Single Subject  

Action Research 

Education Research and Development 

Seven Steps of the Research and Development (R&D) Cycle 
 

Research and Infomation Collection 
Planning 
Development of Prelimainry Form of Product 
Main Field testing 
 

Single Subject 

-- primarily a quantitative research method 

What it looks like -- 
 

1) Have only one subject or only one group 

2) Targeted behavior(s) must be defined clearly so that anyone seeing it would agree on the label given to it. Ex: What is "out of seat"? When the child's posterior no longer has contact with the seat of the chair? When the child steps away from the chair? How far away before it is "out of seat"?  

3) Reliability checks on the observations made by the experimenter(s). It is best to use multiple observers and to calculate a rate of agreement periodically. 

4) Multiple observations at different times of the day of the behavior(s) targeted for change. 

5) Description of treatment in enough detail for replication. 

6) Replication of treatment effects in the experiment. The experiment should be repeated to increase confidence in the findings.

 

Steps in Conducting a Single Subject Research -- 
 
1) establish a baseline (of teacher or student); similar in purpose to pretest; count the occurrences of the behavior before treatment 

2) inform the subject (this is what I will reward); this is not absolutely necessary, but it should decrease the time needed for an effect to occur 

3) gather data during treatment 

4) stop treatment; gather data; similar to post test; determines if there is a "lasting" effect 

5) repeat steps 3 and 4 at least once

 

Types of Analysis -- 
 

1) visual 

2) inferential statistics (pooling both baselines and both treatment times and using a T-test) 
 

External Validity 

Best answer to external validity question -- Replication of study 

Compare this with Case Study as we studied in Module 5.

Action Research 
 

What it looks like -- 
 
  Conducted in schools by practitioners (teachers, administrators, students). 
 
  Problems are selected that will enable practitioners to improve their instruction (teachers), school (administrators, teachers, students), or learning (students). 
 
  Problems are selected by the practitioner(s). 
 
  Much of the data is collected and analyzed by practitioner(s). 
 
  The classroom becomes the laboratory and the students are either researchers or participants or both. 
 
  The resource for the problem to be studied is the observations of the practitioner. 
 
  Resources for the hypotheses and design for the study is a review of relevant literature.
 

Data to be gathered include -- 
 

1. assignments 
2. anecdotal notes 
3. recordings of performances 
4. etc. [endless list of possibilities] 
 

Data can be gathered before, during, or after teaching. 

Data can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively ; you can ask someone from the university or your county office for assistance. 

To share the information -- 
 

1. school or district newsletter 
2. informal conversation 
3. faculty meetings 
4. etc. [endless possibilities] 

Educational Research and Development 

Research and Development (R & D) is a powerful strategy for improving instructional practice. Unfortunately, R & D still plays a minor role in education. Less than one percent of education expenditures are for this purpose. This is probably one of the main reasons why progress in education has lagged far behind progress in other fields. 

R & D is a process used to develop and validate educational products. These products may include: textbooks, films, software, methods, and programs. It does not include the development of curriculum or instructional technology, because curriculum development and instructional technology employ different methods for their development.  

While the goal of basic and applied research is to discover new knowledge, the goal of R & D is the development of a product. In this way, R & D can bridge the gap between research and practice. In addition, R & D increases the potential impact of basic and applied research findings upon school practice by translating them into usable educational products 

Two deficiencies of basic and applied research as strategies for developing educational products: (1)  the products are developed and refined only to the point where they can be used to test the researcher=s hypotheses and (2) the tests are made in settings that do not reflect actual school conditions. R & D requires greater refinement of products and repeated field tests of the product in classrooms.

Seven Steps of the R & D Cycle 

I. Research and information collecting 
 
A. needs assessment (criteria used to select an educational product to be developed) 
 
1. Does the product meet an important educational need? 
2. Is the state of the art sufficiently advanced that there is a reasonable probability    that a successful product can be built? 
3. Are personnel available who have the skills, knowledge, and experience    necessary to build the product? 
4. Can the product be developed within a reasonable period of time?

B. review of the literature (3 purposes) 
 

1. to collect research findings, etc. pertinent to the planned development  
2. determine the state of knowledge in the area of interest 
3. determine if and how this knowledge can be applied to the planned product 
 
C. small-scale research studies (to answer questions not answered in review of literature) 

D. preparation of report on state of the art 
 

II. Planning  
 
A. define skills to be learned  

B. state and sequence objectives (most important part of planning) 
 

1. provides the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the product 
2. provides basis for field testing and revisions
 

C. identifying learning activities 

D. small-scale feasibility testing (estimation of money, personnel, time)

III. Develop preliminary form of product  
 

A. preparation of instructional materials, procedures  

B. develop evaluation instruments to include feedback from users

IV. Preliminary field testing 
 

A. conducted in 1 to 3 schools using 6 to 12 subjects (suggested guidelines) 

B. collect initial qualitative evaluation (use interviews, observations, questionnaires) 

C. revise product based on analysis of qualitative data

V. Main field testing
 

  Chapter 6  Single Case Research

Suggested References --
 

Stringer, E.T. (1996). Action research: A handbook for practitioners. Thousand Oaks, CA: sage.
Borg, W.R., & Gall, M.D. (1989). Educational research: An introduction (5th ed.). NY: Longman.