Whitney Barnes
Research Methods Case Scenario
(a) I am choosing research question number one; how much do reading scores change from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year? Using the steps of the scientific method to study this research question you need to start by asking a question. The question for this research would be, how much do reading scores change from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year? Next, you need to do research on the question, this could include using experimental research. The next step would be to construct a hypothesis about this question. Then, you need to test your hypothesis by doing an experiment. You would then analyze the data that you have collected and come to a conclusion of whether or not your hypothesis was correct. Finally, you need to communicate the results of your data to fellow researchers.
(b) The hypothesis that I would conclude for this research question is, reading scores would greatly improve from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year. My reasoning behind my hypothesis is, students are learning to read all throughout the school year. Therefore, when they start the school year their reading scores might be low. However, once they are learning to read throughout the school year and get better at it, their reading scores would be much higher.
(c) The two research methods that I think would be most beneficial to the research of this question would be, a case study and experimental research. In order to perform a case study you need to select between one and five random participants from the school at the beginning of the year. Then you would observe the students, interview the students, and look at their reading scores. This could be done by sitting in the classroom to see how they are being taught to read, and what they are being taught to read. Also, you could interview the students and ask them if they feel like they are being taught to read, and how well they think they can read. You would then do this again at the end of the school year, and compare your data. To perform experimental research you need to first figure out the independent variable and dependent variable. In this scenario the independent variable would be the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year. The dependent variable would be the reading scores. You would then test your experiment by giving all of the students a reading test at the beginning of the school year and then again at the end of the school year. This experiment would give you results to the answer of your question. The bad thing about case studies is