Data Collection Exercise

Data Collection Exercise

1. Anneliese Gatlin

   • Description of Project: The action research project will examine the affect of students’ outlooks/dispositions towards mathematics on their math success and investigate what factors contribute to the negative outlooks that students may have. This project will also aim to determine if the use of inquiry-based instruction is an effective strategy to improve students’ dispositions towards mathematics.

2. Questions About the Data Collection Process: 1. Is the researcher required to go through a training or certification program (like CITI) to be able to conduct research with human subjects? 2. Will a semester be long enough to test the effectiveness of inquiry-based instruction? 3. Will the data to measure students' outlooks towards math be accurate?

3. Research Questions: 1. How do students' outlooks towards math affect their success in math? 2. What factors contribute to students' negative outlooks towards math? 3. How does inquiry-based instruction affect students' outlooks towards math?

4. Type of Data: The quantitative data collected in this project to measure students' "success" in math will be from two sources. The first source of data will be students' end of semester math grades. The second source of data will be students' scores on a standardized math exam (the ACT Aspire).

5. Methods Used to Collect Data: At the beginning of the second semester, the researcher would collect students' first semester math grades. The researcher would then contact the district data coordinator to collect students' math scores on the first ACT Aspire interim test (a standardized assessment utilized at the school). At the end of the second semester (after implementation of inquiry-based instruction), the researcher would collect students' second semester math grades and scores on the second ACT Aspire interim test.

6. Data Collection Plausibility: Prior to beginning the project, it must first be approved by the school district's central office and potentially reviewed by a research committee as well. Parent and student permission must then be attained. With this approval, the plan is very plausible. The type of data would not be difficult to collect, but it could potentially have a profound impact on the researcher's teaching practices.

7. Getting Parent & Student Consent: At the beginning of the action research project, the researcher will explain the project to students and send a letter home to inform parents/guardians of my plans. Attached to this letter would be a consent form that students and their parents would have to sign to agree to being a participant in the project.

8. Problem Statement: The problem is that 30% of 9th grade students in Algebra 1 are failing the class with a 60% or lower. Upon narrowing of the problem, an intervention will be implemented.