2. Relationships of Respect and Challenge
Inquiry Habit of MindUsing Relevant Data
Evidence-informed
Conversations
Evidence-Informed Conversations about Data
Earl and Timperley (2000)
3. Which QTS std does this apply to?
“Hook-ups shift electrical energy from the survival centres in the hindbrain to the
reasoning centres in the midbrain and neocortex, thus activating hemispheric
integration … the tongue pressing into the roof of the mouth stimulates the limbic
system for emotional processing in concert with more refined reasoning in the frontal
lobes”
4. Learning is facilitated when teachers encourage risk-taking,
tolerate mistakes and provide feedback that allows learners to
monitor progress.
That is
‘learning oriented’ rather than ‘performance oriented’ cultures
(Dweck, 1989)
Risk Challenge & Feedback
6. Formative assessment
Many teachers’ previous
training and approaches to
teaching practice did not
require them to interpret and
use these kinds of data,
because assessment
information was about
labelling and categorising
students, and not for guiding
and directing teaching
How have we contributed to
existing student outcomes?
What do we already know that we
can use to promote improved
outcomes for students?
What do we need to learn to do to
promote these outcomes?
What sources of evidence or
knowledge can we utilise?
7. Two interrelated orientations to
research
In simple terms we can think of two approaches to
investigations in educational research: qualitative and
quantitative. In the former we use words to describe the
outcomes and in the latter we use numbers.
Berry, J. & Hohmann (2005)
8. Quantitative approaches
• Standardised tests
• Criterion references test
• Surveys
• Measurements, data collection and analysis
• Experimental and quasi experimental
methods
9. Shall I slice the
pizza into four
or eight pieces?
Make it four ! I
could never eat
eight !
Shall I slice the
pizza into four
or eight pieces?
Make it four ! I
could never eat
eight !
How useful is quantitative data alone ?
11. Qualitative approaches
• Action research (sometimes)
• Biography
• Interviews
• Ethnography
• Use of documentary evidence
(Hermeneutics)
12. How useful is qualitative evidence?
• It (Factory Act, 1844) provides nothing more than that
the children shall on certain days of the week, and for a
certain number of hours (three in each day) be enclosed
within the four walls of a place called a school and that
the employer of the child shall receive weekly a
certificate to that effect signed by a person designated by
the subscriber as a school master or schoolmistress. ‘ On
one occasion, on visiting a place called a school, from
which certificates of attendance had issued I was so
struck by the ignorance of the master that I said to him;
“Pray sir, can you read?” His reply was “Aye summat!”:
as a justification of his right to grant certificates, he
added “At any rate I am before my scholars”.
• Leonard Horner in Reports of the Inspectors of Factories 30th
April 1837 p17
cited in Marx, K. Das Kapital (1873)
13. Why Mixed Methods?
All quantitative data is based upon qualitative
judgments; and all qualitative data can be
described and manipulated numerically.
15. New Evidence Centres for
Education
See a short article on these centres on the TTRB
http://www.ttrb3.org.uk/?p=8885
• This follows on from the Goldacre report on
BUILDING EVIDENCE INTO EDUCATION
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/b/ben%20golda
16. How good are the numbers?
What practice in your school do you think has the
strongest evidence base and why?
What practice in your school do you think has the
weakest evidence base and why?
Which area of practice are you unsure of in terms of
its evidence? Where could you look for this?
17. Variables
A variable is any entity that can take on different values.
the independent variable is what you (or nature)
manipulates -- a treatment or program or cause.
The dependent variable is what is affected by the
independent variable -- your effects or outcomes.
For example, if you are studying the effects of a new
educational program on student achievement, the
program is the independent variable and your
measures of achievement are the dependent ones.
18. What are the most important
variables to consider in education?
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Possible Measurement
Socio Economic Status Academic Achievement ?
Social Disadvantage Degree of exclusion and
difficulty encountered in
education
Numbers of children
registered as having SEN
or a statement of SEN
Ethnicity ? Explained and unexplained
absences recorded
according to ethnicity
Gender Engagement with Physics % take up of GCSE and A
Level Physics
School ethos and policy on
Behaviour ?
