Identifying Problem/Framing Research Question 

Collecting Data 

Analyzing Data 

Developing Plan
 

Getting Started:
         Collecting data may be as simple as observing your classroom over time or interviewing a few students. The following ideas may assist you in focusing and narrowing your data collection process while at the same time collecting enough information so that you will have a holistic understanding of your topic. It is important to keep in mind that the inquiry process is non-linear and the data collection procedures that you choose may need to be revisited, refined, or revised throughout your inquiry journey. 

• OBSERVE your students and their environment to determine who to gather data from and what data is most relevant to answering your question.
• REFLECT on your observations and begin to categorize analyze your data options as to their strengths and weaknesses as it applies to your question.
• DISCUSS your reflections with your team and receive FEEDBACK on your reflections.
• INTERPRET your results and begin to develop a data collection plan.
• Review as many data collection techniques as possible to see what is out there.
• When examining a particular technique make a list of its strengths and weaknesses as it applies to your question. You may want to ask yourself, "How will this help me to understand....?" or "What issues or concerns may arise from using this method?"
• Ask yourself what piece of the puzzle would still be missing after you use a particular method.
• When comparing and contrasting methods consider time and resources.
• Consider which methods you may be able to incorporate into your curriculum or instructional routine.
• Revisit the questions listed in "identifying the problem and framing the research question" 's section titled "considering the context of your question" to assure that you have investigated all the possible factors affecting your question.
• Gather enough data from various sources so that you are able to validate your responses.

• In what places might data be collected?
• In these settings, what events take place?
• What people are involved?
• What are the interactions?
• What are the resources, tools, and artifacts available?

• Date
• Name of teacher/classroom
• Reason for needing permission
• Research question
• Why you are conducting the study
• How you hope it will be used to benefit education
• The type of data you are collecting
• Who will receive the results
• What will remain confidential
• Your signature and address

Obtaining validity is asking the question"Does this data measure and represent what I am saying that it does?" Obtaining validity is a crucial step. Without validity, your results do not have credibility. With validity you have compelling evidence to support your findings. There are several ways of obtaining validity: 

• Triangulation is the most common method in action research used to obtain validity. Triangulation is the process of finding multiple sources to support your findings. You can triangulate data by finding other data sources that give you the same results. For example you can infer that a student engages in a particular behavior because: a) You observed him doing so b) He told you that he did so in an interview c) You have copies of student work that show that he behaves that way.
• Another form of validity is a follow up interview. During an interview or following an interview or observation, you can ask the subject to verify your findings. For example you can ask, "Did you say...?", or "Is this what you were doing?" You can also repeat back to the subject what was just spoken and verify what you heard.
• Consulting other sources is another form of validity. You may want to ask another student or colleague if they retrieved the same information from your subject that you did.

• Two or more observers with the same results or closely correlated.
• Giving the same survey or interview twice after a time lapse matching results.
• Giving the same test twice and matching the results.
• Two or more scorers analyzing student work and matching results. 

Taking Notes

     William Corsaro developed a note taking system that allows teachers to develop and organize a system of keeping track of their records during data collection (1). Corsaro divided his note taking system into four categories: field notes, methodological notes, theoretical notes, and personal notes. You can incorporate the note taking system into your refection journal or have it stand alone. 

• Field notes allow you to keep track and record your direct observations. You can record who is being observed, what is being done, why it is being done, and specify as to how it is being done.
• Methodological notes are observations about the type of methods you are using and how it is affecting the information you need for your study. You may want to record where you are completing the data collection, how it is being completed, the people involved and what is working or not working with that method.
• Theoretical notes involve annotating theories about what you are observing during the data collection process. They may be personal insights or references of theories that you may have explored in the literature.
• Personal notes involve describing contextual factors that may be influencing what you are seeing. You may want to record events outside of the classroom, moods, family issues, and health issues of either yours, your students, or others influenced by you or your students.

     Jacob Moreno developed sociograms as way of charting class relationships.(2) It may be useful in understanding peer networks and relationships and how children or groups of children may perceive the social context of the classroom.  It may be helpful to you in trying to understand the contextual influences surrounding your question. You may want to focus on: 

• Whom they would choose to sit next to
• Whom they would choose to work with on particular projects 
• Whom would they choose to play with
• You may want to keep a tally sheet listing the children in the class and how many times they mentioned another person in the class.
• You may choose to have them list their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices.

• A divide is formed when students sharing common characteristics tend to nominate each other and not others, such as along gender or racial lines.
• A clique is formed when individuals tend just to select others in their group and exclude all others.
• A star is usually identified when most students nominate this person.
• An isolate is usually identified when no one nominates this person (isolates may not necessarily be rejected but neglected or unnoticed).
• A mutual choice is identified when two students nominate each other.

      The purpose of interviews is to explore thinking and understanding of a student about your topic from the student's perspective. There are various types of interviews. The two most common distinctions are structured and unstructured interviews. 

• Structured interviews normally have a pre-determined set of questions that require a simple or short response. They are normally given one-on-one in a formal structured setting. This technique is more commonly used when specific information is required.
• Unstructured interviews also have a predetermined set of questions but the questions are unstructured enough to allow for more exploration of the respondents thinking. This technique is used when more general information is required. It also asks more open-ended questions that allow the respondent to expand on his answer.

