EDF 5481 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

OVERVIEW

These examples are from graduate students at Florida State University who elected earlier semesters of Methods of Educational Research. They represent several topics, but notice that all clearly address trying a less structured design for their research problem. One example used an ethnography in the last assignment. Typically, references are eliminated for this assignment UNLESS you are using a method or measure developed by an earlier researcher, in which case you will give a citation.

All these examples were A or A- papers. They include Instructional Design, Sports Psychology, Early Childhood Education, and Art Education.

It is useful to "think out of the box," that is, to consider a wide variety of ways to study your research problem. Thus, you may be able to "triangulate," to have substantially the same findings regardless of the method that you used, and much more confidence in your results.

Recently, the Korean Air Force(KAF) adopted Web-Based Training(WBT) as a new training method to enhance its economical efficiency of training. The KAF invests a considerable budget in constructing the computer technology infrastructure, especially spending on accelerating network accessing speed and upgrading personal computers It is believed that a better hardware environment in most web-based learning settings will produce better training outcomes (HQ USAF, 1996). However, because building and maintaining the WBT environment requires tremendous expense, research on cost-effectiveness is highly needed. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of the hardware environment on the training results in a WBT situation.

This study uses a content analysis of (1) trainees' Internet accesses and (2) the content of trainee communications with their instructors to see whether Internet speed and computer upgrades influence the quality of trainee WEB usage. It is expected that trainees who have faster access and more modern computer equipment will access a greater diversity of WEB sites and will have more communication with their instructors. Content analysis is particularly appropriate in both cases because it can tell us the type of interaction that trainees have via the Internet.

Content analyses will be undertaken in the context of an experiment in which trainees are randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups:

1. Pentium III PC and lower network speed
2. Pentium I PC and lower network speed
3. Pentium III PC and higher network speed
4. Pentium I PC and higher network speed

The population is new trainees in the Korean Air Force, who are less than three months in the service. A systematic sample with a random start will be used to select the trainees for the participant pool. Trainees will first be arranged in numeric order by their serial number. A random number from 1 to 10 will be picked, then every 10th trainee will be selected. Because this kind of sample can approximate a simple random sample, this study should have good external validity to generalize to new trainees.

Through cache records, ALL sites accessed by each trainee over a one month period will be logged. Also, all email communication to and from each trainee and their instructor will also be catalogued. The exact content codes will, of course, be determined by a list of all the records and emails. However, as a beginning, we can set some categories in advance. For example, below is a beginning grid to be used for the content of the Internet sites that are accessed. A tick will be made for each trainee in each category as the WEB sites are listed and catalogued.

CONTENT OF WEB ACCESS

Other categories will be added as we examine the records.
 

This study will examine the optimal level of concentration among soccer players when faced with a goal scoring opportunity.  Concentration, or the ability to focus one’s attention on the task at hand, has been found to differentiate between expert and novice athletes (Moran, 1996; Nideffer, 1993b; Orlick, 1990).  Inexperienced (novice) athletes tend to differ from experienced athletes in their attentional focus, direction, and flexibility (Summers & Ford, 1995). A soccer player who adopts a narrow attentional focus, more often misses relevant cues and thus important goal scoring opportunities.  A player who directs his or her attention to internal (versus external) sensations (e.g., hurt ankle, “butterflies in the stomach”) while shooting on goal, will likely miss the goal altogether or shoot directly at the goalkeeper.  A third problem may arise when a player receives a ball and cannot switch attention from one target (the ball) to another (the goal and position of the goalkeeper). In this instance, the player is likely to get “caught in possession”, or robbed of the ball by an opposing player.  Thus, it seems as if the ability to concentrate effectively is an important mental aspect in successful performance.

This study will utilize "think-aloud protocols" to ascertain how players direct their attention while preparing to shoot a goal. In think-aloud protocols, the subject verbalizes his or her conscious thoughts as s/he undergoes the particular action requested (in this case, shooting a goal). Typically the data are a series of stream of consciousness verbalizations. Subjects are asked not to "censor" or prettify their thoughts, but simply to speak them aloud as they occur. They will be asked to report all thoughts and feelings, no matter how silly they think these may be. A half hour training session will be used with all subjects to acustom themselves to the procedure. Prior research on this process indicates that subjects quickly learn to verbalize while they perform the task. This is a particularly appropriate method since my emphasis is on mental ideation during play.

This study will be directed towards soccer players (both male and female) at the elite, sub-elite, and recreational levels to obtain the true optimal level of concentration in front of the goal, regardless of experience.  Due to numerous limitations (money, time, feasibility), my population will have to be limited to Tallahassee area soccer players.  Team rosters will be obtained from Florida State University Women’s Soccer team and Florida State University Men’s Club soccer team (elite), local area high school soccer teams (sub-elite), and Tallahassee Soccer Association (recreational).  The rosters will be combined into one list and using a random number table, 200 soccer players will be randomly chosen to complete the two questionnaires.  This is an example of simple random sampling, which is a probability sample type, because each player has an equal probability that he or she will be chosen.

