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Jamie Doiron
EDTECH 505
Exercise on Page 184
1. My project represents evaluation. The first evaluation component of my project involvesunderstanding what my client, the district, truly needs. They want a learning managment
system, but why? What do that want to be able to do at the end of the day? How will this
system integrate with the learning technology the district is already using? I am
performing research to understand these things and more. The second evaluation aspect
of my project involves determining if one piece of software, google sites, meets their
criteria. The district already uses it in some capacity and there is a desire to integrate it
more since it is a low-cost option. I know that my project is evaluation because the text
states that evaluation tries to learn what is going on in a program so that the program
stakeholders can use the information to improve the program. That is what I am trying to
accomplish. Conversely, research involves expanding the knowledge of people notinvolved in the program people who are not stakeholders. In my case, I have no intent of
my evaluation being shared with or influencing anyone who is not employed by the district
in which I work.
2. My project does not involve sampling. I am required to meet with district administrators
and technology personnel, but there are only a handful of people, so there is no need to
sample such a small population. I surveyed all teachers at the high school level, where
the learning management system would be implemented. Even that population is around
130 individuals, and with an electronic, multiple-choice survey, that number was
completely manageable. The survey software that I used lets me perform analytics on
the data, so the more data I have, the better off I am. Lastly, I want to talk to teachers whoare currently using google sites in their classrooms as an LMS, but there are only a few
currently doing it so there is no need to sample. What I have learned from this chapter is
that my population is small enough that it makes sense to deal with them as a whole
rather than sample. My data will be more accurate and I dont have to worry about
sampling bias.
Weekly Assignment - Part 3
Sampling Methods (youtube video)
Population is the total number of the group in a survey. A sample is a smaller group thatrepresents the larger population. Mean is another way to say average and would likely be used to
show response data. It doesnt always make sense to use a sample, but when you have a large
group of people that you want to survey, it is easier to use a representative sample. In the
example, the speaker surveyed two classrooms to determine what the mean hours of television
watched per day is for students in a large school.
Simple Random Sampling Summary (youtube video)
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Simple random samples involve picking a subset of a larger group where each individual has an
equal chance of being picked. This is a totally unbaised method of sampling, it is easy to
perform, and the results are usually accurate. Sometimes the results are not representative of
the larger population and there can often be a large variance from one random sample to the
next. When conducting a sample, you can pick names out of a hat, use a random digit table, or
use a computer or graphic calculator to randomly select numbers representing individuals. Thelatter two methods are generally better since you dont have to worry about the hat being mixed
well.