TOPIC: SCHOOL SIZE (MACRO ANALYSES) QUANTITATIVE ANALYSES & SAMPLING Jacob Werblow, Ph.D. Central Connecticut State University

Tonight’s Agenda  Thesis workshop  A simple structure to follow  IV & DV review  A beginner’s Template to Analyzing Research  Sampling  Practice analyzing a sample  Summary of this weeks readings  Practice & Prepare: framing your next paper

Thesis workshop  Get into groups of 3 or 4  Swap your recent synthesis paper with another student  Read their intro, and write the thesis on the back of their paper.  Pass the paper to another student who will write the thesis on the front  Return papers to author

Thesis workshop (cont)  Reflection & discussion  Are there varying differences between what you thought your thesis was and what others thought?  How well do your body paragraphs directly support your thesis?  Reading Strategies, what strategies do you use to skim the articles?  Etc..

A simple structure: NCLB  Thesis:  Support #1  Support #2  Support #3  Closure:

IV & DV Review  DV = Dependent Variable (outcome)  IV = Independent Variable (malleable, manipulated)  After reading the Abstract, can you identify the IV and DV in the following two studies?  Werblow & Duesbery (2009)  Darling-Hammond, Ancess, & Ort (2002)

A beginner’s Template to Analyzing Research  List: Author(s) Last Name, Initials (year). Title of the article. Name of Journal(Vol), p.#  What is the main point of the article?  Describe the methodology used (Include the number of subjects, controls, treatment, etc.)  Describe the findings.  What, if anything, is notable about this article? (Is it a landmark (seminal) study? Does it have flaws? Is it qualitative or quantitative? Is it an experimental study?)  Note specific details you find especially relevant to the topic of your review (Make this as long as necessary).  Taken from: Galvan, J.L. (2004). Writing Literature Reviews: A Guide for students of the Social and Behavior Sciences. CA: Pyrczak

Sampling: Basic questions to ask  How were participants selected?  How many were selected?  Who was selected (demographics)?  Did any participants dropout of the study? If so, how did the researcher account for this?  What is the sample representative of?  How generalizable is this sample?

Why sampling matters  Many learning theories developed out of the field of psychology in the 1950’s, including Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Socio-Cognitivism, among others. Almost all of which, were developed using a sample of middle-class, white children and adults.  Are these theories appropriate to describe how children and adults learn in the U.S. today?

Analyzing the sample: Practice it  Analyze the sampling of Darling-Hammond, Ancess, & Ort (2002)

A summary of this week’s reading 

Practice & Prepare  Thesis:  Support #1  Support #2  Support #3  Closure: