WW_Bailey,+Bowen,+Doughman_Research+Methods

Research Methods

http://research2010fall.wikispaces.com/C3.+Peer+Review+~+Research+Methods


 * || Bailey

**Rationale**
In my research study, I am planning to explore and analyze beneficial uses of technology as it relates to enhancing the learning and education of the middle school special education student with a focus on those student identified LD (Learning Disabled). The examples that I will consider must have results that have been successfully utilized by fellow educators and suggest significant improved student success over more traditional learning approaches.

Chapter four in the text book emphasizes the importance of clearly identifying the participants of any study. (Johnson, B., & Christensen, L., 2008) This is extremely important for my research topic since many technologies may prove effective for students with mild learning disabilities, yet students that are more profoundly challenged may not respond as well. The participants that will be the focus of my study are the middle school special education instructors who teach learning disabled (LD) students.

Much research has been done in the past concerning the disabled student and how assistive technology can help to overcome learning obstacles. This will not be my sole focus. I also do not wish to consider the more severely mentally challenged students as they often are unfamiliar on a daily basis of technology and do not have the basic skills for its implementation in a learning setting. The LD child is often bored with education from many prior experiences of failure in the classroom setting, and subsequently the possibilities for revitalizing their attitudes toward learning with “new and exciting” technological strategies are a real possibility.

At the conclusion of my research, if I have identified three distinct and feasible technologies that could be incorporated into the classes that I teach, then this research project will have been more than worthwhile.

**Research Methods**
In my research plan, I will use interviews and multiple questionnaires to collect data regarding what types of emerging technologies are currently being used to support the middle school special education student. I will conduct an initial open-ended survey to all current special education teachers in Cobb County using a Google Docs survey. This survey will be used to specifically uncover technologies that are currently in use. An additional follow-up survey will be able to focus on the most popular specific technologies and collect quantitative data such as how often, how effective, and method of utilization. All results and a discussion forum will be available on a Wiki page following analysis and tabulation.

To supplement and validate my research, I also will interview special education supervisors in Cobb, and Cherokee Counties as well as assistive technology supervisors. My questions will focus not only on what is being used, but what may be on the table for use in the future. My findings from the two teacher surveys will provide useful information and guidance for later questions and discussions with these two additional groups.

My nominal data will be validated using interpretive validity by incorporating the following strategies from chapter 10 in the textbook (Johnson, B., & Christensen, L., 2008):

(Initial surveys will guide the direction and content of later data instruments. Multiple viewpoints will be collected.)
 * 1. Extended fieldwork**

(Cross-checking information by collecting data from three groups including the teachers, along with the special education administrators, as well as the assistive technology supervisors.)
 * 2. Triangulation**

(Results will be available with additional comment input from all participants from Wiki page devoted to the results.)
 * 3. Participant feedback**

**Extension**
The natural extension to this research plan would be to test the most popular or most promising teaching technologies on actual LD students. This will surely be a personal mission of mine as I look for the latest and greatest in digital teaching tools for my LD students.

Johnson, B. (2008). Educational Research, Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches (3rd ed.) (J. McNall, Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. || Bowen

Methodology

What Web 2.0 applications can support the effectiveness in teaching reading to K-12 students?

Research Design To start my research I plan to develop a questionnaire. Johnson and Christensen (2008) inform that an effective questionnaire helps you to get to know your participants better. Since my kindergarten students come to me with many different types of technological experiences, I plan to design a questionnaire that helps me to determine what skills my students already possess. I would like to also send a questionnaire to parents to determine how many students have access to computers in their homes and how often they use those computers in their homes. Qualitative data with open-ended questions are the type of questions that I plan to use. I believe by using open ended questions, I would allow parents to explain their answers. Many times parents like to explain their answers, so I would like to provide them with this opportunity. Types of Data Moving on into my research, I plan to used a mixed research approach. Based on my problem statement, I feel I will need a lot of literature and research to provide direction for my research. I am searching for a lot of studies and literature to provide me suitable applications for my kindergarten students. Data collection strategy and/or instrument After reviewing many articles and studies, I could design a pre-test for kindergarten students at my school to test their reading abilities. We actually administer a test called the Lexia. (Lexia Learning Systems, 2003)”Lexia Reading provides ongoing, dynamic assessment of reading skills and progress, enabling educators to foster students’ reading success by informing and differentiating reading instruction.”.This program could provide me with me with the pre-test data that I need. I can then conduct a field experiment of a particular Web 2.0 application. My sample size would be around 80 kindergarten students of similar economic and ethnic backgrounds. Two teachers would implement the Web 2.0 application and two teachers would conduct their classes as normal. After an eight week period of time, all teachers would administer the Lexia test and I would compare the data of the classes that received treatment to the classes that did not receive the treatment to determine if there was a significant differences. Data analysis I plan to compare the pretest and posttest scores to determine if there was an improvement in scores. I would compare the percentages of pretest data to posttest data to determine if there is significance in scores. I could also divide my students into high achievers, average achievers, and low achievers and determine if there is significance in this data. The data analysis possibilities can be difficult for this topic. Determining if there is a significance and who the program benefits is the most important factor in my research. Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2007). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Lexia Learning Systems. (2003). Early reading. Lincoln, MA: Lexia Learning Systems,Inc. || Doughman

