IT 5990: Research in Information and Learning Technologies

Information and Learning Technologies Program

School of Education, University of Colorado at Denver
Fall 2000

Instructor: Martin Ryder (www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/martin.html)

Course Description. ILT 5990 is a survey of research methods applied to the field of information and learning technologies in settings such as a library media center, a corporate training environment, a business, technical or industrial learning organization, a networked learning community, or a classroom. Students are introduced to a range of research genres to gain an overview of qualitative methodology, it's historical roots, and the importance and role of theory in framing research. We will investigate qualitative approaches to research including ethnography, case studies, action research, learning histories, phenomenology, grounded theory, and activity theory. We will also investigate survey research methods and other quantitative techniques that can uncover relevant data for analysis.

This course is not an attempt to prepare you fully in the use of any particular research method. Our goal is to make you aware of established research methods, how they work, and the sorts of issues they might address. In discussions and readings we will examine the theoretical underpinnings of subjective vs. objective research and we will consider the merits of qualitative vs. quantitative methods toward improving a professional practice or for examining technology adoption and use.

A major aspect of this course will involve the practice of doing research. Your primary assignment will consist of a research project that is based on an appropriately selected research genre. You will conceptualize, design, and ground your field study in the literature associated with that genre. You will identify an authentic problem (ideally selected from within your own practice) which involves some aspect of information and learning technologies. The goal of the study would be to advance the inquiry that gave rise to the initial problem in order to inform your professional practice or improve the conditions that led to the problem.

You will undertake the process of research, conducting a literature search (where appropriate) and preparing a conceptual framework in order to bring the problem clearly into focus. You will propose an appropriate method of investigation, explaining the research methodology you intend to employ, explaining how you will go about the study, describing the nature of the data you intend to collect, explaining how you intend to analyze that data, and suggesting what further actions might be involved.

Finally, you will learn to craft a summary your research in a logical and persuasive fashion so that the practitioner community might benefit from the actual work you have undertaken. Your personal goal should be to publish or to present your findings to a professional association such as the AERA, AECT, ISPI, ASTD or other professional group for peer review and recognition. It may be more appropriate to present your findings as a white paper for dissemination within your own company or school. At a minimum, you should expect to place your work on the World Wide Web for public access by a virtual community of practitioners who might have similar interests related to your project.

Course Objectives. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Summarize established theories of knowledge that underlie the dominant research paradigms in ILT.
2. Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative research methods in the social and behavioral sciences.
3. Contrast the basic assumptions between post-positivist and interpretive schools of research on questions of subjectivity and objectivity.
4. Address the notion of agency in research activities identifying the subject and object of research.
5. Describe some common qualitative research methodologies including ethnography, case studies, interviews, focus groups, and historical research.
6. Identify inductive, deductive, and abductive research methodologies.
7. Explain the approach attempted in grounded theory research.
8. Describe the process of participatory action research, focusing particularly on the roles of the partipants.
9. Suggest methods of data validation in qualitative research.
10. Read, interpret, and evaluate published research literature in information and learning technologies.
11. Reflect on a situation in your own professional practice which might lead to formal research: (a) analyze the activity system and (b) think about questions you have about it and how you might study the system to address those questions.
12. Based on your analysis and reflection, create a plan for conducting a study.
13. Describe ethical considerations that a researcher might take into account in the planning stages of a research project.
14. Conduct some aspect of the research plan that can be accomplished within constraints of time, resources, and access to information.
15. Collect and analyze data using one or more of the qualitative methods introduced in this course.
16. Write up findings into a logical and persuasive project report.
17. Collaborate with others and provide feedback on their research activities.
18. Commit to adopting a disciplined research stance in your professional practice.

Instructional Strategies Class sessions will employ a combination of the strategies listed below.

Distributed Lectures. An important knowledge component of this course is a survey of research methodology in the Social Sciences and Education. This unit will take the form of a seminar in which responsibility for the course content is distributed among all participants. Individuals will each own a small piece of an overall structure which outlines contemporary theories of knowledge and research methodologies.

Small group activities. Over the next few weeks, much of our work will take the form of small-group consultations. This approach will take a more dominant form during the latter weeks of the course as students collaborate and consult with peers in the context of project work.

Individual research and writing. You will be asked to complete individual tasks throughout the term. You will conduct literature and resource reviews on the Web and in the library. You will complete steps in the research process and submit work products. This may be in concert with other students, or on your own project.

