EDU8604 Educational Research Ethics and Data Management

EDU	8604	75035	1, 2008	WEB	Educational Research Ethics and Data Management	1.00	Toowoomba
Subject	Cat-nbr	Class	Term	Mode	Description	Units	Campus

Academic group:	FOEDU
Academic org:	FOE002
Student contribution band:	National Priority Teaching
ASCED code:	070303

Staffing
Requisites
Other requisites
Rationale
Synopsis
Objectives
Topics
Texts
Reference materials
Student workload
Assessment details
Important assessment information
Assessment notes
Other requirements
Production date
PDF version

STAFFING

Examiner: Patrick Danaher
Moderator: Barry Fields

REQUISITES

Pre-requisite: Students must be enrolled in Program: DEDU

OTHER REQUISITES

State law in Queensland (Australia) requires that all adults working/undertaking professional experience/researching with children under the age of 18, in the state of Queensland are required to possess a current suitability card (Blue Card). (See "Other Requirements" for further information.) Also see: http://www.childcomm.qld.gov.au/employment/bluecard/informationSheets.html

RATIONALE

This course is one of three research and evaluation courses that are offered within the Doctor of Education program in the Faculty of Education. The first (1 unit) course provides an overview of the methods and approaches used in research and evaluation; this second (1 unit) course relates to educational research ethics and data management; and the third (2 unit) course is concerned with the preliminary conduct of research involving data collection and data analysis relevant to students' proposed research. It is vital that educational researchers understand and engage with the ethical and political dimensions and effects of the research paradigms, methods and techniques that they deploy to address their research hypotheses or questions. Researchers need also to comprehend and evaluate approaches to data management in published research as a foundation for ensuring that their own data management practices are as effective, efficient and equitable as possible.

SYNOPSIS

This course provides an overview of selected contemporary issues related to the ethics and politics of educational research, and to the appropriate management of data in educational research projects.- Topics include: anonymity and confidentiality; informed consent; gatekeepers and stakeholders; overt and covert research; recording and representing participants' voices; situated ethics; research benefits and interests; ethical implications of and for research designs; primary and secondary data; data collection techniques; data analysis techniques; sampling and selecting participants; reliability, validity, credibility and trustworthiness; drawing inferences and reaching conclusions.

OBJECTIVES

The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course. The assessment item(s) that may be used to assess student achievement of an objective are shown in parenthesis. On successful completion of this course students should have a knowledge and understanding of the:

ethical and political dimensions and effects of educational research (Ethical Clearance Application and commentary))
engagements with educational research ethics and politics by researchers working with specific research paradigms, methods and techniques (Ethical Clearance Application and commentary)
skills required to prepare an appropriate and effective ethical clearance application (Ethical Clearance Application and commentary)
key components of the efficient collection and management of research data (Data Collection and Analysis Critical Commentary)
principal elements of the effective analysis and reporting of research data (Data Collection and Analysis Critical Commentary)
skills needed to interrogate a published educational researcher's approach to data collection and analysis. (Data Collection and Analysis Critical Commentary)

TOPICS

	Description	Weighting (%)
1.	Educational research ethics	25.00
2.	Educational research politics	25.00
3.	Data collection techniques	25.00
4.	Data analysis techniques	25.00

TEXT and MATERIALS required to be PURCHASED or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials are available for purchase from USQ BOOKSHOP (unless otherwise stated). Orders may be placed via secure internet, free fax 1800642453, phone 07 46312742 (within Australia), or mail. Overseas students should fax +61 7 46311743, or phone +61 7 46312742. For costs, further details, and internet ordering, use the 'Textbook Search' facility at http://bookshop.usq.edu.au click 'Semester', then enter your 'Course Code' (no spaces).

Coombes, PN, Danaher, MJM & Danaher, PA (Eds) 2004, Strategic uncertainties: Ethics, politics and risk in contemporary educational research, Post Pressed, Flaxton, Qld.

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

Whether you are on, or off campus, the USQ Library is an excellent source of information http://www.usq.edu.au/library/. The gateway to education resources is here: http://use.edu.au/library/faculties/education/default.htm

Anderson, J & Poole, M 2002, Assignment and thesis writing, 4th edn, Wiley, Brisbane, Qld.

Babbie, E 2004, The practice of social research, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.

Bouma, GD 2004, The research process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic.

Burke, J & Christensen, L 2004, Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches, 2nd edn, Allyn and Bacon, London.

Campoy, RW 2005, Case study analysis in the classroom: becoming a reflective teacher, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Coombes, PN & Danaher, PA (Eds) 2001, Cui bono?: Investigating benefits and interests in educational research, Queensland Journal of Educational Research, Vol 17, no.2, pp109-242.
(Theme issue)

Delamont, S 2002, Fieldwork in educational settings; methods, pitfalls and perspectives, 2nd edn, Routledge, London.

Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YE (Eds) 2005, Handbook of qualitative research, 3rd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Freebody, P 2003, Qualitative research in education: iteraction and practice, Sage, London.

