Data Analysis

HIED 8315: Internet Research in Education Page 1 Jim Vander Putten

HIED 8315: Brief Data Analysis Assignment #2 Your final course grade will depend on completion of assignments, participation in class discussions, and your work on two papers and the Final Exam. Your papers will be graded on content and clarity of presentation, and I have outlined on pages 7-9 the aspects of the papers that will receive special attention as part of each of these criteria. Your primary assignment this week is to complete a bit more advanced original analysis and interpretation of online data using data variables that you select. There will be no class on July 29th to give you a sufficient amount of time to complete the assignment in a high quality manner by 10pm on Monday, August 4th. Do not use data from a report or any data tables that have already been constructed, or that you used to complete the first assignment. Again, if you only have a basic understanding of education issues, I suggest that you focus on education issues related to your undergraduate or graduate degree program. Use one of the seven online education research resources that follow to write a 5 page paper that briefly describes the data analyses you completed and interpret the results of your data analysis. Use the Shavelson and Towne chapter 4, ‘Features of Education and Education Research,’ as a reference in completing this assignment. One way to organize the paper is: (a) an introduction to the issue (1 page), (b) a statement of the educational problem or issue to be investigated that answers the question 'Why is this important?' (1 page), (c) the research question that you investigated and a description of the dataset source used (1 page), (d) the results of your original data analysis (1 page), and (f) the interpretations or conclusions you can make from the results (1 page). Append some kind of graph or table based on the data you analyze, and interpret the results. Be sure to analyze your results—don’t just describe them, tell me what they mean. What dataset did you use? What variables? Why? What question(s) were you trying to answer? What were your results? What do they mean? What is this comparison and results important? Remember, this assignment requires you to complete a basic, clear analysis of straightforward descriptive data. Report your results in terms of percentages, means, medians, modes, or whatever formats are possible in the data resource you choose. Nothing fancy.

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Please use APA style, Sixth edition for your citations, graphs or tables, and references. If you’re unfamiliar with APA style Sixth edition or need a refresher, here are some good online resources to help you cite electronic sources accurately in APA style: 1. Guides for Citing Electronic Data Sources: http://einstein.library.emory.edu/citations_general.html http://einstein.library.emory.edu/citation_guide.html 2. Bibliographic Citations Tutorial http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/da/tutor/bibliographic_citations.htm 3. How Do I Cite the Data in My Bibliography? http://datalib.chass.utoronto.ca/caq/caq.htm#caq20 4. Guide for citing electronic resources in general, APA 6th Edition www.pace.edu/library/help/how-do-i/cite-resources/citing-electronic-sources E-mail your assignment in Microsoft Word format to me by 10pm on Monday, August 4th using the Messages function in the Blackboard website. Dataset Resources: There may be some steeper learning curves involved with some of the online research resources for this week, so be sure to budget your time accordingly in order to complete this assignment in a timely manner. This assignment is also likely to test your patience and problem-solving skills, so plan ahead. The online data resources for this week’s assignment are more complex and sophisticated online research resources than the ones that could be used last week. As a result, you should investigate a more sophisticated research topic or question this week. Go to an online data research website related to your work or interests from those listed below. Select some variables from this online data research website and generate a more sophisticated analysis than last week to investigate a research topic or answer the question you pose. 1. American College Testing (ACT) State Profiles (MA students only) Here’s an opportunity to generate empirical evidence of benchmarks at the state and national levels. Visit: http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2009/dashboard.html

A. Select either 2008 or 2009 data

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B. In the ‘Select Data to View’ section, select variables to investigate two aspects of College Readiness Benchmarks as part of this week’s assignment.

C. In the ‘For Students From’ section, choose one or two states of interest and check the box labeled ‘Include National Data.’.

D. In the ‘Select Subgroup’ section, choose any subgroup variables that you’re interested in, and click ‘Display Results.’

As part of your discussion and interpretation of results, be sure to address the implications of your findings for the future American workforce. 2. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Data Explorer (MA students only) The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. Since NAEP assessments are administered uniformly using the same sets of test booklets across the nation, NAEP results serve as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts. The assessment stays essentially the same from year to year, with only carefully documented changes. This permits NAEP to provide a clear picture of student academic progress over time. Visit < http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata/>, choose either the ‘Main NDE’ or the ‘LTT NDE’ and click ‘I agree’ to the NCES Data Usage Agreement. If you choose the Main NDE:

1. Select a ‘Subject’ and ‘Grade,’ and when the dropdown box appears, click on both year boxes (2009, 2005) and click on 2-3 measures of your interest to track, and click on ‘Select Variables.’

2. On the next page, click on the ‘Details’ links to see brief descriptions of any data and select either the ‘National Group’ data or the Public or Private school data under ‘Jurisdiction.’ Click the ‘Select Variables’ button.

