EDU 9800

When reduced to its most essential elements, research is a process of identifying something unknown and then collecting data to make it known. A research study needs to be designed so that it will answer the questions or test the hypothesis that you have identified. The fundamental purpose of educational research is to increase our understanding of educational processes, practices, and issues.

Fortunately researchers have a variety of software packages available to them that can assist them in gathering, storing, analyzing, and presenting their data. Students in this course will explore several of these computer software packages that will support their efforts in creating artifacts for their doctoral portfolio and for developing and writing their doctoral dissertation. Presenting your dissertation in the specified format of the college is a requirement. This course will prepare you with the knowledge and skills necessary to incorporate various software packages, utilizing APA-style formatting of word documents, graphs and charts, and the specific requirements of Dowling College, to fulfill that requirement.

Required Texts:

1. Using SPSS For Windows � Analyzing and Understanding Data

Samuel B. Green, Neil J. Salkind, Theresa M. Akey. Prentice-Hall

2. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition http://www.apastyle.org/

Check out the tutorial http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx

Good examples at http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citapa.htm

3. Educational Research. Competencies for Analysis and Applications, Gay, Mills and Airasian. Pearson.

http://www.myeducationlab.com/

4. A Short Guide to Academic Writing. Andrew Johnson

Course objectives and Outcomes

1) Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding research in education.

Outcome: Students will develop a Panel Discussion that shows their understanding of basic research. Students (in teams) will prepare a 30 minutes class discussion using blackboard, PowerPoint, questionnaires, or any pedagogical discussion. This product will be worth 15 % of the student grade.

2) Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of APA-style and Dowling College requirements for the formatting of word documents, charts and graphs, within the doctoral dissertation.

Outcome: Students will write a research proposal for a conference. They will include a copy of the �call for presentations� and conference proceedings guidelines.
This paper requires students to develop a research prospectus of approximately 3-5 pages (not counting references pages) double space after reading a meta-analysis or summary of current research findings on a specific topic.

This product will be created in Microsoft Word, and will include a problem statement, as well as a literature review, developed of a short proposal and a summary. This product will be worth 25% of the student�s grade.

3) Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of software applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences).

Outcome: Students will create a PowerPoint presentation that supports their presentation of their proposal. The presentation will include imported facts, charts, and graphs from the various software packages reviewed. This product will be worth 20 % of the student�s grade.

4) Objective: Students will demonstrate an ability to create a portfolio in a web format (webfolio).

Outcome: Students will develop a webfolio in a web format using any software. They will include all the relevant work done in this course. This product will be worth 15 % of the student grade.

Grade Distribution:

Webfolio 15%

Panel Presentation (from a chapter of the book) 15 %

Peer Review 5 %

PowerPoint Presentation (of the Proposal) 20 %

Class Activities 20%

Proposal 25 %

Tentative Course Outline

Friday	Lab
Introduction
Using the internet Writing, Submitting and Publishing	Video: Using the internet for research APA style
PowerPoint Templates, Slide layouts, backgrounds, Working with text, Graphics	Preparing a presentation
Dowling Document: Style & Publication Manual Conference Proposal discussion Literature Review Review pertinent literature for a proposal	Microsoft Word Begin writing literature review - Select topic
Chapter 1: Panel Discussion (30 minutes)	Chapter 1. Introduction to Educational Research

Saturday
Chapter 2. Selecting and Defining a Research Topic	Panel Presentation (30 min)
Microsoft Word	Practice
11-12	Digital Library Workship
12-1	Lunch
Chapter 3. Preparing and Evaluating a Research Plan	Panel Presentation (30 min)

Sunday

PowerPoint advance Features

12-1

Lunch

How to develop a Portfolio

Develop and Publish your Web folio

Create your main page and your projects page

Prepare your draft of your presentation, bring your draft Next Saturday

Friday

Chapter 4: Panel Presentation

Selecting a Sample

Excel functions-

Creating spreadsheets

Locating records by filtering

Using calculations

SPSS � Unit 2 Creating and Working With Data

Defining variables

Data entry and editing

Importing and Exporting graphs and charts

Creating charts and graphs in APA-style

Saturday

Chapter 5: Panel Presentation	Selecting Measurement Instruments
SPSS Creating variables Summarizing and describing data Transform, Compute	SPSS practice
12-1 Lunch time
Review drafts and continue preparation of their proposal. Final changes to assignments and projects should be completed.	Continue writing/research for your proposal Finalize your proposal in a Power Point presentation Finalize your webfolio

Sunday
Present your projects through Webfolio presentation.	Each student will have 10 minutes to present his/her webfolio and show his/her proposal in PowerPoint presentation. A 5-minute discussion will follows after each presentation

Proposals in Microsoft Word due three weeks after the last class.

Last updated 5/22/2013