ALEC 604: Writing for Professional Publication Week 7: Methodology

Activities  Examine the required components for the methods section  Discuss scholarship specifics for methods inclusion  Practice writing the methods section

Methodology Section Components  Describes how data were collected Research design Participants  Population vs. Sample Instruments Collection procedures Data analyses  Statistical procedures  How did those procedures test your hypothesis or answer your research question?

Research Design  Eight basic designs used in education: Historical Descriptive Developmental Case and Field Associational Causal-Comparative True Experimental Quasi-Experimental

Eight Basic Research Designs  Historical To reconstruct the past objectively and accurately, often in relation to the tenability of a hypothesis  Descriptive To describe systematically a situation or area of interest factually and accurately  Developmental To investigate patterns and sequences of growth and/or change as a function of time

Eight Basic Research Designs  Case and Field To study intensively the background, current status, and environmental interactions of a given social unit (individual, group, institution, or community)  Associational To investigate the extent of relationships between two or more characteristics; based on correlation coefficients

Eight Basic Research Designs  Causal-Comparative (Ex Post Facto) To investigate possible cause-and-effect relationships by observing some existing consequence and searching back through the data for plausible casual factors  True Experimental To investigate possible cause-and-effect relationships by exposing one or more experimental groups to one or more control groups not receiving the treatment (random assignment being essential)

Eight Basic Research Designs  Quasi-Experimental To approximate the conditions of the true experiment in a setting which does not allow the control and/or manipulation of all relevant variables. The researcher must clearly understand what compromises exist in the internal and external validity of the design and proceed within these limitations

Participants  Target Population All members of a well-defined class of people, events, or objects  Sampling Method Sampling Frame Sampling Method  Random Sampling  Systematic Sampling  Purposive Sampling Sample Size Response Rates

Instruments  Describe your tools of observation Surveys (Quantitative)  Type: mail, online, , telephone, face-to-face  Construction: sections, open- vs. closed-ended  Scales: type, use, summation, etc.  Validity  Reliability Structured Interviews (Qualitative)  Telephone or face-to-face  Types of questions asked  How responses were recorded

Collection Procedures  Specific details about: When observations were made How nonrespondents were contacted How many observations were made Where responses were stored How confidentiality or anonymity were assured When data collection ceased

Data Analyses - Quantitative  Quantitative Analysis Describe the statistical procedures  Univariate  Frequencies  Measures of Central Tendency (Mean/Median)  Measures of Variation (Standard Deviations)  Bivariate  Measures of Association (Pearson’s r)  t-Test  Multivariate  Regression, ANOVA, Describe how the procedures test your hypotheses

Data Analyses - Qualitative  Describes how you organized the response data Categorization of responses How did spontaneous comments from subjects formulate new questions  Describe how your analysis will answer or address your research question

Summary  Writing the methods is one of the easiest sections because it is formulaic  Provide sufficient detail so your study could be replicated by others  Include due diligence when referencing well-known procedures, tests, or conventions used to operationalize the meaning of your procedures/outcomes