Number of short term and
permanent exclusions
20. Units of analysis
• Individuals
• Classes
• Schools
• Artefacts (programmes, books, photos, newspapers)
• Geographical units (town, census tract, state)
• Social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces,
arrests)
21. Levels of the measurement
• Stevens, 1946
measure of
central tendency
Geometric Mean
Arithmetic Mean
Median
Mode
22. Gives examples of different
levels of data
Level of Data Example
Ratio: has a absolute
zero
Eg Height, Age and
Weight
Interval: distance
between measures
Where means mean
something eg Date & time
Ordinal: attribute can
be ordered
Eg social class, grade and
education level, levels of
agreement
Nominal: attribute can
be named
Eg Gender, Colours,
Country,
23. Standard Deviation
• is a widely used measurement of variability or diversity used in statistics and
probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" there is from
the average (mean, or expected value). A low standard deviation indicates that
the data points tend to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard
deviation indicates that the data are spread out over a large range of values.
• Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/standard-
deviation#ixzz1IqwFC900
24. Same mean different SD
Example of two sample populations with the same mean and different standard deviations.
Red population has mean 100 and SD 10; blue population has mean 100 and SD 50.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/standard-deviation#ixzz1Iqzf9FSm
25. Two Research Fallacies
•The ecological fallacy occurs when you make
conclusions about individuals based only on analyses of
group data
•An exception fallacy is sort of the reverse of the
ecological fallacy. It occurs when you reach a group
conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases.
26. Validity
Validity to refers to the quality of various conclusions you might
reach based on a research project.
Conclusion Validity: In this study, is there a relationship between the two
variables?
Internal Validity: Assuming that there is a relationship in this study, is the
relationship a causal one?
Construct Validity: Assuming that there is a causal relationship in this study,
can we claim that the program reflected well our construct of the program
and that our measure reflected well our idea of the construct of the
measure?
External Validity: Assuming that there is a causal relationship in this study
between the constructs of the cause and the effect, can we generalize this effect
to other persons, places or times?
27. Reliability
has to do with the quality of measurement. In its
everyday sense, reliability is the "consistency" or
"repeatability" of your measures.
•Inter-Rater or Inter-Observer Reliability
Used to assess the degree to which different raters/observers give consistent
estimates of the same phenomenon.
•Test-Retest Reliability
Used to assess the consistency of a measure from one time to another.
•Parallel-Forms Reliability
Used to assess the consistency of the results of two tests constructed in the
same way from the same content domain.
•Internal Consistency Reliability
Used to assess the consistency of results across items within a test.
28. Challenge A
A) You have been asked to develop a means of
measuring progression in the development of pupil
creativity that can be used across subject areas.
How would you measure it and how would you
demonstrate that learners were developing
creativity?
29. Challenge B
You are a consultant to the Belizean government who
wish to improve the quality of provision for pupils with
disabilities in mainstream schools who are supported
by specialist advisory teachers.
What would you do and how would you prove it was
effective?
31. references
• In L. Earl and H. Timperley (ed.) Professional Learning
Conversations: Challenges in Using Evidence for
Improvement. London, Springer Academic Publishers,
121-126, 2008.
• Dweck, C. S. (1989). Motivation. In A. Lesgold and R.
Glaser (Ed.), Foundations for a Psychology of Education
(pp. 87-136). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
32. What are the most important
variables to consider in education?
Independent Variable Dependent Variable Possible Measurement
Socio Economic Status Academic Achievement Exam results ?
University Course?
Career destination
Social Disadvantage Degree of exclusion and
difficulty encountered in
education
Numbers of children
registered as having SEN
or a statement of SEN
Ethnicity Degree of participation in
education
Explained and unexplained
absences recorded
according to ethnicity
Gender Engagement with Physics % take up of GCSE and A
Level Physics
School ethos and policy on
Behaviour
The success of the
behaviour policy – the
quality of behaviour
Number of short term and
permanent exclusions
33. Resources
Trochim, W.M.K (2006) Social Research Methods
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/index.php
Berr, J. & Hohmann , U. (2005)Quantitative Methods in
Education Research Centre for Teaching Mathematics,
University of Plymouth
http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/resined/Quantitative/qu
anthme.htm#A.%20%20%20%20INTRODUCTION
The TTRB has a large range of reviews on evidence in
education:
www.ttrb3.org.uk
Notes de l'éditeur
This is an introduction to the use of evidence in Education that takes a look at its importance and some things to consider when you are evaluating evidence.
