What I Have Learned...

1. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the fundamental terms, concepts, and designs characteristic of both quantitative and qualitative educational research--I will use this in my future work because I believe to be an effective school counselor it is important to implement programs and interventions that are based in research. To find such information, I will need to be well-versed in the language of the research.

2. The course emphasizes the learning and application of skills that will enable you to design your own research studies--To show the effectivity of programs and interventions I implement, I predict I will need to present the data in a research design-like format, so I will use this objective.

3. Critically evaluate published research articles in an effort to encourage data-driven reflection--Why implement anything if it's not really driven by data?? I think I will need this skill to critically decide what is needed and what may or may not work with the population I am serving.

4. Evaluate the methodological procedures that an author followed--This is important in the data interpretation, so will use this skill on a somewhat regular basis.

5. Evaluate the results that were reported--This is how I'll be able to interpret data that will hopefully drive my programs and interventions!

6. Evaluate the practical significance of the study--This, too, plays a role in the analyzing and interpretation of data.

7. Ability to communicate the research results clearly, concisely, logically and in a coherent manner--In my implementation of interventions and programs, I will need to share the effectivity, especially in hopes for funding, clearly to a population of stakeholders.

8. Be able to read and critically evaluate scholarly journal articles as well as design your own research investigations--Not only do I see myself using this in my work, but as a human being who cares about what is happening in the world and the research that is being completed in an effort to solve some of the issues that plague our world. If I did not have this skill, I would be unable to read and understand what was written.

9. Compare and contrast quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to research--I'm not sure if I will specifically use this skill on any sort of regular basis, but I think the foundational knowledge of comparing and contrasting the differences of research approaches

10. Explain what experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental research designs entail and describe their application to different research questions--This is another skill I don't necessarily foresee myself using very often in my work, but I won't discount how it may be necessary in the presentation of my own data and work.

11. Explain descriptive statistical techniques such as measures of central tendency, standard deviation and correlation--Many people think in terms of statistics, so I will more than likely share data on my own programs with statistics.

12. Explain the ethical principles that pertain to research involving human subjects and research conducted in educational settings--YES! Since I will be working with humans, not only is it important for me to explain the ethical principles, but consistently apply them to my work as a counselor.

13. Select a research problem and formulate appropriate research hypotheses and/or questions--I think this is another skill that is just useful to have, whether or not it's used on a regular basis. I believe that it could be possible that I use this skill to evaluate and perfect a program that I have executed.

14. Conduct a review of educational literature from texts, journals and computer library databases--I'm not sure how often this will be used, but I think it's an important skill to have when combining data and performed research to form a foundation for a possible intervention/support.

15. Write a coherent synthesis of such literature as it relates to the research problem--I don't think this will be commonly used, if at all. However, the thoughts of a PhD sometimes linger in my head, so if that's a path I end up choosing, this will be used as I establish my research for my dissertation.

16. Prepare a viable research proposal--Who knows where I'm headed? PhD land?? Grant writing land for future programs and interventions??? So important to have for my "back pocket" for the "just in case" times!

I have alluded to this in many of the objectives I wrote about, but I think the best counseling programs and interventions are driven by data, so reading, interpreting, and utilizing data that other research studies have gathered is NECESSARY in my day-to-day work. Also, what I do on a daily basis, needs to be consistently evaluated and shared with others. This, in a way, is research and the skills that I use to gather data, interpret it, and present is have been refined through the teaching and assignments in this course.

T minus One Week Until Rough Draft D-Day

As I walked away from class on Thursday, I finally had an "I can do this" thought regarding my research proposal. For the previous ten or so weeks, I would leave class with an uneasy feeling thinking that the research proposal was an impossible task. Thankfully, I have felt as prepared as ever to get this show on the road.

