Research Education & Training
PAER™ provides research training to individuals and groups. PAER™ currently offers five standalone seminars:
- How to Plan, Implement, and Document Findings of a Learning Assessment
- Process and Documentation Requirements for Academic Units Undergoing Program Review
- How to Plan and Implement a Program Evaluation Study
- How to Design and Administer a Survey
- How to Design and Facilitate a Focus Group
Seminar A: How to Plan, Implement, and Document Findings of a Learning Assessment
In this intensive one day seminar (or two half-day seminars), instruction is provided on the essential aspects of designing and implementing a learning assessment to measure the extent to which students have attained the knowledge, skills, and abilities an academic program is intended to imbue. Participants learn how to formulate learning outcomes, identify appropriate and feasible methods for determining student proficiency, develop rubrics that can be used to score student work products, perform basic data analysis, and document assessment findings. Templates are provided that can be used to formulate a plan for conducting the learning assessment and to document research findings. This course is ideal for academic program managers and faculty wanting to conduct a learning assessment to evaluate student proficiency and for accreditation purposes. This session is designed with WASC requirements in mind, or in the case of law schools, the emerging ABA assessment requirements. The seminar is followed by individual instruction. Topics are shown below.- How to write a mission and goals statement
- Conceptualizing student learning in measurable terms
- How to formulate student learning outcomes
- Direct versus indirect assessment methods
- Identifying student work products suitable for use in learning assessment
- Capstone courses and student portfolios
- Developing and testing rubrics
- Inter-rater reliability
- Surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews
- Basic analysis of quantitative and qualitative assessment data
- Documenting findings of the learning assessment
- Formulating recommendations
- Ethical considerations in assessment research
Seminar B: Process and Documentation Requirements for Academic Units Undergoing Program Review
In this intensive one day seminar (or two half-day seminars), instruction is provided on the essential aspects of planning and conducting a self-study for an academic program. A template is provided that helps ensure academic programs satisfy basic content and process requirements of the program review report. This session is designed with WASC guidance in mind, or in the case of law schools, the emerging ABA assessment requirements. The seminar is followed by individual instruction. Topics are shown below.- Guiding principles underlying program review
- Outcomes, decisions, and improvements program review should lead to
- Content of the program review report
- Mission and goals of the program
- Student learning outcomes
- Who the program serves
- Learning assessment findings
- Teaching and course-level assessment findings
- Enrollment, retention and graduation statistics
- Demand for the program
- Adequacy of faculty resources
- Adequacy of student support services
- Adequacy of information and technology resources
- Adequacy of facilities
- Adequacy of financial resources
- Curricular alignment
- Faculty qualifications and achievements
- Summary of findings
- Summary of recommendations
Seminar C: How to Design and Administer a Survey
In this intensive half-day seminar, instruction is provided on the essential aspects of designing and administering an online or hard copy survey for program evaluation purposes. Participants learn to identify measurable outcomes, and to develop, test, and administer a questionnaire. This course is ideal for managers and administrators wanting to examine the impact of social service, educational, or other non-profit programs using a survey. The seminar is followed by individual instruction. Topics are shown below.- Identifying study objectives
- Determining if a survey is appropriate
- Defining the target population
- Identifying measurable outcomes
- Identifying data collection strategies
- Designing the survey
- Pilot-testing the survey
- Administering the survey
- Following up with non-responders
- Preparing data for analysis
- Analysis of categorical, ordinal and continuous data
- Qualitative data analysis
- Report writing and presentation
- Ethical considerations in survey research
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Seminar D: How to Design and Facilitate a Focus Group
This half-day seminar covers the basics of conducting focus group research. Attendees learn to identify primary research questions, select participants, solicit participation, facilitate a focus group, and perform qualitative data analysis. This course is ideal for managers and administrators wanting to examine the impact of social service, educational, or other non-profit program using qualitative measures. The seminar is followed by individual instruction. Topics are shown below.- What is a focus group?
- How does a focus group differ from a “meeting”?
- How is focus group research used?
- Strengths and limitations of focus group research
- Developing the protocol
- Pilot-testing the protocol
- Selecting participants
- Identifying a location and setting
- Soliciting participation
- Facilitating the discussion
- Transcribing recordings
- Qualitative data analysis
- Ethical considerations in focus group research
Seminar E: How to Plan and Implement a Program Evaluation Study
In this intensive two-day seminar, instruction is provided on the essential elements of planning and implementing a program evaluation study. Attendees will learn how to identify program goals, and how to translate program objectives into measurable outcomes. Participants will learn how and when to employ various data collection methodologies such as surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews. This concentrated course is ideal for managers and administrators wanting to measure the effectiveness of social service, educational, and other non-profit programs. The seminar is followed by individual instruction. Topics are shown below.- Introduction to program evaluation
- Types of program evaluations
- Considerations when planning a program evaluation study
- Identifying measurable outcomes
- Identifying data collection strategies
- Survey design and administration
- Analysis of categorical, ordinal, and continuous data
- Conducting focus groups and individual interviews
- Qualitative data analysis
- Secondary data collection and analysis
- Report writing and presentation
- Ethical considerations in program evaluation