Copy of Certificate of Completion for Human Subjects Training (Appendix II)
Below you find the written portion of the HSRC form. Enjoy!
On separate sheets, please answer in clear, non-technical terms, the following questions regarding your research, and the involvement of human subjects in your research.
7. What is your research question, or the specific hypothesis?
How do disruptions interfere with teaching/learning?
Things to consider, class size, layout, topic, structure, professor, time of day
Initial Assumption
While I do have initial assumptions on what will occur I will be allowing for the research findings to determine the hypothesis through an inductive approach.
I assume that there will be common disruptions across all sites.
I assume students find disruptions to be:
· Distracting
· Time consuming
· Disrespectful
8. What are the potential benefits of the proposed research to the field?
Faculty and students can come to a common ground on the causes of classroom disruptions, which has significant potential for genuine dialogue to begin about ground rules and respect within in the classroom…limiting disruptions are resolving them altogether.
9. What are the potential benefits, if any, of the proposed research to the subjects?
Students will have the opportunity to recognize what disrupts them in the classroom. This gives them insight and reflection to their feelings on classroom behavior.
10. Answer a), then answer either b) or c) as appropriate.
a) Describe the population your research is designed to study, including the number of subjects.
Participants for this study will include sixty students from different backgrounds, field of studies, level of college experience, and purpose for choosing the course of study. I will be focusing on three courses at Western Washington University in the Fall of 2011, Communications 322, Civil Discourse, taught by Dr. Carmen Werder, Human Services 450, Diversity and Social Justice, taught by Dr. Susan Kincaid, and Education 417B, Trauma and Resiliency, taught by Dr. Ray Wolpow.
These participants were chosen because of the class size, similarity in physical layout, time of day, and teaching style.
b) Describe how you will recruit subjects from your population of interest. You should include
specific details about your sampling strategy (e.g. selection of cases from telephone or web
lists, classes, or clinics). If appropriate, explain how you will contact key individuals who will
facilitate access to the sample subjects (e.g. group leaders). Any materials to be used for
recruitment (e.g. advertisements, web pages, contact letters or emails) should be included, in
addition to a description of any use of compensation.
Students will be asked to volunteer participation as part of a research study on student behavior.
OR
c) Describe how you will access preexisting data about the subjects.
N/A
11. Briefly describe the research methodology. Attach copies of all test instruments/questionnaires that
will be used. Note: All attachments must be in final form; drafts are unacceptable.
Videotaping in the classroom is not an uncommon method of studying behavior of students. Schools have been using this method since the video camera came out to study students and teaching faculty in the field of education. I plan on videotaping every class for the entire length of the course (one academic quarter). I plan on doing this so the mere presence of the camera will become a norm in the classroom environment over time. In Gay’s et al. Educational Research text they note that the introduction of cameras early in research will decrease uneasiness of students sometimes revealed by uneasy faces and odd comments (P. 374). At the end of the course students will be asked to participate in a study and will view one or two of the tapes from throughout the course. Students will be asked to note and describe if at any point their learning was disrupted while watching themselves in the tape(s). This will give me a qualitative set of data to compare to my first research findings. I will then code the results to find common disruptions and causes.
12. Give specific examples (with literature citations) for the use of your test instruments/questionnaires,
or similar ones, in previous similar studies in your field.
Jennie Meyers, from the Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University is a strong believer in videotaping courses as a means of assessing your classroom technique and delivery (http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/videotaping.html). While this tool is primarily for students to review the course as there are generally a 1:20 ratio, we will also be asking for faculty input on when their teaching was disrupted and why. The purpose of this is to compare responses from both students and faculty to record similarities and differences for future discussion. Natalie Orlova is the field of Second Language Teacher Education and considers videotaping one of the most valuable tools for her field as it “provides an objective and permanent source that can be viewed repeatedly to observe various aspects of classroom practice” (exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/docs/09-47-2-f.pdf). Videotaping each course and allowing faculty and students to view the tapes will allow them to practice reflective teaching/learning. In 1998 Wallace in Action research for language teachers said that “Reflective teaching [and learning] is the critical exploration of one’s own teaching practice and is essential to life-long professional development”
13. Describe how your study design is appropriate to examine your question or specific hypothesis.
Include a description of controls used, if any.
