Instructors: Dr. Heidi M. Carty Dr. Charol Shakeshaft

229 Mason Hall 208 Mason Hall

463-5170 463-5758/5762; 692-9805

Fax: 463-5949 Fax: 463-5949; 692-9807

[email protected] [email protected]

Office Hours: Heidi Carty:

Charol Shakeshaft: Thursdays, 2-4, by appointment (463-5758) with

Claire or through e-mail

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to be competent policy analysts in education, to be both consumers and producers of research, to be able to use research in the decision-making process, and to be able to complete a well designed dissertation study or policy analysis. This year long course constitutes the third and fourth semesters of the doctoral research strand.

This course strives to enable students to develop a broad understanding of the scope of research methods commonly used in education, to become familiar with Abest practice@ in conducting studies, and to be able to analyze data, both quantitative and qualitative, for the purposes of adding to the decision-making process and developing policy.

At the completion of the course, students will be expected to display a broad understanding of survey research design and implementation, test and measurement issues, appropriate analysis of standardized achievement data, methods of reporting, and qualitative analysis. Students will learn SPSS and NUD$IST. This class will cover advanced statistical methods commonly used in educational research including analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and multiple regression. The following are specific objectives of the course:

1. Ability to recognize and critique major paradigms of research designs

2. Ability to understand tests and measurements and make sense of them to the public,

particularly the Stanford 9, Terra Nova, and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills

3. Ability to understand and analyze school-wide data including New York State

achievement data and make sense of it to the public

4. Ability to develop and administer mail and telephone surveys and analyze results

5. Ability to use analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and multiple regression to

understand the meaning of data

6. Ability to use SPSS to analyze data

7. Ability to design and carry out program evaluation -- both quantitative and qualitative

8. Ability to analyze and make sense of qualitative data and to use NUD$IST

9. Ability to approach issues from a critical economic perspective

American Psychological Association Manual, 4th edition.

Dillman, D. (1978). Mail and Telephone Surveys, New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Hays, W.L. (1994). Statistics (5th ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publisher.

SPSS, Inc. (1997). SPSS Guide v 7.5 Guide to Data Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-

Hall

.

Berliner, D.C. & Casanova, U. (1993). Putting Research to Work in Your School. New York:

Scholastic.

Fitz-Gibbon, C.T. and Morris, L.L. (1987). How to Design a Program Evaluation. Sage.

Glasman, N.S. (1994). Making Better Decisions About School Problems. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Sage.

Jaeger, R.M.(ed.). Complementary Methods for Research in Education.

Keeves, J.P. (Ed.) Educational Research, Methodology, and Measurement: An International

Handbook. New York: Pergamon.

Kraemer, H.C. and Thiemann, S. (1987). How Many Subjects? Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Levin, H. (1983). Cost-Effectiveness: A Primer. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

McNamara, J.F. (1994), Surveys and Experiments in Education Research. Lancaster: Technomic

Morris, L.L., Fitz-Gibbon, C.T. and Freeman, M.E. (1987). How to Communicate Evaluation

Findings. Sage.

NUD$IST software and instruction manual.

Pedhazur, E.J. & Schmelkin, L. P. (1991), Measurement, Design, and Analysis: An Integrated

Approach, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

To accomplish the objectives of this course, a variety of activities will be offered:

1. Lectures will outline the various issues in design and analysis

2. Discussions in smaller groups will take place to clarify the concepts

3. Structured research activities will provide opportunities to learn by doing

4. Individual projects and papers will provide additional opportunities to link

research to practice

5. Journals, both private and in a journaling activity, with instructors and class.

The course will meet formally once a week. Sessions will be devoted to lecture, group discussion, and activities. Additional time outside the course will be required for preparation of the assignments and completion of the major projects. Some Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon classes will be scheduled as research project is developed.

In addition to the texts assigned, journal articles will be used in the course and distributed by the professors.

All written assignments are to be typed, double-spaced, according to the most recent APA style manual. Non-sexist language is required.

The final grade for the two parts of this course will be determined through the grading of the major projects, the in-class activities, and participation by students.

The content of the course will be delivered in two semesters and will encompass five strands, which will be woven together over the year-long study.

In this strand, students learn how to undertake mail and telephone surveys, how to analyze survey data, and how to present findings. Students will explore the issues in sampling, both for survey research and for other approaches to data collection. In addition to learning survey research data collection, students will learn the statistical operations of analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and multiple regression.

In this strand, students will become familiar with typical achievement tests used in school, learn the issues surrounding these tests, analyze tests results, and learn how to display results and communicate with the public.

Using NUDIST, students will learn to analyze qualitative data. Students will learn Nud$ist, develop an indexing system, produce a visual display of the data, generate metaphors, and provide a narrative discussion.

Students will learn the basic evaluation designs and procedures and will be able to develop program evaluations within their organizational setting.

Students will learn a number of economic approaches for understanding the finance implications of educational practice.