Blog post #4- Ethical concerns

When conducting research with human subjects in educational settings there are many ethical concerns to keep in mind.  The first is the necessity of having consent from all participants before beginning any phase of the research interaction with students.  In a school setting this may often include parental consent since the students will be less than 18 years old.  This often presents obstacles as many parents are unsure of their children participating in research studies and may not want to consent.  Even if this does lead to less participants, it is simply one of the rules the researcher must follow.

Another ethical concern is privacy and confidentiality.  Especially in studies where achievement scores are going to be attained or personal interview questions will be asked, it is important for the researcher not to directly disclose this information to others.  This personal information could affect the student in many negative ways if it was released to others.  For example, a low achievement score or negativity during an interview could unfairly give that student’s teacher a different perspective of them.  A research proposal or article should not include the real names of students involved.  The subjects must feel as if they can trust the researcher and part of that trust is knowing that their answers will be kept private to a certain extent. 

Adequate interpretation and representation of data is another ethical concern as subjectivity can influence the research process.  For example, if a teacher was conducting research on their own class they may interpret the results more positively in order to reflect on their own teaching.  Also, if the researcher already knows the students participating in the study they may have a preconceived idea of how each student would do on an achievement test or how they would answer interview questions.  It is important to stay subjective when collecting and interpreting data from students.

Potentially harming students is another ethical concern involved with research in educational settings.  If students are put into a control group versus an intervention group, the circumstances of the control group cannot hinder students' education or ability to perform well in school.  The type of research being done must also be assessed for potential personal or psychological risk to the participants.  The students should not be put under any physical or mental stress while the research is being performed.

I personally think the most important thing for a researcher to keep in mind while conducting educational research is the aspect of potentially harming students.  The researcher must be sensitive to the students he or she is working with in order to obtain their results without significantly changing the lives of the participants.  The type of questions we ask during an interview must be assessed for appropriateness and subjectivity.  For example, certain topics may not be appropriate to bring up with first and second grade students.  The questions should not put students under any stress or make them feel negatively about themselves.  Many researchers want to compare a control group with an intervention group, but we must assess prior to the study if any harm will be done academically for the control group.  While educational research extends our knowledge base, it is also important to keep in mind that we are working with human subjects and their needs and wishes must be acknowledged first and foremost.  I think the results of the research study will be far less significant than any potential harm done to students.

Blog post #3- Sampling

My current research problem is “How do the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity and Story Mapping comprehension strategies utilized throughout one school year retain their effectiveness in terms of usage over a 2-year span with elementary students of varying reading ability levels?  Also, how is students’ motivation about comprehension tasks in the 2-year follow up?"

My participants for this study will consist of 5 different school districts in the central Virginia area including Richmond City, Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield and Goochland.  I will choose one elementary school in each district that I believe is representative of the district as a whole in terms of socioeconomic status.  From those 5 elementary schools I will then ask the principal to suggest one 2nd grade class that consists of students with varying reading ability levels.  Therefore, I will have five 2nd grade classes of students as participants in this research which could be generalizable to all 2nd graders in central Virginia.  The students will be participating in the study during their 2nd grade school year and a follow-up will be completed 2 years later when the participants are in 4th grade.

Below are the pros and cons of using different types of probability sampling methods in this research study:

Probability Sampling	Pros	Cons
Random Sampling	-Every 2nd grader has an equal chance of being selected. -A large participant group could be used	-Too many variables would be involved -It might be harder to follow up 2 years later with a random sample -Might not be representative of the population -Would require numbering each participant in the population
Systematic Sampling	-Simple to select participants -Every 2nd grader has an equal chance of being selected	-Students selected could all have similar characteristics, such as a high reading level -Might not be representative of the population -It might be harder to follow up 2 years later with these students
Stratified Sampling	-More representative of the population than random or systematic sampling -A smaller sample could be chosen -Able to narrow down which participants the researcher wants to study from the subgroups	-It may be difficult to prepare and gather data about the subgroups in the population -I would have to assign proper weighting to each subgroup in order to represent the population -Students would still be chosen randomly from each subgroup which could result in students with all similar characteristics
Cluster Sampling	-Would work well with a large population -Saves time and money -Would be easy to select a school as a naturally occuring group	-The results are less accurate than other  probability sampling methods -Involves all random selection which may result in a sample that does not represent the population -Would be difficult to follow students in a longitudinal study since everything is random

Below are the pros and cons of using different types of non-probability sampling methods in this research study:

Non-Probability Sampling	Pros	Cons
Convenience Sampling	-Easy access to participants -Follow-up with participants would be simple -Less time-consuming -High participation rate -Would work well if studying very specific topic on very specific participants	-I could not generalize the convenience sample to the population -May result in bias such as participants in only one socioeconomic status
Purposive Sampling	-Easy to answer research problem with useful subjects -Less time-consuming -Helpful in qualitative research in order to understand the problem in depth -Selected participants will provide the best information	-May be difficult to generalize to the population as a whole -Results depend on the characteristics of the subjects -May be difficult to find the exact subjects to participate.
Quota Sampling	-More representative of the entire population -Generalizable to other similar subjects -Researcher is able to set guidelines of who they choose as participants	-More time-consuming because the researcher must make decisions about selecting the sample -Results will depend on the characteristics of the participants

I believe the sampling procedure that fits best with my research problem is quota sampling.  My target population is central Virginia, but I would like to have some control over who my participants are in order for the study to be generalizable to all 2nd grade students in central Virginia.  I selected the five school districts and I will non-randomly decide on one school in each district that is representative of that population.  At each school I will be asking the principal to suggest a class that consists of 2nd grade students with varying reading abilities to participate in the study.  Therefore I am not handpicking each participant, but the sample is also non-random.  If I chose any of the probability sampling methods there would be too many variables involved such as SES, student achievement and my ability to follow these students 2 years later.  The convenience sampling method would not allow me to generalize my results to all 2nd grade students in central Virginia.  I think the purposive sampling technique would also be too specific in trying to generalize to all 2nd grade students.  I am trying to get a picture of whether these comprehension strategies are effective with students of varying ability levels and living in varying SES neighborhoods.  I think by narrowing my sample the way I have I will be able to achieve these results.  The quota sampling technique seems to fit best with setting guidelines for my participants but not being too specific.

