Clinical Studies for Education Programs

Guidelines for the MAT/MEE Teacher-As-Researcher Project

The information presented in these guidelines is adapted from the following sources: *

Borg, W.R. & Gall, J.P. (1993). Applying educational research: A practical guide. White Plains, New York: Longman Publishing Group. Merriam, S.B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc. Schumacher, S. & McMillan, J.H. (1993). Research in education: A conceptual introduction, 3rd edition. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers. Zeni, J. (2001). Ethical issues in practitioner research. New York: Teachers College Press

This is an action or practitioner research project. Action research has been defined as research carried out by practitioners with a view to understanding and improving their professional practice. Schumacher & McMillan (1993) describe it this way:

Action research involves teachers' using research methods to study classroom problems. A teacher conducts the study or has an important role in the research process. Because the focus is on a solution to a local problem in a local site, rigorous research control is not essential. Teachers gain research knowledge and skills, are more aware of options for change, and become more critical and reflective about their own practice (p. 21).

Action research has at least five advantages for education professionals.

1. It contributes to the theory and knowledge base needed for enhancing practice.
2. It supports the professional development of practitioners by helping them become more competent in understanding and using research findings and in carrying out research themselves, when appropriate.
3. It helps build a collegial networking system and facilitates professional collaboration. Action research often involves several educators working together, and sometimes involves parent and students in the research process as well.
4. It helps practitioners identify problems and seek solutions in a systematic fashion.
5. It can be used at all levels and in all areas of education (classroom, school, district, etc.).

* Students are encouraged to examine these or comparable texts for a thorough discussion of action research and research designs. These and other texts are available in the library.

The Eight Basic Steps of Action Research

1. Define the problem.
2. Review the literature.
3. Select a research design.
4. Select a sample.
5. Select measures.
6. Analyze the data.
7. Interpret and apply the findings.
8. Report the findings.

1. Define the problem.

Your research project should grow out of your personal experiences during the clinical semester. The problem and questions should emerge as you gain more insight into school and classroom life. Talk with your colleagues and do some brainstorming. You'll be surprised at the variety of problems and questions that develop.

There are hundreds of possible issues/questions to study. Your research can be focused on a single subject (e.g., a student - is Sue as hyperactive in all classes as she is in this one and why or why not?), a content area (Do kids spend enough time in science? Does taking music lessons improve reading skills?), a process or procedure (Girls in elementary/middle schools get better grades than boys even when achievement levels are the same - is this true in my school and what does this mean? How might I better integrate newly enrolled students into my class? Does this spelling program work? How do students feel about pull-out programs?).

The questions could relate to larger issues such as school environment (Isn't there some better way to handle or design or arrange the cafeteria, classroom, the playground, the corridors, etc.? Do children behave differently in brightly colored classrooms? Does lighting have an effect on behavior and learning? Do children interact differently when seated diagonally from each other?), a technique (Is there a better approach to discipline than this one?), a policy (How do our students feel about wearing uniforms… eliminating recess ... grouping ... ?), a role (What does a school nurse do ... could that position involve other responsibilities?), an event (Why did our parents vote down the referendum? Why don't parents attend our PTA meetings? Are there alternatives to spelling bees, Halloween parades?), resources (How many computers in this school are actually working, and how are they used?), and so on ...

State the problem as simply and clearly as you can, explain why this problem is important and then back up your claim. Don't try to study the world. Study a street. Basically, you need to complete sentences like these: "The problem is ... The purpose of my study is ..."This study is important because ... I am trying to find out ..." Explain why you are interested in the topic. Explain what the basic issue is. State your objective or specific research question. Do you have a hypothesis? Are you aware of your own investigator bias? This section requires much more thought than writing. Think before you write. The clarity and specificity of this section will let the reader know how much thought went into your project.

2. Review the literature.

Once you have defined the problem you need to find out what the research literature says about the issue. What have other investigators found? Explore research databases such as ERIC and Dissertation Abstracts. Use recent journals, books and texts. Search the Internet - you may find a site, forum or newsgroup that deals with the same issue. You will probably discover that other people have asked the same question that you are asking, and have probably obtained some interesting and relevant results. Use their work and their results to guide your own research - you don't have to reinvent the wheel. You can extend, clarify, confirm, verify, refute, etc. Analysis of others' work will provide a knowledge base upon which to base your own research.

If you can't find anything in the literature about your topic it probably means that you haven't looked hard enough, or ... it might mean that the topic isn't worth researching in the first place. How many references should you list? 5 to 10 good, solid, recent sources should be enough. Quality is the key. Your literature review should be minimal and meaningful. Try to remember the "3 R's" of literature reviews. Your review should be reasonable (do the conclusions flow from the data presented?), relevant (are the references clearly on the topic?), and recent (are the references reasonably current?). A good literature review will usually contain 3 parts: the introduction/review methodology (where did you look and how did you look for it), the body of the review, and a summary.

3. Select a research design.

"Research design" may sound intimidating, but it needn't be. It simply refers to the plan and structure of the investigation used to obtain evidence to answer research questions. The design describes the procedures for conducting the study, including when, from whom, and under what conditions the data will be obtained. In other words, the design indicates how the research is set up: what happens to the subjects and what methods of data collection are used. This is what your design section should do.

