Mikael Powell Research Initiatives: Study Design-Student Perceptions of Classroom Environments

Synthesis Paper-Part 2

Written by Mikael Powell

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Articulation of the Research Question

My research concerns the physical classroom environment and how well it is congruous to the method of teaching. I consider the impact of the adequacy or inadequacy of the space and how the classroom selection affects the college student. I go further to explore how human adaptability alters that perception. I come to this research not only as an architect with specialty in designing educational facilities, but also as a former executive board member and a current full-time college professor. This topic is pertinent to me because, while serving in an administrative capacity during a financial crisis, I authorized classroom assignments that were sufficient but not wholly appropriate and there was no basis to ascertain if the students truly perceived that intention. This research explores two questions - How do college students feel the physical classroom environment relates to the method of teaching and how does the relationship between the physical classroom environment and method of teaching affect college students in regards to how they feel valued?

To address this inquiry, I have assembled a team of researchers and associates and enlisted support from the Office of Teaching and Learning at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boson, Massachusetts. My research is under the supervision of Dr. Gene Diaz, my Lesley University faculty advisor. I have enlisted the services of three professionals from a research agency to conduct the focus group sessions and analyze the data, under my direction. In addition, three researchers will assist me and between three to five work study students will be at my disposal throughout the duration of the study.

Plan for Triangulation

This research explores students’ perception of their classroom environment defined within categories of the teaching method. Therefore, when triangulating the study, students will be involved in all three areas of the research. Initially, subjects will participate in focus groups to give students a vocabulary to frame their responses and to explore value issues. We will distribute documentation of the sessions to participants for commentary and review the findings for emergent themes. The second method of research will employ open-ended surveys targeted to students identified in the focus group analysis. Lastly, we will solicit historical experiential information from effected students via the Internet to create phenomenon narratives.

Validity, Credibility and Trustworthiness

The triangulation method is one of the elements we included to highlight the integrity of the research. We will also examine deviate cases that arise and indicate how we incorporate those findings into our understanding. In addition, we utilize respondent validation for the focus group data and we will videotape the sessions and transcribe key exchanges for documentation. Likewise, we will publish our focus group objectives list, survey form, important responses, solicitations, and pertinent raw data (masked to preserve privacy). For archival purposes, this study will maintain a depository for all raw data, notes, forms, and reductionist data and employ a systematic method for producing the items.
Confidence in this study is also based on the integrity of the researchers. Although I came from a professional architectural background and have an advanced degree from Harvard University, I also have a perspective as a professor and board member. My experience informs, but does not overly bias these research questions, which inquire about the layman’s perceptions of the classroom environment in relation to architectural concepts of design fit and the resulting affect on the student. My theoretical stance, largely, is that I am separate from the data and that universal truths exist that is not entirely subjective. However, the third method of this triangulated study involves creating phenomenological narratives that are wholly my interpretation through information provided by the participant. Within my group of associates, we will use standard methods to provide inter-rater reliability in the coding of responses. My consulting researcher will lead, document and analyze data from the focus group effort, under my direction. Outside of my study, I will have a peer de-briefer to review and comment.

How each part of the triangle interacts in this multi-faceted design

The first groups of randomly chosen students will participate in focus groups that are specific to a teaching method. We will present the concepts and vocabulary so they can describe their perception of the classroom environment in regards to teaching method. We will also inquire about their sense of value. We will send interpretations from the focus group to participants and the resulting findings will directly inform the survey method. We will provide the open-ended survey to a much larger population of targeted students. Although the previous course is undoubtedly a grounded theory approach, phenomenon reporting is decidedly phenomenological. In this method, we will review individual experiences, analyze important themes and give a rich narrative of the occasions. We will study divergent phenomena and discern how it supports our findings. The combination of these methods and approaches make this study quite credible.
Participants

