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NORTHCENTRAL UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
Student: Melissa Webb Earnest
THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETELY FILLED IN
Follow these procedures: If requested by your instructor, please include an assignment cover sheet. This will become the first page of your assignment. In addition, your assignment header should include your last name, first initial, course code, dash, and assignment number. This should be left justified, with the page number right justified. For example:
DoeJXXX0000-1 1
Save a copy of your assignments: You may need to re-submit an assignment at your instructor’s request. Make sure you save your files in accessible location.
Academic integrity: All work submitted in each course must be your own original work. This includes all assignments, exams, term papers, and other projects required by your instructor. Knowingly submitting another person’s work as your own, without properly citing the source of the work, is considered plagiarism. This will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course. It may also result in academic dismissal from the University.
Faculty Use Only
Proposal and Justification for Research
In the beginning there is a question a researcher would like answered. From there, the research progression turns to describing the problem and the purpose of the study, developing the research questions to be answered, and defining any hypotheses the researcher proposes. After these steps, the researcher then has to define any key terms for the study and review previous literature published about the subject matter. The literature should point to other questions raised by prior research and help the researcher know what specifically has been studied and what results were found at the time. After this step has been completed, the researcher then turns to deciding upon the method to be used for the study and how it will be carried out in the future.
As part of the research process, it is important for a researcher to consider all methodology before deciding which specific types of methods work best for the proposed research. During this consideration period, the researcher should define all variables as needed and think how the data will be collected. As data is collected, attention needs to be paid to the measurements and technology used to find the answers to the proposed questions. Eventually the project should come to an end with a satisfactory summary to be written for the academic community as well as anyone interested in the subject matter. Of course, any information gathered should be put into appropriate format within the report or in the appendices. The research report should also include all references used for the literature review as well as any others used for particular portions of the study.
It is easily discerned from the above, a research study entails many different parts which come together to produce an entire report, complete with background information and what was done, as well as what the result means to the scholarly community and for the future. Research should add to the current body of knowledge in some way, whether it be a positive effect or the
EarnestMEDU7702-8 3 recognition of a negative effect which needs to change. In the academic world, there are many avenues a researcher may take to study. Usually the researcher’s background and experience will help with this decision.
A desire to more effectively communicate within the K-12 public school setting through the use of school and district Web sites brings several questions to mind. In the beginning stages of using the Internet as a communication tool, schools and districts across the United States began contemplating the medium as a way to reach more people with news and information. For most, someone was selected to start the process, perhaps without much experience on the Web.
Companies quickly sprang forward to help with this process, offering Web templates for ease of use and compatibility with multiple platforms. Whether or not the school or district chose to work with one of these companies or to design a Web site on their own, the issue was what types of information to include. There were no checklists, no publications or guidelines, nor a set of instructions to follow as these sites were developed. Many schools and districts found themselves blindly going through the motions of including what they believed to be of importance, without gathering feedback to evaluation and make changes as needed.
Considering a theoretical perspective for a study on the use of Web sites as a mode of communication for K-12 public education, another research project indicated “schools may not be seeing a promising return for their investment” (Rogers & Wright, 2009, p. 49). In many cases, districts are submitting funds to companies who host and provide templates for their Web sites. There might also be spending to specifically hire someone to do the job of Internet communications for the district. And there might even be spending for training, especially if teachers are expected to maintain Web sites for their individual courses or classrooms. In a pre- study review of the 173 public school districts in the state of Kentucky, it becomes obvious there
EarnestMEDU7702-8 4 are major differences in the amount of information posted, the design and usability of the sites, and who is responsible for the maintenance of the sites. Even though the state of Kentucky’s
Department of Education has mandated districts have an established presence on the Internet, there have not been any definitive guidelines or checklists as to what should be included. The question brought to mind is whether or not the effort of working on these sites and keeping them updated is truly being utilized by the audience for whom they are intended.