Since looking over the rubric and beginning the rough draft, there are a few aspects of the proposal that I still find a bit challenging. Since there has never been a study very similar to this one before, I cannot duplicate a data collection instrument that has already been created, so I'll have to create my own. Never creating an instrument before leads me into the abyss of "unknown", especially since I had no clue that there was a system (or whatever you were sharing with us at the end of class regarding instrument creation). To try and counteract this, I plan (just haven't gotten around to it yet) do some online research and maybe snag you after class on Thursday if I have further questions. Another challenging aspect of the proposal is the trustworthiness part. We spent a ton of time in class talking about internal validity and I feel like I do have a good grasp on that, but still a little confused as to what trustworthiness really looks like when explained in a text like the proposal. I plan (just haven't gotten around to it yet) read IN DETAIL the article you gave us regarding this topic. Finally, the lit review still seems a bit challenging to me. I have read all the articles I plan to use and have created three topics for the lit review (along with developing a rough outline), but to sit down and actually write this out seems really daunting. I think I lack confidence in my ability to really understand if the articles are 100% relevant to my research question.

Like I mentioned in the beginning, I do feel the most confident in this endeavor than I have all semester long. It feels good to know the design of my study, and with that piece of information, I feel many of the other pieces, i.e., participants, sampling, ways to collect data, have really fallen into place.

Foreshadowed question & Meerkats & Barbies

Foreshadowed question: What are the perceptions adolescent girls possess regarding the relationship (or lack thereof) between their single-parent home and their school performance?

The purpose of an ethnographic study is to describe a cultural group. To do this, the research spends several weeks, possibly months or years, immersing herself into the culture to observe and build a trusting relationship with those she is studying. Data is collected through these observations, in addition to interviews and sometimes document review. The data that was gathered is then analyzed, coded by similar themes, and interpreted to report a description of cultural behavior. Because adolescent girls who come from a single-parent homes do not necessarily flock together and identify as a culture (meaning they have a shared pattern of beliefs, normative expectations and behaviors), I do not believe an ethnographic study would be the design of choice for this foreshadowed question.

The purpose of a phenomenological study is to describe an experience through the multiple perspectives of participants. Much like in an ethnographic study, the researcher will build relationships with participants who have lived (or are living) the experience so that she can earn their trust. Data is collected through interviewing participants either in a focus group or individually. Once data is gathered from the participants, it is analyzed and coded into statements, meanings, themes, or other general descriptions.

I cannot think of a more perfect research design for the stated foreshadowed question than an phenomenological study. Living in a single-parent home as an adolescent girl is an experience that is shared with other adolescent girls, but no two girls will have the exact same experience. Through a phenomenological study, the researcher has the ability to find similarities and differences adolescent girls from single-parent homes share in how they perceive their home environment affecting their education and school performance. The multiple realities of the experience of being a female adolescent student in a single-parent can then be reported to describe the essence of the experience from the perspective of each girl.

Two Studies

Study 1: This study aimed to assess if there was a relationship between the parent and child’s genders and the academic achievement of the child. The study design for this research was correlational. All parents in this study are single parents. The researchers’ hypothesis was that children who live with the parent of the same gender will have higher academic achievement than their counterparts.

Participants for this study were randomly selected from the source population of the US Educational Longitudinal Study—ELS:2002. This population reflects all segments of the United States. After filters were used to produce the randomized sample, the participants were 1755 high school sophomores (150 male and 99 female students living with a single father and 706 male and 800 female living with a single mother).

Data was collected through ELS:2002. This study contained a wide array of student academic performance information, specifically looked at in this study were reading and math grades and reading and math teachers’ evaluations of the student behavior.

Reading and math grades were analyzed through test scores reported to the ELS:2002 study. ELS:2002 had teacher’s evaluate students with a questionnaire. The format of the questionnaire was a five-point Likert-type scale. This data was analyzed using Cronbach’s Alpha.

Conclusions included that the hypothesis did not hold to be reliable and there were no academic benefits for adolescents living with same-gender parents. In fact, results indicated that there were advantages of living with the opposite-gender parents for adolescent girls. In the four sample sets (girls living with fathers, girls living with mothers, boys living with fathers, and boys living with mothers), girls living with fathers tended to have the highest academic achievements.

Because the researchers clearly stated a goal to examine correlation between the two variables (parent and child gender and academic achievement of child), I believe they designed their research accordingly, yielding valid results. The independent variable of academic achievement was clearly examined.

Study 2: This purpose of this research was to study the differences in educational aspirations of adolescents being raised in single-parent families (headed by mothers) compared to those who were growing up with two parents. Because of the goal of the study is to compare two different groups with one variable, the research design in comparative.

