ED 635 Action Research

Unit 7: Quantitative descriptive

Unit overview

This unit shifts over to issues of quantitative research methods. Here, we explore ways to look at data using statistics. There are two major kinds of statistics... descriptive and inferential. Descriptive statistics are used to describe where on the number line a set of numbers is and how far apart they are spread. Imagine a group of test scores... we would use mean to describe where (in general) they lie on the number line... and we could use standard deviation to describe how spread out they are. Really dig at these ideas as you read. We'll save inferential statistics for unit 8. Be sure you understand ideas like normal distribution, mean, median, mode, standard deviation, central tendency, range, and variability.

Moodle discussion

After working through unit 7 stuff... discuss this question in the appropriate Moodle forum:

1. Can action researchers use both quantiative and qualitative methods? If so, why? If not, why not? Also, feel free to discuss the activities here and any struggles you have completing them.

Unit content

Keep in mind, quantitative methods have a fundamentally different perspective on what counts as evidence, what methods are appropriate, and even what is real and what is just a social construction. For example, quantitative researchers believe that the world is an ordered place - and that this order can be understood and anticipated through structured inquiry. The qualitative researchers, on the other hand, believe the world has multiple truths - or multiple realities, and the best we can do is describe a single reality (instance, situation…) from our single vantage point! Consequently, the methods these two groups use are radically different. For example, because the world is known (definable), a quantitative researcher feels just fine about designing a survey to understand issues. The qualitative researcher, however, says "whoaaa, baby… as soon as you design a survey you're restricting yourself to learning only certain things (the answers to the survey) and then all you're doing is understanding the situation as you've defined it - why not understand it from folks who know it best - those inside the situation (whoever that might be)?" So… very different ideas.

Now… what's all this have to do with us silly old teachers. True, true… I know these are conversations that don't always appeal to all of us equally! However, if your goal is to understand issues in your classroom that would help your kids learn more/better/faster (and this should be one of your goals… in case you weren't sure), then understanding a different set of methods for helping figure out what's going on is time well spent.

First, read this on descriptive statistics. This is one of the most important things we'll read in this class because it describes many critical concepts related to understanding statistics in education research. Focus on pages 409 to 426, in particular.

Second, after working through the reading download this. This is a little activity that will help you understand critical issues of variability and central tendency including standard deviation. In addition, this assignment gives you an excuse to buy and eat some M&M's. Follow the instructions, work through the activity, and answer all the questions as best you can. I will post an answer key in a couple of weeks so don't delay! Don't get frustrated by the mathematics - there's a couple things that are a little complex but really, if you can add, subtract, multiply and divide - and have a calculator that can too - then you'll be fine! Alright... I couldn't wait... here's the answer key. Use it if you need to but keep the emphasis on learning how this works... not necessarily getting the right answer!

Third, after completing the M&M activity, download this. This is another activity designed to help you understand how correlations work and how to calculate a correlation coefficient. Now really, this is the hardest of the mathematics in this class - but again, it is multi-step arithmetic. Solicit help from your classmates - or others - if necessary. I'll post an answer key in a couple of weeks for this one too. Here's the key. And... you'll also need a probability table for Pearson r - click here to download.

Here's a little something to make you laugh that illustrates correlation... but not cause! Keep in mind... things can be related but that does not mean that one causes the other! Click here.

Keep in mind, this call is about building understanding... not necessarily about getting the right answer. Keep the focus on learning... not on performance.