Addition to PPT -with author's name (Eliza Yu)

Reflections on the course - Eliza Yu

Many people have said to me that "research methods" is a very difficult to understand subject. I would say that after this module, I have actually found this course to be interesting and inspiring. I think that Daniel has successfully explained the complicated concepts involved in this course to us in an easily understandable and straightforward way. The use of blogs has been very interesting and provided us with the opportunity to have hands-on practice with this new media. It is good that we have been introduced to blogs, and its associated possible features that we can use such as slideshare. Blogging provides a very good framework for us students to share ideas and new discoveries. It also enables us to keep up-to-date with the latest technological developments in IT.

I also like the book by Gay, L. R., Mills, G.E., A Airasian, P. Educational research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.Merrill Prentice Hall, recommendeded by Daniel because it presents to us the research concepts in clear and simple terms. The course structure has been very well planned, clearly presented to us at the beginning of the course, and adhered to. The small task given to us in preparation for each lesson has been instrumental in helping us understand the concepts involved. I, however, would still want to have a longer course on this interesting subject. I feel that the more you know about research, the less complicated it seems and more interesting it becomes.

I have enjoyed this course and I found the things I have learnt from this course useful and concrete.

Eliza.

Some reflections after the course - Clara Kwan

The topic of this course is "Mite 6025 - Research Methods and Enquiry", the course facilitator is Dr Daniel Churchill. He has managed to teach us about the theoretical part of this subject in a structured way. More than that, he has embedded several prevalent ICT tools into the curriculum seamlessly. These ICT tools include the use of blog, slideshare, windows media encoder and the flash slide show maker. These ICT tools may have been in the market for a while but they are all new to me, I tested using some of them and they are not as difficult as I imagine it should be. Maybe they are all user friendly, or I become more computer literate after the course. I have to thank Dr Churchill for introducing all these new tools to me and had done an excellent job in teaching us this essential yet difficult subject.

I would particularly like to comment about the weblog. Blog introduces me to a new perspective in learning, though I have heard about it all the time, this is the first time I create a blog. Previously in my studies, we will exchange emails/make phone calls/engage in face to face group meetings to discuss about tasks to be submitted. By using the blog, we are able to share ideas, powerpoint collaboratively and instantaneously in front of the PC. The feedback/comments are grouped - or "threaded" under the specific topic, it facilitates systematic discussion and identified who have said what in a chronological manner. The archival features also help to keep track of our progress and documented what we have learnt. I have created my own personal blog since then and hoped to keep updating it in future.

All in all, this is an interesting and challenging module.

Clara

Individual Research Plan - Phoebe Leung

Indiviudal research question - Eliza

Discussion of Individual research project - Clara Kwan

http://www.slideshare.net/Clara_kwan/6025-ind-assign-research-title-slides-clara/1

MYPLACE - experimental research powerpoint

Task for session 6 - Experimental Research

Proposed Study 1

1. To study the effectiveness of parents’ guidance on healthy diet vs normal students who receive normal education on healthy diet.

Background: Healthy diet is being frequently promoted by the Health Department of Hong Kong. However, there is no systematic studies of what is the effective means of introducing the healthy diet concept to students.

a. Research Question: To study the effectiveness of parents’ guidance on healthy diet by comparing the BMI improvement of students who receive parents’ education on the healthy diet vs the existing students who receive normal education on the healthy diet.
(Note: BMI refers to the “Body Mass Index”, which is the measurement of health in a formula: Body weight (Kg) / Height² (cm²)
H0: Mean of BMI of the students under parent’s guidance on healthy diet is the same as the mean of BMI of the students under normal education on healthy diet.
Ha: Mean of BMI of the students under parent’s guidance on healthy diet will be different from the mean of BMI of the students under normal education on healthy diet.

b. How could data for the variables be collected?
Population: Form 2 students, including both boys and girls, from three local secondary schools, who: 1. have parents that are willing to join the test. 2. are willing to let the teachers take the BMI in P.E. lessons.

Sampling method: In each school, students are randomly selected to the experimental group that will be given parents’ education and the control group with the existing students’ education. The number of boys and the number of girls randomly chosen for each group should be equal.

Sample size: random sampling: 30 students from each school.