Participants for this study were randomly selected from the National Youth Science Project population. The selected sample population was 3432 junior high and high school students. 41.2% were males from intact families, 9.1% males from single-parent homes, 39% females from intact families, and 10.7% were females from single-parent families. Only students between the ages of 12-20 were included in the study.

Data was collected through questionnaires completed by the student. The questionnaire contained items assessing general demographics, achievement/school work, attitudes toward and perceptions of education and schooling, parental background, and other general family information. Though the questionnaire was self-administered, members of the research team were available to answer questions.

Data was analyzed through the answers of the questions on the questionnaire using a 1 (less than high school graduation) to 9 (beyond high school graduation) range for educational aspirations; 1 (mostly below D) to 8 (mostly A) range for grades; alpha coefficient for self-perceptions of learning environment; 1 (less that high school graduation) to 9 (beyond the first university degree, master’s or higher) range for parental education; alpha coefficient for perceived family cohesiveness; alpha coefficient for parental school involvement; 1 (never) to 5 (always) range for parent concern for school; 1 (does not care) to 8 (at least a university degree) for perception of parental expectations after high school; coded categorically (intact family and single-parent family) for family structure; and 1 (none) to 5 (all) range for peer-school related influences.

The study concluded that adolescents from single-parent families tended to fare worse than adolescents from intact families on the factors (academic self-schema, perceived family involvement, background, and having academically-oriented peers) that affect educational aspirations that were outline by a previous study. Academic self-schema (the combination of perceived grades, learning experience, and parental educational expectations) explained a majority of the variance of educational aspirations in adolescents from single-parent and intact families.

Because the researchers clearly stated a goal to compare the educational aspirations of adolescents from a single-parent family to those from a two-parent family, I believe they designed their research accordingly, yielding valid results. Throughout the research, the focus stayed on the variable (educational aspirations) and the factors that contributed to the variable that was being compared.

Garg, R., Melanson, S., & Levin, E. (2007). Educational aspirations of male and female adolescents from single-parent and two biological parent families: A comparison of influential factors. Journal Of Youth & Adolescence, 36(8), 1010-1023.

Sang Min, L., & Kushner, J. (2008). Single-parent families: the role of parent's and child's gender on academic achievement. Gender & Education, 20(6), 607-621.

Threats to Internal Validity

The aim of my research study is to assess the self-perceptions adolescent girls have of how their single family homes affect their school performances. Data will be gathered via interviews with interviewers asking a set list of questions. Like any study, there is a risk for the internal validity of the research to be weakened if extraneous and confounding variables impact the dependent variable. To take all precautions to combat this, these threats are being examined in effort to control the extraneous and confounding variables.

Depending on how recent the adolescent female has found herself in a single family home may have an affect on her how she perceives her school performance. If a girl is adjusting to the new and different home environment (whether it be caused by a recent death, divorce, or other happening), she may self-report that the single parent home is having more of an influence on her school performance than if she had completely adapted to the single parent setting. This type of threat would be categorized has history since time is associated with the independent variable.

Although I would do my best as a researcher to ensure adolescents were selected from schools with similar socioeconomic statuses, school contexts (similar school faculty and staff quality and student populations), and geographic settings, selection still poses a threat to the internal validity of the study. I believe that though measures will be taken to minimize the validity of this study, in a real world setting, no two places are the same, so the effect of the selection settings will inevitably skew results.

My assumption is that some of the interviews with participants may be long, and for the early adolescents (12-14 year olds), this time may effect their answers over the course of the interview session. This type of threat is called maturation. In addition, the cross-sectional design of research will evaluate the self-perceptions of all adolescent girls ranging from ages 12-18 year old. Obviously, the older the adolescent, the more socially, emotionally, mentally, and physically she has developed. If not controlled, this will weaken the internal validity of the research.

When evaluating how instrumentation may influence the internal validity, a couple of threats may be involved. First, whenever one is self-reporting, the standard is completely subjective meaning questions are interpreted in the context of the person who is answering them. In addition, the questions that are asked may not allow for the teenager to expound fully on how she perceives her single parent home affecting her school performance. Questions can be limiting to the extent of the self-perception.

