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

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

Everyday Life” Podcast

• Debrief Literature Critique RDA

• Conducting a Review of Literature– Overview of the next RDA

• Planning Your Research (or Development) Project

Course Project:Will you do this individually or

with a partner?Date to decide by: February 5To declare your intention, update your

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

I would have predicted most would have decided to do this with a partner, but 15 have decided to do it individually.

That’s really interesting! I wonder why that is.(Wow, I may have stumbled on a research topic!)

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

“Video Game Theory”

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

“Video Game Theory”Take away points

• One

• Two

RDA: Literature Critique

Debrief

Different Types of Scholarly Articles

• Research

• Review

• Theoretical/Conceptual

• Others, less valued– Development (look what I did)– Point of view, essay, opinion– Pure fluff

Research Article• A formal presentation of an original research

study (or sometimes a series of studies)• Things to look for:

– Research Question– Description of Research Methodology– Summary of data collected from participants– Interpretation and conclusions of the data

• The authors of the article are the ones who collected the primary data! They conducted the interviews, scored the tests, sent out the surveys, etc. etc.

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~sspencer/psych253/readart.html

What was the research about?

What were the findings?

Important Take-Away Points

• Use performance data to investigate whether answers on surveys or interviews match what people actually do or believe.

• Too much educational research relies too heavily on introspective data.

• Example of mixed methods (though we had to back down from our qualitative results in the final version).

Review Article

• An evaluative survey of previously published work

• Usually organized by a guiding theory or point of view.

• The author of a review article summarizes previous investigations of a certain problem or topic, comments on what progress has been made toward its resolution, and suggests areas of the problem that require further study.

Theoretical Article

• Also evaluates past research, but focuses on the development of theories used to explain empirical findings.

• The author may present a new theory to explain a set of findings, or may compare and contrast a set of competing theories, suggesting why one theory might be the superior one.

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.

However, use quotes sparingly in your writing!

Use them judiciously for impact and for those rare times when the authors’ own words expertly capture the essence of the idea.

Most of the time, you should be paraphrasing and summarizing (and giving credit to the author, of course).

Do you have questions about writing?

• When do I quote?• When do I use a block quote vs. quoting

within a paragraph?• When do I paraphrase?• When do I summarize?• What are good writing practices for an

academic paper?• How do I organize the paper?• Etc., etc., etc

Where are the answers?

The Next Best Thing

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Gosh, writing is hard work!

(Yes, it is. But it is also very rewarding.)

If you didn’t read it, don’t cite it!

Planning Your Research Project

Chapter 5

Name this researcher.

Scientists work to discover how smart whales really are!

Are you a quantitative researcher, or a qualitative

researcher?

Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?

And the answer is?

Why, I’m not a witch at all.

I’m Dorothy Gale, from Kansas.

Why, I’m not a witch at all.

I’m an educational researcher, from Georgia.

Quantitative research• Answer questions about relationships among measured variables with

the purpose of explaining, predicting, and controlling phenomena. • Traditional, experimental, or positivist approach

Qualitative research • Answer questions about complex nature of phenomena, often with the

purpose of describing and understanding the phenomena from the participants’ point of view.

• Interpretative, constructivist, or postpositivist approach

Comparing Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Research Design Activity

Review of Literature

RDA: Literature ReviewNew Dates

• First draft due by the end of today– Remember to alert buddies

• Buddy feedback due Feb. 26 (Fri.)

• Final draft due March 1 (Mon.)

Writing a Review of Literature:What to avoid…

Avoid 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

Review the sample review of literature on pgs. 82-84.

RDA: Review of the Literature

• Our dilemma: Need to learn how to write a literature review, but you probably haven’t made much progress yet in your library search

• Solution: The focus of This RDA is on structure, not content

• You are allowed to use imaginary primary data for this RDA.

RDA: Review of the Literature

The RDA is meant to will free you to focus on how to write a review of literature that

is strong on

Evaluation, Organization, Integration, and Synthesis

RDA: Review of the Literature

This is only meant as a starting point!

It can take years to develop these writing skills!

Guide to effective public speaking(and sometimes, academic writing)

1. Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em.

2. Tell ‘em.

3. Tell ‘em what you told ‘em.

Also known as the art of healthy redundancy!

Imaginary scholarly authors:Affleck, BenjaminAnniston, JenniferBarrymore, DrewCruise, ThomasDepp, JohnDiaz, Cameron

Rewrite your research question.It is your guide to your review of literature.

Outline your research questions main topics (or subparts).

Greg Clinton’s ROLOutline

• Creativity

• Instructional Design

• The Persistent Thread: Creativity and Instructional Design

• Conceptualizing the Role of Creativity in Instructional Design

Write your review’s opening paragraph.Use the example on p. 82 of the text as a guide.

Write the “meat” of your review. Read & follow my “scaffolded” advice carefully.

Example of Writing a Literature Review

In a review of educational gaming, Cruise (2007) concluded several important points. [Summarize the important points.] It is helpful to examine more closely some of the research reviewed by Cruise (2007) [Transitional sentence]. For example, research by Smith (2001) examined whether… [summarize]. Among Smith’s most important findings was… [paraphrase].

Write your concluding paragraph, again following my scaffolded advice carefully.

List your “real” references. There needs to be at least one.

Questions?

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

To do list• Follow the Course Learning Plan!

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.

On 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

To avoid chaos, if you have a question or comment, click on the “Raise Hand”, but don’t send/speak your message until prompted by me.

Break-Out Room Discussion

• What are the main topics that should be included on a survey of IDD students?

Possible Topics

• Online vs. Face-to-Face?

• Differences between American and International students?

• Needed changes in the IDD curriculum?

• Overall future directions?

• What else?

Break Out Rooms

Room 1• Arboleda• Barreto• Blackmon• Choi • CokerRoom 2• Edwards• Foster• Freeman• Hutchinson• Kilroy

Room 3• Lee• Lim• Liu• Moreland• MostellerRoom 4• Noh• Parker• Reitz• Trail• Wright

Questions?

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