The Experimental Process:
1. Randomly select 30 students with boys to girls ratio 1:1 in each school as the sample.
2. Among 30 students in each school, random assignment (R) is used to assign two groups with similar proportion of boys and girls.
3. Use of a pre-test (O) - The BMI of all F.2 students from the three schools is to be collected.
4. The parents of the first group receive a DVD containing information on how to provide guidance of healthy diet to teenage children. Then they show the DVD clippings to their children everyday for 15 minutes before dinner. There should be 60 clippings of videos in total (Treatment X₁). For the second group, the students’ will just receive the normal education on healthy diet at school (Treatment X₂).
5. After two months, perform a post-test (O), and take the measurement of BMI of the same group of students. There is comparison of the BMI of the two groups in each school.

Experimental Design: The pretest-posttest control group design

R O X₁ O
R O X₂ O

Instruments: 2 kinds of data are to be collected.
1. The BMI of the group of students with Parents’ education on healthy diet. (Experimental Group)
2. The BMI of the other group of students with only normal education on healthy diet. (Control Group)

Both kinds of data can be gathered from the regular health record measured during P.E. lessons.
Measurement: We will use T test as the measurement, the means score of BMI of both groups will be measures. With the help of statistical software, the T value of T test will be calculated.
For this study, we will reject the H0 (null hypothesis) if the p value is lower then the value in 0.05 level of significance.

c. How to contribute to improvements on the education/learning & teaching?

The results will tell us if parents’ involvement will help teenagers to focus on the importance of a healty diet. If the result is significant, it proves that parental guidance is important and the Health Department or the school can involve them in designing effective ways to promote healthy diet to teenagers.

Proposed Study 2

2. The usefulness of discussion forum in helping students’ learning.
a. Research Question: Is there any relationship between the uses of discussion forum and students learning?
H0: There is no relationship between the uses of discussion forum and student learning.
Ha: There is relationship between the uses of discussion forum and student learning.

b. How could data for the variables be collected?
Population: Form 4 students of a local secondary school.

Sampling method: Random Sampling method from the population – As every individual in the population will have the same chance to be selected, “random sampling” method will be used.

Sample size: 60 students.

The Experimental Process:
1. At the beginning of the second term, randomly select 60 students with 1:1 boys to girls ratio.
2. Randomly assign (R) them to two different groups with 1:1 boy to girl ratio, one group (experimental group) with new account to access discussion forum on the science subject online (Treatment X1) and the other group (control group) without that account (i.e. without the treatment of discussion forum (i.e. Treatment X2))
3. Carry out pre-test (O) on a particular science subject (e.g. mathematics) and collect the results of the whole population (e.g. the whole Form 4 students.)
4. At the end of the second term, carry out the same post-test (O) on the same subject and collect the results.
5. Compare the results of the two groups.

Experimental Design: The pretest-posttest control group design

R O X ₁ O
R O X₂ O

Instruments: 2 kinds of data are to be collected.
1. The results of the pre-test of a science subject
2. The results of the post-test of a science subject.

Measurement: We will use T test as the measurement, the means score of the poretest and posttest of the science project will be measured. With the help of statistical software, the T value of T test will be calculated.
For this study, we will reject the H0 (null hypothesis) if the p value is lower then the value in 0.05 level of significance.



c. How to contribute to improve the education/learning & teaching?

The study would be useful in exploring the effectiveness of online discussion forum in students’ learning. If the results show a high degree of significance level, it could lead the teachers/principals to think seriously if they should let students use discussion forum for the particular subject in order to facilitate their learning.

This is also room for future research, e.g. whether discussion forums are useful for students’ learning in all subjects. Different disciplines may yield different results and it maybe worthwhile to introduce the discussion forums into other subject teaching and this can be extended into another research study.

Task for session 5 - Correlational Research

Proposed Study 1

1. Research Question:
The correlation between the “Use of English” grades and the grades on IELTS test of the university final year students

Background: As IELTS (International English Language Testing System) becomes a more and more important measurement on the English standard of local university students, we would like to investigate the correlation between the Use of English grade of university entrants and their IELTS score on graduation.

2. How could data for the correlated variables be collected?
Population: The final year students of a local university, who: 1. HAVE sat in the “Use of English” tests of local A-level Open Examination; 2 HAVE taken the IELTS test in their last year of study.

Sampling method: Random Sampling method – As every individual in the population will have the same chance to be selected, the “random sampling” will be used.

Sample size: 60 students.

Instruments: 2 kinds of data are to be collected-
1. The grades of the subject “Use of English” of the samples – The overall grade and sub-grades (grades on listening test, oral test, writing test and reading test) of “Use of English” examination will be collected. It is a kind of interval data

2. The grades of IELTS test of the same samples – The overall grades and the sub-grades (grades on listening test, oral test, writing test and reading test) of the IELTS test will be collected. It is also a kind of interval data

Both kinds of data can be gathered from the Academic Registry Office of the university.

