Ethical Princples to Educational Research

Although all ethical principles are important when it comes to research with human subject, there are a few points that stick out the most. The most important point for a researcher to keep in mind when conducting educational research on human subjects would be subjects should be protected from physical and mental discomfort, harm and danger. Anything that would cause harm to someone else should not be performed. Also if there is a risk of any physical and/or mental harm the task should be avoided or the subjects should not be put at risk. The point of educational research is not to cause harm or danger to others but to study different topics to help in education.

It is also important that a researcher has informed consent of all subjects before conducting their research. If the subjects are younger they should have parental consent and disclosed what the research is about. You would not want to have subjects participating in something that they would not want to be part of or documented about. If you were the one who was participating in the research you would want to give your consent for your information to be used.

Along with getting consent of the participates in the study, all data collected from participates should be confidential. Although the data collected will be reviewed and reported, all names should be left out and only needed information should be known. All information participates are willing to share or observations are made should be considered private and not shared with anyone else.

Human beings are fragile both mentally and physically, just because we want more information about a subject through a study does not cause a need to harm others. We also need to keep in mind confidentiality and also informed consent out of respect for those participating in educational research.

Participants and Sampling

Research Problem: What are the outcomes of a reverse inclusion setting for meeting preschoolers with disabilities goals and objectives?
How would I now select participants to help address this problem? I would need to have students with disabilities participating in reverse inclusion settings because I am looking to see what the outcomes of their goals and objectives are based on their setting.

~ Probability sampling:
o Cons:
- Unknown probability of sampling
- May not have a large number of students to work with or select from
- Access
- Time
- Resource
- Financial constraints
o Pros:
- Random selected participates
- Quantitative study
~ Non-probability sampling:
o Cons:
- Not as random
- Limited generalization
o Pros:
- More useful participates
- Availability to the researcher
- Different types of sampling techniques: typical, extreme, maximum, snowball,
critical case.
- More relevant to qualitative studies

For my particular study I would use the non-probability sampling procedure. The different sampling techniques in the non-probability sampling are more relevant to my study. Due to access to students with disabilities in a reverse inclusion classroom I would look at using the purposive sampling. The reverse inclusion classrooms are not very common. I would need to find particular school systems that have this program. Once those systems are identified I would need to get in contact with the classroom teacher, and possibly parents of participants in the study. There would also be a chance to use the snowball technique to find the participants just by word of mouth. Using the critical case sampling technique would also be idea to use to find participants. The sampling would also depend on the parents’ willingness to have their child be a participant.

How to conduct and write an education literature review

When I first started my literature review, I knew it would be difficult to find studies and articles about reverse inclusion. I took a look at my question and refined it a little: What are the outcomes of a reverse inclusion setting for meeting preschoolers with disabilities goals and objectives? After refining my question I sat down and thought about different key terms that would come out of this: reverse inclusion, preschoolers with disabilities, Early Childhood, inclusion, mainstreaming, reverse mainstreaming, Least Restrictive Environment, peer modeling. Once I had a list together I then identify databases I would use to help find different texts, journals, and studies.

**note: The use of the Internet is an amazing then when you are snowed in and can't get any where! I am just lucky I didn't lose electricity during the snow storms.**

When searching databases I like to use EBSCOhost, so I can select many databases and search them at the same time. I am able to use the advanced search options to narrow down my results. I also make sure that the articles are coming from peer-reviewed journals. After setting my advance search settings I began to put my key terms into the search box. If the search terms were too narrow or too general I choose other search terms from the list that I have complied. I would look through some of the reviews and find more key terms. I also looked at the authors and references. If there was a name that would repeat several times I would also search the name as an author with another descriptor like inclusion. After getting a nice selection of articles/studies I began to go through each one. I tried to find the articles any way possible, most were available online, others I will have to go to the VCU library or by using the inter library loan system. I have complied a list of articles to go look for at the VCU library.



Here are a few images of what I was seeing when I was searching the databases:












The first one is of what EBSCOhost advance search options look like.










The second image is a list of more descriptors that I could add to my list of key terms.














The third is when I was previewing the abstracts, it would state what kind of publication and what kind of document.



This is where I am in my literature review. The next thing I am going to do is go through each piece of literature I have gathered and identify which is a a primary or secondary source. Then I will take each primary source summarize the information. Along the way I will be documenting each piece in a chart so it will be easy for me to find when I go to put it into my review. After summarizing each piece I will organize the pieces based on their topics. I am hoping to write the review by grouping the pieces by policy of reverse inclusion, the practice of reverse inclusion, and what research is already out there about reverse inclusion. At the end I will tie everything together and explain why my research question of: What are the outcomes of a reverse inclusion setting for meeting preschoolers with disabilities goals and objectives?

Quantative/qualitative questions about Reverse Inclusion

Reverse Inclusion:
Quantitative: What are the advantages of reverse inclusion compared to full inclusion for preschoolers with special needs?
Qualitative: How does reverse inclusion effect preschoolers with special needs in meeting their annual goals and objectives?

The quantitative research question is specific and you are able to research the problem. The importance of this situation reflects the Virginia special education state performance plan indicators, specifically indicator 6: preschool least restrictive environment (retrieved from VA DOE website). The state performance plan lists a number of different types of settings that preschoolers with disabilities can be included with their typically developing peers. These settings include full inclusion, part time ECSE (early childhood special education) and part time ECE (early childhood education) and reverse inclusion. The state is already collecting data on how many students are being included with their typically developing peers and the percentage of the time they are being included with their peers. This question would compare two of the settings (reverse inclusion to full inclusion) and look at the advantages for preschoolers with special needs. This question also asks specifically for the advantages of reverse inclusion.

The qualitative research question will has the focus of reverse inclusion, but it is more general in how it just effects preschoolers with special needs in meeting their annual goals and objectives. The effects are determined by the preschoolers in how they are meeting their goals and objectives in a reverse inclusion classroom. It also states in the question who is to participate (preschoolers with special needs) and where they study should be held (reverse inclusion classroom). Stating that you are looking for the effects from reverse inclusion leaves the question able to go either direction of positive or negative affects to the students and not looking for any specific outcome. This problem could also evolve into many other questions depending of the outcome of the study.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/data_collection/special_education/performance/indicators_targets.pdf