ETEC 640

Research Methods I (Fall 2016)

Classes: Wednesday 6 pm-10 pm (note: hours may be revised)
Office hours: by appointment, preferably prior to or after classes. Instructors and TA can all
be contacted via email.
For technical support for Moodle, please contact the IITS Service Desk at 514-848-2424, ext. 7613 or
help@concordia.ca.

Instructors:

Teaching Assistant:

Dr. Richard F. Schmid

schmid@education.concordia.ca

Ms. Emily Sheepy

emily.sheepy@education.concordia.ca

Dr. Robert M. Bernard

bernard@education.concordia.ca

General Course Description

This course provides an introduction to philosophies and methodologies of inquiry in educational
research. The research process represents specific ways of asking questions, collecting
information (or data), looking at and manipulating the information, and drawing conclusions from
that information to answer research questions. This course introduces you to the research
process and a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methods and designs. The course
goals will be met using a variety of instructional methods including presentations (or lectures),
class and group discussions, group-work, hands-on activities, and data analysis exercises.
In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University's control, the content
and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.

Textbooks
Plano Clark, V. L.& Creswell, J. W. (2015). Understanding Research: A Consumers Guide, 2th
edition. Boston, MA: Pearson. (required; available at the Concordia Bookstore)
Chapters from Bernard & Abrami (no date). Statistical analysis for the social sciences.
Montreal, QC: Concordia University. These chapters are available free and can be found
in the folder called Bernard Chapters in the class conference on Moodle*.
All additional required material will be made available through the class conference on Moodle.

Course Goals
We see three major goals for this course: (1) develop a knowledge of terms, concepts, and
methodologies related to research and practice in Education and Educational Technology; (2)
develop critical thinking skills; and (3) develop the ability to critically read and evaluate research
as consumers, and apply this knowledge to professional activities.

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Perhaps you do not see yourself as someone likely to become a producer of research.
Nonetheless, you all have been and will continue to be consumers. On a daily basis, we are
bombarded with a wide variety of claims from many different sources (courses, books,
advertising, newspapers and magazines, expert opinion, our friends). We want you to become
experienced in thinking critically about these claims using your knowledge of research methods.
As part of this course, we will look at some of the common errors in human reasoning and how
the application of research principles can help us to avoid these pitfalls.
This course will encourage you to critically examine issues and ideas using your knowledge of
research methods. Throughout the course there will be an emphasis on both conceptual
understanding and the development of practical "how-to" skills. The course will help you
develop skills related to research design, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of
research/evaluation results. This should give you the confidence and ability to both evaluate the
research of others and to critique and re-design research.
You will find that knowledge and skills acquired in this course have wide applications beyond
just doing research. Formative and summative evaluation of programs and materials (ISD,
HPT/IP, training, evaluations of non-training interventions, etc.) require many of the skills that
you will develop here, from designing studies (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.) that
answer concrete questions to developing instruments (e.g., achievement, attitudes, probing
questions, observation, etc.) that assess outcomes to inform practice. Even statistical analysis is
often a part of evaluations, so we are certain that everyone can come away from this course
with a great deal of knowledge about inquiry (whether research or evaluation) and a set of skills
and abilities that are required of professionals in both domains.
Teaching Approach
The course goals will be met using a variety of instructional methods including those outlined
below:

On some occasions, classes will start with a brief warm-up activity and some related
discussion.
This will typically be followed by the lecture/discussion portion of the class which may
take anywhere from 1-2 hours, depending on the complexity of the topic and amount of
discussion that is generated. Lecture/discussions will focus on the more important,
interesting, or difficult points in the textbooks but also will present new information not
covered in the texts. We expect, and will encourage, a high level of student interaction
through questions and comments.
There will be discussion of various topics with relevance to research methods. These
topics may come from different fields including education, psychology, or other areas
and will sometimes require extra reading beyond the text.
We will often present research reports or summaries for discussion and evaluation. This
research may come from professional journals or from current articles in the popular
press (newspapers, magazines, the Internet). There will be activities that are completed
by small groups during a class period or sometimes extending over two class periods.
Groups will report back to the whole class for general discussion.
There will be 5 brief peer-assessed assignments that will help you to develop your
critical reading and research reporting skills, and reinforce key concepts from the course.
You will post your responses to questions on these core competencies to a submission
area on Moodle. These short assignments are intended to support your developing skills
as critical research consumers and enable you to receive additional feedback throughout
the term. You will submit brief texts and be asked to provide feedback to your peers.

