Please check, just in case

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Please check, just in case
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Announcements, questions, or quandaries?
Group presentations begin Oct 20 make an
appointment to see me for assistance in finding
resources, questions, or concerns.
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Todays Topic

• Research Design Issues Part II

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Small Group Activity

• Identify the major points you took from today's
  assigned readings. Be ready to present them to
  the group.

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Parts of a Research Paper

• title page
• abstract
• introduction
• method section
• results
• discussion (including implications)

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Title Page

• The title should be an accurate and clearly
  identifiable description of the contents of the
  article.

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Title Page

• According to APA (p. 23) a title should
  summarize the main idea of the manuscript simply
  and, if possible, with style. It should be a
  concise statement of the main topic and should
  identify the variables or theoretical issues
  under investigation and the relationship between
  them.

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Abstract

• An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of
  the contents of the article it allows readers to
  survey the contents of an article quickly and,
  like a title, it enables persons interested in
  the document to retrieve it from abstracting and
  indexing databases.
• (APA Manual, p. 25)

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Abstract

• Accurate
• Self-contained
• Concise and specific
• Nonevaluative
• Coherent and readable

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Introduction

• Introduce the problem.
• Why is this study important?
• Develop the background.
• Literature review
• State the purpose and rationale.
• Purpose should include either the
  hypothesis/hypotheses or the research questions.

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Literature Review

• The author(s) should provide a comprehensive,
  thorough, well-organized and articulate synthesis
  of the professional literature that is relevant
  to the presented study.

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Introduction

• Is it clear what problem the study attempts to
  address?
• Is it clear how the study relates to previous
  research?
• Are the hypotheses or research questions clear
  and do they follow from the author(s) previous
  arguments?

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Method Section

• Are the participants adequately described (i.e.
  students with learning disabilities)?
• Do you understand how the data was collected and
  do the procedures appear trustworthy?
• Do the methods appear to be able to answer the
  research question(s)?
• If there are multiple researchers involved, is it
  clear exactly who did what?

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Results

• In the Results section, the author(s) should
  summarize the collected data and the analysis
  performed on those data relevant to the discourse
  that is to follow.
• (APA, p. 32).

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Results

• Analysis of data and the reporting of the
  results of those analyses are fundamental aspects
  of the conduct of research. Accurate, unbiased,
  complete, and insightful reporting of the
  analytic treatment of data (be it quantitative or
  qualitative) must be a component of all research
  reports.
• (APA, pp. 32-33)

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Discussion

• Interpretation of results
• Qualification of results (e.g. limitations)
• Inferences
• Conclusions
• Theoretical and practical consequences of results
• Concluding commentary on the importance of the
  findings.

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Discussion

• Are the conclusions supported by the results and
  the relevant literature?
• Do the implications seem reasonable? (Do you buy
  it?)

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Looking ahead

• Critical Concepts in Quantitative Research

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Please take a minute for the minute paper.