Discussion+Questions

=__*I thought it would be easier if we put the most recent discussion questions at the top so we don't have to keep scrolling :)__=

For Week 5:
Only one group member needs to respond to DQ #1 for week 5 in the week 5 discussion forum posted below. Please post a group response to this thread after reading the example coded transcripts, codes, and the lecture on coding qualitative data.

How has this module helped refine your understanding of coding and how will you go about coding your data, analyzing, and presenting it for this research study using representative excerpts to explain each relevant research question?

Please edit as you feel necessary...just thought I'd get started with the foundation of our answer, but this is by no means complete. It's kinda tricky...

This module helped refine our understanding of coding not by an explanation of what coding is, but through real examples that have been used by researchers in other studies. It was very useful to see it as if it were in the appendix. It made coding much clearer. We plan to go about coding our data by labeling each student who took the survey with the letter “S” and a number to follow. Beside each of these codes, we will describe the student with information about their background, language acquisition level, grade level, etc. Beside each representative excerpt there will also be colored codes to describe the background of the student, such as literacy level, reading background, and educational background. We will analyze our data by making field notes in order according to our research questions. These respective field notes will help us to see patterns in student attitudes and behavior as well as the academic benefits summer school is providing for young students. We may even break down our research questions into several parts depending on what patterns our data shows. Looking for themes, we will find even more ways to code starting with underlining or highlighting in different colors. We will begin to look for themes such as parental involvement, interrupted education, language spoken at home, etc. Overall,coding will help us visually see the themes and patterns correlated with our research and data and allow us to make a thorough conclusion based upon all aspects of our data.

Yikes!! This is a tough one...Lisa, I think what you have answered is great! I only thing I can think about adding is in the part about field notes maybe we can add in how it will help us to see patterns in student attitudes and behavior as well as the academic benefits summer school is providing for young students. Maybe in the theme section say: we will start looking for themes such as parental involvement, interrupted education, language spoken at home, etc. Overall, coding will help us visually see the themes and patterns which will allow us to make a thorough conclusion based upon all aspects of our data. **What I added is in blue. Please take out or add to it if it doesn't make sense.(Amanda)

Looks great guys! Just let me know when the actual trascribing is posted so I can start applying it to the questions :) (Casey)

=__For week 4:__= (Even though there are 3 discussion questions, it looks like there are a total of 5 questions, since # 1&3 are made up of two questions each. Should we each take one question to make it a bit easier to answer all of these??)


 * 1**). One group member should respond to discussion question #1 for week 4 after reading the lecture on rapport and subjectivity by clicking on reply to this thread.

Use the first prompt if your group is comparing pre/post tests (Chi square or t-test), looking into how one variable affects (Chi or T-test) or the relationship between 2 variables (correlation test) to analyze your research questions.

1. Which test would be most appropriate to analyze your specific research question(s) and why?

2. If you are only using frequencies, percentages, and/or accompanying charts/graphs which test from the following; chi-squared, t-test, or correlation test, would be most appropriate for an alternative research question based on your study’s research statement? For example, I might use a correlation test to analyze the relationship between parent’s attendance the previous year without babysitting availability and this year to ascertain if there is a relationship between the two variables if I were to research parental involvement strategies and the effects of having babysitting for parents to attend a workshop on how to help children complete their homework. I might display that relationship both with a correlation coefficient and a scatter gram. The correlation coefficient might show a moderate increase of .56 in participation and the scatter gram might show a line of regression showing a positive linear relationship when babysitting is involved attendance at workshops increases.


 * 2)** One group member should post your response to discussion question #2 for week #4 by responding to this thread.

After reading the lecture on ethical considerations what is the most important ethical consideration you must uphold while you collect your data in your respective schools?

Now that we are more aware of the ethical considerations, the most important ethical consideration that we must uphold while collecting our data for our research is informed consent. It is important for us to send out a letter to the families of the summer school students who will be involved in the study. According to the IRB, “all research involving human subjects requires informed consent.” As a group, we should use the sample letter provided by our course instructor as a template to guide a consent letter that we will send home to parents. In that letter we are required to thoroughly explain our study and our purpose to that the parents have enough information to decide whether they would like their child to participate in it or not. Next, it is our job to be sure to explain to the families that they do not have to participate. It is completely voluntary. We must also make it clear that the study entails no risks to their children. Our letter must also inform families of the benefits of our study and last, we must state that the research is being done for out class and is a learning process for us to better understand how to conduct action research. Because the teacher participant is one of our group members, she will not require a letter of consent for this research. (Edit as you feel necessary-Lisa)

__ 7/16 (Lisa) Because I chose this ethical consideration, I also decided to use a template to actually write the consent letter, so here it is. PLEASE look over it as I highlighted areas that I need help with in yellow. Katie, it requires some info about your school :) __

Lisa- I think the consent letter looks great! I am using an iPad, so I don't know ifit he formatting is off because of that, but the section with the actual numbers, I would suggest making each start on a new line. So itlooks more listed... As far as school info, the summer school program goes from July 9-August 2. I can be reached st (847)-963-5038. Benfits, maybe add that students will have a positive attitude toward summer school, will be engaged in learning... (Katie)

7/18 (Lisa) Katie, I thought so too (re: your suggestion to make each number point a new line), but a majority of the templates I referred to kept it in paragraph form like I have it. I agree with you, I just followed what other's had done. Should I change it??

7/19- Consent letter looks good! (Amanda)


 * 3)** One group member should respond to one of the following online article prompts below.

1.After reading Making Words Count: What about this article assisted you in understanding more about reliability, validity, and/or the qualitative methodology in terms of developing your current research study? (KATIE) After reading the Making Words Count article, it is clear that qualitative data is valuable to research, although some may argue its validity and reliability. In the beginning of the article, the author states that using both quantitative and qualitative data in research is good, as it provides both the numerical data explanation as well as descriptive data. Qualitative data is valuable in that it allows you to gain insight into the participants' experience, to understand their thoughts and feelings regarding your research. The article states that this data can be viewed as unreliable because it generally can't be reproduced in other situations, however I think that to gain true qualitative data, researchers need to gather participants' reactions, thoughts, and feelings when they are fresh. Allowing the participants to ponder their thoughts or rethink their answers would make them unreliable as they could have easily been influenced by outside forces. This article helped me realize that qualitative is much more than collecting notes and interviews, but that it is a unique explanation of our participants' views. The qualitative data in our research paper should help explain and interpret our participants' views and provide depth to our data. The article also referred to the triangulation of data; this made me think of all the data we are collecting for our research and that we can also triangulate our quantitative data with our two qualitative data sources. This may help show the validity in our research and our outcomes.

2)After reading Researching Human Subjects: What will you take from it when researching in your schools or what did you find interesting or new not discussed in the lecture? (AMANDA)

After reading the article regarding the participation of human subjects I found it very interesting to make the direct correlation between the medical and educational world. Coming from a long line of nurses in my family I am very familiar with the term “informed consent.” I was taught from a very young age that to advocate for yourself as a patient you must be educated and completely informed about what ever it is you are discussing with the doctor whether it be surgery or some form of disease. Unfortunately, I never carried the term over to the educational realm until now, after reading the article. The article makes you step back and realize that all research participants must be fully aware of their rights and what exactly encompasses the research study. They do have a right to deny participation and further inquire what their role is in a respective study. After reading, it truly makes me stop and be more cautious when it comes to using students, other teachers, or even parents as I move forward in my educational career. Participants must be fully informed and provided with the opportunity to refuse participation. I feel often times I am took quick or over zealous in having colleagues participate and never truly share with them what their role will be or the extent of the study. In also am ashamed to say that I never have offered them with the opportunity to refuse participation. It is my job as the professional to help them protect themselves and ultimately respect them. This article has allowed me to step back and realize how much more thorough and careful I need to be when conducting further research studies. I will begin to share this with my colleagues as I want to make sure, as a school, we are practicing respectful and ethical studies. Finally, I will use my knowledge of informed consent in the medical field and apply it to my studies in the educational field.

__For week 3:__
Please share the group’s open-ended, multiple response, or Likert scaled survey with the class. If your group is not using an open-ended, multiple response, or Likert scaled survey please share your reflections on why using a survey was not determined to be a good data collection technique for your group.