College students are the population who will know if they perceive a relationship between the classroom environment and the teaching method. They will know, after consideration, if that relationship is beneficial or if other variables like human adaptability is more imposing. Furthermore, college students are the source to elicit their sense of value. College students from Wentworth Institute of Technology, exclusively, will be solicited for the focus groups and open survey sessions. Eighty students will be used in the focus group study (with forty students as alternates) and about 250 students will be encouraged to participate in the survey. The Institute has a student population of about 3200. The phenomenon reporting method will advertise to students at Lesley University and the Colleges of the Fenway (Wentworth Institute of Technology, Simmons College, Wheelock College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Emmanuel College) which comprises a student population of over 20,000 students, in hopes of corresponding with three to five subjects.

The Lesley University Internal Review Board for Human Subjects Research will provide consultation and resource in the interpretation of the procedures and policy. Special care will be taken with freshmen that are not yet 18 years of age. My efforts as a researcher include preparing a proposal, application to the IRB and providing letters of Informed Consent.
Research Study Set-up

Our research efforts will work in conjunction with the Center for Teaching and Learning in Beatty Hall on the campus of Wentworth Institute of Technology. A faculty/room survey will be sent to all faculty members at Wentworth Institute of Technology prior to the start of the semester to ascertain the pedagogy in regard to the teaching method types: a. Lecture, b. Examination, c. Collaboration, d. Demonstration, and e. Studio Guidance. The teachers will also be asked to rate the adequacy of the classroom. For their efforts, they will be accredited as a supporter in our WIT publication. We will choose one class from each type that highly exemplifies the teaching method while having high room adequacy and one class from each type that highly exemplifies the teaching method and has low room adequacy. I will reserve their classrooms for the focus group sessions through the registrar’s office and arrange to have the classroom photographically documented and site measured to create a digital floor plan. In the event that we cannot solicit one class from each variance in adequacy, we will use one class total from each teaching method with a median adequacy rating and reduce our study population accordingly.

The Focus Group Method

Based on information from the Faculty/room survey, 10 (ten) Focus Group sessions will take place in the actual classroom on the campus of Wentworth Institute of Technology over the course of 3 weeks at the end of the Fall Semester. Twelve (12) students will be selected at random (eight actual participants and four alternates) from the class roster of the selected course for each session so that we can have a representative subset of the student population in that class. Allowing for 50% attrition should ensure that we have the desired number of research subjects. All students in the classes will initially receive an email correspondence about the study while the random selection will ask for their participation. If they choose to participate, they will attend a general meeting at the center for Teaching and Learning to receive permission forms for them to sign (and their guardian, if they are under 18 years of age). I will announce the date of the sessions and let them know that all announcements and correspondence can come through a particular email address. There will be 80 participants total, divided into 5 pairs of focus sessions. Each participant will be given $15.00 at the end of his or her session.

The Survey Method

Based on the ethnographical and focus group findings, we will email 300 students participation in the survey method with hopes of attracting at least 250 students to the research. Short meetings will be set up at the Center for Teaching and Learning in groups of 25 to explain the research, distribute permission forms (and if returned) immediately begin the monitored session in an adjacent classroom to complete the survey.

Phenomenon Reporting

The purpose of this method is to research the elements of concern in a highly phenomenological way. The Internet will be used to solicit email correspondences from college students at Lesley University and the Colleges of the Fenway through an announcement on their home pages. It will direct students with profound concerns to a website where they can view and print a consent form and upload the signed file.

Data Collection

The Focus Group Method

The sessions will last about an hour and thirty minutes and will have two monitors – a professional focus group moderator and professional observer. In addition, there will be an individual who takes notes during the proceedings ,and monitors a tape recorder and a fixed video camera. This moderator also takes digital photographs after the meeting if parts of the classroom are referenced in the session. The moderator will distribute a document to collect some brief ethnographical information and then proceed to follow a Question and Objective Outline (Please see Appendix A).

