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EDD 720 – Conducting Research

Spring 2022

Instructor: Dr. Olabisi Adenekan

Email: [email protected]

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Course Dates: Jan. 3; Jan. 10; Jan. 17; Jan. 24; Feb. 7; Feb. 14; Feb. 21; Feb. 28

**All class sessions are asynchronous

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Catalog Description:

Once the dissertation proposal and IRB application have been approved, candidates will begin

collecting data for their dissertation. In EDD 720, candidates will learn how to manage and

organize the collection of data. They will also learn how to interpret their data and begin

preliminary data analysis. As a precursor to EDD 775, candidates will reflect on their data and

will begin to refine their analytic methods. Candidates will also conduct ongoing reflection

regarding the data collection and analysis phases of their research. (2 credit hours)

Required Texts:

This course will continue to draw on texts used in LIT 701 and LIT 710.

Objectives:

Doctor of Education in Computer Science Outcomes:

● Deepen their understanding of a specific niche in the Computer Science field. ● Demonstrate scholarly proficiency in conducting, critiquing, synthesizing, and applying

research in the field of Computer Science.

● Foster growth in other Computer Science practitioners that deepens their understanding of the field, encourages engagement, and promotes collaboration.

● Develop expertise for vision casting and informed decision-making. ● Apply exceptional skills when writing for a variety of audiences and purposes. ● Synthesize the process of preparing and organizing content for delivery that engages

audiences.

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Course Objectives:

● Candidates will gain experience in data collection and preliminary analysis. ● Candidates will learn to manage and organize data. ● Candidates will develop habits of reflecting on data collection. ● Candidates will develop habits of seeking out resources to solve problems they encounter

during the research process.

● Candidates will learn and exhibit the skills for writing a conference proposal. ● Candidates will move their work forward through full participation in a professional

learning community.

Course Requirements:

Attendance/Participation – It is expected that students will participate actively in class sessions

and submit assignments in a timely manner. In an asynchronous class, where attendance, active

participation, and assignment submission are closely correlated, the expectation of the face-to-

face attendance policy is still valid.

Readings – Students are expected to thoroughly complete all assigned readings for the course by

the date indicated on the course calendar.

Assignments – All assignments must be completed by the due dates. Late assignments will be

penalized 20% of the total point value per day. Arrangements to submit late work must be made

with the instructor; late assignments may not be emailed to the instructor without her explicit

permission. Computer errors, printer difficulties, etc. will not excuse a late assignment. All

assignments must be completed in a timely manner in order to pass the course.

Written Work – Formal written assignments are expected to reflect the highest standards of

writing and follow Standard American English grammar and punctuation as well as APA (7th

edition) style citation formatting.

Grading scale

A→ 92% (368-400)

B→ 84% (336-367)

C→ 76% (304-335)

D→ 63% (252-334)

F→ 62% (251 and below)

Summary of Assignments

1. Final Proposal (Redo) a. Upload Chapters 1-3 (Turnitin) b. Review and edits of proposal c. Reflection d. Final Proposal Upload

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2. IRB Submission

3. Analytic Memos: Memos are one of the most crucial parts of the qualitative data collection and analysis processes, but they can also be helpful for quantitative studies.

Memos serve many different purposes including documenting your data collection

process and methods, recording your initial and preliminary thoughts, feelings, questions,

problems, and hypotheses, and engaging in preliminary data analysis that can lead to

important insights. Having detailed records of your data collection processes and

thinking will be immensely useful when you write the methodology chapter of your

dissertation. Furthermore, in research, these preliminary analyses may often start to turn

into the skeleton for your chapter 4. While you may return to your dissertation proposal

for insight, large chunks of your memos should not be copied text from your proposal. In

total, 5 memos will be required. See the assignment sheet for specific details.