 * Well, she already told us we're doing Likert scared survey :). Wouldn't we also be using open-ended to gather more information from the students? Or are we thinking it would need to be more structured for the little kids so just stick with the scaled survey?**


 * Hi it's Rhonda I think open ended would be too hard to for young students. And how do you put them in a category for reviewing data? **


 * Hi Rhonda...I am not sure if you had a chance to look at the survey Casey posted for students but it is no longer open ended questions. She used a smiley face system where students will choose if they like it, don't like it, or it's ok. It is very student friendly. The surveys are posted on the pages and files page. **


 * Rhonda-I agree. Casey, you did a great job of making the survey appealing to students. I look forward to seeing the results. (Lisa) **

WEEK 3 DISCUSSION IS POSTED :) (CASEY) **

=**__Problem Statement/Hypothesis/Questions:__**= I figure here is where we can "mull over with our group" before we answer the discussion questions as a group each week. So, for week 2, here's the assignment:

You have determined what and whom you will work with for this action research project or been assigned to a group at this point. Now you need to focus your research statements. Remember, your problem statement needs to be a narrow enough to be answered through 5-7 research questions in approximately 3 weeks. You need to use the third person, specific the age ranges you will look at while investigating, and determine specifically what problem you will address. Please post your rough problem statements after mulling through them with your groups here.

Katie, what grade/age are your summer school kids again? **The summer school kids in my class are incoming 2nd graders (so 6-7-8 years old). If we want to expand our research, we can include other classes as well. As of now I have 17 students signed up for my class, but we will see how many come on Monday! (Katie)**

After gathering some research..here is a rough thought of what our problem statement could be. 7-1 (Amanda)- Possible Problem Statement The summer slide is an inevitable occurrence that all teachers must overcome. The RAND corporation found that elementary students performance falls by about a month during the summer, but is far worse for low income students. This creates a cumulative loss that greatly increases over time. It costs more than $1,500 per student per year to re-teach forgotten material and is one of the great obstacles to reading proficiency. Knowing this staggering information, it is our goal to determine if a 4 week intensive, elementary summer school program increases student achievement of incoming second graders and creates motivated, student leaders to help combat the summer slide.

(Casey) Love it Amanda! Amanda- your problem statement so far is awesome! I think that it provides good background information/sources and tells our research question. (Katie)

And what is our hypothesis? Are we thinking the 4 weeks will show growth or not much? I'm thinking (which has been rough lately, so bare with me :)) that our statement could be __**"A study will be conducted on (number ) of (blank) grade students to determine the effects of a 4 week summer school program on student achievement."**__ (made that broad hoping to get more questions on qualitative data too)

Then our questions can be: Did the student show growth from the beginning of summer school to the end of summer school in the areas of reading/math? How much growth? Has summer school gotten the student(s) closer to the norms of same aged peers entering (blank) grade? If so, how much has the gap been closed? If not, what is the gap? Did the student show regression from the end of the school year to the beginning of summer school? If so, has summer school compensated for that regression to get the student back where they were at the end of the school year? (Katie, not sure what your criteria is for your school in terms of who qualifies, I just know special ed students only qualify if they show regression over breaks- **We were able to choose students who fell in the 20-40th% using CBMS/Map/Classroom data. Most of the students chosen for my classroom were picked based on Spanish data)** What were the parent perceptions of summer school before/during? What are student reactions to summer school?

(Katie) What are students' attitudes/views toward summer school? How does attending summer school affect the start of the school year? What are the benefits of summer school? Does a short summer school experience impact students' academic performance during the school year? What summer school programs are most successful and why?

(Casey) My only question is if our study can actually answer the last question... would that just be part of our research and conclusion ?

(Lisa) Should we also ask whether or not the students are involved in any other summer program? I know most of your students are a part of summer school because they are not meeting learning targets, but this is something that could alter the validity of our research. ie. if a particular student is showing major growth are we sure they are not enrolled in an additional summer education program as well?

=**__Discussion Question #2 (Week 2):__**= Only one group member needs to respond to Discussion Question #2 or week #2. (This is Casey :) I'm going to start giving my opinions on some of these because I'll be gone until Friday night. Feel free to disagree with me!! :)

Looks great Casey! Thought I would just keep adding to your answers and we can combine all of our answers to make one big group post. (Amanda)

What do you want to understand from your participants?

// Casey- I think it would be important to find out about the particpants cultural and SES background (probably not in an interview, but I'm sure we can get that info from somewhere :)) especially since a lot of the research is on summer school and low income families. I think it'd also be nice to know the parents' educational background and their views on education (?) Maybe we can ask questions also on if the child has been to summer school in the past. What the child's typical day was if/when he/she was not in summer school. //

(Amanda)- I also think it would be helpful to have the end of the year academic data (WIDA levels, Aimswebs, F&P, etc) on the student to see where their level is as they start summer school. I also think a schooling record would be helpful, so we are aware if the child have moved back and forth from different countries or just even schools.

