Research (ESR) Courses

• ESR 505 Educational Inquiry & Assessment (for M.Ed. students) Students explore research paradigms and methodologies by studying their own educational settings and contexts. Students investigate topics that are of interest to them and learn how to retrieve, critique, and summarize published research. They produce and evaluate their own data to understand their classrooms and their students’ achievement, behaviors, and attitudes. Working collaboratively and independently on small projects and assignments, students learn different approaches to data collection and evaluation, considering issues of credibility, reliability, and validity. This course is taken in lieu of ESR 506 and ESR 507. Students who have taken ESR 506 and ESR 507 may not receive degree credit for ESR 505. 3 semester hour

• ESR 506 Graduate Research: Interpretive/Critical Students explore the distinctions and relationships within and between the interpretive and critical paradigms. Various data collection methods such as observation, interview, document, analysis, and narrative examination are introduced and practiced in order to gain insight into the educational setting. Students plan, conduct, and present a research project. Students are expected to attend a library session prior to or during the first three weeks of this course to learn how to use the library resources. 2 semester hours

• ESR 507 Graduate Research: Empirical/Quantitative Students acquire skills that enable them to conduct research in their own classrooms or educational settings and to extend their ability to critique research studies using quantitative measures. The course includes a discussion of the empirical/quantitative paradigm and its advantages and limitations. The course focuses on the use of quantitative methods that may be used by educators conducting research and reflecting on educational practice. Students plan and carry out a small-scale research study in their own area of interest using Windows-based computer software to analyze data by generating appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics . Topics related to assessment, such as norms, reliability, and validity, will also be introduced. Prerequisite ESR 506. 2 semester hours

• ESR 508 Research for School Leaders (for Educational Leadership programs) Students explore the distinctions and relationships between research paradigms used to facilitate school change.  Various data collection methods specific to the paradigms are introduced and practiced in order to gain insight into their application for leaders in educational settings.  Topics related to assessment and technology-based strategies are introduced to support and facilitate the use of research and research-based decision-making in these settings.  Students work collaboratively to plan, conduct and present research projects representing each paradigm.  The research projects are school-based, done in conjunction with their required internship component, and are consistent with guidelines suggested by the Educational Leadership Constituent Consortium. 3 semester hours

• ESR 514 Research in Action: Becoming Practitioner Researchers (for MAT students) Students explore research paradigms with an emphasis on practitioner research and its role in education.  Students examine their own educational views, histories and values, and, choose topics for small-scale projects and assignments that introduce them to different research designs and methodologies.  Data from several sources will be collected and analyzed.  Course readings are used to exemplify various methods and styles of conceptualizing, conducting and presenting research.  Students will learn about ethical considerations in educational inquiry and the skills necessary to critique research.  Students who have taken ESR 506 and ESR 507 may not receive degree credit for ESR 514. 3 semester hour

• ESR 610 Paradigms of Research: Alternative Ways of Knowing This team-taught course situates educational research and knowledge within a philosophy of science framework. This approach necessitates an examination of epistemologies -alternative ways of knowing the world - and how each in turn shapes and is shaped by the practice of education. The course is organized around three distinct paradigms in social science research: the empirical-analytic, interpretive and critical. This course explores the implications of these paradigms for critiquing, conceptualizing and conducting research in education. Prerequisite: ESR 506 or equivalent. 3 semester hours

• ESR 612 Empirical/Analytic Research I This course will take a case-based approach to exploring the assumptions and techniques of empirical/analytic research. Students will examine in detail one or two cases of research to understand how researchers develop questions and examine data that arise from an empirical study. Inferential statistical techniques will be discussed in the context of a research case. Students will analyze and interpret both the case data and data of their own in the discussion of empirical/analytic research. Prerequisite: ESR 507 or equivalent, ESR 610. 3 semester hours

• ESR 614 Interpretive and Critical Research I  This course is intended as an introduction to the theoretical, conceptual and methodological genres that constitute interpretive and critical approaches to research. These traditions and genres will be exemplified, compared and critiqued through individual research projects, written and visual case studies, and course readings. Various research methods, such as observation, interviews, document and narrative analysis will be introduced and practiced. Prerequisite: ESR 506 or equivalent, ESR 610. 3 semester hours

• ESR 616 Empirical/Analytic Research II This course uses a case-based approach to explore issues that arise in empirical/analytical studies when multiple measures are available from individuals or groups. The course builds on the discussion of the previous course ESR 612 to examine inferential statistical techniques for multivariate data. The assumptions, design and limitations of empirical/analytical studies that use multiple measures will be addressed. Multivariate statistical techniques will be discussed in the context of one or two cases of data and data generated by students. Prerequisite: ESR 610, ESR 612. 3 semester hours

• ESR 618 Interpretive and Critical Research II In this course, which builds on the understandings and skills emphasized in ESR 614 (Interpretive and Critical Research I), students have the opportunity to conceptualize, propose, conduct, analyze, interpret and present, in written and oral forms, a course-long research project. The empirical bases that interpretive and critical research provide for a holistic understanding and critique of educational settings and processes are examined. Presentations by students, of their work-in progress, structure the course organization as research issues and methods are addressed and analyzed as they emerge. Prerequisite: ESR 610, ESR 614. 3 semester hours