The theoretical framework is the lens through which a researcher pursues and sees a study. “Theory has a place in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research” (Creswell,
2009, p. 69). When considering the number of public school districts in the state of Kentucky, the type of methodology used for a research study in the state needs to pair effectively with the sample selected. For example, if the entire 120 districts are used in a study, what method would be the most effective without becoming overwhelming due to the sheer number of samples?
Would it be better to focus on one district to establish a baseline for future research? These questions must be answered along with considering the type of methodology to be used.
Following a suggestion made by a mentor, for this study the focus will be on one rural public school district in western Kentucky. This will keep the sampling small enough to be manageable, but yet on a scale which could be applicable to similar situations.
Once the sample focus and size is decided upon and the questions are developed which need to be answered, the type of methodology can be more effectively selected. For this particular study, the Caldwell County School District will be selected as the basis for the research. Only one school district covers the entire county’s student population. A few students are homeschooled or privately schooled, but the majority of the county’s students attend
Caldwell County schools, specifically Caldwell County High, Caldwell County Middle,
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Caldwell County Elementary, and Caldwell County Primary. The county has 12, 984 residents according to the United States Census of 2010. Caldwell County High School, as of 2012, had an enrollment of 614 students, while Caldwell County Middle School had an enrollment of 459 students, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. These are the two school which will be the focus of the student and staff research study. All residents of the county will be eligible for the study utilizing an online survey as the main method of collecting relevant data.
Once the selection has been made with regard to the sample, the methodology selection follows. For the purpose of this study, an online survey will be utilized to gather information from participants about their use, perceptions, and desires for a Web site which is designed for disseminating information about the local schools and district. Focusing on the county as a whole and on two distinct schools, the high and the middle, data will be collected through the survey from community members, teachers, staff and students. This will take the format of a quantitative study since each answer will be associated with a specific number which can then be manipulated using technology, reducing the numbers to a manageable, understandable arrangement. Once these surveys are completed, the data will be collected and a specific result for each question obtained. Since these surveys will be completed online within a particular time frame, the researcher will not be affecting the answers in any form. This will help with the validity and reliability of the data collected.
As a further, more specific study, several of the submitted surveys will be selected for follow-up questions, face-to-face with the researcher. The study will then turn to a qualitative style of research. Qualitative studies deal more with words and points of view. In this case, the researcher will take an active role, being the one to interview selected respondents. These
EarnestMEDU7702-8 6 interviews will take place at a neutral setting, such as a school’s conference room or the public library’s meeting room in the county.
Knowing the basic design of the study, being an online survey (quantitative) and follow- up interviews (qualitative), it is obvious the research will be of the mixed methods style. For this type of study, selecting a particular group for the initial survey, it seems as if the project will be a case study. However, simply selecting a person or group to study is not going to provide data
(Bryman, 2012, p. 45). The methodology selected is what provides the data for analysis. It is simply not enough to state the research will be a case study.
According to Cozby and Bates (2012), a case study provides a description of an individual or a group, such as a business or school. Harling (2012) adds data collected should be detailed and rich in content and involve multiple resources for a case study. Harling (2012) also states case studies should be based on existing theory. In this proposal, the theory is based on the fact school and district Web sites are not utilized to their fullest potential as a method of communication. Case studies are considered to be a part of observational methodology in research. However, they are not the only type of method within observational methodology.
Modern content analysis has been around for about 60 years and has distinguishing characteristics (Krippendorff, 2012). “Content analysis examine data, printed matter, images, or sounds – texts – in order to understand what they mean to people, what they enable or prevent, and what the information covered by them does” (Krippendorff, 2012, p. 2). Since content analysis examines printed matter, images, and sounds, this type of analysis could be used when studying Web sites. School and district Web sites all contain printed matter, albeit it on screen, and many contain images and sounds, depending on the type of information they wish to post.