The proceedings will be transcribed and emergent themes will be categorized. Participants will have a badge referenced to their ethnographical information. Photographical exhibits will be cross-referenced to the transcript. This process of documentation should take three months. In the following semester, participants will be emailed findings from the proceedings for their comments if they wish. The focus group method is well suited for our purposes because it allows for open-ended discussions and the solicitation of shared ideas.

The Survey Method

The survey will be administered through Vista 4/Blackboard, an electronic platform, so students will have the opportunity to ‘mark’ a response and then go back at the end of the session to fully complete it. The survey should take about 45 minutes to complete. Each student will be given $6 (three 2 - dollar bills) upon completion. Rather than referencing one classroom, this survey asks each student to recall all their courses this semester and answer accordingly. These questions are mostly open-ended and vary from soliciting ‘value’ responses to, “I feel that I am a person of worth, at least the equal of others” to questions of “Overall, how do you feel the physical classroom environment relates to the way this class has been taught this semester?”

This is a good method because it offers the opportunity to validate the focus group findings and extend the results beyond the experience of the classroom in extremes. The electronic platform allows us to capture the responses digitally to aid in categorizing and coding. It also provides the ability to sample a larger group of students and it can provide some supportive quantitative information. This process should take two months to administer and 6 months to document and analyze.

Phenomenon Reporting

The questions in the Internet advertisement (See Appendix C) will initiate a series of correspondences that explore “What it is to experience a classroom inadequately equipped for the method of teaching” or “How my sense of value is affected by the physical classroom environment I have endured” or “ How my classroom supports the pedagogy”. The goal is to flesh out the essence of the lived experience so the researcher can analyze and developed a narrative to support the research study findings or analyze as divergent information. The initial submissions from the participants will be reviewed for relevancy and probably only three to five will be fully pursued. Special care will be taken to make the participants responses anonymous and they will be sent a copy of the final relative for their comments. This process should take 3 months to complete information gathering and 2 months to develop narratives.

Next Steps in Formulating a Study plan

Working holistically is a key to a cohesive study plan, so as I move forward, it is important to review and revise the research questions and key elements, if need be. First, I need to continue adding to my literature review by exploring more research. I also need to develop a more thorough analysis procedure and work on implications drawn from the final research paper.

Appendix A

Focus Group

Question and Objective Outline

I. Physical classroom environment

a. Maximizing physical comfort and well-being

1. Furnishings

2. Light

3. Sound

4. Acoustics

5. Environmental (HVAC) Comfort

b. Supporting Method of Instruction

1. Size

2. Room Layout

3. Audio/Visual Equipment

4. Power services

5. Internet Services

6. Printing services

7. Accessories

8. Adequate spatial accommodations for required tasks

A. How do you feel the physical classroom environment relates to the method of teaching?

II. Teaching Method (discuss only the method appropriate to the session)

1. Lecture, Examination, Collaboration, Demonstration, and Studio Guidance.

B. How does the relationship between the physical classroom environment and method of teaching affect you in regards to how they feel valued?

III. Other comments?

Appendix B

Note: Final survey will be revised in accordance with the findings of the focus groups

Survey data (actual survey is in an electronic format)

(You can use as much space as you like to fully respond)

[You may answer the following questions when prompted by the proctor]

What is your age?

What is your course of study?

What is your ethnicity?

What is your academic year?

[You may answer the following when prompted by the proctor. Then, please respond to express your degree of agreement or disagreement to the following]

On the whole I am satisfied with myself.
At times I think that I am no good at all.
I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
I am able to do things as well as most other people.
I feel I do not have much to be proud of.
I certainly feel useless at times.
I feel that I am a person of worth, at least the equal of others.
I wish I could have more respect for myself.
All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure.
I take a positive attitude toward myself.

[You may answer the following when prompted by the proctor. Please consider your overall experience within the methods of teaching described for this semester. Then, please use as much space as you like to fully respond]

Course 1