Large group discussions. You will read papers on key issues and review published research in various genres. Since published examples will be numerous, the task of covering this material will be distributed throughout the class. Individuals will be asked to review specific examples of research from published work, and summarize this material for the benefit of all class memebers.

The Role of Instructor. This is a research seminar in which the students are the active participants. The instructor will not be passive, but his goal will be to share the control of learning activities with all class participants. Students are encouraged to use the instructor for frequent consulting during the course of your research activity. Collaborative involvement with other students will also be encouraged.

Class Requirements

• Early written assignments will involve preparatory aids to benefit the whole class in preparation for the mid-term exam. These will include definitions and short expository contributions to the theoretical foundation of research. (10 points) This work should be prepared for publication to the entire class. Assignments will be posted to the Research class conference in CEO.
• Tentative project proposal (10 points). This is an informal document that will be submitted to the instrucor in stages. The planning stages of a serious research project cannot be evaluated as a single assignment. This is a dialectical process which involves iterative cycles of planning, drafting, consulting, negotiating, and revising. This process should begin as early as the fourth week and conclude no later than the eighth week. The proposal will include:
  1. A description of the context of the research activity.
  2. A conceptual framework describing the phenomenon under study.
  3. A description of the research methodology to be employed in the project.
  In evaluating the appropriateness of your proposal, you should ask:
  1. Is it an authentic issue involving ILT or some other aspect of your professional practice?
  2. Is it a significant issue that would attract the attention of other professionals besides yourself?
  3. Does it employ one or more of the qualitative research methods introduced in this class or in your own readings?
  4. It is a pragmatic plan which takes into account the time and resource contraints of this class?
  In some cases, you may be severely restricted in the type of data you are able to collect given your timeframe and resources. Your research plan will need to reflect those restrictions. In other words, plan your study in a way that allows you to complete a meaningful project within the timelines of the term. This may influence your choice of a research project, or may cause you to plan your study in stages, continuing into the coming months. In these last cases, you will submit for a grade only the part of the study completed during our term.

• The midterm exam (30 points) will be given the evening of the eighth session. The exam will cover objectives 1 through 8 stated above.
• A revised and formal project proposal. (10 points). This document will be submitted to the entire class via the CEO Research Class Conference. It will also involve an oral presentation in which you will present your ideas to the class for collaborative input and peer review.
• Review of published research which illustrates a specific methodology (10 points). Like the definition and expository assignment above, this assignment is intended to be presented to the entire class and will be published in the CEO Research Class Conference. Ideally, the published article you select will illustrate an example of the research methodology you intend to employ in your own project.
• Research Presentation (10 pts). Prepare a web-based summary of your research project. Present a succinct report of your research to the entire class using whatever media (poster session, Powerpoint presentation, etc..) is appropriate.
• Final Report (50 pts). Submit a Final Report package containing:
• An abstract briefly describing the context, the research methodology, and the outcome.
• An introductory narrative which includes a description of the context surrounding the issue, a summary of relevant literature which might offer a conceptual framework or other perspecives to help your readers understand the topic, and a description of your chosen research methodology.
• A detailed summary of your field notes or other artifacts that comprise the sum total of your findings.
• A concluding section which pulls your findings together into a cogent summary and which might suggest implications for action, including further research.
• A bibliographic list of references cited in your paper.
You should plan on making your paper available in both hard copy and electronic form, preferably html. Web documents enable you to share the fruits of your intellectual labor to a virtual community of practitioners who care about your topic and the original contributions you bring to the body of literature on that topic.
• Class Contribution (10 pts). Participate actively in class discussions and responses to readings. Also, contribute substantially to the class resources available to everyone.

Incomplete grades will be discouraged even considering the open-ended nature of authentic research projects. If you stay on top of your project throughout the course, apprising the instructor of the status and of any unavoidable delays, then it will be reasonable to finish this class at the end of the session with full credit, even if your project remains in development. Students who miss multiple sessions and who show little progress from week to week bear the risk of a poor or incomplete grade at the end of the term.

If you have special physical or learning needs that should be accommodated, please discuss them with me soon so that this class will be a rich and successful learning experience for you.

Required Texts. Jerry Willis (Iowa State Univ) has extended an invitation for our class to preview and evaluate his in-press Introduction to Qualitative Research in the Social Sciences, a book which is currently in development and due to be published in 2001. A fundamental objective in this course is for students to become familiar with the established modes of research in Education and the Social Sciences. Prof Willis' book treats this objective in a very readable and sensible fashion.

A special web site has been prepared to augment the text for this class:

http://www.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/pract_res.html

This site includes a number of articles pertaining to contemporary research issues in Education.