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c. The Data Analysis Technique
The data analysis technique is about how the researcher(s) treat the
obtained data.
Presented below is an example of the method followed with the main point
of its elements. Pay attention to the underlined words.
The Title:
The Impact of Cooperative Learning on Student Engagement: Results
from an Intervention
The Method:
Political Theory is a semester-long course in a political science program at
a Danish university. The lectures are complemented with tutorials in which 20–25
students which are voluntarily grouped into three to five members. They have to
meet a tutor outside the lecture classes to discuss worksheet questions that they
have answered. There are four worksheet questions in the tutorials. The first three
questions ask the students to describe, explain or compare political theories. The
last question asks the students to apply the theory on a real case (e.g. an
editorial). In the final examination, the students were asked to present and discuss
the answer. The group holding the presentation tend to be very engaged and well-
prepared but the majority of students seem passive and only occasionally join in
the plenary discussion.
Cooperative learning was introduced in tutorials to increase overall student
engagement. After their original group working on the three questions, each of
the students is asked to have a discussion in a new random group consists of four
to five students. This kind of activity is called as jigsaw. The treatment for the
cooperative learning lasted 10 weeks of a 14-week semester. The tutorials were
organized as usual during the first 5 weeks, and during the other 5 the treatment
was applied.
The revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) is constructed to
measure qualitative differences in students’ approaches to learning (Biggs et al.,
2001) and has been recommended as an evaluation tool of instructional
innovations (Kember et al., 1997). A validated version of the R-SPQ-2F translated
into Danish was used (Lassesen, 2012).
A participation questionnaire was created. The participation scale
comprises six items (α =.917). These items described students’ in-class
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