Methodology

This week our team has been learning about Methodology.  We're laying out the design of our action research plan.

One major detail that has brought about discussion is our data collection.  How do we do it?  What will it look like?  Who are the participants and how will we select them?  While each teacher seems to have a slightly different plan, we all need to decide how to track off-task behavior.

Here's a quiz from Glanz (2014):

Place a check next to the target behavior that can be observed and measured by two independent observers without defining the behavior prior to observation:

1. Johnny is acting out in class.
2. Natasha says "thank you" during the lesson.
3. Felicia is disruptive during art class.
4. Billy completes his class assignments.
5. Sally is behaving well.
6. Kisha raises her hand to ask or answer a question.

Numbers 2 & 6 are target behaviors that can easily be developed.  The other choices require observers to define what is "acting out," "disruptive," "completing assignments," and "behaving well."  

In my search of a data collection form, I came across this site which has some great tools.

Now, my question becomes, how many behaviors should we track?  Is 1 enough to get a good picture of the student(s)?  Will 2 or 3 behaviors be too hard to track accurately?