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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.