4. First Pass Seminar: In this course, we will be focusing on the research phase that includes data collection and preliminary analysis. For the majority of research, it is not

always clear when the data collection ends and data analysis begins. Therefore, it is

helpful to review the data as they begin to come in. This sometimes gives us insight into

what we can look for during later data collection. It is also helpful to do this with another

set of eyes, or in this case, a class full of eyes. Each student will be responsible for

providing a presentation on the “first pass” through his or her data. In addition to

preparing the presentation, each researcher should come with questions to pose to the

class and/or a problem s/he is facing for the other members of the group to suggest

possible solutions. Each presentation will consist of the samples of their data (or, if

possible, the entire dataset so far) as well as instruments and/or protocols. See the

assignment sheet for specific details.

5. Seminar Participation: In addition to uploading individual presentations on your own work, you will be assessed on the feedback you give to your peers. The feedback you

provide is evidence of your own critical thinking and knowledge of data collection and

analysis. Behaviors that will satisfy this assignment include but are not limited to posing

questions, offering critiques, suggesting resources, responding to the presenter’s

questions, and sharing connections to your own or others’ research. See the assignment

sheet for specific details.

6. Final Reflection Assignment: You will reflect on your work and source for possible professional conferences where you can share your on-going research.

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Assignments, Due Dates, and Points

Assignment Date Due Points

Upload C1-3 January 3 –

Proposal Reflection

Assignment

January 7 30

Peer Review January 12 20

Complete and submit your

(revised and updated) final

proposal.

January 22

100

Complete IRB training and

submit work to IRB

January 29 50

Memos (5 memos, 10 points

each)

The first 2 memos

are due by

February 18. All 5

memos must be

turned in by

February 28

50

First Pass Presentation Feb 25 100

First Pass Discussion

Participation

Feb 26 20

Reflection Feb 28 30

TOTAL 400

Judson COVID-19 Response for In-person Classes

University Policy on Masks and Social Distancing: Masks are required upon entering and

exiting Creekside and when you are in any common areas.

In-person classes – both in Elgin and Rockford – will require a mask if six feet of social

distancing cannot be practiced, unless the professor makes an exception. Students who cannot

wear a mask must secure an ADA accommodation, and students who do not want to wear a mask

will move to digital learning for that class if one is already created for that course or select an

alternative course for that term. When six feet of physical distancing cannot be maintained,

please wear a mask. In some cases, professors may require masks throughout the class session,

regardless of social distancing.

Flexibility: As you are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has made advanced course

planning nearly impossible. This syllabus assumes in-person meetings for the duration of the

course. However, in the case that we are required to move to remote learning, the professor will

do her due diligence to ensure the course objectives are met. Students’ flexibility and patience

during these uncertain times are greatly appreciated.

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Course Requests:

Special Consideration—Judson University is committed to making reasonable accommodations

to assist individuals with disabilities in reaching their academic potential. If you have a

disability which may impact your performance, attendance, or grades in this class and are

requesting accommodations, you must contact Heather Johnson our Dean for Student Academic

Support Services, in the Student Success Center, located in the Lindner Tower – 2nd floor at

847-628-1556.

The ADA/504 Compliance Coordinator is responsible for coordinating accommodations and

services for students with disabilities. Accommodations will not be granted prior to receipt of a

current licensed clinician report outlining the disability, possible limitations and reasonable

accommodations in order to meet the needs of the post-secondary coursework. Accommodations

are never provided retroactively – prior to finalization of the Letter of Accommodation. Our

ADA/504 Coordinator will be happy to meet with you to discuss your accommodations. All

discussions will remain confidential. Further information is available by visiting the Student

Success Center website https://myjudson.judsonu.edu/ICS/Student_Success_Center/

Professional Disposition—In all dealings with Judson University faculty and with peers in this

program, candidates are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. This includes

the respectful and courteous use of email and voice mail messaging systems.

Email–Candidates signed an agreement when they were admitted to this doctoral program that

they would check their Judson email accounts regularly and that they would accept full

responsibility for difficulties arising from failure to check these accounts. Please honor this

agreement.

