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EDU7702-8	Debra Smith, EdD
Identify Research Designs of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Studies	Week 5

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Online Learning and Credit Recovery in High Schools

I. Children’s Classroom Engagement and School Readiness Gains in PrekindergartenAuthors: Nina C. Chien and Carollee Howes, Margaret Burchinal, Robert C. Pianta

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01490.x/pdf

Purpose of Study:

With the many changing scenes in pre-adolescent school preparedness programs, the concerns regarding the children lack of readiness school are growing very rapidly. Our present study reveals a pattern of children’s engagement pre-kindergarten classrooms. With the huge investment of dollars, it is compulsory to determine the attributes of program, effectiveness of program and skills development in a child after conducting this program. The primary objective of this study is to measure a correlation between school engagement and school readiness gain in Prekindergarten.

Research Methodology:

The nature of study is quantitative and data analysis is made through deceptive statistics. The data is collected from National Center for Early Development and Learning Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten, and a follow-up study, the State-Wide Early Education Programs Study (SWEEP). Stratified random sampling method has been used for data collection. The study is conducted into two phases. In first phase, data is collected from six states of USA while in second phase; data is collected from five states of USA. Total, 701 programs are conducted in which 2,966 children participated.

The data is collected through Multi-State observations, interviews from teachers and teacher reports. The children profile is divided into four groups and person-centered analyses are used for interpretation of results. The study includes no hypothesis or theoretical diagram. A significant relationship is found between Classroom Engagement and School Readiness Gains after data analysis and interpretation of results (Chien et al., 2010).

Research Design
Elements	Description
Type of Investigation	Quantitative Nature of Study with exploratory objectives.
Study Setting	The study settings are non-contrived and it is field study. The observations are made in class rooms and primary data is collected after field work.
Data Collection and Sampling Design	Both secondary and primary data is collected for better interpretation of results. Stratified random sampling method is used for data collection. The children profiles are distributed into four groups. The data is collected through observations, interviews from teachers and teacher reports. Secondary data is also used to support the primary results.
Data Analysis and Measuring Methodology	Person-centered analyses and descriptive statistics are used for data analysis. Through defining mean, median, mode and %ages of responses, the date measurements are made.
Time Horizon	Cross Sectional study
Unit of Analysis	Groups are developed as the unit of analysis.

II. Effective Teachers: An Investigation from the Perspectives of Elementary School Students

Authors: Jludith F. E-vans

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01626620.2002.10734431

Purpose of Study:

The “effective teaching” has become considerable topic of research in field of teaching and in whole educational community. Several studies have been conducted to seek the relationship between teaching attributes and adult students. Current study is aimed to investigate the attributes of teaching effectiveness for students of elementary level (5th Grades). Ethnographic interviews are conducted for data collection.

Research Methodology:

The nature of study is qualitative and data is collected through ethnographic interviews and class observations. Through ethnographic interviews, data is coded and then themes are developed for better description of teacher’s attributes. Before conducting ethnographic interviews, a pilot study is conducted and data is gathered from students of 5th grade aging from five to six years old.

Four sessions are conducted for data collection. The data is collected from teachers, students and administrators. After data collection, the themes are developed through developing the relations between responses. In case of students, the sample size contains 14 students, nine girls and five boys. These students belong from different schools: an urban public school (UPS), an urban Catholic school (UCS), a suburban public school (SPS), and a suburban Catholic school (SCS).

A period of 14 months is utilized for data collection. No statistical tools are used for data analysis. The findings are drawn through coding and data development. The students’ progress reports are used for themes development (Evans, 2002).

Research Design
Elements	Description
Type of Investigation	The nature of study is qualitative and data is collected through ethnographic interviews and class observations. The study is deceptive and it describes the teaching effectiveness attributes on elementary level.
Study Setting	The study is purely conducted in field setting. No contrived experiments are made.
Data Collection and Sampling Design	Teachers, students, and administrators are participants of study. Data is collected from an urban public school (UPS), an urban Catholic school (UCS), a suburban public school (SPS), and a suburban Catholic school (SCS). Class observations and Ethnographic interviews are conducted for data collection.
Data Analysis and Measuring Methodology	No statistical tools are used for data analysis. Data is coded and those themes are developed through finding relationships between various responses.
Time Horizon	It is longitudinal study and data is collected after specific intervals of time within the period of 14 months.
Unit of Analysis	Interviews are conducted both on individual and group level.

III. Credit Recovery hits the mainstream (Accountability lags for online options)

Author: Sarah Carr

URL: http://educationnext.org/credit-recovery-hits-mainstream/

Purpose of Study:

Current study is descriptive and comparative in nature in which author describes the advantages and drawbacks of online recovery courses. The study is aimed to compare educational reports from various institutes like National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), American Institutes for Research (AIR), Florida Virtual School and Oceanside Unified School District in California. According to author, the data about online recovery courses is incomplete and more research is needed to highlight the goodness of online recovery courses for future of students.

Research Methodology:

The article focuses on the popularity of online credit recovery classes in the U.S. Topics covered by study are: growth in online learning, computer-based credit recovery program, quality of online courses and advantages and disadvantages of online recovery programs. The study is descriptive in nature and literature is based on comparison of reports from different institutes dealing with online recovery courses. Grounded theory technique is used by author to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of study.

The students belonging from all age groups are focus of study. Teachers, administrators, students and vies from previous researchers are used create a data spectrum in literature. The findings are drawn from comparison and relationship building in literature of study. The grounded theory technique deals with similar studies on same topic and compares them periodically. There is great skepticism about virtual, online, distance, hybrid, or blended education programs. There is no sampling, data collection or use of data analysis tools. Only secondary data is used to draw the results and theme building (Carr, 2014).

