Conversation 8

If anyone would like to see my results, evidence and analysis please look at my folder - I worked hard over the summer holidays to get to this stage as I knew once September was here, no work would be done for some weeks. The next step is to discuss findings with my opposite number on another Campus, and see where we can alter practice for the better. So the impact is still not known, but implementation will be coming soon, the full impact won't be known until the end of this academic year.

Well done.

Many will find that "full impact" may be some time off. However, impact can be undertood in terms of experience, activities, as well as measured outcomes/learning. This will not satisfy gov agencies looking for quick fixes but is a reality.

In academic terms you need to show the process of research , inclsuing the self critical nature of researchers questioning their own findings.


Thanks for making the offer of showing results. Any other volunteers for this?


Well done

Do you remember us asking what research is and what is it for?

It was the preface to discussing the projects and the methodology. Well.....


If research is so self critical and always ends up doubting its own findings and evidence then whats the point?


is their a balance between saying its unconcluive, dubious evidence, insufficient, etc and it proves beyond doubrt?

If we just revert to well, "we belive it is the case anyway", (even though we have just questioned our own data" what is the point of research? We might have just expressed our beliefs.

In reading so many accounts I am coming to conclude that a great impact of research at MA level is not to create knowledge in the form of evidence based practice of what is effcetive but is rather seeking information and knowledge about how we might make a given effective.

Its like we have imposed assesmnet, tracking, inclsuion, pesonalisation by policy and practitioner research says OK if we have this then how do we make it work.

ie its not evidence based practice in the sense of decsing to do something on the basis of evidence but having to do something and finding out how to make it work.


does that make sense? If so reflect this in your account.

Hi Ian,

I have emailed you with a draft of my literature review and have also placed a copy in my folder. I would greatly appreciate some feedback on that.

Nasima Menni

e mailed rresponse nasima

Hi all
I've included my analysis of data so far in my folder along with the lit review, methods and methodology. Please feel free to have a look. Alison. I'd be really grateful if you could give me some feedback.

Ian. I was interested to read your comments about the impact of research. I've been finding that the impact of my research has been to look at an issue in a different way, to seek information about it, to challenge the "given" and to reassess and present in a new light once the data has been analysed. If this is evidence based than the analysis is valid. Is this workable?
C

Hello Ian, Ruth, Gina,

I have now posted my draft Methods or Data Collection and Justification and would appreciate your comments!

Regards

Laura

Hi....I hope I am not the only one who is actually carrying out the research in this first half term...this was important to my research as I needed to 'use' (for want of a better term)the brand new y3 pupils who had not been exposed to style of learning that we are using.
For info, I am researching on the use of handheld technology as a means of raising achievement/attainment. This does mean that I won't be able to analyse the data until early November...which is fine for me...
I am currently collecting data, images etc as I go and thoroughly enjoying the 'rawness' of the pupils and looking forward to seeing some impact at the end of 6 weeks.

good luck Linda.

This sounds fine.

have you seen http://www.handheldlearning[…]becta&option=com_search

Or http://www.futurelab.org.uk/[…]/


all pretty supportive stuff (any bias here?)

Hi am feeling like I have offloaded all remaining responsibilities apart from full time job and this MA study now…there was a lot of work crossover from one job to the next..so, am hoping to catch up but the clock is ticking and I am panicing somewhat with deadline reminders!! Anybody else in the same boat? Did not help not having the summer hols.
Have gathered evidence ( questioannaires) but have not yet coded it. Have also done one interview and would like to do 2 more- but headtecahers with time to do it are a rare commodity. Have alsos gathered all OFSTED data fro 08/09 to triangulate. Apart from that I don’t know what other data to gather.
In fact I feel like Im still back in convo 7 as methodology isn’t yet complete :-{

