Methodology: How Will I Collect My Data?

In my previous posts, I discussed my research question and hypothesis for my study and then my literature review. To recap, my research question is: How can I maximize the civic engagement of my 12th-grade government students upon their graduation in time to vote in the 2020 election? My research hypothesis states: Teacher design of class activities along with collaboration from student ideas will create an engaging atmosphere of learning whereby students will continue to actively participate and seek knowledge about the governmental process in the United States.

My literature review demonstrated a variety of classroom activities and practices to maximize student engagement and the importance of working collaboratively with students to plan activities. For the methodology stage, I looked at a variety of options and chose class conferences, individual student interviews, and self-reports.

Class Conference

To begin my data collection, I will hold a student conference in order to gather information/feedback from students at the beginning of the study regarding class activities. After researching engaging activities for government classes, will I find out that students agree? What new activities can students come up with on a topic? Sample questions include the following:

• What types of activities do you enjoy doing in class?
• Why do you enjoy them?
• Describe a memorable class where you connected with the material.
• If you were to design a class activity, what would it look like? Would students be in groups or alone?
• What would be your dream activity for government this year?
• What would make it exciting for you? Working with others? Topic? Method?

I will also provide prompts if students need help thinking of particular activities.

Individual Student Interviews

Throughout the study, I will conduct individual student interviews in order to gather feedback from students after an engaging lesson. Sample questions include:

• Did you like the _______ activity?
• What did you like about it?
• What would make it better?
• Did you find the activities valuable?
• What did you learn from the activity?

Student Self-Report Inventories

Student self-report inventories will measure student engagement. In the first type, students will be provided with a short inventory using Typeform.com after an engaging lesson plan. Additionally, students will complete a longer inventory at the end of each unit, followed by a final inventory at the end of my data collection. The design of these questions will utilize a number of previous engagement inventories and will be tailored to my government classes.

I look forward to beginning this phase of the journey and actually beginning to implement my research findings as my students and I design the class activities. Continue to join me on my journey on this Medium blog and also on Twitter, hashtags #setlab, #educationscientist, and #changebydesign.