3. On the next page, select any variables in the Sub Category Factors that you’re interested in (e.g., ‘Student,’ ‘School,’ ‘Community’) and click ‘Edit Reports’ and ‘Build Reports.’

4. Use the ‘Select Report pulldown menu to view the results for each report. 5. For each report, click the ‘Chart’ tab and ‘Chart Options’ button to

generate charts of your results. Choose the ‘Bar Values’ and ‘Values Grouped By’ pulldown menu options, and click the ‘Preview’ button to view the results as a bar chart. This entire graphic can be dragged from the web page into a Microsoft Word document for use in your paper.

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If you choose the Long Term Trends NDE:

1. Select a ‘Subject’ and ‘Age,’ and when the next page appears, click on 2- 3 boxes to select years to track, and click on ‘Select Variables.’

2. Select any variables in the Sub Category Factors that you’re interested in (e.g., ‘Student,’ ‘School,’ ‘Community’). Be sure to review the grid on the right to select variables that have data, and avoid those listed as “NO DATA’ with a red line through it and click ‘Edit Reports’ and ‘Build Reports.’

3. Use the ‘Select Report’ pulldown menu to view the results for each report. 4. For each report, click the ‘Chart’ tab and ‘Chart Options’ button to

generate charts of your results. 5. Click the ‘Preview’ button to view the results as a bar chart. This entire

graphic can be dragged from the web page into a Microsoft Word document for use in your paper.

  3. Elementary/Secondary Information System <nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/> The Elementary/Secondary Information System (ELSi) is an NCES web application that allows users to quickly view public and private school data and create custom tables and charts. It is a fast, easy way to obtain basic statistical data on U.S. schools. When generating custom tables, ELSi allows the user to choose row variables, column variables and filters to refine the data included in tables produced. Click the ‘Table Generator’ button and click ‘I agree’ to the NCES Data Usage Agreement. Select a ‘Table Row,’ one or more ‘School Years of Data,’ and in the ‘Select Table Columns’ section, click on one of the topic tabs (e.g., ‘Enrollment,’ ‘General Finance’) and then click one of the boxes with a plus sign in it to expand the list and choose the variables you want to analyze. Next, click ‘Select Filters’ to choose a filter radio button, and click ‘Create Table.’ After the table loads, click the ‘Group Table Results By’ pulldown menu to group the columns. 5. U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics Data Analysis System (DAS) 2.0 BETA (Doctoral students only) The Data Analysis System (DAS) is a software application that allows you to produce tables and to estimate covariance analyses from NCES data sets. Using the DAS Online, you can run tables and regressions, and view output using a web browser. The Data Analysis System is located at: http://nces.ed.gov/das/

A. Review the tutorial documents in the User Help Center located at: http://nces.ed.gov/dasol/help/index.asp

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B. Click on the DAS Online Application tab on the web page located at: http://nces.ed.gov/dasol/index.asp and read the documents on the ‘Overview’ page before clicking on the ‘Create Tables’ page located at: http://nces.ed.gov/dasolv2/tables/index.asp

C. Focus on the ‘Postsecondary’ application to select a topical area (e.g., students, faculty) and row and column variables for analysis and interpretation.

6. National Science Foundation's SESTAT (Science and Engineering Statistics) dataset (Doctoral students only) The Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) is an integrated data collection effort capturing information about employment, educational, and demographic characteristics of scientists and engineers in the United States. The data are collected from three national surveys of this population: the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG), and the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR). The data collected from these three surveys are combined in a comprehensive, integrated database: SESTAT. Data are available through the SESTAT Data Tool, which allows users to generate custom data tables. Review the overview webpage at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/sestat/. A. Review the SESTAT virtual tour videos located at: http://www3.airweb.org/?page=1823 B. Then visit: < https://sestat.nsf.gov/sestat/sestat.html > to launch the SESTAT Data Tool. C. Follow the steps in the right arrow tabs to select a survey, choose variables, specify a population, select a data type and generate the table. 6. National Science Foundation's WebCASPAR dataset: The National Science Foundation's Computer-Aided Science Policy and Research (CASPAR) database is a web-based system for analyzing NSF data on higher education. WebCASPAR contains information on Research & Development expenditures, Federal funding, degrees awarded, and graduate student enrollments at several thousand U.S. academic institutions. While WebCASPAR focuses primarily on science and engineering, many of the data resources also provide information on non-S&E fields and higher education in general. You can browse through available data, select information of interest, and download this information as tables, spread- sheets, or data files. The WebCASPAR website is located at: https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/webcaspar/ Click on the TUTORIALS menu tab if you would like to review tutorials on creating tables in WebCASPAR.

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A. From the WebCASPAR home page, select a data source of interest from

the National Science Foundation (NSF) Data Sources list and click ‘Select Data Source(s).’

B. Add an analysis variable and click ‘Select.’ Then click on the ‘Modify Classification Variables’ tab near the top of the page and add the classification variables you want to analyze, and click ‘Select.’ Be sure you have ‘Row’ and ‘Column’ variables and report percentages as part of the analysis.

