EDUC-6653I-2 Introduction to Educational Research
Instructor: Kathryn Arnold
In this weeks DVD Dr. Canipe explains that in order to write research questions I needed to dissect my problem statement (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). At first this task was a little confusing. I was over analyzing the different questions. After further investigation I realized my questions were very specific and researchable (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008).
The research design of my problem statement is Quantitative. The main feature of quantitative research design is to analysis numerical data using structure and a controlled environment (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 23). My questions fall under experimental and nonexperimental subcategories. For the majority of my question I will use a true experimental design. A true experimental design uses random assignments. Each of my test groups will have an opportunity to participate in both experiments (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 24). I will use surveys for my motivational questions, which is a feature of the nonexperimental category.
My problem statement is:
I plan to determine if elementary students’ writing abilities and motivation would increase if they were allowed to use a word processor instead of pencil and paper application?
My research questions:
1. Will the length of the writing assignment increase by using a word processor? (Quantitative - True Experimental)
2. Will using a word processor increase my students time on task?(Quantitative - True Experimental)
3. Do keyboarding skills influence my students’ ability to use a word processor? (Quantitative - correlational)
4. Does the form of writing assignment increase or decrease my students motivation to use a word processor over pencil/paper? (Quantitative - survey)
5. How will I measure my student’s motivation towards using a word process instead of pencil/paper application?(Quantitative - survey)
6. How does the teacher’s knowledge and comfort level towards using technology influence her students?(Quantitative - survey)
7. Do the features in word processors help or hinder a student’s writing ability (i.e. spellcheck, etc.)? (Quantitative - True Experimental)
8. Do the features in word processors increase or decrease the teacher's level of participation in the course? (Quantitative - survey)
I would like to thank Cesar for suggesting question number nine and ten. I believe those questions helped to round out my set of research questions.
I look forward to your feed back and any suggestions you may have regarding my research questions of problem statement.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. Research Questions [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author.
McMillan, J., & Schumacher, S. (2008) Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
Posts
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post here. I have been really going through all the posts here this week, much more than usual, to really drive home the differences in the several types of research. I especially like your summaries of this week's learning resources. It has really helped me understand the basis of the research questions.
When developing my research questions I came up with the first few quite easily until I hit a wall. When I read your post here it opened the flood gates since we have similar problem statements.
Thanks for the great post here. Good luck with the rest of your research and thanks again for the well written post including the resource summaries.
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteThank you for mentioning me and for including my questions. I've been feeling so out of sorts this week with this topic and it feels good to have you actually get where I was coming from with those questions and to see that I'm at least in the ballpark.
Great job, and good luck!
Dawn
ReplyDeleteI also really like questions 9 and 10. I am sometimes, ok a lot of the time, guilty of relying on Word to underline any spelling or grammer errors in my work. I find that my students rely on this too and then just make the first change that spell check offers. Not really always a good thing! This is not something I had thought about when it came to your problem statement....I just thought that because students love to use computers, writing abilities would increase. This will be a interesting thing to see!!
Hello Cohorts,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to stop by and read my blog.
Paul: Thanks for you positive comments. I'm glad my summary was helpful.
Cesar: You are very welcome. But it is you I would like to thank. I'm sorry you have been feeling out of sorts this week and I hope you will be able to get back on track. If you need any help drop me a line and I will see what I can do to help you out.
Arielle: I have to agree with you about relying on the word processor tools. My 3rd graders don't tend to use them but I plan on teaching them how this next year. I'm looking forward to doing the data collecting this year and learning the results.
Dawn