teaching research methods: how to make it meaningful to students

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Dahlia Remler & Gregg Van Ryzin

October 29, 2014 #SAGEtalks

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Singapore | Washington DC #SAGEtalks

Teaching Research Methods: How to Make It Meaningful to Students

Content and Presentation by

Dahlia Remler and Gregg Van Ryzin

Gregg G. Van Ryzin

Rutgers University, Newark

Dahlia K. Remler

Baruch College, CUNY

Nicole Elliott

Executive Marketing Manager, SAGE

Research Methods Matter

Engaging Real-World

Examples

Focus on Causal

Research

Encourage Visual

Thinking

Q&A With Dahlia &

Our Agenda

RESEARCH METHODS MATTER

Judging factual claims

(political polls)

Being a good leader or

decision-maker

(student evaluations of

teaching)

Engaging in policy debates (gun control)

● Give assignments that let students apply methods to their own area of interest:

Design a survey of a population of interest

Evaluate published studies in their field of interest to them

Tip: Ask Students to Practice

Encourage students to practice

discussing and presenting research.

ENGAGING REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES

● Engaging examples are Timely: About important, current issues

Interesting: Surprising findings, clever methods

● Teaching with real-world examples helps illustrate The importance of research

The range of methods (and why they are used)

The creativity, and limitations, of research

Engaging, Real-World Examples

Surveys support legalizing

marijuana. Source: © STEPHEN LAM/Reuters/Corbis.

Researchers used sampling to

understand the effects of

Hurricane Katrina. Source : © iStockphoto.com/MichaelDeLeon

Qualitative study of barriers to the delivery of a new malaria treatment in Kenya

National comparison of private and public schools (NAEP), illustrates the use of control variables

Tip: Have students read real studies

● Hand out several abstracts in class to discuss:

For the week on sampling Is it probability or non-probability sample?

For the week on natural and quasi experiments What kind of natural or quasi experiment is it?

Use research reports from journals, government agencies,

foundations, international organizations, advocacy groups, etc.

FOCUS ON CAUSAL RESEARCH

Focus on Causal Research

Are private schools offering a

better education than public

schools? Source : © iStockphoto.com/MichaelDeLeon

● Distinguish descriptive from causal research:

“What is” vs “What if”

• “What if” questions are practical and compelling

Ask students for research questions whose answers can improve the world—or one small bit of it

Tip: Use examples to practice finding

alternative explanations of correlation

Examples like family dinners and drug use show correlation

is not always causation

• Show examples where correlation is not due to causation

Do family dinners reduce teen substance abuse?

Or do teens who drink & do drugs avoid family dinners?

Illustrate the range of strategies for proving causation:

Control variables

Randomized experiments

Natural and quasi

experiments

Ray and Janay Rice | Photo courtesy of AP Images

PATH DIAGRAMS | VISUAL THINKING

● Visual thinking

More intuitive than a verbal (terms) or mathematical (equations) approach

● Path models: a useful tool for

Theory

Correlation vs. causation o Common causes, reverse causation

Control variables strategy o Picking good control variables

Encourage Visual Thinking

● Use Path Diagrams to visualize research:

Using ovals (variables) and arrows (relationships)

Path Diagrams

Visual Thinking | Path Diagrams

Tip: Get students to create a logic model

For example, ask them to create a path model (logic model) of

a program or intervention of interest to them

• Encourage students to use path models to think about research

Help students use path models to think about complex issues

Establish the importance and challenges of causal evidence

Engaging Real-World Examples

Help them understand and apply difficult concepts

Show students how valuable methods can be to their careers

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may not allows us to answer every question. Thank you for understanding.

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Teaching Research Methods: How to Make it Meaningful to Students

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Gregg Van Ryzin

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Dahlia Remler vanryzin@rutgers.edu dahlia.remler@baruch.cuny.edu

Be sure to join us for our next SAGE Talks webinar “Empowerment Evaluation” with Dr. David Fetterman on Thursday November 20th!

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