PEP-507; HED-507: Research Methods

Pre-requisites

Purpose

To  provide students with the knowledge of the different types of research conducted in Education, Physical Education, Sports Administration, Health Education and Exercise Science.  In addition, students will learn how to design research studies, recognize major limitations to the validity of a research design and subsequent data, and apply their gained knowledge to the development of a research proposal.

Rationale

The design and implementation of research is a complex undertaking.  Many obstacles to good research exist, and there are many types of research.  Furthermore, knowledge of research design is helpful to those who need to read and understand published research.  Consequently, this course is needed by both the researcher to be, and user/consumer of research.

Objectives

1. the many different types of research designs.
2. matching suitable statistics to research designs.
3. research ethics.
4. the importance of valid instruments.
5. statistical power and type I and II errors.
6. limitations to valid research and the ability to generalize results.
7. the reporting of research by the media.
8. how to develop a research proposal.
9. how to write a research proposal.
10. how to present a research proposal to peers.
11. the issues involved in publishing research.

Alliance With Program, Division and College Missions

There is an increasing need to justify how academic courses "fit" within the theoretical framework of the college they are located within.  Explanations of the College of Education Mission and Conceptual Framework are found within the College section of the UNM website.

This course provides pertinent knowledge that extends the academic training in exercise physiology of the graduate students of UNM.

Format

This course is taught by a combination of formal lecture, directed discussion, and student presentation methods.  For all lectures, content will be presented using computerized PowerPoint slide projection.  Lecture/slide notes are found linked to this website, organized by the topics listed on the course calendar.

Students are responsible for reading published research in journals, magazines and newspapers.  Students are to keep copies of articles that interest them, and/or appear controversial.  Students need to bring these articles to class to assist in class discussion sessions.  In addition, students are responsible for completing summary exercises at the end of each Topic from their textbook.

Each class will begin with time devoted to the Topic Exercises from the prior lecture, any student directed questions/answers, and any current media reported research findings that are noted by the students or the lecturer.  The content of the lecture will follow, along with any lecturer initiated exercises designed to apply or emphasize important points.

Textbook and Other Required Items

I have yet to find a great textbook.  However, the following text is what I view to be the best Research Design textbook available.  This is not a required textbook, and I did not order this for the bookstore.  However, feel free to get this yourself via an internet source if you prefer to study from a textbook to supplement lecture material.  Approximately 60% of my lecture content is derived from this text. Used versions of the 6th edition are selling for as little as $4.00 on Amazon!

Graziano AM, Raulin ML. Research Methods: A Process of Inquiry. 7th Edition, 2010, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA.

I have placed a copy of this text on closed reserve at Centennial Science and Engineering Library.

In addition to the textbook content, readings will be provided from other texts, published manuscripts, and several media sources.  Where possible, these supplemental sources will be digitally converted and posted on the course my website.

You are also required to,

Assessment

Student assessment is based on the scores from,

The point and percentage contribution of each assessment item is summarized in the table below.

Your final grade will simply be based on your percentage score of the 600 total assessment points.

How Is Participation to Be Assessed?

To receive full marks for participation, students need to;

How Is the Presentation to Be Assessed?

To receive full marks for the presentation, students need to;

Details of the presentation can be found in this class website.  Simply follow the link in the left page margin of this page.

The grade letter and points distribution is provided in the table below.

Note that according to Department of Physical Performance and Development policy, a grade of C^- or worse is a failing grade.

Faculty Expectations of Students

This is a graduate level class.  Graduate students are expected to be motivated, independent in their study habits, and committed to obtaining as much information and knowledge as they can from the course and lecturer.  The presence of a participation component to grading is based on the need to assess student progress in reading as well as academic and intellectual challenges presented during lecture and discussion sessions.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty, which includes plagiarism, will not be tolerated.  The College of Education, as with the entire university, has policies on how to handle such infractions.  All faculty are required to abide by these rules and punishments, and students should read about such issues at the following sites: