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EDS 8824 Analysis and Evaluation of Research

College

College of Education

Section

AGES3

Term

2023SP

Class Time & Place

Asynchronous

Campus

Online

Course Description

This course is designed to enable students to become critical consumers and evaluators of current educational research. Students will develop skills necessary to identify, understand, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of educational research. Throughout the course, students will locate and evaluate a collection of educational research publications and write a critical, scholarly literature review focused in a specific area of education.

Credits

3

Instructor

Ben Andrews, PhD

Email Address

bandrews@piedmont.edu

Office

Athens 223

Phone

706-548-8505 x8007

Office Hours

By appointment. Schedule a meeting with me here: https://appt.link/meet-with-dr-andrews/office-hours

Textbooks and Class materials

Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide by Sue McGregor (available free through library)

  • An Applied Guide to Research Designs: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods  by W. Alex Edmonds and Thomas Kennedy  (available free through library)

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon the completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Distinguish different types of quantitative and qualitative research.
  2. Describe the purpose and standards for excellence for each section in a research paper
  3. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of research studies.
  4. Determine appropriate inferences from various research findings.
  5. Apply main takeaways from research studies to professional practice.
 

Educational Technology Requirements

  • Online/Hybrid

    Minimum technology requirements for online and hybrid courses may be found at the following URL:  https://www.piedmont.edu/academics/technology-requirements/.

    Active, weekly participation is required as a minimum standard to register attendance in an online or hybrid course. Logging onto a course, in the absence of active participation, is not sufficient to register attendance.

Grading Scale

To promote fair and consistent assessments, the following grading guidelines will be applied on the total points:

A 100% to 90%
B less than 90% to 80%
C less than 80% to 70%
D less than 70% to 60%
F less than 60% to 0

Grading System

OVERVIEW OF ASSIGNMENTS

Analysis paper activities                                 40%

Module quizzes                                               10%

Literature review culminating project            40%

     Literature review building assignments     (15%)

     Literature review final submission             (25%)

Research in Practice Activity                          10%

                                                            Total:  100%

Course Outline/Schedule

Module

Topic/Reading/Assignments Due

Module 1

 

 

 

Topic: Journal Articles and the Peer Review Process

Reading: Chapter 5 McGregor, readings from Module One Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module One Quiz

·       Module One Assignment

 

Module 2

Topic: The Introduction and Setting Up a Research Article

Reading: Chapter 6 McGregor, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Two Quiz

·       Module Two | Assignment 1

·       Module Two | Assignment 2

 

Module 3

Topic: Literature Review and Judging References

Reading: Chapter 7 McGregor, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Three Quiz

·       Module Three Assignment

 

Module 4

Topic: Designing Research Questions

Reading: readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Four Quiz

·       Module Four Assignment

 

Module 5

 

Topic: The Methods Section

Reading: Chapter 8 McGregor, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Five Quiz

·       Module Five | Assignment 1

·       Module Five | Assignment 2

 

Module 6

Topic: Data Analysis

Reading: Chapters 12 and 13 Suter, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Six Quiz

·       Module Six Assignment

 

Module 7

 

 

Topic: Results and Findings

Reading: Chapter 13 McGregor, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Seven Quiz

·       Module Seven Assignment

 

Module 8

 

Topic: Discussion/Conclusion Sections and What Makes an Appropriate Takeaway From Research

Reading: Chapters 14 and 15 McGregor, readings from Module Two Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Eight Quiz

·       Module Eight | Assignment 1

·       Module Eight | Assignment 2

 

Module 9

 

Topic: Quantitative designs I

Reading: Chapter 10 McGregor, Chapters 2 and 4 Edmonds and Kennedy

Assignment(s):

·       Module Nine Quiz

 

Module 10

Topic: Quantitative designs II

Reading: Chapter 10 McGregor, Chapters 7 and 10 Edmonds and Kennedy

Assignment(s):

·       Module Ten Quiz

·       Module Ten Assignment

 

Module 11

Topic: Qualitative designs I

Reading: Chapter 9 McGregor, Chapters 11 and 12 Edmonds and Kennedy

Assignment(s):

·       Module Eleven Quiz

·       Module Eleven Assignment

 

Module 12

 

Topic: Qualitative designs II

Reading: Chapter 9 McGregor, Chapters 13 and 14 Edmonds and Kennedy

Assignment(s):

·       Module Twelve Quiz

·       Module Twelve Assignment

 

Module 13

Topic: Mixed Methods Designs I

Reading: Chapters 15 and 16 Edmonds and Kennedy, Chapter 24 Yardley and Bishop

Assignment(s):

·       Module Thirteen Quiz

·       Module Thirteen Assignment

 

Module 14

 

Topic: Mixed Methods Designs II

Reading: Chapters 17 and 18 Edmonds and Kennedy, Chapter 24 Yardley and Bishop

Assignment(s):

·       Module Fourteen Quiz

·       Module Fourteen Assignment

 

Module 15

 

Topic: After all this, what does evidence-based mean? (Validity, Reliability, Credibility, Trustworthiness)

Reading: readings from Module Fifteen Lesson

Assignment(s):

·       Module Fifteen | Assignment 1

·       Module Fifteen | Assignment 2

·       Module Fifteen | Assignment 3

 

 

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