll & Amanda Latz . 2013. Action Research for Kids: Units That Help Kids Create Change in Their Community. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Bogdan, Robert & Sari KnoppBiklen. 2006. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theories and Methods (5th Ed.). Pearson.

Charmaz, Kathy. 204. Constructing Grounded Theory (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Cohen, Louis, Lawrence Manion, & Keith Morrison. 2011. Research Methods in Education (7th Ed.). New York: Routledge.

Danaher, Mike, Janet Cook, Geoff Danaher, PhyllidaCoombes, & Patrick Danaher. 2013. Researching Education with Marginalized Communities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

deMarrais, Kathleen B., and Stephen D. Lapan. 2004. Foundations for Research: Methods of Inquiry in Education and the Social Sciences. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.

Drew, Clifford J., Michael L. Hardman, and Ann Weaver Hart. 1996. Designing and Conducting Research: Inquiry in Education and Social Science (2nd Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Emerson, Robert M., Fretz, Rachel I., & Shaw, Linda L. 1995. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Etmanski, Catherine, Budd L. Hall, & Teresa Dawson (Eds.). 2014. Learning and Teaching Community-Based Research: Linking Pedagogy to Practice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Fetterman, David M., Shakeh J. Kaftarian, &Abraham Wandersman (Eds.). 2014. Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-Assessment, Evaluation Capacity Building, and Accountability (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Hacker, Karen A. 2013.Community-Based Participatory Research.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Ivankova, Nataliya V. 2014. Mixed Methods Applications in Action Research: From Methods to Community Action. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Jason, Leonard, Christopher Keys, & Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar. 2004. Participatory Community Research: Theories and Methods in Action. American Psychological Association.

Lichtman, Marilyn. 2013. Qualitative Research in Education: A Users Guide (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

McIntyre , Alice. 2007. Participatory Action Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Menken, StephMachielKeestra (Eds.). 2016. An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research. Amsterdam University Press (Distributed by the University of Chicago Press).

Newby, Peter. 2014. Research Methods for Education (2nd Ed.).New York: Routledge.

Savin-Baden, Maggi & Gemma Tombs.(Forthcoming, 2017).Research Methods for Education in the Digital Age (Bloomsbury Research Methods for Education).Bloomsbury Academic.

Schensul, Jean J. & Margaret D. LeCompte. 2016. Ethnography in Action: A Mixed Methods Approach (2nd Ed.). Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

Schram, Thomas H. 2006. Conceptualizing and Proposing Qualitative Research. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Scott, Duncan & Lynne Russell. 2005. Researching Voluntary and Community Action: The Potential of Qualitative Case Studies. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Seidman, Irving. 2006. Interviewing as Qualitative Research. NY: Teachers CollegePress

Silverman, Robert Mark& Kelly L. Patterson. 2014. Qualitative Research Methods for Community Development. New York: Routledge.

Stringer, Ernest T., Mary Frances Agnello, Sheila Conant Baldwin, & LoisMcFayde. 1997. Community-Based Ethnography: Breaking Traditional Boundaries of Research, Teaching, and Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wallman, Sandra. 2011. The Capability of Places: Methods for Modelling Community Response to Intrusion and Change. Pluto Press.