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Research Synthesis Methods 1: Introduction to Literature Synthesis and Meta-Analysis Course Syllabus Spring 2014 Instructor: Dr. Jamaal Young Office Location: 218G Matthews Hall Office Phone: (940) 565-4632 Cellphone: (940) 220-4050 Email: Via Blackboard Messages Office Hours: Wednesday 5:30PM-8:30PM Course Description: This course is designed to provide an introduction to literature synthesis and metaanalysis methodology. Through this course learners are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete a structured research synthesis within the field of education. Giving my research interest and background knowledge this course will utilize exemplars with a focus on diversity and equity. Course Objectives: At the conclusion of this course the learner will be able to: 1. Compare and contrast research synthesis and meta-analysis. 2. Formulate a problem and research question(s) to guide their literature synthesis. 3. Develop a literature search protocol to locate and retrieve studies pertinent to their research questions. 4. Apply a three-phase reading plan to read and retrieve information from studies. 5. Evaluate the methodological quality of studies. Students will pay particular attentions to limitations, and threats to validity and reliability. 6. Analyze and integrate the outcomes of studies. 7. Interpret the cumulative evidence from students and determine what conclusions are warranted by the data. 8. Create an outline to organize the results of the literature review for formal presentation. 9. Prepare a formal manuscript based on the data retrieved from the literature review. 10. Conduct an anonymous peer review of two manuscripts. 11. Review and revise manuscript based on the recommendations from peer reviewers. 12. Submit final manuscript for formal evaluation. Required Materials: This course includes key program assessments and requires internet access, TK20, Microsoft office, and Adobe Reader, in addition to the required text: Cooper, H. (2010). Research synthesis and meta-analysis. (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. Expectations for Students and Assignments: 1. Read all assigned chapter and required readings. 2. Attend all class meetings and regularly participate in class discussions. Only registered students are permitted to come to class meetings (i.e. No children, friends, relatives, partners, etc.) 3. Complete all assignments, quizzes, and exams on their assigned days. 4. Late assignments are NOT accepted without a 10% penalty per day after submission deadline.

Grading Policies: Grades for each assignment/test are generally reported to the students within two weeks of the submitted work. An ongoing, calculated method of reporting grades to students is established and followed throughout the semester. If a student is failing the course due to failures on assignments/tests, the student will be required to attend a conference with the instructor to discuss the situation and reasoning. *Extra work for extra credit will not be given as a solution. Grading Scale: University grades range in 10-point increments: Grades will not be rounded at the end of the semester A = 90-100 B = 80-89.99 C = 70-79.99 D = 60-69.99 F = 59.99-0 Assignments: Course Grade Weight by Assignment 1. Plagiarism Quiz 2. Chapter Review Worksheets (9 reviews, 1 point each) 3. Literature Review Problem Formation Worksheet 4. Literature Review Data Collection Sheet 5. Annotated Bibliography Worksheet (30 worksheets, 0.5 points each) 6. Literature Review Outline 7. Anonymous Peer Review 8. Final Manuscript
Total

3.5 points 9.0 points 10 points 15 points 15 points 30 points 2.5 points 15 points 100 points

Participation: Students are expected to attend all classes, on time, and to stay for the duration of all classes. Make up work will not be given for any (University unexcused) absence. Students are expected to participate in all activities presented during class, whether in the classroom, outside the room, or off campus. This course utilizes the flipped classroom model. Thus, traditional lectures are presented in an online interactive module form. The student is responsible for reading the required chapter(s) before class, and reviewing the lectures after class for clarification. Students are expected to work with all other students in the class. Submission of Work: All assignments must be submitted in Blackboard electronically. Adobe PDF is the ONLY acceptable format for document-based assessments. Each assignment submission title should follow this format FIRSTNAMELASTNAME_ASSIGNMENT TITLE. For example, if I submitted the research paper the link should be in this format: JAMAALYOUNG_RESEARCHPAPER.pdf. Furthermore, LATE IS LATE. If an assignment is due at midnight, then at 12:01 the assignment is late. Please do not procrastinate. Additionally, Academic dishonesty in any capacity, to include plagiarism of any sort, will result in a failing overall grade in this course (Letter grade of F), in addition to disciplinary action. Communication: ALL Communication for this course should be transmitted through the Blackboard course management system. Please reframe from using my UNT email for course related communication. Students who have questions about assignments, submissions, class situations, and/or personal issues, should communicate electronically and/or set up a meeting, during the instructors office hours, to discuss concerns. All communication should be handled in a positive, professional manner, whether with the instructor, other students, and/or administrators.

