Design, Data, and Reporting

This unit deepens students’ abilities to design small- and group-level experiments, collect and analyze qualitative data, and produce clear, ethical research reports and presentations. It builds on foundational research concepts from earlier units and prepares learners to finalize proposals and conduct analyses in the subsequent capstone unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze and compare experimental designs (multiple baseline, single-case, independent groups, pretest–posttest) and identify threats to validity and appropriate analytic approaches for small experiments
• Apply qualitative research techniques by collecting, transcribing, coding, and using grounded theory procedures to develop emergent findings
• Demonstrate professional research communication by drafting introduction and method sections, assembling and formatting reference lists, obtaining and storing source articles electronically, and delivering an engaging presentation of study plans and findings
• Evaluate sampling strategies, perform basic power and sample size estimations, and apply ethical principles to justify sampling and data-handling decisions