Winter 2006

Syllabus

1. January 11th: Introduction

Preparation for the first day of class: Please bring to class a timeline of your work during the Winter Quarter (Jan 11 through March 15).

Discussion of timelines and plans for the quarter

For next time:

• Read: Boote & Beile ER article "Scholars Before Researchers: On the Centrality of the Dissertation Literature Review in Research Preparation"
• Read Mertens: Chapter 3 "Literature Review and Research Problems"
• Bring in: the current state of your dissertation proposal literature review

2. January 18th: Dissertation Proposal Literature Review

Form and function of literature reviews
Review of your current literature reviews
Work on shaping up your literature reviews

For next time:

• Read through the UCSD's Human Research Protections Program (IRB) site
• Read through one of the cohort 1 IRB forms that are closest to your own planned research
• Bring in a rough draft of your own IRB, by modifying the IRB closest to yours

3. January 25th: Human Subjects Protection Approval

Philosophy and ethics of human subjects research
Review of your own IRB drafts
Joint work on refining your IRB forms

For next time:

• Read: Mertens chapter 13, 430-442 (A research plan; Writing research reports; Utilization of research results; Questions for criticially analyzing data analysis and interpretation)
• Re-read: Mertens Appendix "Writing the Research Proposal"
• Read through one of the Cohort 1 proposals closest to your own, analyzing the structure of the argument

4. February 1st: The structure and function of research proposals

Structure and function of research proposals
Work on your own research proposal structure

Read for next time:

• Siegler & Opfer "The development of numerical estimation: Evidence for multiple representations of numerical quantity"
• Opfer's tutorial on analyzing the number-line estimation task

5. February 8th: The process of collecting and analyzing data

Overview of the data collection and analysis process
Review of the Siegler & Opfer process

For next time:
Outline your own process of collecting and analyzing data for your dissertation project

6. February 15th: The process of collecting and analyzing your own data

Work on your own data collection and analysis processes

For next time:
Read through the presentation resources at the TSE Research Portal
Scan through the online AERA program, looking for research relevant to your thesis topic

7. February 22nd: The process of reporting research in person

Discussion of steps beyond your dissertation research: conference or workshop presentations

For next time:
Read: Klinger, Scanlan & Pressley "How to publish in scholarly journals"

8. March 1st: The process of reporting research in print

Discussion of steps for presenting your dissertation research in print

For next time:
Bring in a "big picture" representation of your own research process

9. March 8th: An overview of the research process

Discussion of the "big picture" of research
Work on how this "big picture" frames your own research

For next time:prepare a final report on the status of your dissertation proposal

10. March 15th: Progress reports