NACADA Research Committee

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Conducting Advising Research and Constructing a
Winning NACADA Grant Proposal

• NACADA Research Committee

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PART 1Advising ResearchA Primer

• NACADA Research Committee

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Why research in advising

• Hot topics on campus
• Topics becoming research questions
• Research vs. program evaluation

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Research vs program evaluation

• Goals of research
• Creation of new knowledge
• Testing hypotheses
• Documenting a novel phenomenon

• Goals of program evaluation
• Accountability
• Management
• Decision making and budgeting

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Methods

• Similarities
• Use of objective and systematic methods
• Range from such subjective methods as field
  observation to objective experiments

• Differences
• Research manipulation of ex-perimental variable
  and random sample
• Evaluation of non-experimental observation

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Measures

• Questionnaires, observation, interviews, content
  analysis, ratings similar in both research and
  program evaluation

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Results

• Research
• Generalization to others
• Contribution to new knowledge
• New hypo-theses/questions raised

• Program evaluation
• Site specific
• Improved program delivery
• Increased response to constituents
• Cost savings
• Questions answered

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Audience

• Research for other professionals
• Program evaluation for administration

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Developing a research project

• Identify five hot topics on your campus.What
  concerns or intrigues you or others?

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Developing a research project

• Put three of your hot topics into question form.
• Question 1.
• Question 2.
• Question 3.

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The basics core skills

• Identify the problem
• Review the information
• Formulate the question
• Select a research design
• Collect and analyze data
• Draw conclusions

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Core skills--the problem

• Identify the problem
• What did you identify as you hot topic?
• Can you identify likely factors at play?

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Core skills--information

• Review the information
• Review the existing literature.
• Ask what others have said on the topic.
• Look for a model or theory that may explain the
  problem.
• Consider the information in light of your own
  observations and reading of the literature.

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Core skills--information

• The literature review--why
• To improve your knowledge
• To build upon previous research efforts
• To generate new ideas
• To look for models of good methodology
• To become familiar with publication formats
• To find arguments to support your efforts

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Core skills--information

• The literature review--how
• Identify sources
• Books, journals, bibliographies, indices,
  conferences presentations and proceedings,
  database searches
• ERIC, Social Science Citation Index, etc.
• Take notes

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Core skills--information

• The literature review--what
• Previous research on same topic
• Previous research on related topics
• Research populations
• Research methods/techniques
• Research materials
• Theoretical frameworks
• Trends motivating interest in the topic

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Core skills--information

• The literature review--when
• At the start
• Throughout the research process
• Immediately before submitting your paper for
  review
• During the revision if asked
• Nearing final publication

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Core skills--the question and design

• Formulate the question
• Summarize your thoughts and clarify
  relationships. Identify the explicit question.
  State your hypothesis.

• Select a design and subjects
• Review designs and methods used to test questions
  similar to yours and select one.
• Identify subjects and seek human subjects
  approval.

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Core skills--design

• Qualitative methods result in data described in
  words, such as responses to open-ended questions,
  observations, and interviews

• Quantitative methods result in data described in
  numbers--statistics, probabilities, graphs

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Core skills--design

• Qualitative methods are used when
• Little is known about the topic
• Closed-ended items cannot yet be
  determined--multiple choice items, scaled
  responses.

• Quantitative methods are used when
• Subjects are not available for extensive
  interactions
• Time and fund are limited
• Cause and effect are to be determined.

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Core skills--design

• Qualitative research to develop new theory
• Identify a topic
• Choose qualitative method
• Select sample
• Collect, categorize and analyze data
• Discover, expand, revise theoretical
  relationships
• Formulate new theory

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Core skills--design

• Quantitative research to test existing theory
• Identify a topic
• Develop a hypothesis
• Choose a quantitative method and appropriate
  sample
• Select/develop appropriate measure
• Collect, analyze and interpret data
• Discover, expand, revise theoretical
  relationships
• Formulate new or revised theory.

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Core skills--design

• Most commons designs used in advising research
• Experimental
• Ex-post facto
• Survey
• Historical
• Ethnographic

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Core skills--design

• Characteristics of good advising research
• Valid
• Measure of what thing measuring--internal
  validity
• Results generalizable to another group--external
  validity

• Reliable
• Methods and measures replicable throughout
  study--internal reliability
• Work replicable elsewhere--external reliability

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Core skills--subjects

• Selecting subjects
• Identify total population
• Select a random sample (ideally)
• Assign to control and experimental group, and
  control for confounding and random variables for
  empirical study
• Identify existing group for comparison for
  ex-post facto or historical study
• Conduct the research to identify differences
  between groups.

