Research Design and Data Analysis for Decision-Making in Education

3 credits · Peabody College - Professional

This course introduces research design and data analytic techniques used for guiding strategic decision-making in educational and other nonprofit organizations. Its aim is to make students adept users and effective consumers of research and data for organizational improvement. The first half of the course is focused on developing students’ understanding of the principles, processes, and techniques used in social science research as applied to educational practice and policymaking. Students will learn methods for conducting evidence-based inquiries and tools for evaluating research relevant to these inquiries. The remainder of the course is devoted to learning foundational tools in statistics, including data description and visualization, inferential statistics and hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression, with a focus on application and conceptual understanding. The course will be taught using commonly used software packages, including Excel, Stata, and Tableau, with examples drawn from K-12 and higher education in U.S. and international contexts. [3]