The ASPE Grants and Research Committee is offering a series of six research-focused workshops. This series will include topics such as different types of research, how to ask a research question, writing for research/grants and an introduction to statistics and data analysis. A minimum of two workshops in this series will be offered at each annual ASPE meeting. Completion of all six workshops will result in a certificate. 

At the 2004 meeting the two pre-conference workshops offered are:

Part I - TYPES OF RESEARCH:

This workshop will provide the participants with an overview of the types of research currently being used with SPs and directions for future studies.

Objectives:

• to define basic terms in educational research methodology

• to understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative research
• to discuss the pros and cons of each type (and which types are best suited to novice researchers)
• to provide a critical review of research using SPs, discussing the important methodological considerations for these types of studies (why did the authors do what they did?)

At the end of this workshop, participants should have gained an understanding of how to read a research study involving SPs, and to be critical about the approach to the study type of methods reported by the authors. Participants are encouraged to bring their ideas for SP research.

Part II - HOW TO ASK A RESEARCH QUESTION:

This workshop will provide the participants with the skills to analyze a problem related to SP methodology and develop that problem into a research question.

Objectives:

• to assist participants in their ability to formulate a question into a research study
• to provide practical experience in working through everyday questions relating to SP use, developing them into research questions
• to learn how to developing a research study from an original question, with guidance on how to select a method appropriate for the study

In depth discussion of study design and methods is offered. Participants are encouraged to bring their ideas for SP research.