S-005Introduction to Educational

Research

Fall 2014-2015

Harvard Graduate School of Education

• Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30 -10:00am• Larsen Hall G-08 (look for updates on room assignment)

• Terrence Tivnan• Larsen Hall 415

• tivnante@gse.harvard.edu

S-005 Introduction to Educational Research

• Provides an introduction• No prerequisites• Covers a wide range of topics• Prepares you for more in-depth study later

• Useful for consumers and producers of research in education

• Many students have gone on to advanced graduate courses and research-related jobs

S-005 Introduction to Educational Research

• Johnson, B. and Christensen, L. (2008). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches, Fifth edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Ary, D., Jacobs, L.C., Sorensen, C., & Walker, D. (2014) Introduction to Research in Education, 9th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

These cover all of the main topics:

Textbooks

Later in semester, for learning a bit more about Stata (statistical software):

Acock, A. (2014) A gentle introduction to Stata, Fourth edition. College Station, TX: Stata Press.

(Earlier editions are perfectly fine.)

• No course package• I’ll provide handouts in class and/or on course website• Several research journal articles for in-class

discussion

• Handouts will also be posted on the course website

Additional handouts and readings

• Stata software

• Available on machines throughout GSE

• Runs on Mac and Windows-based machines• Easy to get started. Great with advanced features.

• Similar features to many other packages– SPSS– SAS– Minitab

• Used in advanced courses here at GSE– Lots of great on-line help resources for Stata– Acock, A. (2014) A gentle introduction to Stata, Fourth edition. College Station,

TX: Stata Press.

Computer software

• Weekly office hours schedule available soon

• Scheduled throughout the week

• We will assign you to a TF who will keep track of your assignments, checking them in and returning them to you

• TFs are very helpful resources!

Teaching Fellows

• All regular class sessions will be recorded and made available via the course website

• This is a great resource

Class videos

• We will have clickers available to pick up at the beginning of class

• I ask questions (via Power Point slides)

• You can select your answer

• We see a graph of the results

• A way to make the class a bit more interactive

• A way to get feedback– For students– For me

In-class instant polls

• All students will complete several required exercises at the beginning of the semester

• Then you have a choice:– Several additional formal assignments (most students choose this option)

-- OR --

– Carrying out a small-scale research project

Course requirements

Course requirements diagram

Exercise 1: Sample sizes

All studentsDue Sept 18

Exercise 2: Selecting samples

All studentsDue Sept 25

Assignments1. Critique of research article

2. Data collection on sensitive issues

3. Data analysis draft

4. Final assignmenta. Research adviceb. Data analysis report

Research project1. Project idea

2. Proposal to Committee on Human Subjects

3. Data collection

4. Final research report

• Three (or is it four?) formal assignments

• Journal article critique

• Issues in data collection

• Data analysis (some practice using Stata)

• Reporting statistical results

• OK to work together in study groups

• More weight on later assignments

Choosing assignments

• OK to work together• OK to combine with another course project (must get permission

from both instructors)• Qualitative or quantitative projects• One-page project idea in a couple of weeks• Meet to discuss• Detailed proposal in mid October • We will look at the guidelines for the Committee on Human Subjects

at Harvard• Data collection• Data analysis (using Stata if possible)• Final research report• Due December 13

Choosing a research project

• You have a choice of taking course for a letter grade or taking the SAT/No credit option (pass/fail)

• Choose when signing up

• Must stick with your choice

Grading options

Course topics

Types of research

Basic principles / planning

Strategies for data collection

Strategies for data analysis

• Sampling• Research design• Reliability and validity (data quality)

• Tests and measurement• Questionnaires and interviews• Observations

• Preparing a data set for analysis• Statistical techniques• Presenting and reporting results

• Final regular class on December 2

• Final assignments/research reports due on December 12

End of the course