EDL 745: Introduction to Research Methods

This course is to help doctoral candidates develop a basic research design by introducing them with relevant research and statistics vocabulary.  This course includes basic research terminology and an overview of qualitative and quantitative research design issues.  Some examples of the terminology presented in this course are population, sample, research question, null and directional hypotheses, primary and secondary sources, meta-analysis, institutional review board and human subjects protection, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, significance testing, effect size, unit of statistical analysis, types of sampling (random, systematic, cluster, convenience, purposeful), reliability, types of validity, bias, parametric and non-parametric statistics, and correlation.  The overview of research design issues will include descriptive, causal-comparative, correlational, case study, survey, observational, ethnographic and historical research.