Jonathan's+entries

Heuristics - Trial-and-error procedure for solving problems (or reaching an unclear goal) through incremental exploration, and by employing a known criteria to unknown factors. (615 Glossary) ** A common practice when doing a study or experiment is to get results through trial and error. Also a common practice in life! ** Jonathan ** __Week 2__ Inference – An assumption or conclusion that is rationally and logically made, based on the given facts or circumstances. (615 Glossary) ** An inference is important when doing research because it helps expedite the research process. It enables one to base some of their information on predetermined information. In the classroom inferences are made when a teacher is creating a project based on information the students have already learned. It is assumed that they should be able to complete the project based on previous knowledge. ** Jonathan **
 * __Week 1__

SRTs are important in research because they allow the researcher to test their research subjects to make sure they are all starting from the same point. Without them the research results would be inconclusive due to too many variables. Teachers may use SRTs to review what students have learned in the past, or to create a benchmark for that particular class. ** Jonathan **
 * Standard-referenced tests (SRT) – test designed to measure a student’s level of performance on predetermined content standards. (615 Glossary)**

Inquiry-based research** **– A systematic process of formulating investigative questions, obtaining factual information and building knowledge that reflects answers to the questions. (615 Glossary)** Inquiry-based research is important especially in research that involves interviewing people to find out information. It is also important when doing surveys, but the validity of the information is based on the source, so it is important that trustworthy sources are used as well as questions asked that obtain only facts. In the classroom this can be used to survey the class, or to create a class based newspaper. ** Jonathan **
 * __Week 3__

Unstructured interviews are important when doing research because in some cases it allows you to get more information from the person you are interviewing because they feel more relaxed and are usually more willing to share personal stories, which make your reports much more interesting. ** Jonathan **
 * Unstructured Interviews** – **Non-directive interview in which the interviewer may have some key questions formulated in advance, but allows questions based on the interviewee's responses and proceeds like a friendly, non-threatening conversation. (615 Glossary)**

Median - Value or quantity that falls halfway between a set of values arranged in an ascending or descending order. When the set contains an odd number of values, the median value is exactly in middle. (615 Glossary)** A median is usually used to determine what the average should be and can be compared with the mean, which gives the actual achieved average. ** Jonathan **
 * __Week 4__

This can limit your data because of the fact that your observations are rated low. It can also show the successes and failures of your assessments. ** Jonathan ** In this article, we study the coverage accuracy of one-sided confidence intervals based on Hall's and Johnson's transformation methods and their bootstrap versions for means of positively skewed distributions. We confirm Hall's finding that a lower endpoint confidence interval based on his transformation method provides better coverage accuracy than Johnson's transformation method. We also find that Hall's upper endpoint confidence interval has poor coverage accuracy. Furthermore, we find that the bootstrap method, based on Hall's transformation, yields the best coverage accuracy for both upper and lower endpoint confidence intervals. (Zhou et al, 2000.) Causal inferences** **- Thought-process that tests whether a relation of cause to effect exists. (615 Glossary)** Often used when trying to find a solution to a problem, causal inferences are especially important in assessments so that you can get to the root of the problem and therefore find a solution. ** Jonathan ** Perceptual events derive their significance to an animal from their meaning about the world, that is from the information they carry about their causes. The brain should thus be able to efficiently infer the causes underlying our sensory events. Here we use multisensory cue combination to study causal inference in perception. (Kording, et. al., 2007.) When doing assessments, it is important to have concrete evidence of your results and data so that you are able to back it up and it also allows those viewing your data reassurance that your information is based on something real, not implied. ** Jonathan **
 * Positively skewed distribution - Distribution in which only a few of the observations are in the upper range of scores. (615 Glossary)**
 * __Week 5 & 6__
 * Statistical significance – Statistical term that tells how sure you are that a difference or relationship is caused by something other than just chance. (615 Glossary)**

Needed when doing research so that you have an idea of where a student should be in comparison to others. ** Jonathan **
 * Standard score – Used in norm-referenced assessment to compare one student's performance on a test to the performance of other students her age. (615 Glossary)**

** Often needed when trying to research different ways of achieving the same results, or used to find the best way to achieve desired results. ** Jonathan ** Informed consent** **– A legal condition whereby a person can be said to have given consent based upon a clear appreciation and understanding of the facts, implications and future consequences of an action.** **(615 Glossary)** Important when doing an experiment (and often required by law) as well as when using someone's answers given in an interview. ** Jonathan **
 * Multiple methods **** – The combining of different methods within the same study design. (615 Glossary)
 * __Week 7__

Used especially when doing a research project on one particular subject that requires the use of certain articles and sources. ** Jonathan **
 * Literature search** **- A systematic and exhaustive search for published material on a specific topic (615 Glossary)**

Often the first step in narrowing down your research for a project. Typically what you are doing when using the Boolean search method in library databases. ** Jonathan **
 * Literature reviews** **- Surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work with the purpose of offering an overview of significant literature published on a topic.** **(615 Glossary)**

Andragogy** **- Consists of learning strategies focused on adults; often interpreted as the process of engaging adult learners with the structure of learning experience.** **(615 Glossary)** A word I did not know existed until today. :-) Important when instructing adult learners on a project or when using adults in a study. ** Jonathan ** A relationship between andragogy and pedagogy that is based on a continuum implies that the less pedagogical an orientation the more andragogical it becomes. In other words, an indvidual’s location is confined to a one dimensional line . However, once the relationship is considered to be orthogonal, then, an individual can be located within a two dimensional space that is bounded on one side by andragogy and on the adjoining side by pedagogy. (Delahaye, 1994)
 * __Week 8 & 9__

Important for those who will be reading your data, so that they are able to understand the data you used as well as how you arrived at your conclusions. ** Jonathan **
 * Descriptive statistics** **- simply describe what's going on in our data.** **(615 Glossary)**

**Conclusions - A final part of the writing that restates the thesis, analyzes and evaluates the main points, considers consequences, shortcomings, general implications, recommendations and manifests the value of the research's main ideas. (615 Glossary)** Absolutely necessary so that your research and data are summarized and coherent. ** Jonathan ** When doing the above types of research it is necessary to have more than one participant so that you can compare and contrast your findings. Without a participant you would not have a reliable study as the results would not be as realistic. ** Jonathan **
 * Participant - A person that has agreed to be involved in a survey, focus group, or study. Can also be referred to as a subject, unit, experimental unit, unit of analysis, or respondent. (615 Glossary)**

**__Week 10__ Equal ratio scale - A scale of measurement, which has a fixed zero and allows comparison in ratio terms. (615 Glossary)**Allows you to compare your data and report it using a standard measurement so that your results will be accurate. ** Jonathan **

Often used to create action plans or course changes depending on how students compare against the standard score. ** Jonathan **
 * Standard scores - Used in norm-referenced assessment to compare one student's performance on a test to the performance of other students her age; Estimate whether a student's scores are above average, average, or below average compared to peers. (615 Glossary)**

** References: **
Kording, et. al.(2007.)Causal inference in multisensory perception. //Plos one.// 2//(9.)// Retrieved April 12, 2010 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978520/.

Delahaye, B., et. al.(1994.) The relationship between andragogical and pedagogical orientations and the implications for adult learning. //Adult Education Quarterly.// 44,(//4.)// pp.187-200. Retrieved April 12, 2010 from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/1742/2/delahaye.pdf.

Zhou, X. and Gao, S. (2000.) One sided confidence intervals for means of positively skewed distributions. //The American Statistician.//54//,(2).// p 100. Retrieved April 14, 2010 from http://www.jstor.org/pss/2686025.