Gorard, S 2001, Quantitative methods in educational research: the role of numbers made easy, Continuum, London.

Gorard, S with Taylor, C 2004, Combining methods in educational and social research, McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, UK.

Greenfield, T (Ed) 2002, Research methods for postgraduates, 2nd edn, Arnold and Oxford University Press, London and New York.

Hatch, JA 2002, Doing qualitative research in educational settings, State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

Hittleman, DR & Simon, AJ 2002, Interpreting educational research: an introduction to consumers of research, 3rd edn, Merrill, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Johnson, B & Christensen, L 2004, Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches, 2nd edn, Pearson Education, Boston, MA.

Lankshear, C & Knobel, M 2004, A handbook for teacher research: from design to implementation, Open University Press, London.

Locke, LF, Spirduso, WW & Silverman, SJ 2000, Proposals that work: a guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals, 4th edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

McWilliam, E, Danby, S & Knight, J (Eds) 2004, Performing educational research: theories, methods and practices, Post Pressed, Flaxton, Qld.

Mertens, DM 2005, Research and evaluation in education and psychology: integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, 2nd edn, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Phye, GD, Robinson, DH & Levin, JR (Eds) 2005, Empirical methods for evaluating educational interventions, Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Simons, H & Usher, R (Eds) 2000, Situated ethics in educational research, Routledge/Falmer, London.

Somekh, B & Lewin, C (Eds) 2005, Research methods in the social sciences, Sage Publications, London.

Tashakkori, A & Teddlie, C 2003, Handbook of mixed methods in social behavioural research, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Wiersma, W & Jurs, SG 2005, Research methods in education: an introduction, 8th edn, Pearson Education, Boston, MA.

Yin, RK 2003, Case study research: design and methods, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS

ACTIVITY	HOURS
Assessment	120.00
Directed Study	120.00
Private Study	90.00

ASSESSMENT DETAILS

Description		Marks out of	Wtg(%)	Due date
ETHICAL CLEARANCE APPLICATION		50.00	50.00	25 Apr 2008
DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS CRI		50.00	50.00	13 Jun 2008

IMPORTANT ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

Attendance requirements:
(a) There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them, or required to be accessed by them, to maximise their chances of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. (b) This course contains a number of online discussion forums designed to assist students in successfully completing the course. Students are not obliged to participate in the forums, but they are advised to do so.
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item s student must achieve at least 50% of the marks available for each assessment.
Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without (prior) approval of the examiner then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded. No assignments will be accepted after model answers have been posted.
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
Each of the two summative (weighted) assessment items constitutes 50% of the final grade.
Examination information:
There is no examination in this course
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
There is no examination in this course
University Regulations:
Students should read USQ Regulations 5.1 Definitions, 5.6. Assessment, and 5.10 Academic Misconduct for further information and to avoid actions which might contravene University Regulations. These regulations can be found at the URL http://www.usq.edu.au/corporateservices/calendar/part5.htm or in the current USQ Handbook.

ASSESSMENT NOTES

1.	Letter grades will be used for summative assessment items in this course.
2.	Marking criteria are provided in the course material.
3.	Students must retain a copy of each item submitted for assessment. This must be produced if required by the examiner.
4.	The due date for an assignment is the date by which a student must despatch the assignment to the USQ. The onus is on the student to provide proof of the despatch date, if requested by the examiner.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

In addition to reading the course materials and the recommended textbooks, students are strongly encouraged to access libraries and/or online articles and books in order to do the background reading necessary to complete both the summative assessment items for the course.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are not required to collect data for the assessment requirements for this course. Moreover, you may NOT collect data for your project or dissertation unless you are doing so under the supervision of your supervisor and, if such data gathering involves human participants, unless you have the prior written approval to do so from the Faculty of Education Ethics Reference Group.
Students are required to use a recognised referencing system, preferably the American Psychological Association (5th edition) referencing system.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Working with Children: State law in Queensland requires that all adults (including university students, pre-service educators, trainers, vocational teachers, industry educators) working with children under the age of 18, in the state of Queensland*, obtain approval before commencing such work. Many education courses include a practical component (professional experience, project work, research, assessment etc.) that may require engagement with children under the age of 18. It is your responsibility to ensure that you possess a current suitability card (Blue Card) before commencing any practical components of this course. DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH CHILDREN UNDER 18 UNLESS YOU POSSESS A CURRENT 'BLUE CARD'. For further information: http://www.childcomm.qld.gov.au/employment/bluecard/informationSheets.html. *If you are undertaking practical experience outside the state of Queensland, Australia you should check local requirements.
Students enrolling in WEB courses MUST have ongoing convenient and reliable access to the Internet in order to access course materials and participate in activities that will affect assessment. The levels of equipment required may change from time to time, with the most recent specification listed at http://www.usq.edu.au/currentstudents/computingstandards/default.htm. You can check whether your computer system meets these requirements from USQAssist (http://usqassist.usq.edu.au/).

This version produced 27 May 2008.