Types of questions identified by Fraenkel and Wallen: 

• Background or demographic
• Knowledge: respondents are asked to give factual information.
• Experience or behavior questions: Used to discover what respondents are currently doing or have done in the past.
• Opinion or value questions: Used to discover what respondents may think or believe about a particular topic and why?
• Feelings questions: Used to discover how respondents feel about people, experiences or activities.
• Sensory questions: Used when you want to discover what a respondent has heard, seen, felt, tasted, or smelled.

Surveys and Questionnaires

     These are very similar to a structured interview. The advantages to using a questionnaire are 

• Respondents can remain anonymous 
• You receive the same information from everyone making analysis easier 
• The tool can be quick and convenient 
• You can gather more information from a larger group of people.  They are best used when you need specific information from a students that do not require explanations or too many varying responses, or you need to know a little bit about everyone.

• If respondents can remain anonymous then you may not have any information about the characteristics of your respondents or know who responded and who didn't. You may need to include personal questions to identify the students if it is important to answering your question, i.e. gender or class grade average 
• The choices may not be inclusive enough. You may want to allow for a section that says "other" or "explain answer" 
• You may not receive all the information that you need and a followup interview maybe required. 

• You can have the students rate a response using a 5-point or a 3-point scale. It's best to keep it as simple as possible.
• When asking open-ended questions, it's best to keep it simple and ask, "What works best?" or What works least?" or "What would you change?"
• Think about what characteristics about the respondents you would like to know in advance that may be relevant to understanding the answer to your question such as gender or expected class grade. Categorizing your results by these characteristics may help you to recognize patterns among your students that you did not know existed.

     Observations are normally on-going processes that you will engage in throughout your inquiry journey, however it, they can be conducted systematically as part of the data collection process. 
      There are various types of observation techniques. Before beginning an observation checklist that you will take with you into the classroom, David Hopkins (1993) suggests asking yourself the following questions(4):

• What is the purpose of the observation?
• What is the focus of the observation?
• What teacher/student behaviors are important to observe?
• How will the data be used?

 Saving Student Work

One efficient means of collecting data is to save work of students. This can be done in several ways:

• Developing portfolios of student work and feedback with each piece. This can include assessment by yourself, colleagues, students, and parents.
• Send home student work in folders that must be returned to you. Encourage parents to write comments.
• Keep a collection of student writing pieces or have students write something related to your topic.
• Keep a record of students' readings: journals, book lists, projects, and correspondence with peers.
• When having students complete an activity related to your topic, keep it in a folder with the name, date, time, and context information.

• Student projects and displays
• School wide correspondence
• Notes from colleagues
• Notes from parents
• Notes from specialists
• Flyers for school wide events
• Newspaper accounts that reference the school or district during the data collection process

Note taking Tips

     Hubbard and Power (1993) suggest the following when taking notes: (5)

• Focus on particulars
• Write fast
• Write down everything you can and edit later
• Write down quotes in student's dialect
• Don't censure what you see as you write it down
• You may want to draw what you see or make a diagram.

     Fraenkel and Wallen (1996) suggest the following to help make your interviewing process a success. These suggestions will help you to retrieve reliable answers and help to make the interviewee more comfortable during the interview session. 

• Respect the cultural background of the individuals being studied.
• Respect the individual being interviewed, i.e. are they not feeling well or do they have a test today.
• Be natural
• Ask the same question in different ways
• Ask the interviewee to repeat an answer or statement 
• Vary who controls the flow of communication
• Learn how to wait for a response
• Repeat the interviewees answers back to them

• Keep the language pitched to the level of the respondent
• Try to choose words that have the same meaning for everyone
• Avoid long questions
• Ask the respondent if there is anything he would like to add

• Discuss questions with peers
• Determined which questions may be asked as a part of your normal daily teaching routine
• Keep an interview sheet for each individual student
• If applicable: remind students there are no right or wrong answers
• Tell students that their answers will remain confidential
• Interviews can be done as a part of group or classroom discussion which may allow students the opportunity to share their views
• Consider tape recording
• Transcribe the data right away

• Consider that you may need more than one observer.
• More than one observer may reduce the workload and lend reliability to your evidence.
• Consider videotaping, but keep in mind that if students are aware they are being video taped, they may alter their behavior. Also, videotaping may only represent one view of what is taking place.
• Consider having others view it with you.

Data Collection Tracking Form
 
 

Research Question:

Data Source	Date to Begin	Date to be Completed	Subjects	Setting	Artifacts to be Collected
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5

Example of a Sociogram Survery

Example of Interview Questions

Example of a Questionnaire

Example of an Observation Checklist
___________________ 
(1) Corasaro, W. (1981). Entering the child's world: Research strategies for field entry and data  collection in a pre-school setting. In J. Green and C. Wallach (Eds.), Ethnography and Language in Educational Settings.Norwood,N.J.: Ablex Publishing. 
(2) Moreno, J. (1953). Who shall survive? Foundations of sociometry, group, psychotherapy, and sociodrama. New York: Beacon House. 
(3) Fraenkel, J.R. & Wallen, N.E. (1996). How to design and evaluate research in education.New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 
(4) Hopkins, D. (1993). A teacher's guide to classroom research. Philadelphia: Open university Press 
(5) Hubbard, R.S. & Power, B.M. ((1993). The art of classroom inquiry: A handbook for teacher-researchers.Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 
(6) Worthen, B.R., Sanders, J.R., Fitzpatrick, J.L. (1997). Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. New York: Longman.