Description of Major Assignments: Name Description Plagiarism The Plagiarism Certificate is an assessment of you knowledge of the many facets of Certificate plagiarism. To complete this assignment you are required to submit a certificate that you will (PC) receive after completed the online module. More details are provided in the Plagiarism Quiz assignment tab. This assignment is worth 3.5 points.
Each student is responsible for completing a review of one chapter each week from. This review th will come from one of our text: Research synthesis and meta-analysis. (4 Ed.). Each section includes chapters analogous to the section title posted in the calendar provided in the next section. This assignment's design strengthens the students theoretical understanding of their specialization to develop a strong conceptual framework to guide the development of the literature review assignment. The chapter review worksheet is mandatory for assignment submission. The worksheet is pdf document with a built-in scoring rubric. Each response on the worksheet will be scored as either: Fair, Acceptable, Good, or Excellent.

Chapter Review Worksheet (CRW)

Each Chapter review is graded on the following rubric: Fair incomplete response (0.4 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (0.6 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (0.8 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (1 point)

Literature Review Problem Formation Worksheet (LRPFW)

Each student is responsible for completing one literature review problem formation worksheet. Formulating the problem is the first step in conducting an effective literature synthesis. If you are taking this course while completing your qualifying examines, then your question prompt can serve as the literature review problem. However, it is always important to begin with a fully developed problem to guide the research synthesis process. The literature review problems development assignment helps the student to determine what research evidence will be relevant to the problem or hypothesis of interest in the synthesis. Specifically this assignment requires the student to define the variables and relationships of interest. After establishing these variables and relationships, the student can distinguish between relevant and irrelevant studies as they pertain to the research synthesis. After completing the literature review problem formation worksheet the learner will be able to: (a) provide an explicit conceptual definition of key terminology, (b) facilitate correspondence between operational and conceptual definitions, (c) clearly state research problem, (d) provide terms that facilitate the identification of research designs and evidence to answer the research question(s), and (e) place the problem in a significant theoretical, historical, and practical context. The Literature Review Problem formation worksheet is graded according to the following rubric: Fair incomplete response (4 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (6 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (8 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (10 points)

Literature Review Data Collection Worksheet Sheet (LRDCW)

Annotated Bibliography Worksheet (ABW)

Each student is responsible for completing one literature review data collection worksheet. The next step in the literature review process is to develop a protocol for the inclusion or exclusion of studies. The literature review data collection worksheet helps the student to develop an inclusion and exclusion protocol for the research synthesis. The basis for this protocol is the suitability of the methods for studying the research question and problems in the research implementation. Upon completing the literature review data collection worksheet, the student will be able to articulate the goal, focus, and coverage of the literature review. Each Literature Review Data Collection Worksheet Sheet is graded according to the following rubric: Fair incomplete response (7.5 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (10 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (12.5 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (15 points) Each student is responsible for completing the necessary number of annotated bibliographies to sufficiently answer her/his research question(s). However, each student must submit 30 worksheets & 30 corresponding articles for evaluation in this course. Thus, this assignment requires ten items for a complete submission; five articles and five annotated bibliography worksheets. The annotated bibliography worksheet is a structured data collection tool. The worksheet helps the student to organize information from each study in the review to facilitate the synthesis of the information. Fair incomplete response (5 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (8 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (10 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (15 points) Each student is responsible for completing an outline of his/her final manuscript before his/her final submission. This outline MUST consist of the following headings: Introduction, Problem Statement, Methodology, Synthesis, and Conclusion. Additional subheadings are acceptable but the outline MUST include the headings explicitly mentioned above. Within each of the aforementioned subject headings, the student must answer 2-3 questions posed for each section. The literature review worksheet document provides these questions. A Synthesis Argument Development worksheet helps the student to synthesize the information in the review to answer the questions posed in the literature review outline. To complete this assignment this student must submit a completed outline worksheet along with twelve synthesis argument development worksheets (one synthesis argument development worksheet for each of the questions under each heading). All synthesis argument development sheets are mandatory.

