Gifts from Social Research

Abstract

I have regularly taught research methods courses at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. A little over 10 years ago it struck me that we had learned a good deal about measurement techniques in social research which we could apply directly to teaching, specifically to the evaluation and grading of students' achievement (see Hedley 1978). In order to provide a more accurate (and therefore more defensible) assessment of our students, it is necessary to employ a variety of measures on repeated occasions. In other words, variation and repetition in testing are the keys to valid measurement in teaching, as they are in research (see Blalock 1982). Ever since I laid out these thoughts formally (see Table 1), I have taken great pains to implement these two main strategies of reliable measurement. For example, 13week introductory methods course includes four in-class tests (composed of multiplechoice, short-answer, problem, and essay questions), two short assignments, and one term project. Although this approach involves more work on part, I now feel confident when I hand in grade sheets. This outcome alone is worth the extra effort. During the past few years, upon handing out course outlines to students in the methods course, I have explained in full detail the rationale underlying system of evaluation. In other words, I demonstrate to them at the outset how the techniques of social research can be applied to solve a practical problem. This is not a dry introduction to a course that is often perceived as boring or as a necessary hurdle to earning the degree; it is a discourse about something in which they are all intensely interested-grades. The fact that strategies borrowed from social research can be used to produce a fair final grade distribution instills within students a newfound respect for the principles and techniques they are about to learn. When giving out the course outline, I confront the students with my problem: How can I, at the end of the course, produce an accurate ssessment of their knowledge of the course content? What are possible alternative explan tions for the final grades that I come up with? This latter question evokes from them a wide v riety of rival hypotheses, many of which are listed in Table 1. For example, invariably they mention test anxiety as one partial explanation fo the grades they receive; also included are unfair ests (i.e., inadequate measurement of the material they are supposed to master) and various kinds of instructor bias (e.g., favoritism and initial marks determining subsequent test scores). In their answers and in the ensuing discussion, the students are learning how to concepualize a problem-that is, the first stage in the research process. In fact, during this demonstration of how the methods of social research can be used to solve an important practical problem, I introduce them to all the steps involved in conducting research. Thus the demonstration also serves as an overview of the entire course.