C. Click on the ‘Format Table tab near the top of the page and make sure the ‘Browser’ radio button is active in the bottom left part of the web page.

D. Click on the ‘View Table’ tab to generate the table to use as the basis for your assignment.

7. U.S. Department of Education PowerStats (Doctoral students only) PowerStats is a data analysis tool that provides access to nine National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) postsecondary education datasets and the thousands of variables they contain. PowerStats includes the National Postsecondary Student Aid Studies (NPSAS), the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS), the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B), and the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF). You can create tables and regressions with a visually intuitive drag and drop interface, and receive your results in a range of formats, including Excel and PDF.

1. Visit PowerStats at http://nces.ed.gov/datalab 2. Create an account with your preferred email address and reset the

temporary password that is sent to you. 3. Once you’ve accessed the PowerStats website, go to the ‘Learn by Doing’

column in the ‘Getting Started’ section of the website. Review the PDF files on any topic you’re interested in learning more about.

4. Click on the ‘Table’ icon to enter the data analysis section, and click on any topics in the ‘Group’ column on the left side of the window to access specific surveys and variables.

5. Click on the type of table you want to generate, and on the next page select the variables you want to analyze, and follow the instructions to add variables to the workspace (for example, in NSOPF04, dependent variable ‘Gender’ by independent variable ‘Total hours per week teaching credit classes’).

6. Click the ‘Create Table’ button in the upper right corner to generate the table.

Then, convert the table to some sort of graphic form that effectively communicates the natures of the results (Venn diagram, box and whiskers

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chart, heat map, etc). Use this as a part of your interpretation of the analyses you complete. Clarity of Presentation 1. Structure your paper and use APA style headers and sub-headers as appropriate. Paper formats may vary, but remember to include the following elements to help make your paper coherent: • Cover page: Include the paper title, your Student T number (instead of

name), date, and course information. No abstract or running head is necessary.

• Introduction: State the issue and educational context clearly (1 page). • Educational Issue: a statement of the educational problem or issue to be

investigated that answers the question 'Why is this important?.' Raise the key issues, support your points, and follow a logical line of argument (1 page).

• Research Question: the research question that you investigated and a

description of the dataset source used (1 page). • Results: the results of your original data analysis (1 page). • Conclusion - interpretations or conclusions you can make from the

results and suggest implications for policy or practice (1 page). • References - Provide information only on the sources you cite in the

paper. For citation and reference list, use APA style (6th Ed.). • APA 6th Edition requires Digital Object Identifier (DOI) numbers in the

reference list for journal articles, but in many cases that information isn't provided. Please include DOI numbers in your references, and use this website to obtain them:< www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery >. For best results, enter the entire APA-style formatted citation in the text box.

2. Grammar and spelling errors weaken strong ideas and sometimes make an argument difficult to follow. The paper grade will not depend on minor errors unless they seriously hamper the paper’s ability to communicate the main points. Most errors can be identified by reading the paper aloud and revising it after a first draft. 3. Your paper must be double-spaced, use one inch margins all around, use Times New Roman font size 12, and contain no extraneous spaces between paragraphs. Please number your pages in the upper right corner.

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4. E-mail your assignment in Microsoft Word format to me by 10pm on Monday, August 4th using the Messages function in the Blackboard website. Papers submitted after August 4th will be reduced by one whole letter grade for each day the paper is late, and papers submitted more than 5 class days after the due date will not be accepted.

JVP’s Writing Pet Peeves

• Quotes in text that aren’t introduced: “Tinto’s 1975 model of college student attrition is the most widely accepted conceptual approach in higher education” (Smith, 2010).

• Anthropomorphism (attributing human actions to inanimate objects): “The National Center for Education Statistics found that 25% of college students have taken at least one online course.” (Refer to page 69 of the APA manual for guidance).

• Using the phrase “Since the founding of Harvard in 1636...” 
 • Using the unscholarly writing strategy: “According to Webster’s dictionary, x

is defined as...” • Misusing affective terms (e.g., ‘feelings’) 
 with cognitive concepts (e.g.,

‘thinking’): “I feel that Astin’s Black Box Model accurately depicts what occurs in higher education.” (Refer to page 68 of the APA manual for guidance.)

• The misleading use of ‘presentism’; discussing ideas or research results that are more than 5 years old and assuming that they are still current and accurate today.

• A journalistic writing style that includes full names, job titles, or institutional affiliations.

• Including article, journal, or book titles in the paper text. This is TMI. 
 • Using the editorial ‘we,’ ‘us,’ and ‘our’; these words should only refer to your

co-authors. Refer to APA manual pages 69-70 for recommended writing strategies.

• Overreliance on too few sources. This sends a message of “lazy scholarship” to the reader.

• Overuse of quotes, and in particular, blocked quotes of 40 words or more.