| ESR-Educational Statistics and Research |
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| ESR503 |
Research Design Analysis |
| Brings together principles of research design and statistical procedures for the interpretation of education data and planning of educational studies. The course has two major objectives: learning intermediate level statistics, and writing the first draft of the thesis proposal. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss with their advisor a possible topic for their thesis before taking the course. This course should be taken as soon as possible after ESR507. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR505 |
Educational Inquiry and Assessment (for M.Ed. students) |
| Students explore research paradigms and methodologies by studying their own educational settings and contexts. Students investigate topics that are of interest to them and learn how to retrieve, critique, and summarize published research. They produce and evaluate their own data to understand their classrooms and their students' achievement, behaviors, and attitudes. Working collaboratively and independently on small projects and assignments, students learn different approaches to data collection and evaluation, considering issues of credibility, reliability, and validity. This course is taken in lieu of ESR506 and ESR507. Students who have taken ESR506 and ESR507 may not receive degree credit for ESR505. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR506 |
Graduate Research: Interpretive/Critical |
| Students explore the distinctions and relationships within and between the interpretive and critical paradigms. Various data collection methods such as observation, interview, document, analysis, and narrative examination are introduced and practiced in order to gain insight into the educational setting. Students plan, conduct, and present a research project. Students are expected to attend a library session prior to or during the first three weeks of this course to learn how to use the library resources. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR507 |
Graduate Research: Empirical/Quantitative |
| Students acquire skills that enable them to conduct research in their own classrooms or educational settings and to extend their ability to critique research studies using quantitative measures. The course includes a discussion of the empirical/quantitative paradigm and its advantages and limitations. The course focuses on the use of quantitative methods that may be used by educators conducting research and reflecting on educational practice. Students plan and carry out a small-scale research study in their own area of interest using Windows-based computer software to analyze data by generating appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics . Topics related to assessment, such as norms, reliability, and validity, will also be introduced. Prerequisite ESR506. |
| 2 semester hours |
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| ESR508 |
Research for School Leaders |
| Students explore the distinctions and relationships between research paradigms used to facilitate school change. Various data collection methods specific to the paradigms are introduced and practiced in order to gain insight into their application for leaders in educational settings. Topics related to assessment and technology-based strategies are introduced to support and facilitate the use of research and research-based decision-making in these settings. Students work collaboratively to plan, conduct and present research projects representing each paradigm. The research projects are school-based, done in conjunction with their required internship component, and are consistent with guidelines suggested by the Educational Leadership Constituent Consortium. |
| 3 semester hours |
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| ESR509 |
Foundational Studies III: Changing Instructional Systems |
| This course is the third in a three part alternative core of courses that is offered in select cluster groups. This course, along with FND506 and EPS508 must be taken in sequence and no substitution is allowed. In these courses Students explore educational issues from historical, social, psychological, and philosophical perspectives through this integrated interdisciplinary forum. A problem-based inquiry approach enables students to link theory and practice at multiple levels, including that of the individual, the classroom, the school community, and the larger society. Students use the literature from educational psychology and educational foundations to actively examine educational issues and to critique their own assumptions about human learning and development and a proper educational experience. Through interpretive and empirical inquiry, students further expand their understanding of these issues as well as their understanding of educational research processes. |
| In ESR509 students continue to develop their foundational framework to include democratic and ethical principles. Students explore current curricular processes and instructional systems to understand school reform and to envision constructive change processes. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR510 |
Action Research I: Purposes, Assumptions and Practice |
| The course introduces traditions and conceptions of action and interpretive research and its relation to other forms of research. It emphasizes the role of teachers as researchers of their own practices and contexts. Participants explore their classrooms as complex systems shaped by interpersonal, cultural, and political/structural dynamics. Participants build a framework as they begin their action research projects. Participants explore ways to incorporate their knowledge of technology through their research experience. Prerequisites: Admission to the M.Ed. Field-based program 3 semester hours |
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| ESR511 |
Action Research II: Contextualizing and Analyzing |
| This course focuses on participants as teacher researchers and change agents in their classrooms, seen as dynamic places of interaction. Participants conduct an action research project. Through recursive cycles of planning, implementing, observing, reading, conversing, and interpreting, they analyze their data as a means to make meaning of classroom experience. Participants explore ways to incorporate their knowledge of technology through their research experience. Prerequisite(s): Admission to the M.Ed. Field-based program and ESR510. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR512 |
Educational Research I: Design |
| This course provides an overview of the structure of educational research, construction of problem statements and hypotheses, utilizing resources, research design and methodology. Students develop a research proposal related to their own classroom or professional work environments and begin collecting data. They are guided in the use of library resources, various bibliographic tools, computer word processing and ethical research practices to aid them in their research project. 3 semester hours. |
