EDF
5481 METHODS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
FALL 2001
ASSIGNMENT THREE:
(A) DEVELOPING RESEARCH
PROCEDURES
(B) EXPERIENCE EVALUATING
ASPECTS OF SURVEY DESIGN
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FOCI:
This assignment will give you experience
in
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rewriting your research problem statement
(yes, again!), your operational definitions, and your hypotheses
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describing and justifying your choice of
study design to use
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defining your population of interest
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defining your sample (if appropriate) and
discussing logistic considerations, and
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examining issues in survey research design
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ASSIGNMENT THREE
IS DUE BY CLASS OCTOBER 24.
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Examples should be online and linked by
Friday morning.
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Please remember to either link to the special
one-topic guides in Guide 5, which you can do either from Guide 5 or from
the Overview page (sampling, question construction, etc.), or access them
in their Blackboard folder under COURSE MATERIALS.
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Guide 6 on focus groups is now available
under COURSE DOCUMENTS.
THESE
DIRECTIVES ARE DESIGNED FOR FLEXIBILITY
TO
REFLECT YOUR RESEARCH PROBLEM
For
example, if you only have one main independent variable, you do not need
to designate any additional independent variables. Space guidelines are
approximate.
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PART ONE: You
will rewrite your research statement where needed, taking into account
feedback and other prior information from assignments 1 and 2:
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introductory paragraph with justification
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identification of key conceptual dependent
variables (no more than 3)
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identification of
key conceptual independent variables (no more than 5)
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TWO DISTINCT hypotheses
that CONCEPTUALLY link your independent variables to your dependent variables.
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OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
of ONE or TWO dependent variables
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OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
of NO MORE THAN THREE independent variables
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TWO DISTINCT OPERATIONAL
HYPOTHESES, each one linking one operationalized independent variable
with one operationalized dependent variable.
At this point, your
rewritten total research problem statement with hypotheses should be less
than 2 double-spaced pages. This is
because you have eliminated all extraneous material that does not relate
to your research problem. You have also kept citations to a minimum.
PLEASE OMIT NULL HYPOTHESES FOR THIS
ASSIGNMENT.
PART TWO:
For
this assignment, you will also provide:
The kind of
research design that you plan to use.
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Describe the design by name (e.g.,
experiment, quasi-experiment, time series, survey, focus group).
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Describe why this type of design is
the best one to use for your particular research problem. It is OK
to reference logistical concerns such as finances or accessibility in your
decision. Make a phone call or check the Web or whatever is needed so that
these are realistic. It is definitely OK to describe what you want to know
in selecting a type of research design. For example, if you want to compare
two teaching techniques or two kinds of exercises, you will probably want
an experiment or quasi experiment; if you want to gauge teacher satisfaction
or the receptiveness of employees to a new training program, you will probably
consider a survey.
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Describe two different possible threats
to internal validity FOR
YOUR PROPOSED RESEARCH in
your choice of this particular kind of study design.
This section should be about one paragraph.
The general
site or population that you plan to study.
Many populations are tailored and eclectic,
for example, all friendship groups meeting in ichat rooms on Tuesday evenings
at 7 P.M. or all television situation comedies landing in the "weekly top
20" between 1955 and 1999.
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Describe the site or population that
you plan to use for YOUR research.
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How will you obtain this site or a list
of the population?
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What can you use as a list or a frame
for sampling?
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Why is this site or population a good
choice for your particular research problem?
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How will you sample sites or elements
from your population? Describe the name or type of the sample you will
use. Is this a probability sample or a non probability sample?
Or
will you take a census? Defend your choice.
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Describe one way in which using this
site or population will help your study's external
validity?
Describe any logistics problems that you
can anticipate such as access or availability. Be sure to point out any
biases that could result from using a non probability sample and/or a poor
response rate or restricted access.
This section should be about two
short paragraphs.
PART THREE:
Below is a survey which is in the planning
stages. Following it are a series of questions about this study design.
You will need to type or write out your answers to each question.
Turn your answers in together
with the rewritten and augmented research problem statement on October
24, 2001 by class.
THE PLANNED SURVEY
Joann is planning a study on
how satisfied teachers are with their assignments, salaries, benefits,
and learning opportunities.
Joann obtains a list of all school districts
in her state. She decides to select three school districts to survey. She
chooses her own district, and two nearby districts because it will be convenient
for her to distribute surveys in these districts. Next, in each district,
she picks out the first two elementary, middle, and high schools from a
list arranged in order of the number of students at each school (that is,
the largest school is listed first, then the second largest, and the smallest
school is listed last.) She decides to send a questionnaire by mail to
each teacher at each selected school. Her budget only allows her to send
out one questionnaire per teacher.
Here are some of Joann's questions:
(1) How long have you been teaching?
(2) Do you agree or disagree with this
statement? "My school district needs to raise salaries and benefits."
(3) Are you satisfied with your salary?
PLEASE CHECK ONLY ONE:
_____Excellent
_____Very good
_____Fair
_____Poor
(4) Race
(5) Sex
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The following are valid sources to use
to answer the critique questions:
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Both assigned textbooks for this course
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All WEB study guides (and explicit links)
for EDF 5481, Fall 2001
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Notes taken during class
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EVERYONE MUST ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS BASED ON JOANN'S SURVEY DESIGN
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1.
Is Joann's sample a probability sample? Please answer YES or NO, then explain
in a sentence or two:
2.
Is Joann's sample a multistage design? Please answer YES or NO, then briefly
explain the rationale for your answer.
3.
Do you think Joann's design in the box above has relatively high or relatively
low EXTERNAL VALIDITY?
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Pick "high" or "low" and in then a sentence,
explain the basis for your decision.
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Briefly describe ONE possible threat to
EXTERNAL VALIDITY in Joann's design. (You may elaborate on your answer
immediately above.)
4.
Briefly describe ONE problem that you see with the way each one of Joann's
questions 1-5 have been written. Rewrite the question to solve the problem,
using techniques of good question construction.
Susan Carol Losh
October 16 2001
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EDF 5481 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