Casey- good call, Amanda, for some reason I was thinking mainly qualitative. I also think their attendance record should be noted, both in regular school and summer school

Let's also add a piece about wanting to understand our participants' thoughts and feeling regarding summer school. Do they like coming? Why/why not? Do they have fun when in summer school? Why/why not? Are they learning during summer school (based on their feelings)?? (Katie)

How will your interview questions be formulated to answer your research questions? // The interview questions have to formulated in a way that allows for open ended responses. We want to ensure that our questions are not "leading" in anyway. I was thinking //

//a question for "attitudes from summer school" could be "What is your child's demeanor when you wake them up for summer school? Do they give you a hard time upon getting ready? What's your child's demeanor when they get home from summer scho//ol? //Has he/she made comments regarding summer school? If so, what are they?//

(Amanda)- The interview questions will be directly connected to our research so we can yield the most beneficial results.In addition to open ended questions, I feel that we also need specific questions as we want our questions to fulfill our research and not stray from the topic.

Casey- Agreed! I meant try to refrain from too many yes or no questions :)

Katie- Also, are we interviewing the parents? I thought we would interview the students...

How will you establish validity and reliability in your study?

(Amanda)- In order to establish both validity and reliability in our study, we will make sure to only use the most credible, most recent research available to us in the NLU library. We will use all the most recent data on our students as well as data that connects directly to what we are researching. We will study students who have had a consistent education within the district and students who all share a comparable profile.

//Maybe the other summer school teacher can score the quantitative data since she's not involved? **I agree that I can conduct the interviews or pass out the surveys, but it is best for me to not be the one to interpret the data as I am the one teaching them :) (Katie)**//

Where and how will you set up your interviews for your projects? //No Clue :) Think we need full on interviews or these can just be surveys? If we interview the students, Katie, do you know yet if there would be a good time of day to do so?// //**I think any day is fine and you will be able to use an empty classroom for the interviewing. I am co-teaching, so my classroom will be open if that works for you. I also think any day would work and I can finalize times when we are going to do them. The summer school schedule is M-Th, 8-10:55am. (Katie)**//

How will you member check your interview questions to make sure they are appropriate in addressing your research questions?

(Amanda) We will make sure we email questions to all our team members to ensure everyone has seen a copy. We will make sure the questions have specific targeted answers and the outcome will achieve what we hope to learn. We will make sure they are professionally constructed so that it aligns with the mission statement of our school and what we want to learn as educators.

What charts/graphs might you use to analyze data? \ // Bar graphs of students before and after scores. // // Charts showing the median original scores in each area and the median score after in each area. We can then show mean growth. (I say median scores for the data in each area because of the "outlayers" that may skew the data. This is what my psychologist always suggests :)) //

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How will you focus on the head, heart, and hand?

(Amanda) Our study will cover all three components. We want to study what specifically a child learns academically in summer school (head) and what academic achievements they make as well as their emotional state (heart) while involved in the program. Lastly, we will monitor the behavior of the students and see how they interact with not only their peers but also the teacher (hand). (Not sure if this is what Erika is looking for).

(Lisa) In addition to what you wrote, Amanda, we might add that our focus will address these three aspects of research by thinking about the head, heart and hand in these ways; The heart will be focused on through questions such as asking what the goals of summer school are? How does summer school benefit the learners? This will touch on the logical aspect of our research. Next, what feelings does summer school promote? In both students and parents? Do the students think it is fun? These all serve considerations for the heart. The aspect of the hand really focuses on the working mode of the summer school system. I believe this fits well into the method part of our research so that others really understand how it is implemented in the school we are researching. Focusing on the head, heart, and hand allows us to consider the cognitive approaches of our research, the affective approach, and some the practical approach of our research. All three affect our research and the results for the students in some way or another.

I combined all of these and posted for discussion 2 (Casey). FYI I think these are due at midnight on Fridays...

Thanks for posting Casey. All postings are due Saturday at midnight.

**UGH! I just saw this at the bottom after I have been combining all of these to post- haha... oh well! :)