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Submissions will be graded for quality and completeness. Because this is designed to
encourage peer-based collaboration, only 1% per exercise is being applied as a sort of
participation reward.
Class Participation
You are expected to attend the weekly class meeting and to be an active participant in the
course and not just a passive recipient of information. Get involved in the discussion! You all
have interesting ideas and experiences that the rest of the class can benefit from. Moreover,
class time is an ideal opportunity to raise questions and to ask for clarification of concepts. Its
okay to be wrong, to ask questions, to question others ideas, to think out loud, and to put your
ideas on the table. Be a careful listener and try to understand the views expressed by others but
do not be afraid to challenge your classmates or us. It is through your involvement in class
activities and discussions that you will enhance your learning and enjoyment of the course.
Meaningful involvement in discussion, activities, and written coursework cannot just come from
your personal experience and observations. You must read the textbook and other assigned
material as they form a common foundation of knowledge. Active participation is characterized
by the following:

Responding to questions posed by the instructor and/or other students.

Contributing to discussions using information from assigned readings or personal
experiences.
Asking thoughtful questions (if you are confused about something, other students may
be as well).
Demonstrating understanding of class readings using previous material to help explain
or justify comments.
Responding to other students comments in a sensitive and constructive manner.
Contributing regularly without dominating the discussion.
Respecting classmates rights to hear and be heard.

Office Hours
You can set up an appointment to meet with any of us by sending us an email.

Course Requirements
The following set of assignments has been designed to assist you in applying the knowledge
that you will gain throughout this course. Each assignment is to be completed and submitted
individually to its Dropbox folder in the class conference on Moodle. You are required to apply
APA style (6th edition) consistently within each assignment.
Each assignment must be submitted by 23h55 (11:55 P.M) on its due date. Failure to do
so will result in a deduction of one point per day late (N.B.: weekends count as one day).

Evaluation of Assignments
Course
requirements

Due Date (by 23:55 in the Moodle drop box)

% of total mark

5 peer-assessed
workshop activities

Submission deadlines will be announced in

class and on Moodle.

5%

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Article critique I

Week 7 (Sunday Oct. 16 by 23:55)

15%

Article critique II

Week 11 (Sunday Nov 20 by 23:55)

20%

Final Exam

Wednesday, Dec. 14 (18:00-20:00)

30%

Final Project

Friday Dec. 23 by 23:55

30%

Article Critiques (2)

For the purpose of each critique, the instructors will provide a set of articles. You will critique
one article based on quantitative criteria and one based on qualitative criteria. You will be
required to submit your 500-word summary and 2500-word critique in writing. A good critique
identifies both strengths and weaknesses of a research study. Our task is not just to find the
"hidden flaw" in a study but also to provide a balanced review. Please note that your critique
must include: (1) Summary of the paper in your own words. (2) A section that focuses on the
strengths of the study, which includes, whenever possible, a description of what makes this a
good research project and why. (3) A final section that addresses the weaknesses of the paper
and includes your justification of why youve identified particular problem areas. Your paper
should demonstrate that you understand the material in the article and can think critically about
it. Detailed guidelines for this assignment will be provided later in the course. A common error
that students make is simply summarizing the article; dont make that error. If, on the other
hand, you think the study is perfect, illustrate why. In short, give us the good, the bad and the
ugly.

Final Project
For the purpose of your final project you will be required to choose one study that you have not
yet critiqued from the set of instructor-provided articles for the article critique assignments. You
will then write a 500-word summary of your chosen study. Afterwards, you will write a 500-word
rationale explaining how your new design extends, or improves upon the original study. Finally,
you will re-design the study and write a 2000-3000 word proposal using either: a) the opposite
methodology (e.g., qual quan; quan qual), b) a mixed methods design, or c) an improved
design (e.g., poor qual improved qual; poor quan improved quan).

Final Exam
This two-hour exam will test your knowledge of issues relating to the course content covered up
until the date of the exam. See Course Schedule for topics and related chapters in the texts.
You will be responsible for material in the text and assigned readings as well as new or
additional material presented in the lectures. NOTE: These two sources of information are only
partially overlapping (i.e., class attendance and good notes will contribute to better test
performance than reading the text alone). The exam will include multiple choice, short answer
and scenario sections.

