EDUC506 Syllabus

Course Title	Introduction to Research
Term	TERM 2, 2003/2004
Education Center	HEIDELBERG-GRAD
Faculty Member	Brett Hamilton - bhamilto@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Faculty Contact Information: Instructor: Dr. Brett Hamilton Mailing Address: Am Borngraben 10, 65510 Idstein-Walsdorf, Email Address: Novantiq@aol.com

Consultation: Tel and Fax: 06434-6222 (1100 hrs - 2100 hrs, 7 days)

Required Texts and Readings: American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition. Washington DC:  Author Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (1985). Practical research: Planning & design (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. Weiss, C. (1997). Evaluation (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall. --- Chapters  7, 10, 11 only Citing Electronic Resources: APA Style. Retrieved July 14, 2003 from http://www.umuc.edu/library/guides/apa.html  Online Guide to Writing and Research. Retrieved July 14, 2003 from http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/ewp_writingcenter/writinggde/welcome.shtml Procedures for Completing the Research Project Notification and Human Subjects Protection Form. Retrieved June 16, 2003 from http://www.ed.umuc.edu/staff/faculty/detech/pedagogy/proceduresform.html University Of Maryland University College Policy Manual Policy 130.25: Conducting Research Involving Human Subjects. Retrieved June 16, 2003 from http://www.ed.umuc.edu/staff/faculty/detech/pedagogy/policy%20manual.html

Supplementary Readings: All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills.

Recommended Journals: A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the Counseling WebBoard (http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~couns. The Qualitative Report, a peer-reviewed, on-line journal devoted to writing and discussion of and about qualitative, critical, action, and collaborative inquiry and research, is especially useful for this course..

Course Description: This course is designed to provide the graduate student with an understanding of the various kinds of behavioral research and to develop an understanding of various research designs appropriate to behavioral sciences. Use of basic statistical techniques appropriate to these designs is included. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: EDUC 506 or EDMS 645.

Course Goals: This course provides graduate students with the conceptual and practical tools to develop proposals for and to conduct evaluation research on programs and policies, as well as to evaluate and incorporate the implications of published reports into their professional practice. Those students who are preparing professional papers are encouraged to use this class to develop their proposals.

Course Objectives: This course will enable students to: Explain the differences between basic and applied research. Identify the purposes of program evaluation. Differentiate between quantitative and qualitative research and identify appropriate criterion measures for each. Distinguish between descriptive and inferential statistics and give examples of each. Distinguish between validity and reliability. Explain how ethical and political issues influence the conduct of evaluation research. Identify and focus research problems; state a research question. Select measures, data sources, and data collection strategies appropriate to evaluation or research questions. Conduct and prepare a relevant literature review. Show how design of the study influences analysis and interpretation of the results. Provide examples of different research designs and information gathering methods. Explain the importance of controlled experiments, factorial design, sampling techniques, randomization, and representativeness. Explain what is meant by control of variables; hypothesis testing. Describe ethical concerns in reporting interpretation of results and disseminating these results to different publics. Prepare an evaluation or research proposal meeting APA style requirements; analyze and interpret mock data.

Grading Information: Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:  A        92%  B        80% – 91%  C        70% – 79%  F        Below 70% Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog available online or in your local Education Center.

Course Requirements: Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society. In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to: Participate in classroom discussions               10% Write graduate level papers or case studies        30% Orally/visually present prepared material          20% Complete one or more written examination(s)        40%

Description of Course Requirements: Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. Usually this requires two to three hours of additional for every hour of a face-to-face class and approximately ten hours of preparation per week for a DE class. Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Plan on committing approximately 150 hours over the duration of this course to producing professional level deliverables. Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your research in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your instructor and classmates. Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.

Course Schedule: This schedule presents 16 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting, a half-day on weekends, or a full week of DE. Initial meeting:   Introductions   Review of syllabus   Clarification of goals, objectives and requirements   Orientation to subject Second meeting: 1. Basic Research vs. Applied Research and Program Evaluation 2. Types of Evaluation; Tools of Research 3. History of Evaluation Third meeting: 1. Stating the Problem 2. Influence of Purpose on Design/Procedure 3. Process of Program Evaluation Fourth meeting: 1. Purpose of Evaluation Development of Research Plan Responsive to Key Issues 2. Importance of "Understanding" Nature of Program and Purposes 3. How to Review the Literature Fifth meeting: 1. Planning: Why iit is called an Iterative Process 2. General Criteria for Research Project Sixth meeting: 1. Working with Stakeholder Interests While Maintaining Focus and Validity throughout the Evaluation 2. Preparing the Research Proposal Seventh meeting: 1. Development of Specific Measures 2. Selection of Data Sources 3. Method of Data Collection 4. Ethical Issues Eighth meeting: 1. Qualitative Research Methodologies 2. Data Collection Techniques and Strategies 3. Historical Data Ninth meeting: 1. Importance of Fitting Design to the Questions Being Asked 2. Informal/Formal/Comparison Groups Tenth meeting: 1. Controlled Experiments 2. Representative Sampling 3. Randomization 4. Control Groups Eleventh meeting: 1. Use of Replication; Meta-Analysis; Cost Benefit/ Cost Effectiveness Analysis 2. Causation vs. Correlation 3. Descriptive Research Designs 4. Ethical Issues in Field Work Twelfth meeting: 1. Hypothesis Testing 2. Measures of Central Tendency Thirteenth meeting: 1. Analysis and Interpretation of Data 2. Reporting and Dissemination of Results 3. Reaching Different Publics Fourteenth meeting:   Examination Fifteenth meeting:   Student presentations Sixteenth meeting:   Student presentations   Course evaluations

Academic Policies: Please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog at http://www.ed.umuc.edu/general_info/publications/catalogs/ or from your local Education Center, for information on the following: Academic Integrity Course Load Exception to Policy Grade Appeal Process Make-up Examinations Nondiscrimination Students with Disabilities

Faculty Bio: About Your Instructor: Dr. Hamilton provides organization development and management consulting services to civilian, military and academic organizations. He has conducted training research and development in the aerospace industry as well as basic learning research in education. He has delivered OD training for organizations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. His nine year university teaching experience includes the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Maryland, Boston University and the Army Management Staff College. At the graduate level he taught organizational psychology, research methods for the behavioral sciences and program evaluation methods as well as core courses in Business Management including leadership, organizational communication, and organizational change processes. His research at UCLA centered on the cognitive development in children and he has applied this work to the design of computer-assisted-learning strategies as well as to the development of educational toys. His work history includes design and development projects with organizations such as Thiokol Chemical, Ampex Computer, McDonnell-Douglas Space Systems Center, Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, Kettering Foundation, Mattel Toys, Quark Express, Army Management Staff College, International Training Consultants (Teheran, Iran), the U.S. Army Europe, and the American Postal Corporation. Now living in Germany, Mr. Hamilton provides management consulting services in change management, personal productivity, and instructional system design. His recent consulting activities have focused on creative decision processes and the role of managers in conducting these processes while building and maintaining working environments supportive of innovation. He completed both undergraduate work in Psychology and graduate work in Education at UCLA.