Education Research: The Fourth “R”
Hollyyettick.com Introduction Denise-Marie Ordway, Research Reporter & Editor, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Holly Yettick, Director, Education Week Research Center All resources mentioned during this presentation can be found at: Hollyyettick.com
Agenda Denise: Resources &Reasons to Use Research in Reporting Holly: Overview: Reporting on Research Work Shop: News Release Activity Conclusion: Group Discussion of News Release Activity
Why Cover Research? Breaks news Breaks LOCAL news Holds public officials accountable Adds REAL context Un-named conference; how many of you would be interested in learning about the longterm effects of a local test cheating scandal on the students whose scores were falsely inflated? What about finding out what really happened to kids who attended a school that was shut down for poor academic performance?
Where is the Research? Mentioned Ed Research
Two Main Ways to Cover Research Enriching Stories “Lone Ranger” Studies
Using Research to Enrich Stories
Using Research to Enrich Stories Nearly nothing in education is truly new Without research, we re-invent the wheel, over and over again
The Tour Guide Approach HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Universities EWA Resources List-servs Public editor Organizations for researchers American Educational Research Organization Special Interest Groups: Officers can be a source of academic expertise American Psychological Association American Sociological Association
More Resources: Shorenstein Center, Harvard http://journalistsresource.org/tip- sheets/research/statistics-for-journalists http://journalistsresource.org/tip- sheets/research/interpreting-academic-studies-primer- media http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/ back-school-story-ideas-new-angles-helpful-research
“Tourist Traps” The Eduttutante The Nihilist Sometimes I hear people talking about A LIST OR ONE LIST of experts to consult when covering ed research. The reality is no one is an expert on everything. If you have someone who claims to be or comes close, who never refers you to other experts because it’s not her area-that is a red flag.
The DIY Approach “Do”s & “Don’t”s Types of Reviews DON’T: Focus on a single study to get the lay of the land! DO: Read research reviews Types of Reviews Meta-analyses Qualitative Reviews/Syntheses Some Sources of Reviews EWA Reporter Guides National Academy of Education Review of Educational Research: Free Subscriptions available for journalists via AERA media relations
Lone Ranger Studies
Two Main Ways to Cover Research Enriching Stories “Lone Ranger” Studies Pros Cons
Reckoning with Lone Rangers Go medical: Cover standalone lit reviews and meta-analyses! While teen dating violence prevention programs increased knowledge and changed student attitudes to be less supportive of such behavior, they did not actually reduce dating violence, according to this meta- analysis of research on middle- and high school intervention programs. Prioritize Peer Review More like a seatbelt than a magic bullet
What about the real world? PRACTICE WITH A PRESS RELEASE
Supplemental slides
Statistical significance
What is a p value? P Value What are the odds that I can REJECT the idea that the researcher got a result at least as this strong [i.e., did the equivalent of telling a man he’s pregnant] due to some kind of chance process that was part of the study-like randomly selecting the people who participated in the study? Frequently-used thresholds of statistical significance p < .01 p < .05 p < .10
Statistical significance Not applicable if no chance process involved Large numbers of study participants can lead to highly statistically significant findings that are meaninglessly small
The Best Academic Conference You’ve Never Heard of Association for Education Finance and Policy annual conference http://aefpweb.org/
Contact info Denise-Marie Ordway Denise-Marie_Ordway@hks.harvard.edu @DeniseOrdway @JournoResource Holly Yettick rhkurtz@yahoo.com @HollyYettick