Feedback and Grading

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This course is designed to support you in developing new understandings and skills in research
design and analysis. It will take time and effort to develop those understandings. We will provide
feedback on assignments and writing activities throughout the course. Graduate level grades
are based on performance, not effort. Work that fulfills course expectations will receive a mark
in the B range. Marks in the C range are assigned to work that is complete but weak. Marks in
the A range are reserved for work that exceeds course expectations. Achieving that level of
scholarship is your responsibility. You will receive a numerical mark for each assignment. These
numerical marks will be combined at the end of the term to obtain your overall mark. The overall
numerical mark (in %) will then be converted to a letter grade.
PLAGIARISM
The instructors take a serious stance towards students who are suspected of plagiarism in any
written submissions. All instances will be immediately reported to the University, as per
regulations. We are NOT allowed to deal with the matter internally.
Please see the following web page to understand the academic code of conduct:
http://www.concordia.ca/vpirsg/policies/by-theme/#studentlife
Also, please see the following site for an overview of how to avoid plagiarism:
http://cdev.concordia.ca/CnD/studentlearn/Help/handouts/WritingHO/AvoidingPlagiarism.html
Bottom line: Ignorance is no excuse. Never plagiarize. Therefore, ALWAYS credit the origin of
material submitted via referencing or quotes, using APA style (6th edition).
NOTE: We have tried to make the course syllabus as complete as possible. Nonetheless, it may
be necessary to make minor changes throughout the term to readings or other course
requirements. If changes are required, they will be discussed in class AND posted on Moodle.
Tentative Course Schedule
Week

Week 1: Sept 7, 2016

Week 2: Sept 14, 2016

Instructor

Bob, Richard
Emily

Richard

Topic(s)
Introductions, course description, and course
expectation
Research and other ways of knowing - Richard
APA Style (6th edition) Introduction
Steps in the research process
Comparison of qualitative and quantitative research
Ethical considerations in research

Assigned Readings: Chapters 1, 2 Plano Plano Clark & Creswell

Week 3: Sept 21, 2016

Richard

Research problem, literature review

Research questions, hypotheses

Assigned Readings: Chapters 3, 4, Plano Clark & Creswell

Week 4: Sept 28, 2016

Richard & Bob

Reporting (representing) and evaluating (critiquing)

research

Assigned Readings: Chapter 5, Plano Clark & Creswell

Critique assignment handouts
Week 5: Oct 5, 2016

Bob

Introduction to quantitative research

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Collecting quantitative data

Scales of measurement, reliability, validity
Data management and preparation
Assigned Readings: Chapters 6 & 7, Plano Clark & Creswell
Chapter 2, Bernard & Abrami

Library Workshop (18h00 20h00 LB 203)

-----------------------------------------Week 6: Oct 12, 2014

Bob

Descriptive statistics: frequency distributions, graphs

and other ways of representing data
Descriptive statistics: Central Tendency and
variability
Critique 1 due (Sunday, Oct. 16)

Assigned Readings: Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, Bernard & Abrami

Week 7: Oct 19, 2016

Richard

Mixed methods

Assigned Readings: Chapter 12, Plano Clark & Creswell

Research paradigms in qualitative research
Week 8: Oct 26, 2016

Emily

Introduction to qualitative research, qualitative data,

qualitative rigor

Assigned Readings: Chapters 9, 10 & 11, Plano Clark & Creswell

Guba, E.G., & Lincoln, Y.S. (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging
confluences. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research, 3rd
edition (pp. 191-216). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Week 9: Nov 2, 2016

Richard

Case study

Assigned Readings: Flyvbjerg, B. (2011). Case Study. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE
handbook of qualitative research, 4th edition (pp. 301-316). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Stark, S., & Torrance, H. (2005). Case Study. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Research methods in the
social sciences (pp. 33-40). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Action Research
Week 10: Nov 9, 2016

Richard

Design-based research

Assigned Readings: Chapter 13, Plano Clark & Creswell

Reeves, T., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2005). Design research: A socially responsible approach to
instructional technology research in higher education. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 15(2),
97-116.

Week 11: Nov 16, 2016

Bob

Experimental design
Quasi-experimental design (threats to internal and
external validity)

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Critique II due (Sun. Nov. 20th )

Assigned Reading: Chapter 10, Creswell (to be posted in Moodle)
Chapter 1, Bernard & Abrami
Campbell & Stanley pages to be handed out in class

Week 12: Nov 23, 2016

Bob

Correlational Designs
Correlation and Correlational Analysis (r, r2, simple
linear regression)

Assigned Readings: Chapter 6, Plano Clark & Creswell

TBA
Week 13: Nov 30, 2016

Bob

Comparing groups (t-test and ANOVA)

Assigned Readings: Chapter 8, Plano Clark & Creswell

Bernard & Abrami, ANOVA

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