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As evident by the discussion, the type of study being proposed will include both case study and content analysis. In the actual research project, a simple content analysis will be used to review the current Caldwell County School District Web site and the current sites for the high and middle schools in the district. This will lead to the appropriate questions to develop and ask on the online survey. Once the surveys are completed and received, the case study style of methodology takes over. Within the case study, a compilation and analysis of the data collected from the online survey will form the basis of what should be included on the resulting Web site checklist for schools and districts. Selecting some of the surveys to continue with face-to-face interviews, the project will return to the case study since all of the interviewees will be a part of the original groups being studied. Once the interview process is complete, the next step will be to return to content analysis to make adjustments to the Web site checklist as needed.
Considering Northcentral University’s Best Practices for Concept Paper Development
(2010), information is given for the research student to follow when selecting the most appropriate methodology. Best practices include ensuring the proposed questions are stated and relate to the phenomenon being study. Also, the questions must be aligned with the problem statement. In the discussion section, qualitative methodology must include the phenomenon, the concept, or the idea which will be studied. The population studied should also be identified with regard to the number of participants and the geographical location of those participants. For the quantitative method, all variables must be defined and it is required to offer a null hypotheses and alternative hypotheses for each research question.
For the research method section of a concept paper, a thesis, or a dissertation, it is not enough to simply list a description of methods and designs (Northcentral University’s Best
Practices for Concept Paper Development, 2010, p. 27). Instead, the researcher should elaborate
EarnestMEDU7702-8 8 on how the proposed method and design will accomplish the goals of the study, why the design was selected as the most appropriate, and how the method selected aligns with the purpose and the research questions (Northcentral University’s Best Practices for Concept Paper Development,
2010, p. 27).
According to Bryman (2012), mixed methods research integrates quantitative and qualitative methods within a single project. In other words, the researcher uses methodology which crosses the two research strategies. Bryman (2012) developed a list of 16 specific ways qualitative and quantitative methods may be combined. A few of these ways may be familiar to researchers, such as triangulation or completeness. For the purpose of this study proposal, the offset style of combing the two research strategies may be the most appropriate. Offset refers to the suggestion the research methods have their own strengths and weaknesses and combining them “allows the researcher to offset their weaknesses to draw on the strengths of both”
(Bryman, 2012, p. 633). Another style is explanation, which “is used to help explain findings generated by the other” (Bryman, 2012, p. 633). For this particular study, the qualitative interview process should support the findings of the quantitative survey answers, so it seems straightforward the mixed methods approach would be best in this situation.
Even though this type of research may be increasingly the choice of researchers and more acceptable in today’s scholarly society, there are some issues associated with its use.
Mixed methods research “must be competently designed and conducted” (Bryman, 2012, p.
649). As with any research, if the design and the completion of the study is flawed, the research results will not be valid, reliable, or applicable. Also, this approach “must be appropriate to the research questions or research area” (Bryman, 2012, p. 649). The researcher must be very
EarnestMEDU7702-8 9 detailed and explicit in discussing why the mixed methods approach was chosen as the most appropriate for the study.
Mixed methods research should not be thought of as separate components. Instead, the different pieces should be taken into consideration together and how they are related to each other. The resulting efforts and data analysis must show how the two methods were integrated
(Bryman, 2012, p. 649). Another suggestion, especially for beginning researchers, is not to heavily rely on one method above the other if using a mixed methods approach. Both should be equally utilized during the study and discussed within the research report.
Considering the particulars of using the Internet as a basis for the initial survey also has its limits. Even though conducting such surveys may be cheaper than doing direct mailings, the timeframe may need to be adjusted and places might need to be obtained to be open and usable during certain times of the study for those who may have limited, or no, access to the Internet.
Along these lines, another issue pointed out by Bryman (2012) is “Internet users are a biased sample of the population, in that they tend to be better educated, wealthier, younger, and not representative in ethnic terms” (p. 673). This is why it is important to open up common areas with Internet access for those who would like to participate but may not have access at home or permission to complete the survey at work.
Another concern is how to limit the survey to Caldwell County residents only. There are two main zip codes within the geographical area, but, of course, anyone could access an online survey and input one of the zip codes, whether or not they were actual residents of the county.
Also, there are a few residents of the county who have an out-of-county zip code. And there may be the case where not enough participants complete the online survey to fully make the research project a success.
