Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research

by Bunce, Diane M.; Cole, Renee S.

• ISBN13: 9780841269583
• ISBN10: 0841269580
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-03
• Publisher: American Chemical Society

Summary

Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research is book that would be usefulfor the chemist who is writing the educational outreach or evaluation componentof a grant or planning his own chemical education research project. This bookbrings to the surface the key elements that are common to both. These keyelements include establishing clear goals and research questions for yourefforts: placing your outreach or research on a firm theoretical foundation sothat the results of your work expand the current state of knowledge; developingan outreach or research design that address the goals and questions asked;locating, developing and testing the validity-reliability of the tools used inthe study; selecting appropriate data analyses from quantitative, qualitative ormixed design disciplines to address the questions asked; writing conclusionsbased upon the data presented; and describing the implications of the outreachor research effort for chemistry practitioners. This book will address these keyissues from a pragmatic point of view in an effort to assist those who areengaged or considering becoming engaged in this type of scholarlyactivity.

Table of Contents

Using This Book to Find Answers to Chemical Education Questions	p. 1
Questions to Chemical Educators from the Chemistry Community	p. 11
Funding Chemical Education Research	p. 19
Constructing Good and Researchable Questions	p. 35
Importance of a Theoretical Framework for Research	p. 47
The Particulate Nature of Matter: An Example of How Theory-Based Research Can Impact the Field	p. 67
Qualitative Research Designs in Chemistry Education Research	p. 79
Using Inferential Statistics to Answer Quantitative Chemical Education Research Questions	p. 101
Mixed Methods Designs in Chemical Education Research	p. 135
Designing Tests and Surveys for Chemical Education Research	p. 149
Drawing Meaningful Conclusions from Education Experiments	p. 171
Assessment of Student Learning	p. 183
Collaborative Projects: Being the Chemical Education Resource	p. 203
Buiding a Fruitful Relationship between the Chemistry and Chemical Education Communities within a Department of Chemistry	p. 215
Indexes
Author Index	p. 229
Subject Index	p. 231
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