Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to determine, if any, the effects of the digital age and the role it plays in the success of students registered in the Fundamentals of Speech Communication course. The statistics will be gathered from a comparison study of face-to-face (traditional) versus online (non-traditional) students. In addition, a look will be taken into anxiety levels and the role of resources available to students and determine if they play a role in student success.
Research Questions
1. Comparison Question (Quantitative) - Script: How does (group 1) differ from (group 2) in terms of (dependent variable for the (participants) at (research site)? Application: How do student perceptions of the basic communication skills learned in an online section of the Fundamentals of Speech Communication course compare to student perceptions of the same material in a face-to-face course?
2. Comparison Question (Quantitative) – Script: How does (group 1) differ from (group 2) in terms of (dependent variable) for the (participants) at (research site)? How does the type of student (traditional vs. non-traditional) and delivery method (face-to-face vs. online) affect student’s anxiety levels in Fundamentals of Speech Communication courses?
3. Comparison Question (Quantitative) - Script: How does (group 1) differ from (group 2) in terms of (dependent variable) for the (participants) at (research site)? Application: How do the anxiety levels of traditional students in a Fundamentals of Speech Communication course compare to non-traditional students in a face-to-face course?
Ok Deana, good, but remember you do NOT need one of each type of question. These were simply suggestions for the different types of questions you could possible have; very rarely do studies ever use all types of questions listed above. I recommend changing your purpose statement to
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of this study is to determine how human interaction in the digital age affects student achievement and retention in an online Fundamentals of Communication Speech course.
or something like this... the learning communication just sounds a bit awkward to me. You could use learning how to communicate, but they it wouldn't be parallel with student retention. Play with it and see what you can do. You do not need to include the course number or the word "research" in your purpose statement.
For your research questions, remember we don't need one of each of the types of questions. Were you planning on comparing online versus a face to face classroom? If you are comparing online vs. face to face then I'm not sure it is appropriate to only include online in your purpose statement.
For RQ1, I'm not sure how helpful this information will be. We know first year students feel overwhelmed, right? How does this relate specifically to your study?
For RQ2, you should be relating two variables, but I don't see them there. What you have is simply a descriptive question. You mention in the purpose statement you want to correlate student success and retention so then the research question could be
How does student success in an online [**IF you are only looking at online] Fundamentals of Speech Communication course relate to student retention?
Of course, we already know that students who do well, stay in the course so again, I'm not sure about this question.
I think the comparative questions are going to be most appropriate for you.
How do student perceptions [**of what???] in an online section of the fundamentals of speech communication course compare to student perceptions in a face to face course?
--> what is it that you are measuring or comparing here? Their perceptions of what? Or did you want to compare them on their levels of anxiety like you mentioned in your last question? IF so then include levels of anxiety here as your DV.
If you are also interested in traditional vs. non-traditional students, you can also include a comparative question here, but again, what is the DV? What is it that you are measuring to compare them on? Anxiety levels? If so then
How do the anxiety levels of traditional students in a fundamentals of speech communication course compare to nontraditional students in a face to face course?
Or you can combine into one RQ if you want to know the differential effect of your variables:
How does the type of student (traditional vs. nontrad) and delivery method (face to face vs online) affect students' [insert your Dv here, anxiety, perceptions of?? or whathever you want to measure] in fundamental of speech communication courses?
or something like this...
Finally, the central question, IF you have one, would be a qualitative question, but what you have listed is the comparative questions discussed above (which again, I think is most appropriate). Even the mastery of skills question is a quantitative question (do they feel they have mastered the skills: yes they do or no they don't); quantitative.
And now after rereading, your purpose statement and your research questions do not match. You mention learning communication and retention in your purpose, but you discuss perceptions and anxiety levels in your research questions; make sure your research questions match your purpose statement and vice versa. Also, you seem to mention type of student and delivery method quite a bit in your research questions, but not in the purpose. Finally, you mention in the purpose paragraph about how different study tools affect learning, but these are not mentioned in your research questions.
DeleteOk, I've given you lots to think about!! Please let me know if you have any questions!!
Seems like your head is going in a fast direction like mine and we basically know what we want to do but are getting confused as to how to do it. :) I found the variables difficult to pinpoint too.
ReplyDelete