There are dozens of complex and complicated research designs, at least 45 in qualitative research alone. You are not expected to be or become an expert in this area (that will come when you begin working at the doctoral level). At this point you only need to know that there are two major types: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative designs attempt to achieve objectivity by using numbers, statistics, structure and experimenter control. Research conclusions are usually derived from statistical analysis. Although there are exceptions, it is unlikely for a teacher candidate to have the research background and skills to design a carefully controlled, experimental study as part of an action research project.

One variation of quantitative design, called descriptive non-experimental, might be appropriate. A descriptive non-experimental design simply describes a phenomenon by using numbers to characterize individuals or a group. Descriptive designs would answer questions like, "How many times a day does Mr. Smith say good job, kids?" Or, "What are the achievement levels of 1st grade children who attended all day kindergartens?" Or "how many computers are there in this school; how much, how and by whom are they used; and how many actually work?"

Students should consider using a qualitative design because designs of this type tend to be less structured than quantitative ones. Traditional qualitative designs typically investigate behavior as it occurs naturally in authentic, non-contrived situations, and where there is no manipulation of conditions or experience. Qualitative designs are non-experimental and the data consist of words in the form of rich verbal descriptions, rather than statistics. Qualitative designs are distinguished by using case study techniques, in which a single "case" is studied in depth. The "case" can be an individual, a group, a school, a program, a concept, etc.

Qualitative designs do include numbers - usually to summarize findings - in the form of totals, percentages, averages of scores, etc. (Example: "I found that 3rd grade students who buy a cafeteria lunch at Holly Hill Elem. School wait in the lunch line for an average of 21 minutes. The average time for eating the lunch was 7 minutes.")

4. Select a sample.

This is usually easy if you have stated your problem clearly. This is where you put your problem in context. All you have to do is to describe your sample, and why/how you selected it. Your sample might be just one student, or a class, or several classes, or all the boys or the girls in a class/several classes/the school. It might be one teacher, or a team of teachers. It might be the principal or custodian or cafeteria employee or other staff members. It might be a parent group, members of teacher associations, a student club, all the students on bus #75, students from a particular neighborhood, children of a certain age group, children who play little league baseball, children who speak Spanish at home, etc. Are you getting the picture?

5. Select measures.

This section of your paper describes how you found out the answers to your questions. Did you use structured or standardized interviews, focus groups, a questionnaire, structured observations, unobtrusive measures, videotaping, document analysis, tests ...? Did you (you should!) "field test" your measures first, i.e., try them out on subjects other than those in your research sample, to see how they work, and to see what kinds of data they might generate? A copy of your measurement instrument (interview questions, questionnaire, etc.) should be included in your final paper.

6. Analyze the data.

This section describes the results and how you arrived at them. Did you tape record and transcribe interviews? Did you find common themes, words, or phrases? Did give more weight to certain measures/results over others? Were some results invalid? Did you rank order results? Did you find percentages, averages, medians, tendencies, etc.? Now you are getting to the "heart" of the paper. This is the "stuff" that the reader wants to know.

7. Interpret and apply the findings.

The idea behind this section is to reflect on your results. Did you find what you expected? Were there unanticipated outcomes? Is what you found important? How will you use what you found? Can your results be applied in other settings? How might other teachers use your results? Did you uncover questions or issues that need further research? Your reflections and insights are important. You are the one who knows what you did and why it is important. Think of it in terms of trying to describe a parade. A person watching it go by can provide an accurate physical description, but only a person in the parade knows what it really felt like. You were in the parade.

8. Report the findings.

Your research paper itself is one form of reporting. It must be typed, double or 1.5 spacing, with margins no wider than 1.5 inches, written in a "non-fancy" font no larger than 12-pt., and must conform to APA standards. References are required. There is a "zero-tolerance" policy for structural, grammatical and spelling errors. Papers with errors will be returned for editing and revisions. Your paper is to be included as a separate section in your professional portfolio.

How long should the paper be? This will depend. It should as long as necessary ... short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover the topic. Adequate treatment of each of the 7 preceding sections will require at least 1-2 pages. So, you're looking at a 10-15 page paper, minimum, excluding cover page and references. This isn't much of a paper, really, when you break it down into the smaller sections - into bite-sized pieces. (In many doctoral dissertations, the literature review alone will be 50 pages or more.) Remember, you are doing graduate level research. This is not an undergraduate term paper.

You will also report your findings to your colleagues during seminars. The University faculty and practitioners may read your paper as part of your portfolio. You should also plan to provide a summary or abstract for other audiences, i.e., teachers in your school, the principal, members of groups that you studied (the PTA, students, etc.). People will want to know what you found, and you have an obligation to tell them if they participated in your study. Some study participants may want the right-of-review prior to publication, and you are obligated to do so.

Reports to other audiences don't need to be copies of the complete document. They could be in the form of an abstract, charts, a PowerPoint presentation, summaries, etc. You might even consider submitting an abstract of your paper to a professional publication, a conference call for papers, or newsletter for more widespread distribution. Who knows, this might be the beginning of a career in educational research! Many educators have used their action research work as a basis for doctoral level study. Many have presented their papers at prestigious national conferences such as those sponsored by AERA, ASCD or AACTE.

* * * * * So, there it is - action research in 8 steps. When you're finished you will have a document to be proud of - one that is meaningful, useful, and intellectually honest - and one that enhances your sense of professional competence and integrity. Good luck!