Preparing Our Educators

Patton College Grad Students Present Unique Thesis Concepts

Emily Price presenting her thesis concept

Emily Price presents findings from her thesis topic.

Two Patton College of Education graduate students, Emily Price and
Briju Thankachan, presented thesis concepts to their peers and professors in McCracken Hall on Friday, November 4.

Price’s presentation was titled “On the Optimal Number of Response Categories for an Attitude Scale: An Alternative Reading of the Research Literature” and dealt with the search for the appropriate number of answers for each question on research-based surveys. Her findings have already challenged conventional thought and methods.
She concluded that answers presented in a binary format (essentially a disguised “yes” or “no”) might be more reliable than their reputation suggests.

“You’re making the survey easier for the participant just by asking yes or no questions,” she said. “You don’t have to think about it. Do you like the Ohio State Buckeyes? Yes or no.”

Price also said that the amount of time participants spend finishing a survey is the factor that influences the reliability of surveys the most. But studies have found that participants spend virtually the same amount of time on surveys that offer anywhere from two to 13 answers.

Price and her adviser Dr. George Johnson plan to start administering survey
that varies in number of questions asked to see if it affects time. They also hope to discover a concrete relationship between the reliability of these surveys and the validity.

Price presented her findings at the 2011 Mid-Western Educational Research Association conference.

Thankachan followed Price’s presentation with a case study of Kerala, India’s ViCTERS (Virtual Class Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools) program.

ViCTERS is a collaboration among the Indian government, Indian Space Research Organization and the Department of General Education in Kerala and seeks to train high school students in information and communications technology through sophisticated satellite-based technology.

The program was implemented in September 2004. It has brought more than 50,000 computers and 41 training centers and is affecting 1.6 million students. It is a large undertaking and could significantly alter technology’s role in education but Thankachan’s dissertation, titled: “Teachers’ Concerns: ITC Integration in Kerala, India,” is one of the first case studies to address it.
“The reason why I produced this program is this that there are no publications about this project when I started,” Thankachan said.

Story by Alec Bojalad
Photos by Mark Brunton

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Thankachan presenting his thesis concept

Briju Thankachan presents his thesis concept at the research forum.

Story by Alec Bojalad, photos by Mark Brunton.