This week's lessons focus on the process of conducting research. If you do not know a vocabulary word, look it up! You will need to become comfortable with the language that researchers use to discuss their thoughts and ideas. Become familiar with the vocabulary!

In the prologue of your Parsons & Brown text, the authors make the case that teachers need to know about theory and research in order to make the many decisions about curriculum, classroom arrangement, behavior management, etc that go on in classrooms every day. The authors argue that effective teachers approach teaching systematically, observing what goes on in the classroom, and make informed decisions about how to handle each unique situation by applying theory and research on a daily basis.

The prologue goes on to explain that many times, teachers rely on memory for reflection rather than systematic observations and written records of information.  The concept of systematic observation is key to understanding how action research can help professional teachers become expert reflective teachers. It is more than just reflection or thinking back about what happened using memory, it is consciously and systematically collecting information that can help you make educated decisions in your classroom or other applicable settings. Research provides you the ability to know with some level of certainty if you have made good decisions in your classroom. Pure reflection does not afford such opportunities to assess your impact on students. 

Lesson Activities

• Read the prologue and the authors' complete rationale for the textbook and how you can benefit from learning about research. 
• Read chapter 1 of Parsons & Brown.

The Process of Research

Regardless of the topic of research, the process of research is the same.  The process of research also takes a great deal of planning and design for it to be successful.  Throughout this course you will be introduced to the process of planning and designing research so that you will be able to prepare a research proposal appropriate to conduct research in your field of study in the future. This is a prerequisite skill to the next courses in the research series.

I hope that as you continue through this course you will see the process you learn as more than just an academic requirement you complete in order to graduate.  In order to be successful in your future careers it is likely that many of you will be required to either be an analytical consumer of research or conduct formal research (and often both), and conduct action research.  Knowledge of the process for planning and design will always be a critical component of successful research.

Chapter 1 in Parsons & Brown begins to introduce the process of research. You should take time to think about the steps in the process and why each is important to the goal, which is to answer your research questions with some level of certainty.

I. The first step in the research process is identifying and defining the problem you want to address.

II. The second step in the research process is developing 'action steps' that really contains several sub-steps:

a. Reviewing literature on previous research relevant to the  identified problem.

1. Reviewing literature usually involves clarifying your definition of the problem in light of what you read.

2. Reviewing literature also involves learning about how others have approached the defined problem in the past and what has been successful and what hasn't been successful.

3. Reviewing the literature also helps you clarify specific research questions and corresponding hypotheses about the topic you chose that you can answer using a research design.

4. Reviewing the literature also helps you to see how others have approached answering research questions on this topic before.

b. Formulating a Method for answering your research questions.

III. The third step is implementing your Method for answering your research questions.

a. Following your plan for systematically implementing a change, Independent Variable.

b. Following your plan for systematically collecting information that you think the change you implemented would effect, Dependent Variable.

IV. The fourth step is evaluating the outcomes or information you collected.

a. Looking at the information you collected in a systematic way.

b. Interpreting what the information means with knowledge of research methodology and the limitations to what we can 'know' based on research results.

c. Making decisions about the change you tested. Was it worthwhile? Did it not make a difference? Did it make the situation worse? Did it have the anticipated effect?

Lesson Activities

• Please note: For this course, please upload ALL files to Elearning as Rich Text Format (RTF) rather than word docs. When you save an assignment in Word, you have the option of choosing "Save As" from the file menu. When you do that, you can select the "File Type" in the window that pops up. Please use the drop down menu under "File Type" to choose Rich Text Format (RTF) before you upload any files to Elearning.

• Follow the directions on Page 11 of your Parsons & Brown text for the "Cooperative Learning Exercises." The lesson lists 5 steps. I would like you to follow the first 4 steps (step 5 just asks you to repeat the assignment). The lesson is designed for small groups in a classroom setting, but you will do this exercise individually. Post your responses in the Week 2 Lesson 1 drop box in eLearning and compare your answer to the sample provided. 

