Y520 is an introduction for beginning graduate students to the
purpose and means of the various practices of educational research.
This course will acquaint you with the language of social science
research, with different understandings of the purpose and use of
research, with various ways of framing research questions and
designing studies, and with generally accepted procedures for
generating, analyzing and interpreting data.


Requirements:
A. Two exams (50% of final grade).
Purpose: To provide feedback and evaluate student understanding of
concepts and terminology. Exams will be forced choice in an on-line
format. Sample exams will be posted on-line so that you can become
familiar with the ONCOURSE testing features as well as provide
examples of how questions may be presented.  For the actual exam, you
will be allotted 3 hours from the moment you load the test until you
submit the final exam responses.  Your answers will be automatically
submitted to the instructor after 3 hours.  Unless otherwise
indicated, the exam will be posted from Monday – Friday of the week
listed.  For example, the first exam is shown on February 16.  You
will be able to take the exam any day between February 16 (8am) and
February 20 (5 pm).  Let me suggest that you plan to take the exam
after 8 pm of the first day (e.g., Feb.16) so that you can benefit
from our conversation in the chat room.

B. Article Review (10%):
Purpose: To recognize and evaluate the research process.  Articles
will be provided in class.  Write a 2-page review for each article
review.  More information is posted in the SCHEDULE:  Article Review.

C. Research Paper (30%):
Purpose: To provide students with the opportunity to apply the
research process to a specific area.  This requirement will be
divided into two phases:
-	Annotated Biblography (10%). See SCHEDULE: Annotated
Bibliography
-	A Literature Review (20%).  See SCHEDULE: Literature Review
More information about these assignments will be provided for each
phase in the SCHEDULE as well as in class discussions.

C. Participation(10%):
Purpose: To facilitate understanding through interactions with peers
and instructor. As a web-based course, discussions will occur through
the following means:
- Weekly online chat room (Mon. 7:00-8:00):
-Weekly online assignments: Responses to peers, Discussion Rooms and
emails

On most weeks, a quiz, article review, or discussion question will be
posted for students to complete before class meetings (either in the
chat room or for on-line discussions). Evaluation criteria:

A - consistent, meaningful contributions to class - asks questions
and/or makes comments that clarify, explain or add insight to course
content.

B - consistent attendance, participation.

C - consistent attendance, little or no contribution to class
discussion.

D/F - shows little effort, poor attendance.

Grading:
93% mastery or above = A
90% to 92% = A-
87% to 89% = B+
83% to 86% = B
80% to 82% = B-
77% to 79% = C+
73% to 76% = C
70% to 72% = C-
below 70% = D
and below 60% = F

Incompletes will be given only for a legitimate reason as outlined in
the university's Academic Guide, and only after a conference between
the instructor and the student. Throughout the course, you may
contest grades awarded within 48 hours. Once this "statute of
limitation" has passed, it is assumed that you willingly accept the
grade(s) assigned without further dispute.

This schedule is a guide for the semester.  Any changes will be
discussed throughout the semester.



Week of Class
Mondays	Readings	Topic	Likely Chat Room Discussion Topics
See ONCOURSE INTOUCH: Chat room date

January 12	Introduction
Chapter 1-5, 24	Introduction, Nature of Ed. Research, Research
Problems, Ethics, Variables and Hypotheses, Literature Review,
Proposals	INTOUCH: Chat Room January 12
Let’s discuss the semester plans

January 19	Chapter 6-8	Sampling, Instrumentation,
Reliability and Validity	Discuss the research design problems
(See SCHEDULE – Assignment 1)

January 26	Chapter 7-8	Con’t	Discuss the library tour (See
SCHEDULE – Assignment 2) and how you can start your research for the
Annotated Bibiolography.
Discuss reliability and validity

February 2	Chapter 10-12	Descriptive Statistics and
Inferential Statistics, Statistics in Perspective	Discuss the
assignment on descriptive and inferential statistics (See SCHEDULE –
Assignment 3)

February 9	Chapter 10-12	Con’t	Continue our discussion on
inferential statistics and review for the exam.

February 16	Exam 1		Review for the exam if needed

February 23	Chapter 9, 13-14	Internal Validity,
Experimental Research	Go over exam
Review DUE DATES for all remaining assignments.

March 1	Chapter 13-14	Experimental Research	Discuss the Helm
article reviews posted in the discussion room
(See SCHEDULE: Article Review)
Any questions about Annotated Bib ?

March 8	Chapter 15	Correlational Research	Discuss Lord Article
(See SCHEDULE: Article Review)

March 22	Chapter 16	Causal-Comparative Research
	Discuss experimental and correlational research design issues
Any questions about Literature Review

March 29	Chapter 17	Survey Research	Discuss Causal
Comparative Designs

April 5	Chapter 18-19	Qualitative Research	Discuss Espelage
article (See SCHEDULE – Article Review)
Follow up on Literature Review.  Any questions about peer reviews?
Compare Causal Comparative, Correlational and Experimental Research
designs.

April 12	Chapter 18-19	Con’t	Discuss Qualitative Research
Design issues
Discuss Stage and Maple Article Review
(See SCHEDULE: Article Review)

April 19	Chapter 20-22	Content Analysis, Ethnographic
Research, Historical Research	Discuss remaining research designs.

April 26	Chapter 23	Action Research	Review for exam

May 3	Exam 2		Review for exam if necessary