Deck 11: Answer the Question

Question 1

Why is it important to have data with which to drive educational decisions?

Answer 1

Much of the current literature in education is focused on making program decisions based on data, especially student test scores. Informed decision-making is data-driven in education, as it is in many other disciplines.

Question 2

What is wrong with using data to make decisions before the research questions have been posed?

Answer 2

The reason for conducting a research project is to test a hypothesis or to answer a research question. Simply reviewing data and drawing conclusions without posing clear and concise questions about the data, and then testing those assumptions, would subject the results to potential inaccuracy and possibly lead to inappropriate program change.

Question 3

What can a researcher do if the data at hand are not adequate to the purpose?

Answer 3

Responses should recognize that if the data are not adequate, yet were used anyway, the researcher should communicate all findings. However, she or he should acknowledge limitations in the data and methods and may attribute the lack of significance to the lack of data.

Question 4

What should a researcher do if the data from one hypothesis or question help to respond to another one?

Question 5

How can a researcher assure that conclusions drawn from the data are warranted?

Question 6

Are all statistical conclusions meaningful for professional decisions? Why or why not?