1. CHAPTER III AED 615 Fall 2006 Dr. Franklin

2. Chapter Overview Chapter III is your thesis or project “recipe”. You describe the steps you took to conduct your research or designed your project. How detailed should it be? The reader should have enough information that he/she could replicate your research with the same or similar population and arrive at the same results.

3. Re-Introduce the Reader What is it again you are doing? –Purpose statement –Objective –A paragraph or two. If the reader is interested in your methodology, he/she does not have to go back and forth through Chapter I to revisit the purpose and objectives.

4. Operational Framework A visual representation of your steps to complete your research. Construct a flow-chart with labels. Make it a “figure” for your document. Follow APA style for formatting a “figure”. Be sure to have a narrative of your Operational Framework. Tell the reader what occurs at each step.

5. Methodology Type of research Design Population Sample & sampling Data gathering procedure Data analysis procedure

6. Type of Research of Project Descriptive Experimental Historical Qualititative Project (Curriculum design)

7. Design Survey Interrelationships studies Developmental studies Experimental studies

8. Surveys School surveys (ie. Teachers, students, administrators, etc.) Job analysis Documentary analysis Public opinion surveys Community surveys

9. Interrelationships Case studies Causal comparative Correlational studies

10. Developmental Studies Growth studies Trend studies Model or system development

11. Experimental Studies True experimental designs Quasi-experimental designs Pre-experimental designs

12. Data Gathering Procedures Instrument development Instrument description Validity Reliability How will you get the information? –Self-administered survey questionnaire Mailed On-line Ask in person Ask over the phone

13. Data Gathering Procedures –Interview Face to face Open-ended Follow-up questions –Observation (Ethnographic) Watching Listening Recording Non-participatory

14. Instrument Validation Does the instrument measure the constructs we intend to measure? Is the instrument reliable? –If we retest the subjects with the same instrument over a period of time (with no treatment in between), will they respond the same? –Is there inter-item reliability?

15. Instrument Validation Is the instrument valid? Does it measure what you want it to measure?

16. Population Describe the subjects of your study. What characteristics do they share that includes them in your population of interest? Will you include all members of the population in your study? (Census). What is the total number? (N)

17. Sampling Is the size of our population so big that a census is too costly, or will take too much time? Sample the population –Random –Stratification –Proportional –Clusters –Purposive Sample must be representative of the population

18. Response Rate How many participants responded to your survey? –Early vs late respondents –Respondents vs non-respondents –Controlling for non-response error Reporting your response rate

19. Data Analysis Procedures Statistical procedures (ie. use of SAS, SPSS, or another analysis software program) Descriptive Inferential Qualitative – transcription of interviews (coding, categorizing, etc.) Use of specialized procedures