To execute high quality research, I plan to have a team of experimenters assisting with the interviews. Though there will be a list of set questions, the manner in which they are asked depends on the interviewer. This effect, called Experimenter effect, even involves some characteristics of the interviewer that cannot be prevented (age, sex, race, physical appearance). Some of the qualities of the interviewer that can be prevented (behavior, conduct) can be taught during a training session with all interviewers.

As an ethical research practitioner, I will not force a girl to be in the study if she is not a willing participant. I understand that the topic of home life can be a sensitive and vulnerable topic for some adolescent girls to speak about, so the ones who participate may be ones who feel their performance in school is less affected by their single parent living situations. Furthermore, even if some girls who are interviewed do perceive their single parent family having an effect on their school performance, particularly a negative effect, they may not be likely to share this information in fear of shame and embarrassment. I think this proves that a trusting relationship must be built between interviewer and participant to ensure accurate information is gathered.

Causation, Comparative, Correlation...'C' words for all!

Gosh, Susanne. You weren't lying when you said this blog would be a toughie. I think the reason I find it so difficult is because my natural inclination is to infer causation when I'm reading a comparative, or especially correlative study. While reading a few articles to prepare for my lit review (and for this blog entry), I've had to catch myself not assuming that one variable automatically causes the other. I don't know what innate in all human being that makes us want to do that...but something is and it has got to be stopped.

In a study that examined family instability, school context, and the academic careers of adolescents, Cavanaugh and Fomby desired to discover a correlation between family instability (changes in the family structure any time during the child's life up to the present point) and the type of courses a student takes in high school. These researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a research study from UNC to form a list of participants and parents. The parents were then given an in-home interview to self-report the family structure changes. Academic transcript were used as data for the type of coursework track the student was on, specifically focusing on the math trajectory. In addition, the school context was evaluated by means of the proportion of families within the school who had experienced at least one family structure transition.

Results showed multiple correlations between the three variables, but for this blog, I'd like to zero in on the correlation that was found between school-level family instability and the math course trajectories. The findings indicate that adolescents in schools with low exposure to family instability were more likely to be on time (paced) with the ninth grade math course enrollment. By the end of high school, the majority of students from these school contexts (84%) completed college-prep math courses. Like I mentioned above, it is hard for me (and I'm sure others) to not take that finding and draw an assumption that families that exhibit stability cause adolescents to be a higher level trajectory in school courses, particularly math.

This automatic inference is dangerous and potentially misleading. There are a number of other variables that need to be considered (average SES of the families in the school, parental education, teachers in the high schools and feeder schools--to name a few) because they may have a factor in the causation. Additionally, who's to say that the student's trajectory isn't causing the family instability (ok, maybe this isn't the best study to illustrate this point, but another danger in making a causation inference is the uncertainty of the direction of the possible causation). Implying causation in a correlational study is far from the purpose of it, which is just to determine if a relationship exists. Inferring causation then not only is ignorant, but minimizes the beauty that is research methods.

Maybe one day researchers can unite and change the license plate to say...NO CAUSATION FROM CORRELATION!

Ethics!

Educational researchers can dance a fine line of ethical and unethical behavior. Even when there is no attempt to act in an unethical manner, precautions must be made to ensure that the participants in each study are being treated with dignity, respect, and rights that all human beings deserve. Thankfully, there are a few organizations who have devoted time in developing guidelines that can be upheld while designing and administering research with humans.

I think the most critical of these guidelines for all researchers to keep in mind while preparing and conducting their research is honesty. Researchers should inform their participants of all parts of the research study before the participant consents to his/her participation. This allows the participant to make an informed decision as to if he/she really wants to have a role in the research and the data that is collected. If the researcher neglects to disclose all aspects of the research, he/she may lose the participant and either results may be skewed or incomplete, causing the researcher to lose time and money.

In the same regard, I think it is of utmost importance that researchers always allow for participants to remain voluntary in the entire research process. From the very beginning, no human being should ever be forced to participate against their will. Likewise for the entirety of the study. If a participant feels as if he/she should no longer have a role in the research, the participant should have the freedom to discontinue his/her participation.

Finally, all participants' confidentiality should be honored. At no point during or after the study should a participant feel as if his/her identity could be exposed. For the respect of the participant, confidentiality should never be jeopardized, unless there was a specific disclaimer was clearly communicated and agreed upon by each participant before the study began.