Blog post #2- Research

After spending time researching I have come up with a new and refined research question.  My new question is "How do the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity and Story Mapping comprehension strategies retain their effectiveness in terms of usage over a 2-year span with elementary students?  Also, how is students' motivation about comprehension tasks in the 2-year follow up even if they are not still using the strategies?"

One of the articles I found is entitled "The Effects of Three Instructional Methods on the Reading Comprehension and Content Acquisition of Novice Readers."  This article explored the effects of three instructional comprehension methods including picture walks, the DR-TA and the KWL.  There were three intervention groups (one for each method) and a control group.  The results showed significant positive effects of the DR-TA on reading comprehension.  Also discussed is the consistency of this study with earlier studies concerning the DR-TA.

I believe this article relates to my research problem because the usage of the DR-TA strategy is at the heart of my problem.  I would like to begin my literature review with studies about the effectiveness of the DR-TA and story mapping strategies.  This will set a purpose for why my research question is important and should be studied further.  It needs to be shown that these strategies will be effective from the beginning in order to complete a longitudinal study.

Another article I found is entitled "Early Intervention in Reading:  Results of a Screening and Intervention Program for Kindergarten Students."  This study involved kindergarten students who were selected for a reading invention program on the basis of their ability to name letters of the alphabet.  The intervention included tutoring over a 20-week period using various strategies.  The results were that this group of students consistently outperformed a control group.  However, there was also a 2-year longitudinal follow-up which showed lower rates in special education or remedial reading programs for the students involved in the intervention.

This article relates to my research problem by showing that early intervention can have lasting effects.  I am trying to do something similar with comprehension strategies in 2nd grade.  Since there is no research on my specific topic, I plan to research other longitudinal reading intervention programs and see what their lasting effects were.  For the second part of my literature review I will relate previous studies to my own problem.  I will try to organize these studies by topic instead of by author.

I feel I am still working through many issues with my literature review.  My only experience is with searching for articles that are exactly linked to my topic, and therefore I am having trouble drawing the line of how relevant something is to my own research problem.  I want to relate other studies explicitly to my own since that is one of the criteria for literature reviews.  However, I am struggling with how related they need to be and how I can connect them.  Particularly in the second half of my literature review where I will be discussing other longitudinal studies, I am thinking about how to find relationships between the topics.
Another question I have is whether my research problem is now more focused as I have been trying to narrow it down.  Coming up with search words to find new articles has also been a struggle for me as I try to narrow my topic.
My last question is concerning whether we can also use books if we have the required 6 articles as well.  I am not finding many articles on the DR-TA strategy but I know I have read about it in multiple books.

References

Dougherty Stahl, K.A. (2008). The effects of three instructional methods on the

                 reading comprehension and content acquisition of novice readers.

                 Journal of Literacy Research, 40(3), 359-393.

Lennon, J.E., & Slesinski, C. (1999). Early intervention in reading:  Results of a

                 screening and intervention program for kindergarten students. School

                 Psychology Review, 28(3), 353-364.

Blog Post #1- Research Questions

The area of research I chose is related to literacy since I am on the reading specialist track.  I am especially interested in the area of comprehension because of my experiences working with children who struggle with comprehension.  When I first started out, I didn't know of any strategies to be able to help them.  As I learned different strategies and tried to implement them, I often wondered what their lasting impact really was.  I am thinking about basing my research problem specifically on three reading comprehension strategies that would be taught to students.  These include the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DR-TA), picture walks and graphic organizers (story maps).

My quantitative research question is:

What is the effect on standardized test scores by implementing three reading comprehension strategies in second grade classrooms over the course of one school year?

My qualitative research question is:

How do three research-based reading comprehension strategies retain their effectiveness is terms of usage and motivation over a two-year span with elementary students?

My second question is qualitative-based because the data collected would include interviews, observations, surveys and field notes.  The data would be more narrative in nature as opposed to the quantitative question in which the data would include numbers and statistics.  The role of the researcher in the qualitative question would be more involved and working directly with the teachers and students through interviews and observations.  This role is usually typical of qualitative research.  In the quantitative question the standardized tests could be administered without the research being involved and the researcher would not develop a close relationship with any of their subjects.  For my qualitative problem the participants would be several second grade classes in a middle-class neighborhood whose teachers had volunteered to participate.  The teachers would be trained on the specific comprehension strategies in order to implement them effectively and enthusiastically.  The following year the third grade teachers of these students would be advised about the study and would allow students to continue using their own comprehension strategies.  This same group of students would then be re-assessed two years later.  Therefore, this sample group is small and purposeful which coincides with qualitative research.  In my quantitative study the participant group could be much larger and more varied since I would not be following specific students.  Overall, the qualitative study would have the purpose of capturing and describing naturally occurring behavior while the quantitative study would be used to show a relationship and describe statistics.