Measurement: Correlation coefficient – Pearson R test

3. How to contribute to improvements on the education/learning & teaching?

The results will affect how we can design the emphasis on the English courses at the university level. The result of the IELTS is considered by many employers as a mechanism to tell the English proficiency level of the university graduates. If there is positive relationship between the “Use of English” test and the IELTS test, then we propose that the university can organize some IELTS training workshops for university students, and focus the training on particular aspects (e.g. Listening skills, Oral English skills). However, though the research can assess the relationship between the English grades of the university final year students before and after entering the university, the limitation is that it only focused on the results of the students who have taken the IELTS test.

Proposed Study 2

1. Research Question:
The correlation between the Use of English grades and the undergraduate English course grade of the university students who came from Chinese-medium secondary schools?

Background: From year 2000, about 2/3 local secondary schools have adopted Chinese as the medium-of-instruction (in short, the schools are called ‘CMI schools’). It has been a controversial issue in the education field that whether the English standard of the students who come from CMI schools has been affected.

2. How could data for the correlated variables be collected?

Population: The students of a local university, who: 1. HAVE sat in the “Use of English” tests of local A-level Open Examination; 2. Graduated from a CMI school (completed secondary 1 to 7 in the CMI schools); 3. HAVE completed a compulsory credit-bearing English course at the University.

Sampling method: Stratified Sampling method – The samples are randomly chosen from all faculties of the university, proportionate to the enrollment of each faculty

Sample size: 60 students

Instruments: 2 kinds of data are to be collected-
1. The grades of the subject “Use of English” of the samples – The overall grade and sub-grades (grades on listening test, oral test, writing test and reading test) of “Use of English” examination will be collected. It is a kind of interval data

2. The grades of the compulsory English course of the same samples – The overall grades of the course will be collected. It is also a kind of interval data

Both kinds of data can be gathered from the Academic Registry Office and the Faculty offices of the university.

Measurement: Correlation coefficient – Pearson R test

If the coefficient is high, say r=0.90, then there is a positive and high correlation between the 2 variables. If the coefficient is zero, r=0, then there is no correlation. If r=0.30, then there is a low correlation between the 2 variables and we may not be able to draw any conclusion or generate any constructs for theories.

3. How to contribute to improve the education/learning & teaching?

The study would help in the design of the curriculum for the compulsory English course for University students, especially who come from CMI schools. If the research findings show that there is a correlation between the medium of instruction at secondary level and their university English grade, then some supplementary courses will need to be tailored made for these students before they enter the university or as foundation course in their first year of study.

Proposed Study 3

1. Research Question :
The correlation between the hours of studying and the average GPA of University students

Background: It is always believed that the higher the number of hours of studying, the better will be the academic results. We would like to investigate the correlation between the number of hours of studying and students’ academic results. As GPA is usually used for benchmarking the academic results of students, we would like to study if there is a positive relationship between these two variables.

2. How could data for the correlated variables be collected?

Population: a group of University students of a local university studying ACCT 101

Sampling method: Random Sampling method – As every individual in the population will have the same chance to be selected, the “random sampling” method will be used.

Sample size: 30 students.

Instruments: 2 kinds of data are to be collected-

1. The overall GPA for ACCT 101 for this group of samples. It is a kind of interval data

2. The studying hours of the same samples- this data should be collected after the GPA results are released after the semester examination and gathered by a questionnaire. It is also a kind of interval data. The data will be gathered by asking the students in the same class ACCT 101 to fill in a self-administered questionnaire.

Measurement: Correlation coefficient – Pearson R test

Suppose the r score of the research result is 0.7, which means there is a very positive relationship between the GPA scores and the studying hours of the students, the graph would probably be:

Source: http://noppa5.pc.helsinki.fi/koe/flash/corr/ch16.html

3. How to contribute to improvements on the education/learning & teaching?

The results will affect the study mode of students. Education units (e.g. Center for Enhanced Learning and Teaching) who studied the results will be able to advise students on the best study strategy, e.g. the optimal number of hours for studying for their reference,

This research could be developed into further research looking into when is the best timing for studying, e.g. one month before examination or one week before examination.

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References :

Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2006). Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall

Cohen, L., Mansion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education. London. RoutledgeFalmer

Click to view an explanatory powerpoint