1. S-005 Introduction to Educational Research Fall 2014-2015 Harvard Graduate School of Education

2. Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30 -10:00am Larsen Hall G-08 (look for updates on room assignment) Terrence Tivnan Larsen Hall 415 tivnante@gse.harvard.edu S-005 Introduction to Educational Research

3. 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 Many students have gone on to advanced graduate courses and research-related jobs S-005 Introduction to Educational Research

4. Johnson, B. and Christensen, L. (2008). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches, Fifth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Ary, D., Jacobs, L.C., Sorensen, C., & Walker, D. (2014) Introduction to Research in Education, 9 th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. These cover all of the main topics: Textbooks Later in semester, for learning a bit more about Stata (statistical software): Acock, A. (2014) A gentle introduction to Stata, Fourth edition. College Station, TX: Stata Press. (Earlier editions are perfectly fine.)

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

6. 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 –Lots of great on-line help resources for Stata –Acock, A. (2014) A gentle introduction to Stata, Fourth edition. College Station, TX: Stata Press. Computer software

7. 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

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

9. 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

10. All students will complete several required exercises at the beginning of the semester Then you have a choice: –Several additional formal assignments (most students choose this option) -- OR -- –Carrying out a small-scale research project Course requirements

11. Course requirements diagram Exercise 1: Sample sizes All students Due Sept 18 Exercise 2: Selecting samples All students Due Sept 25 Assignments 1.Critique of research article 2.Data collection on sensitive issues 3.Data analysis draft 4.Final assignment a.Research advice b.Data analysis report Research project 1.Project idea 2.Proposal to Committee on Human Subjects 3.Data collection 4.Final research report

12. 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

13. 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 13 Choosing a research project

14. 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

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

16. Final regular class on December 2 Final assignments/research reports due on December 12 End of the course