Most researchers receive formal training in frequentist statistics during their undergraduate studies. In particular, hypothesis testing is usually rooted on the null hypothesis significance testing paradigm and its p-value. Null hypothesis Bayesian testing and its so-called Bayes factor are now becoming increasingly popular. Although the Bayes…

For decades, instructional communication scholars have relied predominantly on cross-sectional survey methods to generate empirical associations between effective teaching and student learning. These studies typically correlate students' perceptions of their instructor's teaching behaviors with subjective self-report assessments of their own…

Previous research suggests that undergraduate research methods students doubt the utility of course content and experience math and research anxiety. Research also suggests involving students in hands-on, applied research activities, although empirical data on the scope and nature of these activities are lacking. This study compared academic…

The benefits of undergraduate research are well documented, and many colleges and universities include a senior research requirement for graduation. In addition, most science curricula attempt to include discoverystyle, laboratory components to prepare students for their research experiences and to expose them to research methods in different…

The challenge of teaching in the sciences is not only conveying knowledge in the discipline, but also developing essential critical thinking, data analysis, and scientific writing skills. I outline an exercise that can be done easily as part of a microbiology laboratory course. It teaches the nature of the research process, from asking questions…

This essay briefly describes some of the early AERA presidents who were empiricists, several of them directors of research, and how their work connects with some of the issues of design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation today. Beginning with the first president of AERA, a number of presidents through the late 1940s are highlighted, as…

Students need to have a basic understanding of research methods before obtaining a communication degree in order to become an intelligent consumer of research--someone who is able to read, understand, explain, and critically evaluate communication and other research reported in scholarly journals as well as in the popular press. These skills are…

Statistics courses that focus on data analysis in isolation, discounting the scientific inquiry process, may not motivate students to learn the subject. By involving students in other steps of the inquiry process, such as generating hypotheses and data, students may become more interested and vested in the analysis step. Additionally, such an…

Web development is an important component in the curriculum of computer science and information systems areas. However, it is generally considered difficult to learn among students. In this study,we examined factors that could influence students' perceptions of accomplishment and enjoyment and their intention to learn in the web development…

The subject of research methods is often unknown, foreboding, and unappealing to undergraduate communication majors. Thus, in the research methods course, two ways to overcome such issues and achieve learning are by: (1) making the unfamiliar more familiar and accessible; and (2) placing abstract knowledge in its useful real-world context. Making…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of group testing as a pedagogical technique to enhance learning in a difficult subject such as statistics. Individual test scores were compared to their group test scores for the same, identical test. A t test was used to compare the scores for 157 randomly selected MBA students enrolled…

We describe an activity that allows students to experience the full process of a statistical investigation, from generating the research question, to collecting data and testing a hypothesis. Implementation of the activity is described both with and without use of clickers, handheld remotes that allow instant data collection.

Research methods teaching in psychology is pivotal in preparing students for the transition from student as learner to independent practitioner. We took an action research approach to re-design, implement and evaluate a module guiding students through a programmatic and pragmatic research cycle. These revisions allow students to experience how…

A common problem history teachers face regardless of their field of specialization is how to help students find answers to the most difficult historical questions, those for which the sources are unavailable or inaccessible, and teach them to do so in a methodologically valid manner. This article presents a case study which shows how a project in…

"Survey Toolkit Collecting Information, Analyzing Data and Writing Reports" (Walsh, 2009a) is discussed as a survey research curriculum used by the author's sixth grade students. The report describes the implementation of "The Survey Toolkit" curriculum and "TinkerPlots"[R] software to provide instruction to students learning a project based…