1. W HAT ARE S TUDENTS R EALLY T HINKING ? Linda Alexander (Communication Studies) and Agyeman Boateng (Office of Research & Planning)

2. O VERVIEW Faculty often incorporate different teaching strategies (interventions) in the classroom. Would you like to get an idea of the effectiveness of these strategies? How might you do that? For example, would a survey of your students inform your teaching practices? Are there other methods you might find useful? Ways to formulate and follow through on an informal inquiry plan will be discussed.

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4. K EY Q UESTIONS Who Can Do Research? What Is Research? Where Can Research Be Conducted? When Can Research Be Conducted? Why Do Research In The Classroom? How Can Faculty Do Research?

5. T HE B ASICS Research Question: What do you want to know? Research Methodology: What's the best way to find out what you want to know?

6. W HO C AN D O R ESEARCH ? Instructors Students Other Interested Parties

7. W HAT I S R ESEARCH ? Careful study that is done to find and report new knowledge about something The activity of getting information about a subject (merriam-webster.com)

8. W HERE C AN R ESEARCH B E C ONDUCTED ? In a classroom setting In an online environment In one section vs. across sections

9. W HEN C AN R ESEARCH B E C ONDUCTED ? Different times during a semester (Time 1, Time 2, etc.) One time Ongoing process

10. W HY D O R ESEARCH I N T HE C LASSROOM ? For Instructors: can implement more effective teaching strategies For Students: can benefit from improved instruction

11. H OW C AN F ACULTY D O R ESEARCH ? Methodology: Qualitative Quantitative

12. R ESEARCH : A Q UALITATIVE A PPROACH : (I NFORMAL ) C ONTENT A NALYSIS Critical Incident Questionnaires (CIQ) as a Classroom Evaluation Tool At what point in class this week were you most engaged as a learner? At what moment in class this week were you most distanced as a learner? What action that anyone in the room took this week did you find most affirming or helpful? What action that anyone in the room took this week did you find most puzzling or confusing? What surprised you most about the class this week?

13. P ROCEDURE AND A NALYSIS Students' responses to questions anonymous CIQs turned in at the end of class as students leave the classroom After the end of class, instructor reads responses and looks for themes to emerge Results reported back to the students in the next meeting as a point of departure for class discussion.

14. I MMEDIATE B ENEFITS Instructor learns what the students are actually thinking Students see that the instructor values their feedback (Discussion as a Way of Teaching, Brookfield and Presskill, 2005)

15. R ESEARCH : A Q UANTITATIVE A PPROACH : T HE S URVEY M ETHOD Research Question: What do you want to know? What kinds of survey questions should you ask? How should you ask these questions?

16. ( THE SURVEY METHOD CONTINUED ) DIG S URVEY

20. R ESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM : C ONSTRAINTS Although West does not have a formal IRB review process at this time, as is the practice at many community colleges, research involving students should be reviewed by the Office of Research and Planning Aspects of research to include: hypothesis to be tested, the questions that would be asked, numbers of students involved, data collection protocol, type of analysis planned, what will be done with the data, and how confidentiality will be maintained. Contact Office of Research and Planning Rebecca Tillberg tillberw@wlac.edu

21. S TARTING THE R ESEARCH P ROCESS : D ECISIONS, D ECISIONS ! What is your research objective? (Why do you want to conduct research?) Determine a clearly focused research question based on your objective Decide whether a qualitative or quantitative approach is best. DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF YOUR RESEARCH OBJECTIVE!

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