Hi sorry i haven't commented for some time thanks for the nudge. I can fully empathise with you Lisa.I too am having a panicky feeling of the clock rapidly speeding by. Every time I set time aside for working on the analysis, school is giving me INSETs to do with staff every 2 weeks which is eating into time amongst other things. I have gathered all the evidence though; 4 interviews completed and as many questionnaires as I'm going to get back now. I followed them up for non return and sent more out again - interesting to see the number unable to complete because new to job, noone in the spot because of maternity leave,secondement etc. No Catholic schools replied - not quite sure why - anyone any ideas??. The one independent school sent the questionnaire back saying they could not complete it. Maybe they do not have to make referrals or do CAFs as they are selective?? It took ages to transfer all the information off the questionnaires onto a grid record so its all in one place. Far more 'rich' data came from the interviews but the questionnaires are of some help in triangualating. Quite a lot of negative responses from them though. Will try and see if this is related to experience of doing the CAF as the interviewees all reported initial negativity. Have coded the interviews into 14 topics - colour coded so easy to put them all together. Now at point of coding the questionnaire topics and adding them to the topic areas for comparison.Unlikely to have much in the way of charts or diagrams as i am mostly looking at the 'open' answers and less on data.

Hi Ian...thanks I have seen the Handheld Learning stuff. In fact I am off to the conference next week and my school is presenting there (children and staff member) and then it is off to Bristol to the Futurelab conference where we are also presenting! Look out for us too on Teachers TV....this stuff is going 'large'!

Hello Linda,
I think that it is very pracgtical to be undertaking your research now with you 'raw' year 3. I hope that you are all enjoying the project. |see you at the next MA meeting
Best Wishes
Amanda

Amanda
haven't seen you for a while, how is the thinking skills going with Y1, what did your evidence reveal? Was it a success?

I'm rather behind with this-been very busy at work. Have collected lots of stuff need to crack on with this

Hello All,

Observations of individual, small group, ICT work and class discussions have been made. This has been to gain an insight as to the students’ understanding of the targets set. Also to ascertain who are the leaders in group/class situations and who are willing to sit back and let others do the work. So far noted, that LS students lack some confidence to air their thoughts and opinions but when encouraged by peers they have little difficulty discussing the same.

Survey, interview and focus group responses have been recorded and the overall feeling appears to be that independent learning has enabled the students to become more involved in the subject and has given them the responsibility that most want.

I am in the process of collating the questionnaires. Results so far have indicated that the students have enjoyed the challenge of independent learning, however, some felt that more teacher input would have benefited them.

Back to collating and recording …

Laura

The rich sentiments expressed are very typical at this stage. We approach the end and individual timescales will take over. Please keep it ticking over.


Don't panic but do each small first step over a long period.

The results are fascinating.


You need to be careful of peoples perceptions and thoughts. They are not facts. If they want more of something then there may be very many reasons beyond a genioune need. eg insecurity,


So report the data you have. Then suggest possible explanations for getting that data and give alternatives. Write this up as a tentative sentence. It may be that....... Alternatively, .......

Do not write explanation as fact.

I would be interested to hear others views on getting the most from young pupils (Y3)in terms of valid responses to my questioning about the research that I am undertaking on the use of Nintendo DSs to bring about improvement in mental calculations. I am very aware from questionnaires that we carry out for a variety of reasons with all our pupils that there is always a group of children who are 'teacher pleasers' and just say what they think you want to hear! Equally I do not want just a set of answers such as 'I like it' 'because it's good' etc.
Within the constraints of time I need to be able to delve as deeply as possible in order to get measured responses that will be meaningful! Any suggestions?

Young children:- Yes its a real problem in some of the assignments I have read (and listened to) show the teacher clearly leading the questionning. The use of closed questions and prompts is dreadful with young people aas they respond so readily to cues. I would ask open questions. "tell me about" what happens when"


Avoid technivcal: "Did you enjoys the SATs"?

Use of word friwndly survesy adn images is also good.

Impact 2 used drawings to analyse chidlreens pictures of "working with computers"

Any other advice?

Linda, seems like you are doing a great job on impact by the sounds of things, with the presentation etc. Congratulations on gaining an award- external bodies then seem to be recognising the difference this/ and you are making to pupil leanring and professional practice (teaching & learning). An awe and wonder moment for your evidence file?!