The first step in the research process is to identify and define the problem you want to address. Often times the definition and clarification of a specific research question also involves the second step in the research process, reviewing relevant literature. Once a problem is identified as something you want to address, it is important to look at previous literature to clarify and help define your question.

Researchers in applied settings, such as classrooms, typically seek to investigate issues that help shape decision making and applied practice. Policy changes may occur as a result of the data based decision making that can be accomplished with appropriate research methods. The initial interest or curiosity about an issue may come from theory or practice.

For instance, Jennifer, a 5th grade teacher, just attended an in service training on inclusion for students with disabilities and the effects of peer modeled behavior on other student's behavior. As a result of the information received, she began to wonder if there were elements within her classroom that support the inclusion of individuals with disabilities and the ways peers may increase or decrease other student's success through the behavior they model.

Robin, on the other hand, noticed that Daniel, a child in her classroom diagnosed with Autism, has good days and bad days. She further noticed that those bad days seem to happen when the seating arrangement requires Daniel to sit with a particular small group of boys. She began to wonder if there was some way to help the situation without removing Daniel from the group. Robin begins to search for literature that can help her identify data supported strategies that she can use with student peers and students with developmental disabilities.

Jennifer and Robin each became curious about peer interactions and the effects of those interactions on students with disabilities. However, Jennifer came to this idea from first learning about theory and then applying it to her setting whereas Robin came to this idea from her personal experience in the applied setting and then looked to the literature to identify theory guided, data supported strategies that may help her address the issue.

Asking a Researchable Question

Moving from the 'I wonder?' to a researchable question can be difficult. You need to begin thinking about the identified issue in terms that can be tested and measured. Typically, a research question will address the difference between two or more groups or phenomena (Independent Variable) as measured by some other  variable(s) (Dependent Variable). For instance, Robin could implement a peer modeling intervention in her classroom and measure Daniels's behavior changes as the intervention is put into practice and taken away. To be tested, you need to have at least two comparison groups or phenomena (Robin's classroom with and without the peer modeling intervention). To be measurable, the outcome measure or dependent variable need to be operationally defined (Daniel's behavior).

Stating Hypotheses

Hypotheses are predictive statements that are formulated directly from research questions. You will see the importance of asking comparative research questions as we work on developing hypotheses.  For every research question you ask, there will be two hypothesis statements. The research hypothesis (also known as the alternative hypothesis) states that a difference exists between two comparison groups/phenomena or that a relationship exists between the two comparison groups/phenomena (independent variable) as measured by the outcome (dependent) variable.  The null hypothesis states that a difference or relationship does not exist between the comparison groups/phenomena as measured by the outcome variable.

Lesson Activities

• Please note: For this course, please upload ALL files to Elearning as Rich Text Format (RTF) rather than word docs. When you save an assignment in Word, you have the option of choosing "Save As" from the file menu. When you do that, you can select the "File Type" in the window that pops up. Please use the drop down menu under "File Type" to choose Rich Text Format (RTF) before you upload any files to Elearning.

• Follow Table 2.1 on page 20 of the Parsons and Brown text book, write 5 observations and 5 corresponding researchable questions. Make sure your questions can be tested in that they make a comparison and that the outcome can be measured. (Hint: in the example "effective" and "help assimilate" are not measurable. These terms need to be defined in ways that can be measured. How would you measure effectiveness?)
• For each of the 5 research questions you created in this last activity, create the corresponding null and research hypotheses.
• Post your responses in the Week 2 Lesson 2 drop box in eLearning and compare your answer to the sample provided. 

Please note that your text book does not introduce the concept of the null hypothesis. This is an unfortunate omission of a very important concept. You will be learning more about hypotheses and testing of hypotheses in the course content.

Need Help?  Have a question but can't find the answer? Here are some options:

• Check the list of frequently-asked questions.
• Email Dr. Barry*.

*Remember to include the course name and your name in your message.

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Updated on May 16, 2007