• Activity 1: Practice Analyzing Research Data (3 hrs) Whole and small group activity. Participants use “real” research data (text rather than objects) to practice the process of organizing and categorizing data.
   
• Activity 2: Individual Data Analysis: (3 hrs) Independent work. Participants begin analyzing their own data. 
   

Activity 1: Practice Analyzing Research Data*
 

Group Process:

Begin by challenging participants to recall the various data analysis activities thus far in Meeting Three. So far, participants have been asked to work with data in several forms including: their spoken words/experiences in the warm-up activity, their data inventory, and the artifacts in the archeology dig. Remind participants that in those activities they used the same basic steps that they will use to analyze their own research data.

This next activity gives participants an opportunity to work with real research data, collected from other practitioner research projects. Explain that immediately following participants will concentrate strictly on analyzing their own data. Comfort those who may still have qualms about how the data analysis process actually “works.”  Ask participants to hold their questions/concerns until after this activity assuring them that they will find out more from the experience of doing it; ask them to trust in the process (as nerve racking as it might be.)

But first -- assess the group’s previous experience analyzing research data. Go around the room and have everyone in turn share his/her experience analyzing research data. Ask participants to also mention what stands out for them about the experience.

Move through this mini-sharing session as quickly and as fluidly as possible, allowing only a minute or two per person -- without any interruptions from start to finish. Praise the group’s collective experience/expertise as appropriate. Point out any similarities or differences in what they have done to what the group is about to do – now. (30 minutes)

Directions for this activity: Divide the participants into small groups of three-four each. Hand out identical data sets to each group. Ask the groups to work collaboratively to organize, code, and sort the data in a way that makes sense to them. 

Identify a research question (real or hypothetical) to focus the participants’ data analysis process. Explain to participants that the names of the categories they create should provide an answer to the research question being posed. Ask the groups to be prepared to give a short report (about five minutes in length) to other groups. They should write their categories on flipchart paper for everyone to see. Their reports should describe:

1.The process participants used;
2.A statement about each category in the data;
3.What participants found out about the research topic/question; and
4.Some preliminary findings - what the data taught them.

Give participants ample time for this activity. Facilitators should circulate and be available throughout to answer participants’ questions. (2 hours)

Use data from your own sources or from this guide:

Or -- your group can generate their own data to use in this activity. In the 1998-99 Virginia Adult Education Research Network, for example, participants brainstormed all the things that that helped and hindered their participation in practitioner research. The lists they generated of “restraining and driving forces” became the “data” they analyzed in this activity. Moreover, the brainstorming session provided participants an opportunity to reflect and evaluate and express their views about this special form of staff development. If you adopt this approach – add another thirty to forty minutes to the agenda for the brainstorming session, and remember that each group will need a copy of the data.

Debriefing the activity: Reconvene the whole group for the group reports and to process the activity. At the conclusion of the reports, facilitate a discussion about the differences and similarities in the groups’ coding schemes and the processes they used. As appropriate, help participants connect their experience back to the “archeology dig” and forward to their individual data analysis, which they will begin next. Questions to help facilitate this discussion include:

1. How does this activity compare / contrast with the archeology activity?
2. Why are there so many different schemes for coding this data?
3. What did you learn from this activity?
4. How would this type of process be useful in making sense of your own data?

Finally, respond to general comments and questions. Encourage participants who want to discuss their individual projects to stay around the general meeting area to schedule a time. (30-40 minutes)

________________________________________________________________________

*Individual Data Analysis: The Inquiry Facilitators Handbook, Pennsylvania Adult Literacy Practitioner Inquiry Network, 1998.

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Activity 2: Individual Data Analysis
 

Group Process:

Explain to participants that the next three hours (or so) are for them to begin to analyze their own data, or to continue working from wherever they are in the process. This is also a time for facilitator and participant conferences; therefore, tell the group where you will be stationed throughout this period.

Before participants leave the common meeting room to begin work on their individual projects, give them the following handouts -- general reference materials about the individual data analysis process:

A Process for Making Sense of Your Data  
The Language of Research
Data Analysis in Three Steps

Also tell participants what to expect when they regroup. Participants will reconvene after a sufficient amount of independent work to share about their progress with the other researchers. Ask participants to be prepared to present one or two preliminary findings and the supporting data. Tell them to prepare one or two general statements about what they have found thus far in analyzing their data. Give participants the following statement to use as a guide:

“I think what I am discovering is ________________________________, and here is some data to substantiate it __________________________________.”

Tell participants they can also prepare a visual or graphical representation (map, diagram, or drawing) to help explain what is going on in their data. The participants’ presentations should be five - ten minutes in length. There will be a brief discussion following each research presentation and there will also be time for facilitators to respond to participants’ questions and comments at the conclusion of the mini-presentations.

Conclusion of session

Session 12: Our Preliminary Findings

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