Syllabus—The professor reserves the right to make necessary changes to the syllabus; if

alterations are made, she commits to informing the candidates in as fair and as timely a manner

as possible.

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism—The consequences for such choices are delineated in the

university policy on the following pages.

JUDSON UNIVERSITY POLICY

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism & Academic Appeal Process

Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism Policy

Honesty in all matters is a valued principle at Judson University. Members of this community of

learners-students, faculty, staff, and administrators-are expected to treat each other as

trustworthy, honest, and honorable. Any form of academic dishonesty, which includes cheating,

plagiarism, and falsification of documents, constitutes a serious breach of trust. No form of

academic dishonesty will be tolerated. Plagiarism is the use of another’s words, information or

ideas without giving credit to that person. This includes copying, quoting, paraphrasing, or

taking an idea from published or broadcast material or from another individual. Plagiarism is

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dishonest and can be illegal. It is the student’s responsibility to be careful and meticulous when

taking notes and documenting sources. Unintentional plagiarism may still be considered stealing

someone else’s work or misrepresenting it as one’s own. Further, it is the responsibility of the

student to follow the appropriate style of documentation as determined by the instructor or

program. If the student has any questions regarding the appropriate style of documentation, the

student must be certain to ask his or her instructor. Further instruction is available at the library.

Documentation of Appeal Process

For reasons of both efficiency and charity, any appeal should be pursued as close in time to the

alleged unfair event as possible. Any appeal must be documented by all involved parties.

Standard rules of evidence and strict confidentiality will be observed through any and all appeal

steps.

INITIAL ACTION (Step One)

Upon discovery of evidence of dishonesty, cheating, or plagiarism by a student, the instructor

will notify that student via their university email account of the infraction. The instructor may

also schedule a meeting with the student either prior or subsequent to the official notification via

email. Students are responsible for checking their university email account until all course grades

are submitted or the appeal process is concluded.

The student will have an opportunity to appeal the charge in writing within two business days of

the receipt of the email notification from the instructor. This appeal to the instructor must be

submitted to the instructor via university email.

1) If the instructor concludes student is guilty of dishonesty, cheating, or plagiarism, a written incident report will be sent to the Registrar who will notify the Dean of the appropriate

college. The instructor of the course has the discretion to administer either or both options

below:

a) Assess a 0 or F for the paper, assignment, or exam b) Assess an additional 10% penalty against the student’s final grade.

Once the course of action has been decided, the professor will notify the student via email, and a

follow-up written report will be sent to the Registrar’s office.

Plagiarism Seminar Requirement

If a student is found guilty of his/her first offense of plagiarism, he/she will be required to attend

a plagiarism seminar led by a qualified person appointed by the institution. The student must

attend this seminar within six months of the incidence of plagiarism. Failure to attend will result

in further disciplinary action. The student will also be charged a fee.

APPEALING A DECISION

As a Christian community, all Judson University personnel live under the authority of biblical

standards and the direction of the Holy Spirit, sharing mutual accountability for ethical and just

behavior. As a human community, we will make mistakes. Students at Judson University have

the right to appeal academic decisions.

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Appeal Process

If a student has appealed to the faculty member and disagrees with the faculty member’s decision

that student has, without fear of penalty or reprisal, the right to pursue one or more of the

following appeal steps:

Appeal to the Dean of the School (Step Two)

If the student’s concern is not resolved after communicating with the faculty member, he/she

may appeal in writing to the appropriate Dean of the School within two days of receiving a

written response from the faculty member. The Dean of the School will send a written report to

the Registrar once a resolution has been reached.

Appeal to Chief Academic Officer (Step Three)

If the student’s concern is not resolved after appealing to the Dean of the School, the Chief

Academic Office may hear his/her appeal. The CAO will notify the student of the final decision

and send a written report to the Registrar.

Second Offense

Should there be a second offense of dishonesty, cheating, or plagiarism, in the same course or in

any other course, the student may be dismissed from the University and, in the case of fraud,

appropriate legal action will be taken.