Research Design
Elements	Description
Type of Investigation	The study is descriptive and comparative in nature based on Grounded Theory Technique.
Study Setting	The study is based on secondary data analysis and no lab or filed experiments are made.
Data Collection and Sampling Design	Secondary data is used for interpretation and themes development. No sampling is conducted.
Data Analysis and Measuring Methodology	The study is based on Grounded theory technique. No data analysis tools are used by author to draw results.
Time Horizon	Cross sectional study
Unit of Analysis	The study is dealing with individual, group and organizational unit of analysis.

IV. Addressing the high school dropout crisis: at-risk students and Education2020 online credit recovery

Authors: Dexter, Kamala URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1957/33461

Purpose of Study:

Current study is aimed to find to examine the impact of at-risk students' satisfaction on online credit recovery program, Education2020. The study also measures the level of opportunities given by online credit recovery program to students to come towards graduation level. This study also determined the degree to which at-risk student demographics such as socioeconomic status, gender, age, ethnicity, and academic behaviors affected experiences in Education2020. The relationship is also measured in sense of online recovery program.

Research Methodology:

The study is quantitative in nature and it is conducted at a small, urban high school district. The sample size is 220 students who are enrolled in local high school and taking online credit recovery program Education2020. Through survey campaign, the data is gathered regarding the demographics of students like age, gender and ethnicity. The online credit recovery patterns are identified through taking a group of 67 seniors within the 220 students. Hierarchical linear regression analysis is used for analysis of survey data and to determine the relationship between satisfaction and online credit recovery program Education2020. ANOVA and Chi-square analyses are used to determine the relationship between student satisfaction level of student and their demographics like school site, academic behaviors, age, and ethnicity.

Findings of study exhibit that there is no relationship between pace of satisfactions of online recovery courses Education2020 program. However, it has been found that online credit recovery program provides an opportunity for improvement and to move towards graduation again (Dexter, 2011).

Research Design
Elements	Description
Type of Investigation	The study is quantitative and exploratory in nature. The study is aimed to explore the relationships between pace of satisfactions with online credit recovery courses and demographics of students. The study also measures the level of opportunities through online credit recovery course Education2020.
Study Setting	The study is conducted in filed and non-contrived environment.
Data Collection and Sampling Design	A sample size of 220 students is chosen from a local high school in a sub-urban area. Later, 67 students are chosen to identify the patterns of pace of satisfactions with online recovery course. A survey is conducted for data collection regarding the demographics of students.
Data Analysis and Measuring Methodology	Hierarchical linear regression analysis, ANOVA and Chi-square analyses are used for variable analysis and to measure the relationships.
Time Horizon	Cross Sectional study
Unit of Analysis	The study is dealing with grouped unit of analysis.

V. An Interim Report on a Pilot Credit Recovery Program in a Large, Suburban Midwestern High School

Authors: Franco, M. Suzanne; Patel, Mimosa H.

URL: http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/66538774/interim-report-pilot-credit-recovery-program-large-suburban-midwestern-high-school

Purpose of Study:

Current study is aimed to describe a pilot credit recovery program conducted in a large suburban high school in the Midwest. The study is quantitative in nature and the findings are also supported by previous literatures. In hence, main objective of this study is validating the previous data and supporting the historical proposition that fresh students who fail one course at their high school are more likely to fail at graduate level.

Research Methodology:

The study is quantitative in nature and data is collected from high school in the Midwest. The main motive behind the current study is to check the tendency that a student who fails one time at school level also fails on graduate level. With this is mind, the school developed a pilot credit recovery program for those students who failed at least one course in their educational career. The study is conducted in contrived environment and it gives the results for first cohort of students who participated and completed their pilot recovery program. The pilot project si focusing on students of grades 9th and 12th. Correlational analysis has been used to measure the relationships. The data is collected through both secondary and primary resources. Before admitting students in school, they are interviewed and commitment is made with their parents that they will not withdraw from school during the course.

The sample size includes 1663 enrollments. Data is collected from students, teaching staff and administration. During the project 96% students enrolled in school and they did not withdraw from school. So overall, the Pilot Credit Recovery Program has shown an effective progress (Franco & Patel, 2011).

Research Design
Elements	Description
Type of Investigation	The study is quantitative and exploratory in nature.
Study Setting	Study settings are contrived. A field experiment is made for data collection. The data is collected from only those students who participated in Pilot Credit Recovery Program. Pretest and posttest are conducted to measure the variance.
Data Collection and Sampling Design	Study is conducted at Midwestern High School, a large suburban area. The sample size includes 1663 enrollments. Total 96% enrollments are made during the program. Data is collected through students’ progress reports, observation and interviews as well.
Data Analysis and Measuring Methodology	Co-Relational analysis has been used for data analysis.
Time Horizon	The study is longitudinal in nature.
Unit of Analysis	Study is dealing with grouped unit of analysis.

References:

I. Carr, S. (2014). Credit recover hits the mainstream. Education Next, 14(3), 30-37.

II. Chien, N. C., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., Pianta, R. C., Ritchie, S., Bryant, D. M., . . . Barbarin, O. A. (2010). Children’s Classroom Engagement and School Readiness Gains in Prekindergarten. Child development, 81(5), 1534-1549.

III. Dexter, K. (2011). Addressing the high school dropout crisis: At-risk students and education2020 online credit recovery. [Sl: sn].

IV. Evans, J. F. (2002). Effective teachers: An investigation from the perspectives of elementary school students. Action in Teacher Education, 24(3), 51-62.

V. Franco, M. S., & Patel, N. H. (2011). An interim report on a pilot credit recovery program in a large, suburban midwestern high school. Education, 132(1), 15.