As an Educational professional you are constantly using evidence to make decisions about your teaching. Some of this may be based on memories of you past experiences of teaching but this should not be your only source of evidence when you justify or challenge what you or colleagues do?
We do not want to be gullible teachers who accept ideas and approached without criticality. This slide perhaps shows how bad it can get sometimes. I look at this picture and wonder and hope. Who is going to be the one who spots the design flaw in the emperor's new outfit?
Dweck in 1989 focused on defining the positive classroom climate or culture for learning and so we can use evidence about learning and teaching to learn about how to enhance our teaching.
We can see this a cycle and the knowledge that we use to deepen and refine our skills can be gained from many sources. From our past experiences, from the experiences of colleagues but also from written accounts, videos of practice and also from evidence gained by research in classrooms in this country or from throughout the world. The challenge is finding what is relevant.
‘ Assessment for Learning’ or formative assessment are widely promoted for example in the Cambridge Primary Review and this approach can be central to harnessing evidence in education.
This is very simplistic distinction but it serves to show us what might be different ends of a continuum. Although some would argue that they are very distinct.
These are broadly the main quantitative approaches that you may be familiar with. Standardised tests will include tests that have been applied to large samples of a target population to produce results that are readily comparible to this population. Eg IQ tests Reading Tests Criterion tests do not have that rigour but will be a test for the performance of a skill or skill set. Experiments will be discussed later but as we teach in classes rather than laboratories, experiments tend to make compromises on what can be controlled so we call them quasi experiments.
Clearly you need to develop some understanding of the numbers being used. See the consider-ed for Graham Birrell’s comment on the use of number in education This almost by way of aside is a cartoon that appeared in one of the early newspaper reports on PISA For me it’s a wonderful example of the misconceptions that many young students hold. I think it would make a wonderful piece of stimulus for materials that tap into students mathematical beliefs.
On line survey tools such as forms in google docs allow the rapid creation of a survey and also provides graphical summaries of the results.
With qualitative approaches we have a range of approaches that require classification and interpretation and they sometimes overlap. One can reflect upon one’s experience, implement a change and record what happens, interview people about their experiences of teaching and learning, observe a particular group in detail even joining the group in some cases or you can analyse legislation, policy and guidance.
Qualitative data gathered from the inspection of factories where there were child workers in the North of England led to the introduction of requirements for qualified teacherstatus. Recent deregulation and emerging curriculum requirements may remind some of you of Dicken’s ‘Hard Times’ Mr Chokemchild
Durham university have done a good deal of work with quantitative data sets and they suggest a hierarchy of evidence sources which is widely recognised. Eg NICER
With the previous slide in mind you might want to consider the evidence base for the practice that you are involved in ? Are like the Brain Gym enthusiasts on the earlier slide?
We are now going to look at aspects of methodology.
This table has some gaps where you might want to stop the video and see if you can work out what to put in the box (answers are at the end)
When you undertake research there are range of sources of data to be considered. This is a list of some examples.
Levels of measurement show the ‘statistical strength’ of the data has been gathered. The higher up the steps, the more sophisticated statistics can be applied.
Here we have examples of the different levels of data that we may encounter.
The greek symbols here denote the mean and the standard deviation from the mean. This shows us how the values are dispersed close to the mean or spread out. We can then see how common or exceptional an individual result is.
This illustration shows how this dispersion can differ when the mean is the same and the SD differs
The ecological fallacy occurs when you make conclusions about individuals based only on analyses of group data An exception fallacy is sort of the reverse of the ecological fallacy. It occurs when you reach a group conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases.
Validity refers to the quality of the relationships between the constructs, the measures and other relevant situations.
In its everyday sense, reliability is the "consistency" or "repeatability" of your measures.
This table has some gaps where you might want to stop the video and see if you can work out what to put in the box (answers are at the end)