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Some of the highlights of using online technology is the fact the answers to the survey will be immediately available and can be watched as participants complete the questions. It will be much easier to analyze the data since everything will be computerized from the beginning.
No one has to input the information later into a different format with the chance for errors to be made. With an online format, it should be easy to randomly select several participants for the face-to-face interviews since the surveys will be anonymous up to the point where the participant is asked if they would like to be contacted for further inquiry. Also, since it is an online survey, participants may take their time answering the questions at their convenience and reflect on their answers.
According to Bryman (2012), online surveys are apt to be answered faster than mailed questionnaires. There is also the fact online surveys may be designed with the respondent in mind, adding images and even sounds to enhance the participant’s experience. Bryman (2012) also points out the participants may complete more of the questions due to the ease of use and they also may be more likely to answer any open response questions since they can be typed instead of written by hand.
It is difficult for a beginning researcher to formulate arguments for and against, especially when it concerns methodology. Going through all the methods currently available to researchers is a daunting task, especially when trying to find the most appropriate and most applicable method for a study. Reviewing all methods and deciding on a particular one, or several, depending on the research to be conducted and the result desired, is challenging. For a beginning researcher, having never completed a full research project, perhaps the best way to meet this challenge is to review and consider each research method and design and think concurrently
EarnestMEDU7702-8 11 about the results desired. In this case, the end result is to develop a checklist for schools and districts to use when designing and maintaining a Web site as a form of communication.
In order to develop a checklist, it is important to discover what users actually want from such a Web site. By reviewing current, live Web sites of a small district and focusing on only two schools, a middle school and a high school, it became apparent an online survey would be the most effective way to gather information quickly and accurately from the community members, the school and district staff, and the students. For those already with Internet access, this would not be unusual and for those who do not have Internet access, opening a lab or giving alternatives for completing the survey would allow the researcher to discover what information is desired from an educational institution Web site, but perhaps also find out what some of the barriers are to accessing such sites.
Once surveys are completed, the next logical step would be to personally interview some of the respondents to more fully understand what should be included, or not included, in a Web site used for communication purposes. This would definitely need a separate research method to complete. Using face-to-face interviews would turn the investigation into the qualitative realm of research. If the surveys are analyzed through data collection methods and the interviews are conducted face-to-face with opportunities to expand upon survey answers or to add anything else relevant to the study, then both quantitative and qualitative methods are used. Due to this fact, the most appropriate methodology for this research project would be the mixed methods approach.
Learning about qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods styles of research takes effort, especially when a beginning researcher is struggling to propose and complete a study, much less make scholarly arguments about methodology. The way which works in most cases is
EarnestMEDU7702-8 12 to review the initial question which piqued the researcher’s curiosity and think about the best way to discover an answer to the question. Building upon what has been learned throughout the researcher’s career both as a student and as a practitioner and following research best practices, it should not be an overwhelming task. Take a deep breath, clear the mind, and focus on the research problem. The rest should start to come naturally as the process continues. After all, practice does make almost perfect.
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References
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods. (4th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN:978-0-19-958805-3
Cozby, P. C., & Bates, S. C. (2012). Methods in behavioral research. New York, NY: McGraw Hill
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Kentucky Department of Education. (2012). Staffing and contact information for the Caldwell county schools [Data file]. Retrieved from http://education.ky.gov/comm/pages/caldwell- county.aspx
Krippendorff, K. (2012). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. ISBN:978-1-4129-8315-0
Northcentral University. (December, 2010). Best practices for concept paper development. School of Education Resources: Concept Paper Best Practices. Retrieved from http://learners.ncu.edu/ncu_diss/default.aspx?attendance=Y
Rogers, R. R. H., & Wright, V. H. (2009). Assessing technology’s role in communication between parents and middle schools. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education (7), 36-58. Retrieved from http://it442- roberts.blogspot.com/2009/06/assessing-technologys-role-in_07.html
United States Census Bureau. (2010). State & county quickfacts [Data file]. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21/21033.html