Day #5, June 21st CEP 955 Summer Hybrid 2013

Jack Smith

Michigan State University

OverviewWeek 1 focus: Elements of the front-endSpecific focus today: Structuring the literature

review sectionPivot next week to the study designBut… instructional sequence is semi-linear, but

thinking and development process is cyclicalToday will focus time on lit reviews and allot

time other front end issuesDoes someone want critical attention to their RQs?Second theory bit to go with Amy’s?Book review of GCR: major theoretical perspectives

RQ Lab

Homework check-inWhat was useful, if anything, in GGB, chapter

4?Was anyone surprised/upset by the negative

assessment of overall quality of published research in education?

How many tried outlining their literature review section?

Decisions about framing theory in your literature review section?

The work of reviewThe cycle of engagement with sources

Search and find/select (electronic & “dumb” and eyes-on and “smart”)

Read (use of the scarce resource of time)Evaluate and characterizeLook for patterns across sources (results,

methods, framing theory, limitations)Structure your synthesis (communicating the

patterns you see)Note: The work of review is never complete

(despite our proposal writing needs and wishes)

Refining our source typologyFrom your CEP 901B papers and top-ten

work: Empirical vs. theoreticalEmpirical is pretty easy to recognize

(common structure)Theoretical focuses on the statement and

justification of general principlesBut E & T are insufficient as types of scholarly

writingOther types?Review your top-ten

Writing interludeWould 20 minutes of literature review think,

outline, and compose time be welcome?

Theory Bite(s)Introducing Amy’s PracticumAmy: social constructivismQ&A; discussion

The Role of Theory (generally)Seeing is a conceptual act => we see with our ideasLooking, observing, recording, interpreting are all

conceptual actions (applications of our ideas to raw observable data)

Frameworks direct our attention to particular features of the world that we could notice, label, and record

No explicit framework does not imply no framework (implicit, intuitive, unconscious frames)

Researcher’s responsibility and reflective practice: Try to be explicit about what guides your seeing

Theory Scale (or “reach”)In educational psychology (at least)—as in other fields—

theories differ in the range of phenomena they address“Grand” theory: All of human learning and/or

development, e.g., Skinner’s operant conditioning theoryOutside of education: plate tectonics in geology

Many other theories narrow the range of their target phenomena; “medium” to “small-scale”??

Examples:TPACK: phenomenon = what teachers know about

educational technologyWentzel: phenomenon = how social support, motivation,

and achievement relateBut scale is also dynamic; small-scale theories can be

adapted to account for a wider range of phenomena (e.g., “perceived loss”)

Grand Theory (of thinking, knowing & learning) Greeno, Collins, & Resnick (1996) provide a very useful

top-level categorization of their families of theoriesThree broad perspectives (groupsof theories)

Behavioral theoriesCognitive theoriesSituative theories

Situative (sometimes called “sociocultural”) theories focus on participating (as knowing) and on individual and collective knowingRogoff, cognitive apprenticeshipBrown, Collins, & Duguid (1989) “situated cognition” Jean LaveEtienne Wenger

Perspectives form a temporal progression of the field (B->C->S)

Homework for MondayFocus: How do the framing part of my proposal

(front end + RQs) shape my study designTexts: Review SRIE, chapter 5; Creswell, chapter 1

(worldviews & major research traditions)Writing: Update the entries in the Google doc

(front end, RQs, study designIf you need to, open a second row for yourself

Other ways to move aheadRefine/improve your problem statement/introductionShow your ps/intro to a peer or JackWork on your literature review as the next section

(outlining or composing)Work on your RQs and “defining” your key terms