Elizabeth Yates and Professor Bradley Wilcox, Teacher Education
Purpose
The purpose of this project was data analysis for a study on elementary writing instruction, specifically this aspect of the project examined the connection between the physical environment of the elementary classroom and the quality and occurrence of writing instruction. The project as a whole was directed by Brad Wilcox and Tim Morrison. As an undergraduate research assistant, I was part of the research group composed of professors and graduate students from both BYU and UVU. My immediate supervisor was Dr. Brad Wilcox.
Project Plan and Timeline
In November 2009, I coded data collected the previous year and from a larger study on writing instruction. Specifically, my assignment was to organize the data from observations that had been gathered by recording the codes assigned to each of the 177 teachers. An example of the coding sheet used for organizing and reporting observations follows:
Project Assignments
I worked with a graduate sheet to an electronic data base that could be used to organize the data. We then worked to transfer the data from the coding sheets gathered from observers into the excel data base we had designed. As part of the my responsibility, I attended research group meetings, participated in the planning process for the next phase in the study, provide reports of the analysis and developed an instrument to report the findings of both the self-report forms (filled out by the teachers) and the observation forms (filled out by independent observers) used in collection of classroom environment data.
In April 2010, I began decoding all the data gathered from the observation sheets into an electronic spreadsheet that will compute sums and averages of the data. The original decoding was further analyzed by grade level and subject type, leading to a new phase of research with which I am currently assisting. In addition to the spreadsheet, I created a table that will report the data in a succinct manner which will assist in the comprehension of the findings. This new phase of the research is leading toward articles concerning early childhood education (K-2) in writing and will include interviews and case studies.
Research Skills Acquired
As a result of my participation in this project, I gained skill in designing data coding and research observation tools. I was able to learn to provide research reports and summaries that could be used to guide subsequent work on the project.
Publications and Presentations
I participated in the development of an article for publication and was listed as co-author. The article, Nature of classroom instruction and physical environment that support process writing in elementary classrooms, is under review for publication in the Journal of Curriculum Studies. I was also a coauthor for a presentation at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers National Conference in Omaha, Nebraska, November 5-7, 2010.