Hi Ian, i am responding to your e-mail asking me to comment. Things haven't changed much as I am still struggling to find time and worrying about time running out.At the moment I am trying to choose the most important comments to include in order to cut the large amount of data down. I am thinking of doing this as themes on a grid with each piece of relevant data from each interviewee and some of the most relevant comments from the questionnaires alongside each other. I am not sure that i will be able to comment very much on impact before next term as the final feedback to other SENCOs is unlikely to be done before the network meeting in the Spring term. There is a meeting for this term coming up in the next couple of weeks when i might be able to feedback some initial findings and thank people for their contributions etc., but it is unlikely i can provide very much by then...is this ok or should I hurriedly try to put something together that is more substantial?

Hi
Reporting the data is interesting but when you said don't write explanation as fact..... I understand what you mean but I have the greatest of difficulty not wanting to suggest possible reasons for my results. Obviously this is not good science but is it valid to suggest reasoned hunches ie "the results of my research show that the majority of global dimension leaders are women. This could be linked to ideas put forward by Bourn (2009) that global dimension work is seen as a "caring" profession and this is construed by many as women's work. Is it the use of "could" here which makes the supposition valid? Is this within the remit of Masters' study? Wold it be valid to suggest that furhter work needs to be done int his area? etc etc.
Carol

I have collected all my evidence but I have not had much of an opportunity to write up anything. I really am not coping. The problem is time. You may have noticed I have not written on here for ages. I came back from maternity leave at christmas and having a 15 month old gives me no free time even the summer I had about 2 days to do some work. Don't know what to do.

Hi Lisa...total sympathies with you- well done for getting all your evidence...I feel similarly but am going to try the following myself.....could you ask school for some study leave to get it sorted?? After all its in their favour too...I feel the need for great big chunks of time and dont like doing the little and often approach which is why I tend to not be able to grab half hours here and there, which you can for otehr things. This doesnt feel like that as you need thinking time too, a precious luxury. But i also dont have a toddler to contend with :-)
Hope school cuts you some slack. All the best...homeward bound and all that,
all the best!

Sorry to hear you're having problems with time Lisas.... Could you ask for a deferral? There is a mechanism within the University and having a baby seems to me like a really valid reason to have an extension.
I read through my results and stored the info up adn thought about it for some time bit by bit before starting writing. Keeping a journal for when you have that lightbulb moment is also useful..... just for writing ideas down in an odd 10 minutes and you can come back to it when you have that magic "chunk" of time later. I remember once borroing some paper int he gym and writing myhypotheses down before I got back to going on the treadmill! Sounds implausible but it worked for me.
Hang on in there
Carol

Yes if absolutely vital a deferral can be sought in cases of unexpected illness or events. You complete a form from www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess

I can only suggest that you can reschedule your timeline and targets appropriate to your circumstances. You negotiate with people time allocation over the long term. Take each small bit at a time. You cannot create time but you can sort how you allocate it, where you spend it, and who controls it.

It is a hard truth but I have no other answers.

I'm still gathering data but as a result of the literature review & methodology I ended up having a much braoder view of my chosen area (parent participation) than I originally planned for in my question/plan. Consequently the evidence is wider and covers a vast array of aspects across the school linked to parent participation. The original plan to track a specific area seemed to fail at the first hurdle so I have had to rethink my approach to gain evidence linked to this. It has been helpful consulting with colleagues in order to re/define the approach. The impact isn't always evident in the results (raw data) but in attitude and perseverence etc. Equally it is difficult to say that improvements made are explicitly linked to parent involvement/participation.

Hello Isobel,
Thanks for sharing all of your work, I'm impressed. It seems to me that there's a lot of rethinking to be done during these projects. I'm constantly rethinking what?, how?, why?, and so on.
Best Wishes
Amanda

Hi Ian and Alison,
This might be a stupid question but I'm trying to think what would be the best way of representing the data-mainly qualitative - perhaps by breaking the quotes down into themes with sub themes on a grid and then analysing and commenting on the themes sequentially. In other words is it OK to merge the evidence and analysis together? Janet

Putting your quotes into different themes seems a reasonable way of presenting your work. It is sometimes difficult to use a lot of quotes which cannot easily be converted into data . . Alison

