RESEARCH CHECKLIST
This
list is to help prepare you with the necessary skills and knowledge to
carry out a high quality, science education, Master's research project.
I will be making modifications and adding links as necessary.
You can always check the time and date stamp above to see
when this document was last modified.
You
do not have to proceed through these steps in order. In fact,
feel free to jump around and see what you might need to accomplish in
the future. The most important thing is to make sure that you
are comfortable with each step in the process. If you have
questions, feel free to ask. Please check off each item after
you have accomplished it.
IMPORTANT:
Throughout this whole process keep multiple backups of your
work, in different forms. Always print out hard copy at
intervals so that you can recover if you lose your electronic data.
Do not trust USB drives alone. Email files to yourself using
gmail, save files on your home computer, on portable drives and on cd's
etc. Set up your Word processor so it makes automatic, timed
backups. Or, you could also use Google docs to write your
paper.
Fall 2007 -
Tasks to be completed
- Start a science research notebook
(or a blog). - Get a hardcover notebook and
carry it with you everywhere. Jot down ideas, information,
and any thoughts you have related to your possible research topic.
An possible alternative or addition to your notebook, would
be to establish a research blog dedicated to your project.
- Read your textbook from cover to
cover ( Mertler,C.A.and
Charles,C.M. (2008). Introduction to Educational Research - 6e. New
York:
Longman). Check out the companion web site to the textbook: http://www.researchnavigator.com
- Become acquainted with some of
the science education research literature. - In
order to accomplish this you need to read some peer-reviewed, science
education research articles. I strongly recommend that you
pick an article that looks interesting from the Journal of Research in
Science Teaching (JRST) to review carefully. You should also
take a trip to the library and browse through several past issues of
JRST, looking at the table of contents and abstracts.
- Review a science education
research article - Look critically at a science research
article in order to determine strengths and weaknesses. Look
up any terms in educational research related web sites or books.
Read the reviews of research articles posted by your peers on the class discussion board.
- Learn
how to search electronic databases to find and obtain science education
research articles. Make sure that you know how
to use the ERIC database, and other education, science and psychology
databases through the Queens College library. This is
absolutely essential. Find a science education research
article using ERIC and also through one of the library databases.
- Find
out where the science education books and journals tend to be
located in the Queens College library. Visit the area and
browse in person.
- Use the library to find at least
one book related to a topic in science education research.
For example, you might get a book on gender and science. Pay
special attention to the bibliography at the end of any book you
consult.
- Start
brainstorming possible topics. During the
brainstorming stage, you should generate as many ideas as you can.
Jot these down in your notebook and post them on our
discussion board. You can phrase these as questions,
hypotheses or just general topics at this stage. Think about
some of the intractable problems or interesting phenomena you have
observed or heard about. You can also search the web, look at
a variety of science education articles, current issues in science
education, etc. for possible topics.
- If you have problems choosing a
topic, talk it over with your colleagues, and your instructor.
Do NOT stress out, and worry about your topic
alone. Interact with your colleagues and instructor, and
eventually a worthy topic will emerge.
- If all else fails, choose a topic
related to an area of science you teach, and start doing some database
searches, including ERIC.
- Once
you have a topic, develop
a system to gather information from your literature review.
Make sure that you read the textbook: Galvin,
J.L. (2006). Writing Literature
Reviews - 3e.
Los
Angeles CA:
Pryczak Publishing
- Narrow down your topic.
Focus!
- Collect research articles and
books related to your topic.
- Read the articles and books, and
take good notes, making sure to note page numbers. If
you make copies of articles and sections from books, you can write on
them and make notes. Make sure to keep copies of complete
bibliographic information for each source you use. Put all of
your articles and books in alphabetical order by author's last name in
a box or filing drawer.
- Continue to focus your topic.
Try and state your topic as a research question and also as
an hypothesis.
- If you can, identify important variables
related to your research question. Make a diagram to show how
these variables might be related. If you are able to do this,
you may be able to come
up with a theoretical model that might help you to explain
any results. If there are existing theoretical models you can
see if your project might extend or confirm features of existing
models.
- Decide on your research question
and hypothesis and get approval from the instructor. Post
your final research question and hypothesis on the class discussion
board. Don't worry you can change this if necessary but it
will cost you valuable time.
- Share your research topic with
your colleagues and peers and get feedback.
- Continue to collect articles,
books, papers and information related to your topic.
- Become familiar with the various
types of educational research.
- Understand important concepts in
educational research such as validity and reliability.
- Note different types of research
methods as you carry out your review of the literature.
- Begin working on your research
proposal. Start a Word document and place the
main headers of your proposal in the document. Add ideas and
information as you go.
- Once you decide on a possible
research design and method, submit it to the instructor, and post it on
the class discussion board.
- IMPORTANT - Choose something that
is feasible. You will need to have your data by
week 4 of Spring semester, in order to have enough time to analyze it
and write up the rest of your paper.
- Make sure to check the CUNY
policy for Student Research with Human Subjects.
- Obtain approval from the
instructor before proceeding to gather data.
- Complete and submit your literature
review.
- Present
your literature review and incorporate feedback.
- Complete and submit your research
proposal.
- Continue your collection of
articles, books, papers and other information throughout the duration
of your project. Add any new information to your
literature review.
Spring 2008 - Tasks to be
completed
- Show your research proposal and
literature review to your instructor and to your school administrator (if
you are doing research in a school). Obtain approval before
proceeding.
- Start an outline of your paper.
with the main headers included.
- Write up a draft of the Methods
(Procedure) section of your paper.
- Carry out your project and
collect your data. Remember to continue to
record everything that occurs during the project in your research
notebook and/or blog. If you use a blog do not use real names
of students, teachers or of the school.
- Become familiar with the research
methods you are using. For example, if you are
administering a survey, interviewing, observing, etc. you MUST become
an expert on those techniques. Borrow books from the library
on the research techniques you are using and search the web.
You should also consult with the instructor.
- Become familiar with the data
analysis techniques and tools you will be using.
For
example, if you are doing quantitative research, you will need to learn
how to use statistical software. I highly recommend that you
use the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).
There are many good tutorials on the web, in statistics texts
(borrow one from the library) and with the software itself.
For
example, if you are going to use correlations and a Chi Square test to
analyze survey data, you will need to become an expert on the Chi
Square test and correlations. If you are doing qualitative
research, there is software available for that purpose such as NUDIST.
- Share regular progress reports on your
research with the instructor and your colleagues and peers on the class
discussion board and in class.
- Come up with a
tentative title for your project, an abstract, and fill in the pieces
you already have completed such as the literature review.
- Analyze
your data. Consult the APA guidelines for
information on the how to display research results using tables,
charts, graphs and figures.
- Write up your results section.
- Write the conclusions section.
- Include any implications of your
research.
- Submit your rough draft
on the class discussion board and also to the instructor.
- Revise your paper.
- Proofread.
- Have your friends, colleagues and
peers proofread your paper.
- Submit your final copy.