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Core skills--subjects

• Human subjects review
• Any organization that receives federal money must
  have a person or committee to review research
  using humans as subjects. They guard against
  abusive of subjects.
• Human subjects committee
• Institutional review board

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Core skills--subjects

• Human subjects review
• Must obtain clearance from institutional review
  entity and from board of any other cooperating
  institution. Submit early!
• Approval also needed from the federal government
• NACADA research grants must include the clearance
  to be considered for award.

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Core skills--data analysis

• Data analysis
• Codify the data to look for patterns in answers
• Test your explanation
• Revise if necessary and re-analyze

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Core skills--data analysis

• Descriptive statistics
• Techniques both analytical and graphic used to
  paint a picture of a data set
• Mean
• Median
• Mode
• percentages

• Inferential statistics
• Techniques used to conclude or infer something
  about a large group of subjects
• Multiple regression
• Chi-square
• Analysis of variance

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Core skills--conclusions

• Draw conclusions
• Consider the observed data and how you arrived at
  them. Draw conclusions from your results. They
  may
• Support your hypothesis
• Justify or prove the effectiveness of a program
• Refine an existing theory
• Help to develop a new theory

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Developing a research project

• Select one of your questions. Which common
  research method would provide valid answers to
  it?
• Method
• Given the method selected,what group(s),
  phenomena or records should be evaluated? What
  comparison sample is needed to make a valid
  comparison?
• Subject sample Comparison sample

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Developing a research project

• Where should you look to review the existing
  literature? How will you find valid measures?
• What method of data analysis will you use?
• How will you secure institutional or other
  support for this project?

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Conclusion

• Commitment yourself to the time and resources
  needed.
• Ask for help from colleagues and collaborate with
  others.
• Follow sound research practices from the start.

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PART 2Writing a NACADA Research Grant Proposal

• NACADA Research Committee

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Questions to ask about grant writing

• What will this project cost?
• Can I run the project without outside funding?
• If the project is not funded can I do at least
  part of it?
• Does this project truly interest me?

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Tips for beginners

• Have a positive attitude.
• Be enthusiastic about your proposal. Reviewers
  want to give money to confident researchers.
• Read the guidelines. Most unsuccessful proposals
  dont get something right.
• Give yourself plenty of time to write, consult
  with colleagues, revise and get permissions in
  time to meet the funding agencys deadline.
• Meet the deadline!

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Review of dummy proposals

• Review NACADA grant proposal review form.
• Read the proposal.
• Assess it against the review guidelines.
• Discuss with partners and take notes.
• Report results of discussion to group.

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Thank You!

• NACADA Research Committee

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Advising Research Reference List

• Research Design Overall
• Denzin, N. K. (1978). The Research Act A
  Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods.
  New York McGraw-Hill.
• (A very significant introduction to research
  methods from a sociological perspective)
• Firestone, W. A. (1987). Meaning in method The
  rhetoric of quantitative and qualitative
  research. Educational Researcher, 16, 16-21.
• (From an educational perspective, a good
  comparison of qualitative versus quantitative
  methods)
• Sommer, R., Sommer, B. B. (1986). A Practical
  Guide to Behavioral Research Tools and
  Techniques. New York Oxford University Press.
• (Recommended as the single best book to start
  research from scratch)

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Advising Research Reference List

• Research Design Qualitative Methods
• Altheide, D. L. (1987). Ethnographic content
  analysis. Qualitative Sociology, 10, 65-77.
• Atkinson, P., Hammersley, M. (1989).
  Ethnography Principles in Practice. New York
  Cambridge University Press.
• Spradley, J. P. (1980). Participant Observation.
  New York Holt, Rinehart, Winston.
• Strauss, A. L., Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of
  Qualitative Research. Newbury Park, CA Sage
  Publications.
• Weber, R. P. (1990). Basic Content Analysis (2nd
  edition). Newbury Park, CA Sage Publications.
• Yin, R. K. (1989). Case Study Research Design
  and Methods (2nd edition). Beverly Hills, CA
  Sage Publications.

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Advising Research Reference List

• Research Design Quantitative Methods
• Babbie, E. (1973). Survey Research Methods.
  Belmont, CA Wadsworth.
• Kerlinger, F. N. (1973). Foundations of
  Behavioral Research. New York Holt, Rinehart,
  Winston.
• Mahoney, M. (1978). Experimental methods and
  outcome evaluation. Journal of Consulting and
  Clinical Psychology, 46, 660-672.