Action by the Registrar

The Registrar will, upon receipt of resolution documentation, notify the appropriate parties.

1) Library staff if the student is required to take the seminar 2) Student Development 3) Dean of the school in which the student is studying

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Course Schedule

The Instructor reserves the right to adjust the course schedule as the semester progresses if

necessary. She will inform students of all changes.

DATE Unit Topics and Objectives Readings/Assignments Due

January

3

Course expectations

C1-3 into Turnitin folder

Proposal Reflection Assignment

***Liaise and send C1-3 to Dr. V.

January

10

Peer review of C1-3

Continue to update and revise your

proposal based on received feedback

Peer’s reviewed manuscript

January

17 Final proposal Final Dissertation proposal

January

24 IRB

Complete IRB training

IRB documentation

February

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● Collecting and managing data ● Linking methods to questions

Birks, Chapman, & Francis (2008)

Luttrell (2010) Ch. 29

February

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● Fieldnotes and memoing ● Making sense of data (preliminary

analysis)

● Visualizing data ● “First pass seminar”

First Pass Seminar

Maxwell (2013) pp. 104-120 (EDD 710

Text)

Lauderdale (2017)

February

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● Self-reflection and researcher positioning

● When things just don’t work out

Milner (2007)

Choose one article on writing or

reviewing conference proposals. See

course folder.

February

28

● Data analysis strategies ● Integrating data across sources ● Data management, organization,

and preparation.

Charmaz (2010) pp. 186-207

Henderson & Segal (2013)

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MEMO ASSIGNMENT

Background

The memo assignment is meant to address ongoing challenges in the data design, collection, and

analysis process. The memos will become a compiled set of thoughts about your project and a

record of how your thinking changes over time. The memos you write during data collection can

be valuable documents as you begin to analyze and write up your findings, revise your

methodology sections, and generate new insights for your discussion. For you as practitioners,

memos include the added benefit of connecting research with practice. You never want to be too

far away from your project, even when you think you can coast through for a few months.

Therefore, the memo is a way to have explicit touchpoints.

Outcomes

The outcomes of this assignment are for each researcher to:

● reflect on the data collection and analysis ● record ongoing thoughts, hypotheses, and new directions. ● relate ongoing research to practice.

Assignment

The assignment will be to write a weekly memo about your project. The minimum is one page

because sometimes that is all we can afford to write. There is no maximum limit. Some of you

will be completing field notes as part of your research. If this is the case, you can add a reflective

section to your field notes to satisfy the requirements for this assignment. In each memo you

should include the following:

● Name ● Date ● Main body of the memo ● Questions, insights, reminders

While you can reference your dissertation proposal in a memo to generate insights, reflections,

and respond to existing research, your memos should not be copy/pasted from your dissertation

proposal. The memos are to demonstrate new thinking.

Three memos should be focused on the following:

● Data collection methods/procedures: What did you or will you actually do to collect the data? Be more detailed and specific than you think you need to be.

● Description of the sample: Describe your participants. What was your sampling procedure? How did you recruit your participants to participate in the study? Did anyone

drop out of the study or decline to participate?

● Description of the setting: Describe the context, setting, history, demographics, etc. Include details about whatever is most applicable for your study and what would be

important for your readers to know.

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The final seven memos can focus on whatever you feel is important. Consider including items

such as:

● Connections back to the sources you cited in your literature review ● Connections back to your research question(s) ● Connections to your theoretical framework ● Connections to your practice ● Your experience as a researcher ● Charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures

Assessment

Each memo will be worth 10 points. You are both the author and audience for these memos, so

they should be authentic and useful for you. (Please do not write for me or say what you think I

want to hear.) However, the memos will evidence your thinking, skills, and abilities as a

researcher, specifically as a data collector. I will be looking for the following in your memos:

● Did you address some aspect of data collection or analysis? ● Did you genuinely reflect on your data and come to a new or renewed sense of meaning

about them or your study as a whole?

