S-005 Introduction to Educational Research Fall Harvard Graduate School of Education

Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30 -10:00am Larsen 106 Terrence Tivnan Larsen Hall 415 S-005 Introduction to Educational Research 2

Provides an introduction No prerequisites Covers a wide range of topics Prepares you for more in-depth study later Useful for consumers and producers of research in education S-005 Introduction to Educational Research 3

Johnson, B. and Christensen, L. (2008). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches, Third edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Ary, D., Jacobs, L.C., & Sorensen, C. (2010) Introduction to Research in Education, 8 th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Nicol, A. A. & Pexman, P. M. (1999). Presenting your findings: A practical guide for creating tables. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Textbooks 4

No course package I’ll provide handouts in class Several research journal articles for in-class discussion Handouts will also be posted on the course website Additional handouts and readings 5

Stata software Available on machines throughout GSE Runs on Mac and Windows-based machines Easy to get started. Great with advanced features. Similar features to many other packages –SPSS –SAS –Minitab Used in advanced courses here at GSE Acock, A. (2008) A gentle introduction to Stata, Second edition. College Station, TX: Stata Press. Computer software 6

Weekly office hours schedule available soon Scheduled throughout the week We will assign you to a TF who will keep track of your assignments, checking them in and returning them to you TFs are very helpful resources! Teaching Fellows 7

All regular class sessions will be recorded and made available via the course website This is a great resource Class videos 8

We will have clickers available to pick up at the beginning of class I ask questions (via Power Point slides) You can select your answer We see a graph of the results A way to make the class a bit more interactive A way to get feedback –For students –For me In-class instant polls 9

All students will complete several required exercises at the beginning of the semester Then you have a choice: –Several additional formal assignments -- OR -- –Carrying out a small-scale research project Letter grade or the SAT/No credit option Course requirements 10

Course requirements 11

Three (or is it four?) formal assignments Journal article critique Issues in data collection Data analysis (some practice using Stata) Reporting statistical results OK to work together in study groups More weight on later assignments Choosing assignments 12

OK to work together OK to combine with another course project (must get permission from both instructors) Qualitative or quantitative projects One-page project idea in a couple of weeks Meet to discuss Detailed proposal in mid October We will look at the guidelines for the Committee on Human Subjects at Harvard Data collection Data analysis (using Stata if possible) Final research report Due December 11 Choosing a research project 13

You have a choice of taking course for a letter grade or taking the SAT/No credit option (pass/fail) Choose when signing up Must stick with your choice Grading options 14

Types of research Basic principles / planning –Sampling –Research design –Reliability and validity (data quality) Strategies for data collection –Tests and measurement –Questionnaires and interviews –Observations Strategies for data analysis –Preparing a data set for analysis –Statistical techniques –Presenting and reporting results Course topics 15

Final regular class on December 1 Final assignments/research reports due on December 9 End of the course 16