The research that I will be conducting is a descriptive case study design. I will therefore be collecting qualitative data through the use of observations, video, and surveys. I find it appropriate to use this approach due to the nature of this study, the intended population of study, as well as the descriptive questions leading the study and because Gay states that qualitative research involving video is concerned with what is happening and why, which is what I plan on setting out to do (p. 378). Throughout this study I plan on being a nonparticipant observer, that is I will sit back and let the class take its course without interacting and engaging with participants (Gay, p. 366). Due to researching multiple sites I will have to conduct a cross-site analysis. I will be conducting this task using an inductive approach to allow myself to draw themes from the data. Thomas (2006) stated that “The primary purpose of the inductive approach is to allow research findings to emerge from the frequent, dominant, or significant themes inherent in raw data, without the restraints imposed by structured methodologies (p. 239). I will therefore allow myself to go in to the study with an open head and attempt to allow the study to take its own course without implementing or imposing any of my own methodologies. Students will be recorded and asked to view a tape at the end of the quarter and answer two questions 1.) Did something disrupt your learning? and 2.) What was the disruption? This approach will allow me to keep with the emic design of this study, allowing participants to form their own categories of disruptions and results.
14. Give specific examples (with literature citations) for the use of your study design, or similar ones, in
previous similar studies in your field.
I will be collecting data through the use of notes, video, and survey responses from students. My notes will consist primarily of two key components in qualitative data collection, (1) descriptive information directly from my point of view and (2) reflections based on my observations (Gay, p. 367). I will use a survey questionnaire that asks participants to write in the disruptions that distracts their learning the most if any at all after reviewing the video of the class. Throughout my observation I will be using prompts that Gay et. al. ( 2009) provide:
· Who is being observed? How many people are involved, who are they, and what individual roles and mannerisms are evident?
· What is going on? What is the nature of the conversation? What are people saying or doing?
· What is the physical setting like? How are people seated, where? How do participants interact with each other?
· What is the status or roles of people; who leads, who follows, who is decisive, who is not? What is the tone of the session? What beliefs, attitudes, values, and so on, seem to emerge?
· How did the meeting end? Was the group divided, united, upset, bored, relieved?
· What activities of interactions seemed unusual or significant?
· What was the observer doing during the session? What was the observer’s level of participation in the observation? (p. 367).
I would also like to implement a survey near the end of the course to compare with my findings asking participants to identify what learning disruptions disturb their learning most and how it interferes or hinders their learning process after they view videos from the course. This approach will allow me to keep with the emic design of this study, allowing participants to form their own categories of disruptions and results.
This type of research is consistent with similar research in field of education including Bartlett (2004) research on taking control of the classroom where the researcher videotaped the classroom in session. The difference between this research and that of the one cited is that students will be reviewing the tapes, not instructors. Other research that is consistent with my design includes Tom (1998) research on faculty and student perceptions of classroom etiquette and McKinney (2005) research dealing with disruptive behavior in the classroom.
15. Describe how you will address privacy and/or confidentiality.
All participants will sign an informed consent form. Real names will not be associated with any published documents or printed at any time during the study. I can provide anonymity but not confidentiality. Participant names will not be used in the research or documents created after the research.
16. If your research involves the use of schools (pre-kindergarten to university level) or other
organizations (e.g., community clubs, companies), please attach a clearance letter from an
administrator from your research site indicating that you have been given permission to conduct this
research. For pre-kindergarten to grade 12 level schools, an administrator (e.g. principal or higher)
should issue the permission. For post-secondary level schools permission may be granted by the
class instructor. For Western Washington University, this requirement of a clearance letter is
waived if you are recruiting subjects from a scheduled class. If you are recruiting subjects from a
campus group (not a class) at Western Washington University, you are required to obtain a clearance
letter from a leader or coordinator of the group.
N/A
17. If your research involves the use of schools (pre-kindergarten to university level) or other
organizations (e.g., community clubs, companies), and you plan to take still or video pictures as part
of your research, please complete a) to d) below:
N/A
a) Who have you contacted at the school district or organization involved, to determine the
policy on the use of photography in the school or organization?
b) Explain how your research plan conforms to the policy on the use of photography in the
school or organization.
c) Attach a copy of the school district or organization policy on the use of photography at the
school or organization.
d) Explain how you will ensure that the only people recorded in your pictures will be the ones
that have signed a consent form.
18. Attach a copy of your informed consent form. (A checklist is attached for you to use as a guide.)