Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research

Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Education Research is book that would be useful for the chemist who is writing the educational outreach or evaluation component of a grant or planning his own chemical education research project. This book brings to the surface the key elements that are common to both. These key elements include establishing clear goals and research questions for your efforts: placing your outreach or research on a firm theoretical foundation sothat the results of your work expand the current state of knowledge; developing an outreach or research design that address the goals and questions asked; locating, developing and testing the validity-reliability of the tools used in the study; selecting appropriate data analyses from quantitative, qualitative
or mixed design disciplines to address the questions asked; writing conclusions based upon the data presented; and describing the implications of the outreach or research effort for chemistry practitioners. This book will address these key issues from a pragmatic point of view in an effort to assist those who are engaged or considering becoming engaged in this type of scholarly activity.

1. USING THIS BOOK TO FIND ANSWERS TO CHEMICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH QUESTIONS?; 2. QUESTIONS TO CHEMICAL EDUCATORS FROM THE CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY; 3. FUNDING CHEMICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH; 4. CONSTRUCTING GOOD AND RELIABLE QUESTIONS; 5. IMPORTANCE OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH; 6. AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THEORY-BASED RESEARCH CAN IMPACT; THE FIELD; 7. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS IN CHEMISTRY EDUCATION; RESEARCH; 8. USING INFERENTIAL STATISTICS TO ANSWER QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH QUESTIONS; 9. MIXED METHODS DESIGNS IN CHEMICAL EDUCATION RESEARCH; 10. DESIGNING AND UTLIZING TESTS AND SURVEYS FOR CHEMISTRY EDUCATION RESEARCH EFFORTS Developing Tests and Surveys Which Yield Quantitative Data; 11. DRAWING MEANINGFUL CONCLUSIONS; 12. ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING Guidance for Instructors; 13. COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS Being the Chemical Education Resource; 14. BUILDING A FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL EDUCATION COMMUNITIES WITHIN A DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY