Faculty Contact Information:
Dr. J.E.D. Riggs
PSC 9 Box 3018
APO AE 09123
email: smartguy53@yahoo.com | |
Consultation:
Online Classroom: 24/7
email: 24/7 | |
Required Texts and Readings:
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American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author
*Babbie, Earl. (2007). The Practice of Social Research (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth Inc.
*Leedy, P.D. & Ormrod, J.E. (2005). Practical Research: Planning & design (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Citing Electronic Resources: APA Style. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.umuc.edu/library/guides/apa.html
Online Guide to Writing and Research. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from
http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/ewp_writingcenter/writinggde/welcome.shtml
Procedures for Completing the Research Project Notification and Human Subjects Protection Form. Retrieved June 16, 2004 from http://www.ed.umuc.edu/staff/faculty/detech/pedagogy/proceduresform.html
University Of Maryland University College Policy Manual Policy 130.25: Conducting Research Involving Human Subjects. Retrieved June 16, 2004 from http://www.ed.umuc.edu/staff/faculty/detech/pedagogy/policy%20manual.html |
*The Leedy text will also be required for PUAD 704 (Professional/Research paper). Students are strongly urged to consult the Babbie text in this course as well. | |
Supplementary Readings:
| All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at www.ed.umuc.edu/library . The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills. | |
Recommended Journals:
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Course Description:
| Prerequisite: None. This course focuses on the study and application of research methodology for organizations for use as a tool in decision-making. Emphasis is on applied research theories and designs for methodological approaches that apply non-experimental and quasi-experimental research designs as part of the research strategy. | |
Course Goals:
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As one of two research methods courses in the MPA program, this course provides graduate students with the conceptual and practical tools to develop proposals for and conduct non-experimental research projects, policy analyses, and program evaluations, as well as to evaluate and incorporate the implications of published reports into their practice as professionals. M.P.A. students are actively encouraged to use this class to develop the proposal for the professional paper required in PUAD 604.
In this course we will investigate:
1. Claims of Validity and Reliability.
2. Data Collection Techniques.
3. Data Management and Presentation Techniques.
4. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods for Evaluation.
5. The Elements of Research Design.
6. The Fundamentals of Research Execution. | |
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method by distinguishing between applied, basic, quantitative and qualitative research, and descriptive and inferential statistics.
- Demonstrate an understanding of program evaluation as a research methodology.
- Analyze professional situations for research/evaluation purposes.
- Generate research problem statements.
- Develop research proposals appropriate to problems statements in specific professional settings.
- Execute literature reviews.
- Formulate hypotheses.
- Develop data collection and data analyses strategies.
- Establish the internal and external validity and the reliability of measurements.
- Analyze, interpret, and apply published research findings to professional settings.
- Present research findings in written and graphic or oral formats.
- Define ethical and legal constraints on research.
- Analyze the application of information technology in research.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 90%
B 80 – 89%
C 70 – 79%
F Below 70%
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog. Hard copies of the catalog are available in your local Education Center. | |
Course Requirements:
Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society.
In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:
Participate in classroom discussions 30%
Write graduate level paper. 20%
Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 40% | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Please note: classroom participation counts for 30% of your total grade. Since this is a 13 week course (with 10 active classroom weeks), three participation points will be awarded each week. To get all three points each week, the student must make an active contribution to each week's discussion. This means, posting original answers to questions posed by the instructor, as well as making relevant comments to the postings of classmates. Simple statements of agreement will not suffice. All answers must show evidence of reason.
All students are also required to create an original research proposal (a full discussion of which can be found in the classroom). This proposal is to be formatted in the APA style, and is to contain all standard proposal elements except the Data, Data Analysis, and Conclusions sections. Submission of final draft is due no later than November 28, 2006.
All students in both the Counseling and Public Administration programs are required to complete a professional paper before graduation, and this class provides an excellent opportunity for the student to begin work on his or her proposal topic. Students are strongly encouraged to avail themselves of this opportunity.
By week six, every student is required to submit to the instructor via email a basic proposal topic. This topic proposal will contain three elements:
1. General Topic: What area/problem/policy do you specifically wish to study? (This should be stated in the form of a question).
2. Approach: How will you investigate the question you propose? (Quantitatively? Qualitatively? Case Study? Cohort analysis? etc.)
3. A sample bibliography of sources you will use in your full proposal.
In addition, there will be a midterm and final examination. Both will be conducted online. The midterm will fall on the week 6 (Oct 9 - 16) and will cover all readings, classroom discussions and lecture materials to date.
The final exam will fall on week thirteen of the term (Nov 27 -- dec 3) and will cover all readings, classroom discussions and lectures from the midterm through the end of term.
All papers and exams are to be submitted via the Assignments Folder. Submissions to the instructors personal email will not be accepted. All late submissions will not be accepted, nor will they be opened by the instructor. | |
Course Schedule:
The following schedule is based on a thirteen week term:
Week One:
Human Inquiry and Science.
Babbie, Chapter 1. Leedy, chp 6.
Week Two:
Paradigms and Theories of Research.
Babbie, chapters 2, 3.
Week Three:
Research Design.
Babbie, Chapter 4. Leedy, chp 4 & 5.
Week Four:
Conceptualization, Operationalization and Measurement.
Babbie, chp 5.
Week Five:
Indexes, Scales & Sampling.
Babbie, chps 6, 7.
Week Six:
MIDTERM EXAM.
WEEK SEVEN:
BREAK WEEK.
Week Eight:
Surveys and Experiments.
Babbie, chps 8,9 & 15.
Week Nine:
Qualitative Research:
Babbie, 10-12. Leedy, chp. 7, 8.
Week Ten:
Qualitative Data Analysis:
Babbie, chp 13.
Week Eleven:
Quantitative Data Analysis:
Babbie, chp 14.
Week Twelve:
Conclusion & Summaries:
No Readings.
Week Thirteen:
FINAL EXAMINATION. | |
Academic Policies:
The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi.
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
| Dr. Riggs is Collegiate Professor with the University of Maryland systems, and has taught in the system since 1994 | |