Conference:
ECER 2009
Format:
Research Workshop
Session Information
Contribution
Participation in international comparative studies in education has increased steadily over the last decades. Similarly, the number of studies conducted has also grown over time. This expansion of international large-scale assessments (LSAs) can partially be seen as an attempt by national governments, the international community, and researchers to understand and compare national educational systems in a world of increased interconnectedness and interdependence. Educational LSA programs collect an enormous amount of data, the databases of which result in a wealth of information for secondary analysts. In addition to achievement data from students, they also collect data from teachers, school principals and parents in the hope that this information will assist in our collective understanding of the interaction and outcome between the desired curriculum, the implemented curriculum, and the achieved curriculum. Unfortunately, much of LSA data remains underutilized by policy makers as well as researchers. The underutilization of these data in part stems from the fact that proper analysis requires the use of survey methods that are generally unfamiliar to non-technical researchers. This workshop will provide a comparative overview of the purposes and methods of one of the three largest international educational assessment programs that are currently taking place: TIMSS 2007. The program collects achievement data in mathematics, science, and reading at the primary and middle school level. A summary of the methodological challenges that are faced will be presented and discussed. Upon completion of the seminar participants should have: (i) developed an understanding of the information provided by these studies; (ii) gained an appreciation of the operational, statistical and psychometric complexities of these studies; and (iii) been provided with a number of possibilities for principled data analysis. Software that has been developed to analyze these data and that is freely available will used as part of the presentations. This seminar will provide an opportunity for educational researchers to gain familiarity with these rich data sources. Further, participants will learn about the complex sampling and survey design that necessitates careful analysis of these data. Finally, experts in the field of large-scale assessment will conduct the course and will be on hand to field questions about large-scale assessments in education.
Method
The following content will be covered:
- Introduction to international databases in education and the content;
- Introduction to statistical complexities of using these databases;
- Overview of the IEA IDB Analyzer;
- Practice exercises using TIMSS 2007 data.
We suggest one 1.5 hour session and a group size of not more than 50 participants.
The workshop is targeted to researchers at all levels who are interested in international issues concerning LSA, as well as secondary analysis of LSA databases in reading, mathematics and science. Participants are requested to bring laptops with SPSS 11 or higher and to have a basic working knowledge of statistics.
The last part of the workshop will be dedicated to a structured data analysis assignment. During this time participants are encouraged to ask specific questions they have on the topics covered.
Expected Outcomes
After completing the course, the participants should be able to:
- Understand the sampling and data structure of international databases;
- Access and evaluate the research questions and goals of LSAs;
- Retrieve the international databases, international reports, and questionnaires;
- Effectively evaluate necessary methodology needed to analyze LSA data;
- Merge TIMSS 2007 data and prepare data for analysis using IEA provided software;
- Utilize IEA provided software to begin cross-national investigation of the data.
References
- IEA (2009): IEA IDB Analyzer (Version 2.0). [Computer software]. IEA.
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