Literature Review Outline Worksheet (LROW)

Fair incomplete response (15 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (20 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (25 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (30 points)

5 Anonymous Peer Review (APR) Each student is responsible for reviewing two manuscripts. Students complete the peer review process anonymously. To complete the peer review assignment, the student must evaluate the quality of the manuscript using the scoring rubric. Then, the student must complete a justification or rationale sheet for the review. Fair incomplete response (1.0 points) Acceptable Complete yet incorrect response to (multiple questions) (1.5 points) Good Complete correct response, but lacks clarity and substantiation (2.0 points) Excellent - Complete correct response that is clear and well substantiated (2.5 points)

Final manuscript

The final assignment for this course is a completed manuscript. The student submits the manuscript in correct APA 6th edition format. The student should use the literature review outline worksheet to guide their writing for this assignment. The literature review outline worksheet, and Final manuscripts include all major headings from the outline worksheet. The student has the option to include other subheadings as necessary, but the manuscript MUST include the headings presented in the literature review outline worksheet. Students should submit a draft of the manuscript to the blackboard learn peer review discussion tab by the date presented in the course calendar. After the student receives comments from her/his peer reviewers the student should adjust the manuscript accordingly before submitting the Final manuscript for instructor evaluation. The instructor evaluates student manuscripts using the rubric provided in blackboard.

Calendar # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Ch.Reading Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Topic
Introduction to Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis Formulating a Research Synthesis Problem How to Search the Literature: Utilizing Academic Databases How to Search the Literature: Utilizing the Ancestry Approach Gathering Information From Studies: Developing a Coding Protocol Gathering Information From Studies: Active Reading Gathering Information From Studies: Note Taking Evaluating the Quality of Studies Analyzing and Integrating the Outcomes of Studies: Qualitative Reviews Analyzing and Integrating the Outcomes of Studies: Metaanalysis Interpreting the Evidence Presenting the Results Threats to the Validity of Research Synthesis

Due Online PC & CRW1 CRW2 CRW3 & LRPFW CRW4

LRDCW

Chapter 5 Chapter 6

CRW5 & ABW CRW6

CRW7 & LROW CRW8 CRW9 & APR

Research Presentations Research Presentations Research Presentations

Final manuscript

Required Readings Boote, D. N., & Beile, P. (2005). Scholars before researchers: On the centrality of the dissertation literature review in research preparation. Educational Researcher, 34(6), 3-15. Cooper, H.M. (1982). Scientific guidelines for conducting integrative research reviews. Review of Educational Research, 52, 291302. Galman, S.C., Mallozzi, C. A. (2012) Shes not there: Women and gender as disappearing foci in U.S. research on the elementary school teacher, 1995-present. Review of Educational Research, 82(3) 243-295. Lowenstein, K. L. (2009). The work of multicultural teacher education: Reconceptualizing White teacher candidates as learners. Review of Educational Research, 79 (1), 163-196. Mickelson, R. A., Bottia, M, C., Lambert, R. (2013). Effects of school racial composition on K-12 mathematics outcomes: A metaregression analysis. Review of Educational Research. 83(1), 121158. Ngo, B. & Lee, S. J. (2007). Complicating the image of model minority success: A review of Southeast Asian American Education. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 415-453. Rocco, T. S., & Plakhotnik, M. S. (2009). Literature reviews, conceptual frameworks and theoretical frameworks: Terms, functions and distinctions. Human Resource Development Review, 8(1), 120130. Sirin, S. R. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research , 75 (3), 417453. Sutton, R. E. (1991). Equity and computers in the schools: A decade of research. Review of Educational Research, 61 (4), 475-503. Warikoo, N., & Carter, P. (2009). Cultural explanations for racial and ethnic stratification in academic achievement: A call for a new and improved theory. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 366394.