VOED 6573 Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Vocational Education

I. TITLE: VOED 6573 Introduction to Research and Evaluation in Vocational Education

II. INSTRUCTOR: Dr. David M. Agnew Associate Professor Agricultural Education and Career and Technical Education P.O. Box 1080 Arkansas State University State University AR 72467 Phone: 870-972-2087 Fax: -870-972-3885

III. DESCRIPTION: Will include, historical development of educational research and evaluation, interpreting published research, planning, conducting, writing, and evaluating research and assessments related to vocational education.

IV. GOALS ARE TO PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE:

A. Sources of information about research and evaluation in vocational education, how and where to find those sources, how to use the latest in electronic databases, and other resources necessary for the conduct of research and evaluation.

B. Skills and abilities to effectively review and evaluate educational research in vocational education for application in a practical setting.

C. Skills and abilities to effectively review and evaluate effective research and evaluation techniques appropriate to vocational education.

D. Abilities to plan and conduct a research/evaluation project, using the scientific method according to approved methods.

E. Historical development of educational research, and its application to program improvement.

F. Purposes of educational research in advancing acquisition and retention of knowledge within our society and culture.

G. Ethical principles associated with the protection of human subjects in educational research and other ethical concerns in the conduct of research and the distribution of finding.

H. Methods for reading and evaluating published research in education V. TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Wk Wk History Reference Assignment of # 8-21 1 Review of Syllabus PPT 1 Read the H.M. Hamlin Article "What History of research & evaluation in Career PPT 2 is Research" published in the & Technical Education (CTE) American Vocational Association Sources of research data for CTE educators Journal, 1966. (by next week) 8-28 2 Importance of research & evaluation to Various ERIC Digests Find one newspaper article this week CTE. Who really cares about research and that reports the findings of research why? Outlets for research related to CTE. related to education. Bring this to class to discuss. 9-4 3 Holiday 9-11 4 Legal, moral and ethical issues associated Office of Research & Review 2 research projects, (by next with research. To include; Institutional Technology Transfer (ASU) week) determine if legal, moral or Review Board Policies, Codes of ethics, http://researchoffice.astate.edu/for ethical: explain why or why not? Treatment or protection of human subjects, ms.htm Take the Human subjects tutorial at Data gathering and sharing practices, AAUP policies on research the website below. http://www.aaup.org/statements/red https://webauth.ncsu.edu/wrap-bin/was16.cgi? Consent forms, Reporting practices, book/repirb.htm Implications for researchers, and affil APA Code of Ethics Complete Certification test for Implications for the public or consumers of http://www.apa.org/ethics/code200 the research. 2.html#intro researchers… Jaeb Center for Health Various other university websites Research with codes of ethics for researchers http://ethics.jaeb.org/

9-18 5 EXAM 1 Read 2 articles handed out in class. Begin next series of topics related to For next week prepare a written Principles & Methods of Research explanation (1/2 to 1 page each) of The scientific principles of investigation what can and/or cannot be learned Statistical processes and terminology from each article. 9-25 6 Types of research & evaluation, descriptive to PPT Develop 2 hypotheses for 2 different experimental http://www.aelweb.vcu.edu/publica projects. Establishing a research project tions/research/meetings/meeting1/s Read the document from Virginia ession5/handout_Criteria%20for Stages of a research project %20a%20Good%20Question.doc Commonwealth University on the Research questions & problems, hypotheses Criteria for a Good Question http://www.socialresearchmethods. Read Trochims work on Problem net/kb/probform.htm Formulation 10- 2 7 Descriptive research techniques PPT SPSS project 1 10-9 8 Population, samples, variables and probability PPT SPSS project 2 10-16 9 Frequency, central tendency, skew, standard PPT deviation 10-23 10 Testing & result interpretation, item analysis PPT SPSS project 3 Statistical analysis using -- t-test, ANOVA, SPSS Project 4 MANOVA, correlations and MANCOVA 10-30 11 Exam 2 Worksheet to determine the different Begin next series of topics related to types of research and understand Understanding Empirically-based results Research Reading, reviewing, and evaluating research 11-6 12 Conducting a review of literature & 2 articles Critique 2 empirically-based articles Development of summary, findings, & from peer-reviewed journals conclusions. Planning a research and/or evaluation study. 11-13 13 Application of what you have learned. Report on reviews of 2 articles Review your pre-proposal –discuss, fine tune 11-20 14 Fall Break 11-27 15 Development of summary, findings, conclusions & recommendations 12-4 16 Present your proposals. Final proposals due VI. GRADING

Task # Points Each Total Points Daily Assignments * 11 25 250 1. Ethical/moral issues (Jaeb, & online tutorial) 2. Hypotheses (2) 3. Reviews (2) critiques (2) 4. SPSS projects (4) Exam (1 & 2) 2 100 200 Proposal for research project 1 200 200 Final Exam 1 100 100 Total 750 * One low grade may be dropped

I do not grading on the curve in this class. You make it, you get! Good or Bad. Grade % A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F less than 60

VII. TEXT: None

VIII. RECOMMENDED READING

A. Books 1. Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P. (1996). Educational research: An introduction (6th ed.). New York: Longman. 2. American Psychological Association (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Hyattsville, MD: Author. 3. Leedy, P. D. (1997). Practical research: Planning and design (5th ed.). New York: Macmillan

B. Journals 1. Journal of Agricultural Education http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/ 2. Journal International Agricultural and Extension Education http://www.aiaee.org/journal.html 3. Journal of Vocational Education Research http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JVER/

C. Other resources: 1. StatSoft Electronic Text book http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html

VIII. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The faculty and students of ASU have a responsibility to maintain academic integrity. Information about academic integrity is available in the student handbook. Scholarly activity is grounded in honesty, hard work, fairness, and rigor. A scholar does not take short cuts or take credit for the work of others, does not take unfair advantage of others, and does not perform acts which frustrate or hinder the scholarly endeavors of others. Violation of any of these principles is academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty includes but may not be limited to the giving, taking, or presenting of information, data, or material by a student with the intent of unethically or fraudulently aiding oneself or another person on any work which is to be considered in the determination of a grade or the completion of academic requirements.