CESR Services: An Example
We are often asked the following question, “What do you do in the Center for Excellence in Scholarship and Research (CESR) office?” You’re likely to receive the following answer: We help faculty with research design, data analysis and manuscript editing. While this briefly and accurately describes our main services, it really does not tell our full story. This section of the website tells our story using an actual example. Here it is!
At the beginning of the 2008–2009 academic year, one of our new, first-year faculty members contacted the CESR office. Her request was simple:
“Can you help me with my research project?”What follows is a narrative, which includes PDF copies of spreadsheets, and reports prepared by the CESR office.
Our first step was to arrange a consultation to determine exactly what the faculty member needed and expected. We discovered that she wanted to use an existing data file from a school district, analyze the data, and then write a journal article. The data file was compiled by various schools within this district with no expectation this data would be analyzed using anything more than descriptive data. The link includes the first two pages from a relatively large data set. You can see that the data set is not in a form that could be imported into SPSS.
Before we could analyze the data we had to “clean” the data set, i.e. convert and standardize the numbering system and then import the data into SPSS. If you look at the Kindergarten Coding document you can see an example of what we did to “clean” the data set. In the original dataset, several categories (ESL, Special Education, and Retained) had multiple codes that meant the same thing. In consultation with the faculty member we determined what the various codes meant and then developed a standardized code that would allow us to analyze the data. The faculty member worked with us and checked to see that we had made the correct conversions. In the end, ten different codes (ESL, ESL-M, ESL-?, esl, ESL-m, ESL?, LEP, F, N, L) were used throughout the three years to indicate that a student was ESL. We coded all of these original codes as “1” to indicate that the student was ESL. Everything else was considered a “0” to indicate that the student was not ESL.
The Kindergarten Coding document is a summary and documentation of exactly what we did to get the data set ready to be analyzed. The faculty member can look at this coding document to verify that we accurately recoded the data. The following links show you the SPSS spreadsheet and the variable view from that spreadsheet that is now ready to be analyzed.
Before we “cleaned” the data set we also talked with the faculty member about how the data was to be analyzed. In some cases we will perform the analysis that the faculty member wants. In other cases, including this one, we work with the faculty member to determine what the best and most appropriate analysis is. Once the analysis plan was established we next did the actual analysis. Link number 5 is a PDF copy of the report. This report was sent to the faculty member. We mentioned that we would be available for any follow-up which could include a verbal consultation to explain the results, reviewing the results section for accuracy and clarity and any additional analyses the faculty member might want. After receiving this report the faculty member then was ready to finish her manuscript.
Another service offered by the CESR office is a thorough and detailed manuscript editing service. This is considerably more in-depth than proofreading. This faculty member sent her journal-ready manuscript to us for a final edit. This link is the edited manuscript. Notice the many suggestions for improvement. When you receive the edited manuscript you select which ideas and changes to accept. The purpose of the editing is to give you the best possible suggestions for improvement and therefore publication. Our editors are Masters Students from the Technical Communications out of the English Department. Dr. Roland Nord heads this excellent program.
The number one goal of CESR is to help a faculty member get published. The good news is that this faculty member did get published. Congratulations to Dr. Candace Raskin, Department of Educational Leadership, College of Education. Her article is included in the Summer 2009 issue of the Journal of Scholarship and Practice.
This is what we do when we say that “we help faculty with research design, data analysis and manuscript editing.” If you want to access these services contact the CESR director, Steve Bohnenblust, at 507-389-6278 or stephen.bohnenblust@mnsu.edu.
What do you want to see offered?