Each subject will be fitted with a portable digital voice-activated microtape recorder which will be securely fastened to the subject's clothing. These are very lightweight, smaller than the palm of one's hand, yet very sensitive to sound. All subjects will be instructed to concentrate on shooting for the goal, and to voice their thoughts aloud before, during, and after the shoot. Following collection of the data, all vocalizations will be digitally transcribed. The transcribed protocols will be analyzed for themes such as: attention to physical sensations (e.g., tension in muscles or itch on nose); physical aspects of the playing field (e.g., location of various players); or plans (how to shoot the ball). Other themes will be added as I listen to the recordings and read the transcriptions. One theme is how focused the individual is on the actual plans for the shoot.

Of course, despite the instructions, subjects may self-censor thoughts and feelings that may appear embarassing, thus creating a bias in the data. My directions for concentration may also cause subjects to self-censor ideation that they may believe is not related to shooting for the goal.
 

This research will examine gender and styles of aggression in 3-5 year-old-children. It is important to study gender and aggression as statistics reveal that the death rate of males to females that belong to the age group 15-19 years is: 2.5:1 (10682 males to 3981 females per 100.000 in 1996). Young male aggression is much more deadly and self-destructive than female aggression.  Therefore, we need to know more about sex differences among young children in order to understand when and how these behavioral patterns are established and reinforced.

An ethnographic research design will be used in this study. The relationship between styles of aggression and gender will be examined, and this can be only done in natural settings. The research will be conducted in a naturally occurring cluster: a classroom. Ethnographic design is the most appropriate design for examining gender differences and styles of aggression, because interaction among individuals can be examined best with ethnographic design. It is better than survey research, because survey research reflects respondent’s perspective. Children in the selected classroom will be observed in the playground for a couple of months.

Due to the time and economic limitations of the researcher, only one classroom will be observed. A kindergarten classroom in Tallahassee, which represents Leon County classrooms will be selected.  A nonprobability sample, a purposive sample, will be used in this study. The school chosen will have "typical" proportions of minority students, girls and boys, Honors students, and those on free lunches. Aggressive behaviors will be divided into three parts: physical, verbal, and indirect. A coding grid, which includes behaviors for each style of aggression, will be used by the observer.  The observer will check each occurring aggressive behavior. Below are some examples. Hitting, kicking, tripping, shoving, taking things, pushing, pulling, yelling, or calling names are examples of direct aggression. Shutting out of group, ignoring, telling lies to others, telling bad stories about, pretending to be friendly are some examples of indirect or relational aggression. (I have more but the grid got too big.)
 
 

This study will investigate the use of alternative mass media as opposed to mainstream mass media to teach art for students in different grades in elementary schools; in particular, this study concentrates on film.  One goal of this research is to enhance the cultural sensitivity of students.  Maeda’s (2000) research points out that school-aged children exposed to mainstream mass media will lose their cultural sensitivity but that alternative mass media can change students’ perceptions about other cultures significantly.  Based on this premise, this research hopes to enhance children’s perspective about other cultures by exposing them to alternative mass media.

Study Design

A phenomenological approach of ethnographic research design will be used within the context of the  major approach used in this research.  The purpose of conducting the phenomenological ethnographical design is to find the essential fact that significantly influences children’s perceptions of other cultures from their experience watching mainstream mass media.  It is appropriate to use this kind of design because the outcome from the ethnographical research will help predict the possibility of which kind of alternative mass media content can enhance children’s perceptions about other cultures more.  On the other hand, it helps to explain the limitation of the effects from my results. Through the observation of how children express their perceptions about other cultures by using linguistic description, peer talking, and pictorial expression in the art classroom, the priori assumption of the influence by mainstream mass media can be adjusted, examined and refined to develop a more proper set of conceptual and operational hypotheses.

Site and Population/Sample

The research will be conducted in three schools within two school districts which are Pineview Elementary School and Buck Lack Elementary School in Leon county public school district, and one participant school of Florida Institute for Art Education in the Collier county public school district.  Five students in art classes from 2nd to 6th grade of these schools will be selected by simple random sampling for researcher to interview and observed.

Data Collection

Data collecting will take place in each school for three months, the collecting techniques including audio- and video-taping, observation, and interview.  Activities and behaviors that will be coded in this research are:

1) Students’ linguistic description in writing will be categorized as following:

• 1. descriptions of the physical differences of people of other cultures;
• 2. descriptions of the surrounding (in ecological perspective) differences of the other cultures;
• 3.which resources give children the perceptions of differences among the people of other cultures.

• 1. the times that student talk about other nations’ or cultures’ names in an art class;
• 2. which nation or culture has been talked most;
• 3. the topic or the theme talks by children about other cultures;
• 4. where this information come from.

• 1. how many figures in their pictorial expressions are not familiar with children’s culture background.
• 2. how many times those figures “jump out” on their drawing within the period conducting this observation.

EDF 5481 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS

OVERVIEW

Susan Carol Losh November 17 2002
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