EDIT 6900: Research Methods in Instructional Technology

UGA, Instructional Technology

Spring, 2010

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Lloyd RieberCo-Instructor

Greg FrancomGraduate Assistant

TJ KopchaCo-Instructor

Dr. Kopcha is in Transit!2,219 miles

Four Topics for Today• Lessons from the “LSAT Logic in

Everyday Life” Podcast

• Writing a Literature Critique

• Conducting a Review of Literature

• Time to begin to find an article to critique

Status of Grading of Researchable Question RDA

• Almost done!

• Look for feedback this evening or tomorrow morning

RDA: Literature CritiqueDue Dates

• First draft due by end of Friday

• Buddy feedback due by end of Monday

• Final draft due by end of Wednesday

RDA: Literature ReviewDue Dates

• First draft due Feb. 24 (Wed.)

• Buddy feedback due Feb. 26 (Fri.)

• Final draft due March 1 (Mon.)

Literature Searching WorkshopFebruary 17, 2010, 5:00 pm

Michael Law, UGA Gwinnett Librarian

Literature Searching WorkshopFebruary 17, 2010, 5:00 pm

Michael Law, UGA Gwinnett Librarian

Course Project:Will you do this individually or

with a partner?

It’s time to decide!

Course Project:Will you do this individually or

with a partner?Date to decide by: February 9To declare your intention, update your

class profile and write the name of your partner or the word “individual” in the field titled “Project Team.”

Informal Activity

SDCSystematic Data Collection

• An informal, (hopefully) enjoyable activity designed to give you first-hand experience collecting research data

• Your Task: Go and research something of interest to you!

• Report on it informally in writing

• Give 5 minute oral report

• 10%, Due: April 14

Why are the birds consuming the seed at such a fast rate?

“The Heart of a Super Fan”

Let’s choose the person to briefly summarize this week’s podcast…

“The Heart of a Super Fan”Take away points

• Have heart troubles? Skip watching the Super Bowl!• Heart attacks tripled for German men, doubled for

German women (NEJM)• A good study; here are strengths of argument:

– Large sample size: over 4000– Germans with history of heart troubles had 4 times the level– Importance of game, or closeness of game, correlated with

heart attacks– When Germany no longer in finals, effects disappeared: Lose

the hypothesized “cause” and the effects go away.

• Are findings transferable to an American audience?• Is your favorite part of the game the commercials? Or

maybe you enjoy just the chance to get together?

Plagiarism

Be Extra Careful as You Embark into Reviewing the Literature

Pla-gia-rism

1. The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

Pla-gia-rism

1. The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. 2. Also known as cheating!

How to Avoid Inadvertent Plagiarism

• As you read the literature (e.g. articles, book chapters, etc.), write down the entire reference as a first step to taking notes.

• If you write down text from the source verbatim in your notes, put quotation marks around the text and note the page number. Don’t assume you’ll remember.

So, plagiarism is like…

Driving drunk and then passing a school bus with its lights flashing.

Research Design Activity

Literature Critique

Choosing the Study

• It must be a research study reporting primary data. The study should have a research question or hypothesis, empirical data, results, and conclusion.

• It should be very recent - a publication date no older than 3 years. This helps us address the goal of graduating with an understanding of current research.

• It can be about any topic that is somehow relevant to instructional technology. If you can see a connection to instructional technology, the study will probably work.

• If the study relates somehow to your major research project for this class, that is all the better.

List of Good Educational Research Journals

• A good web resource with a listing of prominent research journals (provided also in the RDA description):

http://www.listphile.com/edtechjournals

• Then, you can check the UGA library to see if they subscribe to it:

http://www.libs.uga.edu/ejournals

Guidelines and Advice

• Plan to read the article at least three times. • Take your time – don’t try to do it all in one session or

sitting. • A good plan for the three readings:

– Read it once to get the overall gist of it. – Then, read it again right away and take some initial

notes as you do. – Read it at least one more time well, preferably after a

break of a half a day or so, taking more notes. • Write your critique, rereading the article as often as needed

as you do so.

Guidelines and Advice Leedy and Ormrod, pages 9-10

1. In what source did you find the research article? Was it reviewed by experts in the field before it was published?

2. Does the article have a stated research question or problem. That is, can you determine the focus of the author's work?

