Library Lessons This Week

During this week's lessons, you will explore correlational and survey research designs. These are only 2 of the many types of research designs a researcher may choose from to study his/her research problem.  The format of the chapters should become familiar to you over the next few weeks. Creswell uses the same method to introduce the characteristics and types of each design and provides a step by step process for conducting that particular type of research.  There are a plethora of research designs to choose from. Choosing the research design you intend to use will be an important guiding element for you when completing Section IV of your Research Proposal. It will be important for you to read ahead if you intend on using a research design we will not have covered yet prior to turning in your rough draft of Section IV.

As a review, the main elements of your Research Proposal will be:

1. Statement of the Problem
   1. Topic for the study appropriate for your field
   2. The research problem within this topic
   3. A justification for the problem based on past research and practice
   4. Deficiencies or shortcomings of past research or practical knowledge
   5. The importance of addressing the problem for diverse audiences
2. Literature Review (Study-by-Study)
   1. Analysis and synthesis of the primary research that assist in validating and supporting the research problem using a study-by-study approach grouped under broad themes
   2. Summarize major themes and present reasons for a proposed study or the importance of studying a research problem
3. Specifying a Purpose and Research Questions or Hypotheses
   1. A concise statement of the purpose of the study based on the research approach chosen (qualitative or quantitative)
   2. The research questions or hypotheses to be addressed as appropriate for the research approach
4. Methods
   1. Statement of research approach and research design
   2. Setting for your study (what type of access do you have?)
   3. Participants and how selected (sampling)
   4. Instrumentation - Provide necessary operational definitions of variables, identify types of data needed,  and instruments or measures used.  Include actual copy of the survey or instrument as well as evidence of reliability and validity
   5. Summary of data collection procedures
   6. Summary of data analysis techniques that will be employed
5. References
6. Appendices

This week's Lessons will continue to cover necessary skills and knowledge for Section IV.

Lesson 1

After a brief history of correlational designs, Creswell distinguishes between two main categories within this group of research designs.  Some correlational designs have the aim of explanation while others have the goal of prediction.  Characteristics of each are given that should not be that difficult to identify in most studies. Correlation should not be an unfamiliar term to any of you given you have already had the required statistics course but the refresher Creswell provides should be helpful. The examples Creswell provides should at least provide you with a glimpse of these procedures and the contexts in which they might be used.  Some of you may even have research questions that can be answered by using these methods and may not have known the exact procedure that would provide you with the answers you want.  The final section of the chapter includes the steps necessary to carry out a correlational study. As I stated in our chapter review last week, these steps are ones you should work through as you are writing Section IV of your Research Proposal if you are choosing a correlational design for your research.

Lesson Links

Here are a few links from the resources page that provide additional information for this week.

• Correlational Research Methods
• Correlation

Lesson Activities

• Read the directions for the Chapter Twelve quiz, and complete the quiz in elearning. You will have 100  minutes for this quiz.
• Beginning on page 341 be sure to work through the section of "applying what you have learned..." This chapter includes an empirical research article that employs a correlational design.
• Work on Section IV of your Research Proposal.  If you are using a correlational design use the steps outlined in Chapter 12 to identify the important elements you will need to include when you write Section IV. Such elements might include the variables you will study and the measures (you will have to have 2 or more for a correlational study) you will use, the individuals you will select and the sample size requirements necessary, the process you will use for collecting data (the time lapse necessary for a prediction study), how you will address threats to validity, and how you will organize and analyze your data.

Lesson 2

If you have not been a participant in survey research in your lifetime then my guess is you are part of a small minority.  Most of us are bombarded by surveys in one form or another.  People try to get you to answer a survey in the mall, surveys come in the mail, they call you at home to conduct phone surveys, etc. Chapter 13 in Creswell covers the design of survey research.  Again, after a brief history lesson, Creswell begins by distinguishing among 2 categories of survey designs based on the time of data collection.  A study over time is identified as a longitudinal design while a study at one period in time is a cross-sectional design.  When addressing the characteristics of survey research, Creswell highlights some of the more important aspects of sampling that apply to survey research.  He then discusses the different types of instruments used for data collection.  The most valuable part of this chapter in my opinion is his explanations and examples for designing different types of instruments.  If you are planning on doing this, reading this section several times is a must. Another issue that often comes with survey research is the goal of obtaining a high response rate.  Creswell provides some procedures to assist you with this goal. Finally, the steps for conducting survey research are provided at the end of the chapter.

Lesson Links

Here are a few links from the resources page that provide additional information for this week.

• What is a Survey
• Survey Research
• Free Services for Survey Researchers
• Survey Design, Questionnaire Design Tips
• Summary of Survey Analysis Software

Lesson Activities

• Read the directions for taking the chapter thirteen quiz, and complete the quiz in elearning. You will have 120 minutes for this quiz. 
• Beginning on page 381 be sure to work through the section of "applying what you have learned..." This chapter includes an empirical research article that employs a survey design.
• Work on Section IV of your Research Proposal.  If you are using a survey design use the steps outlined in Chapter 13 to identify the important elements you will need to include when you write Section IV. Such elements might include the type of survey research (longitudinal or cross-sectional) and why, identification of the population in which you are interested in surveying, identification of the sampling frame and the sample, identification of the type of survey you will employ and how you plan on collecting the data, the type of instrument you will use and how you will administer it in hope of obtaining a high response rate, and how you will organize and analyze your data.

Lesson 3

First - do not panic - Section III is actually not due for several weeks and will be submitted along with Section IV.  However, I decided to go ahead and include this in the lessons for this week as it might assist you as you begin working on it this week.  So, you may want to go ahead and work on this as you have time this week or you may choose to completely ignore it and come back to it next week as a refresher of what needs to be included in your rough draft of Section III.

As you tackle the task of completing a draft of Section III this week and next week, I want to review what should be included in the document you turn in.

The document you turn in should contain the following elements:

Front Matter

Title page

Body of the Paper

Introduction

Purpose of the Study

Research Questions

Back Matter

References

Do not forget to proofread, proofread, proofread. 

Lesson Activities

• Continue to work on Section III. Your Section III and IV rough draft is due in Week 9.
• Download and review the evaluation rubric I will use when providing you feedback and also when giving you your final grade on Section III.
• It might be a good idea to review the sample proposals in the exhibition hall as you embark on your draft.

Contact the
Library Staff

Need Help?

Have a question but can't find the answer? Here are some options:

• Check the Course FAQ page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Check the Proposal FAQ page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email the Head Librarian (Dr. Curda)*.
• Email the Assistant Librarian (Melissa)*.
• Check with the other library patrons.

*Remember to include your name and the course name (Educational Research) or number (EDF 6481) in your message.