Problem Statement
As I am beginning to step deeper into the reading comprehension research, I am starting to see the patterns and hear the common phrases. I feel like I understand what the comprehension components are, how they are connected, and what is not taking place in classrooms today. And for the last couple of years, I have started to feel that what students do in schools are somewhat disconnected from their lives away from school. I do not feel this should be the case; I feel like what is taking place in the classrooms should transfer over and apply to student’s lives away from school. We are a very technologically advanced society and schools should be preparing students for this advanced work field. Students need to be able to read fluently and comprehend text that are and will be put in front of them. We, as educators, need to look for ways to incorporate the technology or use the technology to help teach and aid with reading comprehension. I have found that there are computer based programs that help with this (though not all are an accurate means of assessing and teaching) and that blogging can help with “new literacies”. I have found that each step in blogging “integrates both traditional reading comprehension skills and the new, higher order thinking skills that are often required during online reading comprehension”. (Zawilinski, 2009). Blogging is just one tool or step in the right direction; but I know there has to be more. I want to know programs, strategies, and techniques that are technologically-based and that will help prepare my students for their brightly colored, fast paced futures. I want students to be fluent as well as capable of understanding numerous texts that will be presented to them. So my question is, what program will aid in reading comprehension and help my students in a way that is relevant, applicable, and transferable to their lives now and tomorrow?

Research Methodology
Rational: Comprehension is an issue that many students still struggle with; educators work with this skill daily to help students become more competent, capable readers. I am particularly interested in investigating technologies that might help to improve student’s reading comprehension skills and aid educators in the classroom.

Research Methods: My research method approach, by nature, is both qualitative and quantitative—thus making it mixed research. The data will show both numerical data as well as non-numerical data such as words and pictures (Johnson, B., Christensen, L., 2008). Johnson and Christensen also state that both qualitative and quantitative research methods help “improve the quality of research” and fewer mistakes will be made. I will be using the qualitative data to see if the CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction) was effective. I will use the quantitative data to support the results of my research.

My research participants will be two second grade classrooms with twenty students in each—one being the control group and the other being the experimental group. I will use teacher observations, open-ended surveys, and informal conversational interviews to gather my qualitative data. To collect my quantitative data, I will use the results from the computer program. I will be giving a pre and post test to help accurately assess my findings. I will test students to see where they stand before using the program, and then I will give them a post-test after a certain period to see if the CAI has increased reading comprehension skills. This will allow for adequate data gathering time. I will examine the comprehension results from the beginning time period to the end time period to in order to examine and analyze my results.

Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT blogging: A framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking. //The Reading Teacher, 62,// 650-661. ||
 * **CRITERIA 1: Quality of Wiki Works (TOPIC) posted. (Please provide a thorough explanation to support your review) * ** || The passage flows well and is well-written. I like how specific you are in detailing what you are and are not looking for in terms of tools for LD students. This post is clear in terms of addressing what was asked for (Research Methods). You go so far as to detail which methods from the textbook you will use in validating your nominal data. || This passage details research design, types of data, data collection strategy/instrument, and data analysis. I get the sense that you, like me, are really grappling with these concepts, and you are not as clear and specific in some places as you might could be. This is not a negative, however. I think this is what we have to do as novice researchers. As we learn more, we can revisit our early drafts and make things more specific, clear, and simple, hopefully. || This wiki works submission details the research methodology, beginning with the rationale behind the research. I am curious about how you are going to build your quantitative survey instrument. (Although I don't think it was necessary to detail that here.) ||
 * **CRITERIA 2: Similarities of elements used in the Wiki Works submission to your own work. (Please provide a thorough explanation to support your review) * ** || It's difficult for me to pinpoint similarities. We are both beginning with open-ended surveys. Then, we have a more specific follow-up survey (my follow-up is mixed). || We are both using mixed methods. In your surveys to parents, you will conduct an open-ended survey. In my surveys, I have open-ended questions as well. || We are both using mixed methods. ||
 * **CRITERIA 3: Differences of elements used in the Wiki Works submission to your own work. (Please provide a thorough explanation to support your review) * ** || In my wiki submission, I was less clear about my methods. I would ascribe that my not understanding my methods as well as you understand yours. || Our research is different in that you are dealing with a much younger population (kindergarten), and I am studying adults. You are studying students, and I am studying teachers. || A big difference in our research design is that you have a treatment and control group. In my study, everyone is doing the same treatment. My research is more exploratory in nature. ||
 * **CRITERIA 4: Elements you would like to borrow from the Wiki Works submission you are reviewing or have not thought to add or include in your own work. (Please provide a thorough explanation to support your review) * ** || I need to go back to the textbook to firm up my grasp of the educational research concepts we are grappling with. I think that my writing will be more clear if I stick more closely to the verbiage in the text. || I would like to break down my write-up into sections similar to what you have done: research design, types of data, data collection strategy/instrument, and data analysis. It'll be a bunch of different but related concepts for a while. Then, I can combine things together. || Our entries are pretty similar, so I probably won't borrow much. ||
 * **CRITERIA 5: Things you would like to change in your own work after seeing this Wiki Works submission. (Please provide a thorough explanation to support your review) * ** || I would like to rewrite my methodology post and make it more clear and flow better. || I would like to rewrite my methodology post and make it more clear and flow better. || I would like to rewrite my methodology post and make it more clear and flow better. ||
 * **D. What other comments related to this Wiki Works submission review that you want to share with your professor? * ** || This is one of the best wiki works submissions I've seen.

submitted || Nothing more to add. :) || I have nothing more to add. Thank you!

I will say, though, that I submitted my Research Methods Wiki Works feedback 3 days past the deadline. I apologize for that! Hopefully, you'll be able to get my feedback to my classmates. ||