By Cora Goldston
January 17, 2019
The 10 laboratories that make up the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Program have created a range of tools to help educators and policymakers conduct research and use evidence and data to inform practice. Check out the curated list to learn more about root cause analysis, setting a research agenda, using surveys, and data collection and use.
Root cause analysis
- REL Midwest resources on root cause analysis and theory of action. As part of a
coaching project, REL Midwest’s Iowa Learning and Technology Networked Improvement
Community created resources to help researchers and practitioners identify the root
causes of a problem and develop a plan to test possible solutions. These resources
include a presentation (available in both PowerPoint [6.23 MB
] and PDF
[5.27 MB
] versions) and a facilitator’s guide [2.76 MB
] for conducting a root analysis. - Root cause analysis webinar. This REL Mid-Atlantic webinar describes how root cause analysis can be used to address long-term systemic challenges.
Research agendas and designs
- Developing a coherent research agenda: Lessons from the REL Northeast & Islands Research Agenda Workshops. This REL Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) resource summarizes lessons learned from working with partnerships to develop research agendas, a process that involves researchers and practitioners collaborating to identify research topics and develop research questions that address priorities in the region.
- Understanding research findings: Research designs. This REL Central webinar describes the benefits and limitations of three different research design options: descriptive, correlational, and experimental research.
Surveys
- Survey methods workshop: Developing a survey. Part I of this REL Midwest webinar explores considerations for creating surveys in an early childhood education setting.
- Survey methods workshop: Administering a survey. Part II of this REL Midwest webinar discusses methods and considerations for conducting a survey.
- An educator’s guide to questionnaire development. This REL Central guide walks state, district, and school staff through the process of identifying their goals for a questionnaire, developing appropriate questions, and reviewing and revising the survey before administering it.
- REL-NEI survey resources. REL-NEI has created three guides to help education administrators develop, administer, and analyze effective surveys. The guides also provide specific examples of how REL-NEI has created and used surveys.
- Developing surveys using the collaborative survey development process. In this REL-NEI webinar, presenters discuss a five-step process to create surveys with meaningful input from both researchers and education practitioners.
Data collection and use
- Data collection and use: An early childhood perspective. This REL-NEI webinar highlights how several preschool programs are collecting and using data to improve decision making.
- Using data to inform instruction: Building the capacity of educators. In this REL-NEI webinar, presenters discuss the key factors needed to encourage school and district staff to collect and make decisions using research evidence.
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