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| ESR513 |
Educational Research II: Application |
| This course provides the student with the research tools and technological skills needed to organize, analyze, and present qualitative and quantitative data, including competence in using critical/reflective, descriptive and inferential statistics. Research ethics are examined for their importance in early childhood education, especially as applied to diverse populations. Implications of educational research for professional practice in different educational settings are an integral focus of this course. Prerequisite(s): EPS500F - Contemporary Survey of Child Dev ESR512 - Educational Research I: Design. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR514 |
Research in Action: Becoming Practitioner Researchers |
| Students explore research paradigms with an emphasis on practitioner research and its role in education. Students examine their own educational views, histories and values, and, choose topics for small-scale projects and assignments that introduce them to different research designs and methodologies. Data from several sources will be collected and analyzed. Course readings are used to exemplify various methods and styles of conceptualizing, conducting and presenting research. Students will learn about ethical considerations in educational inquiry and the skills necessary to critique research. Students who have taken ESR 506 and ESR 507 may not receive degree credit for ESR514. Prerequisite(s): None 3 semester hours |
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| ESR591 |
Action Research III: Interpreting and Sharing |
| This course marks the transition from conducting a systematic action research study to a more conscious awareness of the integrated nature of daily teaching and informal researching. Participants reflect on their data, construct patterns, and note changes in their practices, and prepare for a final project communicating what they have learned. They explore ways to continue, in an on-going fashion, the self-assessment processes of reflective practitioners. Participants explore ways to incorporate their knowledge of technology through their research experience. Prerequisite(s): Admission to the M.Ed. Field-based program and ESR511. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR592 |
Extending Action Research |
| This course provides the student with the opportunity to explore current or specialized topics in the field of educational research. The emphasis is on action research projects, writing for publication, presenting results of research at professional meetings and extending professional contacts through a collegial teacher research support group. This course assumes students have background knowledge in research. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR594 |
Independent Study |
| 1-4 semester hours |
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| ESR595 |
Special Topics in Research |
| This course provides the student with the opportunity to explore current or specialized topics in the field of educational research. 1-6 semester hours |
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| ESR604 |
Dissertation Proposal Seminar |
| This course is currently under revision. Consult your Doctoral Program Director for current information. Prerequisites: ESR610, ESR612, ESR614, ESR616 or ESR618. The completion of comprehensive qualifying examinations is also recommended. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR610 |
Paradigms of Research: Alternative Ways of Knowing |
| In this team-taught course students explore multiple theories of knowledge and research and the ways in which these theories are enacted in contemporary educational and interdisciplinary contexts. Students investigate the nature and language of epistemological claims as they are created and legitimized through scientific, philosophical, historical, cultural, and personal renditions of knowledge. Students examine the implications of specific paradigms of knowledge for critiquing, conceptualizing, conducting, interpreting, and using research within a variety of settings. Critical reflections on the intersections of knowledge. Prerequisite(s): Doctoral standing; ESR507 or consent of instructors. 2 semester hours |
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| ESR612 |
Empirical/Analytic Research I |
| This course will take a case-based approach to exploring the assumptions and techniques of empirical/analytic research. Students will examine in detail one or two cases of research to understand how researchers develop questions and examine data that arise from an empirical study. Inferential statistical techniques will be discussed in the context of a research case. Students will analyze and interpret both the case data and data of their own in the discussion of empirical/analytic research. Prerequisite: ESR507 or equivalent, ESR610. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR614 |
Interpretive and Critical Research I |
| This course is intended as an introduction to the theoretical, conceptual and methodological genres that constitute interpretive and critical approaches to research. These traditions and genres will be exemplified, compared and critiqued through individual research projects, written and visual case studies, and course readings. Various research methods, such as observation, interviews, document and narrative analysis will be introduced and practiced. Prerequisite: ESR506 or equivalent, ESR610. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR616 |
Empirical/Analytic Research II |
| This course uses a case-based approach to explore issues that arise in empirical/analytical studies when multiple measures are available from individuals or groups. The course builds on the discussion of the previous course ESR612 to examine inferential statistical techniques for multivariate data. The assumptions, design and limitations of empirical/analytical studies that use multiple measures will be addressed. Multivariate statistical techniques will be discussed in the context of one or two cases of data and data generated by students. Prerequisite: ESR610, ESR612. 3 semester hours |
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| ESR618 |
Interpretive and Critical Research II |
| In this course, which builds on the understandings and skills emphasized in ESR614 (Interpretive and Critical Research I), students have the opportunity to conceptualize, propose, conduct, analyze, interpret and present, in written and oral forms, a course-long research project. The empirical bases that interpretive and critical research provide for a holistic understanding and critique of educational settings and processes are examined. Presentations by students, of their work-in-progress, structure the course organization as research issues and methods are addressed and analyzed as they emerge. Prerequisite: ESR610, ESR614. 3 semester hours |
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