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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Which way do I go?

That is the question that I had to ask myself as I began to dig deeper into my problem statement. What would be the most effective way to gain the information that would help clarify this problem statement?

My problem statement is:

I plan to determine the impact, of the integration of Web 2.0 tools, in particular blogs and wikis in classroom instruction, on standardized writing test scores of 3rd-5th grade students.

To be more specific:
Who?: 3rd-5th grade students
What?: integration of Web 2.0 tools particularly blogs and wikis in classroom instruction
Why?: impact.... on standardized writing test scores

The research questions that I developed are the following:

Does the integration of Web 2.0 tools, particularly blogs and wikis, improve standardized writing test scores?
(Quantitative, nonexperimental-secondary data analysis)

Given immediate feedback on writing, is there a difference in writing achievement between students that use Web 2.0 tools and those who do not? (Quantitative, nonexperimental-comparative)

Which Web 2.0 tools do students prefer to use as learning tools? (Quantitative, nonexperimental-survey)

Does having an online writing audience increase writing interest? (Quantitative, nonexperimental-correlational)

Does integration of Web 2.0 tools increase motivation to write? (Quantitative, nonexperimental-survey)

Does participation in collaborative writing on wikis increase writing achievement? (Qualitative, noninteractive- analytical research[concept analysis])

How does the integration of Web 2.0 tools affect students’ grammar skills? (Quantitative, nonexperimental-descriptive)

After going over the research questions that I posed, I noticed that they were mostly quantitative in nature. I feel that the overall approach for my research sould be quantitative, though, a mixed approach(explanatory) would help explain, why Web 2.0 tools impact writing scores for the group of students in question (McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, 2008).

That takes care of that fork in the road or does it?

References

McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson

2 comments:

TriciaK said...

Luis,
You have really given this research a lot of thought. I agree that it is mostly quantitative in nature. I was thinking that you might look into qualitative research for the questions that might be more opinionated rather than measurable by a number such as the question about increasing motivation and the one about an online audience. Best of luck with your research.
-Tricia

Lu1330 said...

Tricia
Thanks you for your suggestions. I will look at those question again.
That would help explain why the change in motivation.

Luis