● Did you record your process, how your thinking has changed or developing concerns? ● If applicable, did you relate your ongoing research development to your practice in some

way?

I suggest writing approximately one memo per week (or per observation, interview, etc.) during

the “thick” phases of your data collection. However, to keep you on track at least five memos are

due by February 28. All memos are due on the final day of class.

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FIRST PASS PRESENTATION ASSIGNMENT & PARTICIPATION

Background

In this assignment, the text under discussion will be the data you collect. Since data collection is

often a non-linear process, especially in qualitative research, so examining the data as they come

in and engaging your peers in a community of practice in this endeavor can help you make sense

of what you are seeing initially. Data collection can be alienating, and data analysis may be even

more so. Therefore, the first pass seminar assignment is structured to bring the data collection

and preliminary data analysis processes out of isolation, strengthen the research skills and

knowledge of the community of practice, and support each member’s work.

Outcomes

The outcomes for this assignment are for each student to:

● consider the data s/he has collected and the effectiveness of the data collection instruments

● categorize raw data for preliminary analysis ● critique preliminary analysis ● compose an analytic plan ● conduct a seminar discussion about your data ● collaborate to improve each other’s work in a community of practice

Assignment

For this assignment, you will upload a presentation (with voice-over) about your data collection

during which you will guide your colleagues through an initial analysis of your data. The

structure and format of the seminar are up to each individual to decide. (Consider what would be

most useful to you at this point). Within your presentation, you will provide and walk us

through your research question(s), data collection instrument(s), and samples of raw data.

You will also include specific questions or troubled points you are currently facing in your data

collection process. The goal of each presentation is not for the group to come to a consensus

about how the presenter should proceed but rather question, critique, and offer suggestions that

will move the presenter forward in his/her research.

Caution

Depending on your study, you may have a significant amount of data to share with your

colleagues. Keep in mind that the goal of this assignment is not to cover every datum you collect

but rather to take a macro look at the data you have so far and come to some sense of the

usefulness of the validity of the data, your data analysis procedures, and your preliminary

interpretations of your dataset. Therefore, plan the focus of your presentation and allot time

accordingly. If you are at the beginning stages of your data collection, it might be more valuable

for you to spend time talking through instruments to ensure they are collecting the kinds of data

you need. If you are finished or close to being finished collecting data, you might use the

presentation to share your thinking about different data analysis procedures. Finally, please

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anonymize all data you share to protect your participants’ confidentiality.

Assessment

For this assignment, you will be assessed in two areas (a) your own presentation and discussion

and (b) your contribution to your colleagues’ work.

Presentation and Discussion:

● Did you thoughtfully and clearly guide your colleagues through your data collection process, your existing data, and your preliminary data analysis?

● Did you explain preliminary insight as to how you are looking at your data? ● Did you include and solicit peer feedback on current sticky issues?

Participation:

● Did you show evidence of familiarizing yourself with each colleague’s presentation? ● Did you critically engage* in each colleague’s seminar discussion as a community of

practice member?

*Critical engagement is evidenced by active listening/reading, substantive responses to the

presenter’s and other colleagues’ questions and comments, meaningful, relevant questions,

constructive critique, correcting inaccuracies, and offering useful suggestions and resources.

FINAL REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment, you will write a comprehensive 2-3 page reflection of your journey through

this course and where your work stands at this point. In addition, as you think about sharing your

work (at the current stage) with experts in your profession, discuss your responses to the

following questions:

● What are the lessons learned, the goals achieved, the misses experienced? ● What is the way forward for this work? ● Is your proposed study a reasonable fit for any conference? ● What conference would you possibly submit your proposal to? ● How do you intend to use these experiences as a springboard as you continue in your

journey as a researcher?

Be as comprehensive as possible This reflection is intended to be an opportunity to deeply

ruminate on your journey so far and have a way forward in your work.

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