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Advising Research Reference List

• Instruments/Questionnaires
• Bonjean, C. M., Hill, R. J., McLemore, S. D.
  (1967). Sociological Measurement An Inventory of
  Scales and Indices. San Francisco, CA Chandler.
• (A solid source of sociological measures)
• Buros Mental Measurement Yearbook
• (The classic guide which lays out all published
  measures of psychological concern, their
  validation, reliability, and critical studies)
• Chun, K., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Jr.
  (1975). Measures for Psychological Assessment A
  Guide to 3000 Original Sources and Their
  Applications. Ann Arbor, MI University of
  Michigan, Survey Research Center of the Institute
  for Social Research.
• (A good source of less frequently used measures,
  as well as the well-established measures for a
  variety of psychological issues)

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Advising Research Reference List

• Statistics
• Huberman, M., Miles, M. (1994). Data
  management and analysis methods. In N. K. Denzin
  Y. S. Lincoln (eds.) Handbook of Qualitative
  Research (pp. 428-444). Newbury Park, CA Sage
  Publications.
• (Good start on data management)
• Huff, D. (1954). How to Lie With Statistics. New
  York W. W. Norton.
• (A classic which is still important short and
  easy how data can be manipulated and how to stay
  clean)
• Rowntree, D. (1981). Statistics Without Tears A
  Primer for Non-Mathematicians. New York Charles
  Scribners Sons.
• (A good overview of statistics, quick and easy)
• Siegel, S., Castellan, N. J. (1988).
  Non-Parametric Statistics for the Behavioral
  Sciences (2nd edition). New York McGraw Hill.
• (Most research in higher education does not lend
  itself to parametric design (which assumes
  conditions such as all sub-groups being
  independent of one another) however, most social
  scientists use them anywayfor those who wish to
  do the right thing (understanding percentages,
  etc.), non-parametric statistics is the best path
  to success)

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• NACADA Research Grant Proposal Guidelines
• see handouts re
• - research topics
• - items covered by grant
• - specific proposal guidelines
• - submission deadlines
• Web Sites
• Call for Proposals www.nacada.ksu.edu/Awards/res
  call.html
• Applications www.nacada.ksu.edu/Awards/nom_forms
  /Research.doc
• Past Winners www.nacada.ksu.edu/Awards/research.
  html
• Grant Proposal Committee Review Form
• see handout re
• - factors evaluated

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Higher Education Grant Websites

• Guides to Grant Writing and Grant Proposal
  Writing
• www.lab.brown.edu/public/ocsc/collaboration.guide/
  
• www2.njstatelib.org/njlib/grants/guide/index.htm
• National Science Foundation
• www.nsf.gov
• National Education Association
• www.nfie.org/grants.htm
• American Educational Research Association
• www.aera.net

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Higher Education Grant Websites

• Society of Research Administrators International
• www.srainternational.org/newweb/grantsweb/index.cf
  m
• Higher Education Meta-Index
• www.irp.panam.edu/more_html/utpa_erlist.html
• The Foundation Center
• www.fdcenter.org
• GrantsNet
• www.grantsnet.org/

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Higher Education Grant Websites

• InfoEd International-SPIN
• www.infoed.org/new_spin/spinmain.asp
• Other Funding Websites
• ocga2.ucsd.edu/funding_opps.html
• dir.yahoo.com/Education/financial_aid/grants/
• www-tcall.tamu.edu/bibs/funding.htm
• Chronicle of Philanthropy
• philanthropy.com/free/resources.gresources.htm

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Other Funding Websites

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• www.cdc.gov/funding.htm
• Department of Commerce
• www.doc.gov/
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• www.epa.gov/epahome/program2.htm
• National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
• www.nae.edu

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Other Funding Websites

• National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
• www4.nationalacademies.org/nas/nashome.nsf
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  (NASA)
• www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/grants/
• National Association of Broadcasters
• www.nab.org/research/grants/grants.asp
• National Cancer Institute
• epi.grants.cancer.gov

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Other Funding Websites

• National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
• arts.endow.gov/guide
• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
• www.neh.fed.us/html/applying.html
• National Institute of Health (NIH)
• www.nih.gov/grants/
• National Institute of Justice
• www.ncjrs.org/fedgrant.htm
• National Institute of Medicine (NIM)
• www4.nationalacademies.org/iom/iomhome.nsf
• National Research Council (NRC)
• www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/

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Other Funding Websites

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
  Administration (SAMHSA)
• www.samhsa.gov/GRANT/GFA_KDA.htm
• U.S. Department of Education (DOE)
• www.ed.gov/funding.html
• U.S. Department of Energy
• www.doe.gov/
• U.S. Information Agency (USIA)
• e.usia.gov/education/rfps/

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Other Grant Information

• Books
• Directory of Research Grants by Oryx Press
• Free Government Money by Unique Finance
• Software
• Federal Money Retriever a CD guide to all U.S.
  Government Grants and Loans
• Free Government Money information at
  www.freegovmoney.net/?sourcegoto