Week 24

Evidence-based evaluation of the impact

Consider how will you evaluate the impact of your Action Plan and how the data will help to provide an answer to your question, so that your evaluation will be evidence based. The following questions, which build on the sample inquiry questions from week 20, may help you as you consider which evidence you will use in your evaluation:

• If you plan to explore an innovation consider What could be the intended outcome(s)/ result / consequence that affect target members of your community? How could you measure this? When could you gather this data?
• If you plan to evaluate an innovation consider to what extent will your innovation impact [intended outcome / result / consequence]on target members of your community? How will you measure this? When will you gather this data?

These examples might help you think about the relationship between different variables in your question and give you a framework to answer your inquiry question when you interpret your data later in week 30 of the Practice course. Week 30 will go into more detail about Efron and Ravid’s (2013) 3 key steps for research data analysis process: Preparation for the data (Step 1), Analysis of the data (Step 2) and Interpretation of the data (Step 3), but at this stage it may be helpful to keep the following points in mind:

Step 1: Preparation for the data If your data collection methods include interview and observation, the audio or video recordings will need to be transcribed into text-based documents. Organising the data within a folder that includes clear file names is recommended to make it easier to retrieve data for later analysis.

Step 2: Analysis of the data For quantitative data, if you use tools such as SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to survey your (students/teachers/other) community these tools normally auto summarise the results and provide the graphs. For qualitative data, the most popular data analysis technique is ‘coding’. Babione (2015) explains that coding is “to sort text ... into categories that provide structure for interpretation” (p.142). The Ministry of Education’s website Te Kete Ipurangi (n.d.) has data analysis examples of putting student responses into categories and themes(scroll down and open the “Visualising and analysing different types of data” part to view the examples). Coding categories can be from your Inquiry question or from literature.

Step 3: Interpretation of the data Interpretation of the data will be discussed in week 30.

You do not have to include how you are going to plan to interpret your data in your RESEARCH 2 Action Plan, however the data analysis steps above may give you a preview of helpful information in terms of how analysed data can be put together to form the answer to your Inquiry question that may help you when you reflect on PRACTICE assessments. Understanding data analysis can also help you to anticipate what the project could potentially reveal or indicate. For example, researchers need to be careful in generalising the results to a wider population because this might not be correct. 

The Australian Council for Educational Research (Meiers & Trevitt, 2008) focuses on interpreting data, the purposes of using data in school, and how data can be used in schools to examine teaching practices in order to improve student learning in an issue of the Digest (Supplementary).

The next section discusses the potential impact of the findings from your project and how you can address the impact.

Potential impact of the findings

Your Action Plan needs to assess the potential impact of the findings from your Inquiry to address criteria 5 of the Assignment 2 rubric. The Association for Qualitative Research (2013) define findings as “the principal outcomes of a research project; what the project suggested, revealed or indicated. This usually refers to the totality of outcomes, rather than the conclusions or recommendations drawn from them.”

While you may not yet know what the findings will be, you need to think about some of the ways in which they might impact on you, your community, your school etc.

Here are some questions (required) to help you to address the potential impact of your findings.

• What are the possible benefits (and disadvantages of the inquiry)?
• How might it impact on your communities or your practice?

Here are some additional questions (optional) that may help you to address the potential impact of your findings.

• How will the outcomes contribute to the topic area you are investigating (after you implement your Action Plan)?
• How will the outcomes from the Action Plan impact on your practice and/or members of your community?
• How will the outcomes from the Action Plan impact on the perception of members of your community about the topic area?

An example from a previous assignment (shared with permission) stated “Potential impact: During the course of my [Research Essay], I found that the majority of research into growth mindset originated from the United States. My inquiry will provide some insight into the impact of growth mindset in a rural New Zealand context. The results of this inquiry may highlight shortcoming in our school-wide goals setting process. It is unlikely that this would have a negative impact on our team as all staff members had input into the focus and design of this teacher inquiry process.”

Resources that might be useful to present your Action Plan

If you submit your RESEARCH 2 Action Plan as a blog or e-portfolio, you can read this document about how to download the free 90-day trial versions of Snagit or Camtasia to capture your work as a video to submit together with the link to your blog or e-portfolio.

Finalising your action plan - Action Plan (RESEARCH Assessment 2) checklist

• The communities you will engage with are identified.
• The actions and timeframe are described, and explained.
• The method of data collection, and ethical issues are identified.
• Evidence of the data collection tools is present.
• How Kaupapa Māori principles are integrated into your Inquiry is explained.
• Potential impact of findings is addressed.
• Relevant sources are referenced. 
• A document, video or copy of your blog is submitted.

Evidence of online participation (RESEARCH 2) Part B Checklist

• Two pieces of evidence are submitted which are either a screenshot or video capture of your contribution.
• Discussions should be topic driven, add value to the discussion and specifically relate to RESEARCH assessment 1 or RESEARCH assessment 2, or the class notes / materials from this course (Weeks 17- 24)
• Discussions should take place on any reputable online forum (for example Google+, comments on blog posts, professional Facebook communities etc.)
• Email correspondence or online meetings are not accepted.
• Two recorded online conversations must take place during this course (from 12th November 2018 to 27th January 2019. The date should be clearly stated).
• Each of the video/screen recordings should clearly state the date of participation and your name.
• Materials used for previous assessments should not be reused for this assessment.
• Identify the URL (web address) of the conversation clearly in the name or the description section on the portal when submitting your assessment.

References

Babione, C. (2015). Practitioner Teacher Inquiry and Research. USA: John Wiley & Sons. (e-copy available in Unitec library).

Efron, S. E., & Ravid, R. (2013). Action research in education: A practical guide. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. (e-copy available in Unitec library).

Meiers, M. and Trevitt, J. (2008). Using data to improve student learning. The Digest, NSWIT, 2008(3). Retrieved from http://web2.cheltenham-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/pluginfile.php/8490/mod_resource/content/0/Using%20data%20to%20inform%20teaching.pdf

Te Kete Ipurangi (n.d.). Data Analysis. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Teaching-as-inquiry/Data-analysis

The Association of Qualitative Research. (2013). Findings. Retrieved from https://www.aqr.org.uk/glossary/findings