3. Does the article describe the collection of data, or does it describe and synthesize other studies in which data were collected?

4. Is the article logically organized and easy to follow? What could have been done to improve its organization?

5. Does the article contain a section that outlines and reviews previous studies on this topic? In what ways is this previous work relevant to the research problem?Continued…

Guidelines and Advice Leedy and Ormrod, pages 9-10

6. If the author explained procedures that were followed in the study, are these procedures clear enough that you could repeat the work and get similar results? What additional information might be helpful or essential for you to replicate the study?

7. If data were collected, can you describe how they were collected and how they were analyzed? Do you agree with what was done? What additional things would you have done if you had been the researcher?

8. Do you agree with the interpretation of the results? Why or why not?

9. Finally, reflect over the entire article. What is, for you, most important? What do you find most interesting? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this article? Will you remember this article in the future? Why or why not?

RDA Components

• Title

• Authors

• Complete citation

• Article Summary

• Strengths of the Article

• Weaknesses of the Article

• Personal Relevance

RDA: Other Guidelines & Advice

• The total length of your critique should be no less than one double-spaced page (400 words) and no more than two double-spaced pages (800 words).

• You will be required to redo your critique if it is excessively too short or too long.

• It is strongly recommended that you write your critique first in a word processor to check for spelling and grammar before copying and pasting into the online fields below.

Research Design Activity

Review of Literature

Writing a Review of Literature:What to avoid…

What do you call this?

Smith (2005) found that…. lfkj aslfjslkfkldsjsdjldsj s dfsdj lfsjd aflksjd flksajdflksdj lfksaj fsdlfdslfsdflsd lkfjsdlkf sdlf jslajf lskjflas

Jones (2006) found that …. lfkj aslfjslkfkldsjsdjldsj s dfsdj lfsjd aflksjd flksajdflksdj lfksaj fsdlfdslfsdflsd lkfjsdlkf sdlf jslajf lskjflas

Thomas (2004) found that …. lfkj aslfjslkfkldsjsdjldsj s dfsdj lfsjd aflksjd flksajdflksdj lfksaj fsdlfdslfsdflsd lkfjsdlkf sdlf jslajf lskjflas

Jacobs (2001) found that …. lfkj aslfjslkfkldsjsdjldsj s dfsdj lfsjd aflksjd flksajdflksdj lfksaj fsdlfdslfsdflsd lkfjsdlkf sdlf jslajf lskjflas

Evaluating, Organizing, and Synthesizing the Literature

Evaluate: Never take other people’s conclusions at face value; determine for yourself whether their conclusions are justified based on the data presented.

Organize the ideas you encounter during your review.

Synthesize what you’ve learned from your review. Pull together the diverse perspectives and research results you’ve read into a cohesive whole.

Review the sample review of literature on pgs. 81-84.

Greg Clinton’s ROLOutline

• Creativity

• Instructional Design

• The Persistent Thread: Creativity and Instructional Design

• Conceptualizing the Role of Creativity in Instructional Design

Writing a Clear and Cohesive Review

Get the proper psychological orientation. Have a plan. Emphasize relatedness. Give credit where credit is due. Review the literature. Don’t reproduce it! Summarize what you have said. Remember that your first draft will almost certainly NOT

be your last draft. Ask others for advice and feedback.

If you didn’t read it, don’t cite it!

On very rare occasions when the original source cannot be found even after diligent effort and the original source must be cited, use the following format:

Smith, 1980, as cited in Jones, 2007

There are no short-cuts to reading the literature

• Becoming familiar with the literature is essential for the researcher and professional alike.

• Your own research questions will arise from and be clarified through a command of the literature.

“Read more literature” is the answer to many questions…

• I’m confused, what should I do?

• I don’t have any ideas for a research project, what should I do?

• Nothing has been done in my area of interest, what should I do?

• I need to be inspired, what should I do?

• And so on…

Questions?

• Go ahead and enter question in message field, or…• Click and wait for my prompt to speak.

What now?

• Use the remainder of the assigned class time to begin your search of a research article to critique.

• I emailed everyone a short “tutorial” on how to search appropriate Galileo databases. (Consider it an orientation for next week.)

To do list• Follow the Course Learning Plan!