EDFS 209 Introduction to Research Methods

From the syllabus

Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to enhance students’ knowledge of research methods so that they will have the foundation necessary to develop their own high-quality research projects and become better consumers of existing research. We will explore the stages of the research process beginning with formulating a research question, and follow the process through conducting a literature review, designing a study, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting the findings.

Course Objectives:

1. Gain an understanding of the concepts and terms used to describe research methodology

2. Develop the ability to read, understand, and critique research reports

3. Gain familiarity with a variety of data collection and analysis techniques

4. Develop the ability to plan and write a research proposal

5. Gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of various research designs and methods for different types of research questions

(Dr. S. Hurley, Fall 2020)

Surprisingly open-ended, this course allowed me to explore a topic that was particularly interesting to me. Through the vehicle of a research proposal, I explored the intersection of technology and literacy skills acquisition. Prior to this course, I had no idea how challenging it would be to find a topic I cared passionately about and begin to refine and narrow it down enough to be studied. Perhaps that was the biggest lesson I learned of all. It is not enough to simply care about improving the literacy education for my students. I must define exactly what I see as a problem and begin to think about how I might study that problem, as free from bias as possible.

When I began thinking about problems to potentially study, I was met with the reality that most of my ideas were far too large to study. I struggled to scale down my ideas as I began to search for research for the literature review portion of my topic. Through searching for journal articles of interest to understand the topic of technology and writing skills in elementary students, I realized that not as much research had been done specific to keyboarding versus handwriting. Had I not spent time refining my search and considering exactly what I might study and ultimately use the data for, I might not have really considered what assistive technology could do for my students with disabilities (an idea born in the previous EDSP 224, Meeting All Needs). Learning to hone in on a topic and envision how the results might change teaching and learning for specific students was an important skill to learn. Working in manageable chunks, Dr. Hurley afforded us the opportunity to practice writing the beginning components of a research proposal to include the abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, participants, procedure and materials, and generating a hypothesis. Even considering the research methods I would employ based on my particular purpose, was very new to me. Learning to select a method (qualitative or quantitative) and thinking about the threats to validity of the study and results when preparing to conduct research was both daunting and exciting thinking about the real world.

Perhaps the greatest learning throughout this course came with discussion regarding vulnerable populations and testing subjects through Dr. Hurley’s presentation on ethics. Perhaps the most timely, was his lecture regarding Black test subjects in Tuskegee, Alabama. During the semester while taking this course, discourse surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and trust amongst the Black population began to surface. Learning about how the Black participants were treated (and not) during this syphilis study was eye opening and terrifying. How could people be treated like specimens all for the sake of science? This perspective reminded me that through social science, we must always remember to consider the ethics behind what we are studying. Will it serve to harm a population ultimately? What ethical dilemmas will this research present? I had not before considered the harm science can do, even unintentionally.

This course provided me the opportunity to begin to understand the level of commitment and time it would take to begin a program of study leading to a dissertation. I have long considered myself a strong candidate for a doctoral program, and this course helped me start to consider what that would look like. From coming up with a good research question, to searching for studies done through the literature review, and considering what the methods might actually look like, I began to see the level of sustained commitment it would take to continue down the path for my Ed. D. I did not expect to learn as much about myself as a learner and as a teacher-researcher. Please find below my first proposal for a study to be conducted, regarding the efficacy of keyboarding as an assistive technology in developing phonological awareness in elementary-aged students.

References:

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design (5th ed.). Sage Publications.