Hi Everyone

It's such a relief to read the comments ... I've gone back to a school that missed it's result targets combined with a Dep Head that stepped out of the PM's Office who thinks the only way to remedy this problem is make teachers work harder...this is also combined with the fact that my school seems to be involved in some kind of longitudinal study about standards and this seems to have a priority. My focus group are of the opinion that my questionairre will just push people over the top and may be seen as another invasive management tool to measure and improve teaching standards (this problem did not exist last term when we made the original plans). Most of my colleagues are in crisis at the moment (including msyelf as the SEN Dept has become the 'sacrfice on the altar of attainments'). I have proposed continuing with the questionairre and seeing what response I actually get but supplemented with interviews. I don't seem to be getting any extra help from my school in terms of time (my research does not serve the greater good) and with the move to rarely cover I am on a full time timetable with 3 free slots per week (last year I had 5. The people in my focus group have agreed to help with the interviews and I might have scale down to a smaller size. I am meeting my focus group again next week and I feel that we will just have to make a decision and get on with it....as an interime I have looked at some additonal ideas on interviews and small scale research.

I am just in the process or writing my book review which is also provign quite hard because of the two areas that I have chosen to bring together and revamping some of the original stuff.

Yep I am behind like everyone else.

Regards

Elaine Parkin

Keep calm, one step at a time. Sorry to hear that your school is not supporting you - you might have to be creative about collecting data. Alison

hi I clicked on the new link to convo 9 and came here...which is fine! To let you know have put draft 1 of methodology in folder for your comments- and am working on methods separately now. Hope thats OK.

Well spotted Lisa! I was about to put conversation 9 up but realised that it might repeat some of what you have been talking about already. The link should be correct now though! Alison

Hi everyone,

It's has been such a long time since I wrote a comment! I am really falling behind on my MA Project. The only aspect I am struggling with is the Literature review, as there is so much information it is hard to narrow down the critical opinions!
I have now ran my project and I am please with the results; I have all my evidence that I need which includes: SEN data and interpreting this data into facts, observations of pupils when not in the classroom using ICT, I found they were more free to do things rather than being restricted in the classroom.
I also have evidence of interviews I conducted with the pupils before and after the course – you can really see the difference in the pupils, from beginning to end. I’ve also completed surveys, interviews, and focus groups, focusing on their feelings towards themselves and using ICT.
I am currently analysing the questionnaires – results so far indicate that students prefer the approach to positive thinking and raising self esteem – ICT has helped raise attainment in these pupils.
So I will have my results in my folder by next week, and hopefully within two/three weeks my literature review will be completed.
Ian/Alison I think I focused on too many books for my literature review, how many would you recommend? As a minimum I was thinking two authors, as well as journals and BETA website which has carried out research? Is this sufficient for the literature review?

Saira

Hi everyone,

It's has been such a long time since I wrote a comment! I am really falling behind on my MA Project. The only aspect I am struggling with is the Literature review, as there is so much information it is hard to narrow down the critical opinions!
I have now ran my project and I am please with the results; I have all my evidence that I need which includes: SEN data and interpreting this data into facts, observations of pupils when not in the classroom using ICT, I found they were more free to do things rather than being restricted in the classroom.
I also have evidence of interviews I conducted with the pupils before and after the course – you can really see the difference in the pupils, from beginning to end. I’ve also completed surveys, interviews, and focus groups, focusing on their feelings towards themselves and using ICT.
I am currently analysing the questionnaires – results so far indicate that students prefer the approach to positive thinking and raising self esteem – ICT has helped raise attainment in these pupils.
So I will have my results in my folder by next week, and hopefully within two/three weeks my literature review will be completed.
Ian/Alison I think I focused on too many books for my literature review, how many would you recommend? As a minimum I was thinking two authors, as well as journals and BETA website which has carried out research? Is this sufficient for the literature review?

Saira

Hi everyone,
I am still working on gathering the evidence, collating and analysing.it seems easy to me to combine the two sections of 'the evidence' and 'the analysis of the evidence' in just one go. as in if i write the evidence on quantitative data (test results) i'd prefer to analyse it before moving on to the qualitative evidence. is this ok Iain,
secondly, been trying to access jacqueline Andrews' and Carol Jones' folder without success. please advice
hellen