Developing Student Researchers Part 3 Dr. Gene and Ms. Tarfa Al- Naimi Research Skills Development Unit Education Institute

Research Skills Development Unit Enquiry Cycle 1. Getting Ideas and Motivating Students 3. Collecting and Analyzing 2. Defining and Shaping Ideas 4. Reporting and Sharing Ideas

Research Skills Development Unit Collecting and Analyzing Information This stage of the cycle is all about –

Research Skills Development Unit What should students be doing during this stage? Searching for more information Consulting with others... With experts Trying things out (prototyping, experimenting) Collaborating with others Reflecting and planning Developing an Action Plan – What do you want to find out? – How will you do it? – When? – Who will be involved? – What resources will you need?

Research Skills Development Unit Template for a Simple Research Plan

Research Skills Development Unit What are data? Data refers to a collection of organized information... this may consist of numbers, words, or images, particularly as measurements or observations of a set of variables.

Research Skills Development Unit Two Types of Data: Data can be Qualitative or Quantitative Qualitative data are descriptive Qualitative data do not use numbers. They are completely descriptive. Qualitative data are often subjective (depending on people's opinions). So, qualitative data may be less objective than quantitative data. Examples: eye colours, hair colours Quantitative data measure quantities: Quantitative data are anything that you can measure in numbers Quantitative data tend to be easier to analyze than qualitative data. Examples: Heights, weights, test scores, time to complete homework

Research Skills Development Unit Quantitative or Qualitative? Type of DataQuantitativeQualitative Number of students in each class. Time taken for an ice cube to melt. The colours of desert plants. The attitudes of students toward science. The nationalities of peoples in Qatar. Directions: Classify each type of data listed below as quantitative or qualitative. Then list two more examples of each kind of data.

Research Skills Development Unit How do we collect data? Questionnaires (surveys) Interviews Observations Experiments Photos/videos Audio It is important to choose the right tool for the job!

Research Skills Development Unit Questionnaire It is an instrument consisting of a series of questions for gathering information from respondents It is used to reach more people. Questionnaires and surveys usually used to collect two types of information: – Factual information – Attitudes and opinions

Research Skills Development Unit Online Surveys and Questionnaires

Research Skills Development Unit Interview Interview is used to collect data about : – Attitude – Opinions – Values – Beliefs Advantage of using interviews – Used for specific in depth information Disadvantage of using interviews – It consumes time. Ethical issues

Research Skills Development Unit Observation Observation means you use your senses to collect information about something (objects, people and events). Naturalistic versus Participant Observation Photos Video Taking notes Observational checklist Non-systematic Observation Systematic Observation

Research Skills Development Unit Guidelines for Making Observations 1. Decide which type of observation is suitable for your research. Is it naturalistic or participant observation? Is it systematic or non-systematic observation? 2.Planning for the observation Where will you observe? Do you need to get permission? When will you observe? 3.Which type of observation form will you use? Field notes? Recording sheets? Checklist? Observation guide? Have you created the forms so they are ready to use? 4.How often will you observe? Will you observe every day? Every week? 5.How long will you observe? Will you observe for just a few minutes? An hour? Longer? 6.Do the observation

Research Skills Development Unit Experiments Experiments are different from other types of research because experiments try to establish cause-effect relationships. In doing an experiment, the researcher hopes to show that one thing causes something to happen. independent variable: The independent variable is the variable that a research is investigating or manipulating. Sometimes the independent variable is called the “treatment.” dependent variable: The dependent variable is the thing the researcher is trying to affect. For example, if a research is testing the effects of a new drug (cause), the dependent variable would be wellness or good health (effect). extraneous variable: The extraneous variable is an “outside” variable that could affect the dependent variable or the results of an experiment

Research Skills Development Unit What are experimental designs? 1. Pretest-posttest Control Group Design 2. Quasi-experimental Design 3. Time Series Design 4.Withdrawal Design

Research Skills Development Unit Let’s Practice!

Research Skills Development Unit Scenario: Your school has just purchased the EASY ENGLISH PROGRAM, a new textbook program that teaches English speaking skills easily and quickly. Your principal wants to conduct an experiment to see if this program really works. Task: Identify the independent, dependent, and extraneous variables. Discuss what the researcher needs to do to set up a valid experiment and then consider what the ethical implications are.

Research Skills Development Unit Scenario: A researcher wants to find out the effect of using calculators in math classes on students problem-solving skills. The researcher is also worried about the students depending on the calculators too much so she is wondering what happens if they gradually remove them. Task: Identify the independent, dependent, and extraneous variables. Discuss what the researcher needs to do to set up a valid experiment and then consider the ethical implications.

Research Skills Development Unit Scenario: Some students claim that they can concentrate better if they listen to music while they are studying. Task: Identify the independent, dependent, and extraneous variables. Design a valid experiment to investigate this topic.

Research Skills Development Unit How to choose the right tool? 1. Look at the research question 2. Decide what type of information you need 3. Ask, which data collection tool can give you that information? You can use more than one tool Triangulation

Research Skills Development Unit Sampling Before start collecting data, choose a sample. What do you mean by sample!!

Research Skills Development Unit Sampling Sample: a sample is a smaller part of the population. Researchers often do their research on a sample of the population. Example: What do students think about the school uniform? Possible samples: Primary? Preparatory? Secondary? Girls? Boys? Grade? How can your sample affect the results?

Research Skills Development Unit Data Analysis organizing and examining the collected data using narratives, charts, graphs or tables. What does data tell you?

Research Skills Development Unit How should you present your data? See Lesson 11: Analyzing Quantitative Data Special section on “Tabulating and Presenting Data” Most Common Display Tools Bar graphs Pie graphs Line graphs Histograms Scatter plots or scatter diagrams

Research Skills Development Unit Bar Graphs Vertical Horizontal the scores are in the form of categories rather than ordered scores

Research Skills Development Unit Pie Graphs

Research Skills Development Unit Line Graph A line chart is often used to visualize a trend in data over intervals of time, thus the line is often drawn chronologically.

Research Skills Development Unit Histogram histograms are suitable when the scores obtained by the participants can be ordered from low to high.

Research Skills Development Unit Scatter Plot

Research Skills Development Unit Which data display tool would you use? Mariam has collected data from the girls at her school about the time they spend watching TV each day and their grades. She wants to show the relationship between those two variables.

Research Skills Development Unit Which data display tool would you use? The Director of the Education Institute wants to show the number of students enrolled in Independent Schools from 2003 to 2008.

Research Skills Development Unit Which data display tool would you use? A professor at Qatar University is doing some research on the Independent Schools. He wants to show the nationalities of the teachers working in the Independent Schools in a graphical way.

Research Skills Development Unit Which data display tool would you use? The Academic VP at your school wants to show how students performed on the QCEA. [QCEA reports five performance levels] – Meets Standards – Approaches Standards – Below Standards Level 3 – Below Standards Level 2 – Below Standards Level 1

Research Skills Development Unit Which data display tool would you use? One of your students has done a study on smoking. She wants to show the percentage of smokers (male and female) at three different age groups: 20 – –

Research Skills Development Unit Thank you for listening! If you have questions about research or need additional information, feel free to contact us. Dr. Gene Office Phone: Mobile: Tarfa Office Pone: 456-0l69