EDU7002

=__ Educational Research Methodology __= =COURSE EDU7002: August 19 - October 13, 2013, Final Grade: A (95/100)= The purpose of this course is to enable students to gain a holistic understanding of the research process and examine the most common research designs used in educational research. In this course, students are prepared to make thoughtful and wise choices about their dissertation research project or capstone project through the exploration of different research design options.

Course Reflection:
During this course I was able to complete most assignments early. My mentor was very helpful in providing feedback and extremely fast at returning them once submitted. I really enjoyed this class however, I found it to be very challenging.

Assignment #3 - Characteristics of Research Problems - 99/100
Very nice paper on Activity 3, Michael. Good job on including the posted characteristics and expanding on what constitutes a good problem statement. Great use of headings. Do not use direct quotations unless absolutely necessary – reviewers want to see statements in your own words backed up by sources. See additional grammar report for corrections. I like your writing style and can say your submissions are some of the best I have seen!

Assignment #4 - Draft of the Problem Statement - 93/100
Michael, you have done a good job pointing out the characteristics of your problem statement. Some of this statement was a little disjointed – it needs to have sources to back up your statements, but NCU reviewers do not want you to lead with sources (e.g. According to….). They want to hear your voice backed up by experts in the field. Do not include page or paragraph numbers. I can see you worked hard on this and appreciate your effort. It is very difficult to write a problem statement – probably the hardest part of the study. So do not be discouraged – you are doing the hard work of creating a foundation for your study. Please add your revised problem statement (implementing my feedback) to the next Activity. I look forward to seeing your Purpose Statement in that Activity. In that you will need to point out the characteristics per the directions posted for Activity 5 (and here below the grading key).

Assignment #5 - Draft of the Purpose Statement - 98/100
Michael – you are developing a good foundation. Excellent job pointing out the characteristics. You will want to add whether or not the district is urban, rural, a mix or whatever. Usually a correlational study is quantitative and you would not interview so many people. You could survey them (you would need to find an existing survey – we can talk more about that later. I cannot imagine the time it would take to interview them all and how you would manage all the information (much less permission slips). I would suggest you consider selecting a representative sample – and better yet, interviewing the teachers. So much is involved when you work with students instead of teachers. Excellent job on this assignment. I like the changes you made to the specific problem. In Activity 7 copy and paste your revised problem statement and your purpose statement so I can check for alignment with your questions.