Unit 2 Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research

American Educational Research Association. (2006, August/September). Standards for reporting on empirical social science research in AERA publications. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 33-40

Social Sciences uses qualitative & quantitative methods, Reviews of research, theoretical, conceptual or methodological essays, critiques of research traditions and practices

TWO overarching principals - 

• warranted - justify the results and conclusions
• transparent - logic of inquiry - activities that led to development of initial interest, topic, problem, articulated outcomes to understand one another's work, prepares for scrutiny and enables others to use the work.

Reporting Standards 

1. Problem Formulation - 
1. clear statement of the purpose
2. contribution to knowledge
1. new line to existing
2. needed
3. intended scope
4. practical concerns
5. information lacking
6. review of relevant scholarship
7. rational for conceptual, methodological or theoretical orientation
8. as it relates to the groups studied
2. Design and Logic
1. follow clear logic of inquiry
2. specific and unambiguous description of the design
3. Sources of Evidence
1. units of study - means of selection, 
2. relevant characteristics of the site, group, participants, events or other units of study
3. rational for selection
4. compare groups
5. intervention or treatment
6. collection of data or empirical materials
7. descriptions of time and duration, schedule, contexts, focus of collection and how it was done, ways identified, references to original description
8. description of guides or protocols to convey properties open ended or formal interviews
4. Measurement and Classification 
1. development of measurements and classifications clearly described
2. classification parts and exhaustive
3. coding
4. relevant descriptive statistics
5. scales and composites
6. suitable dependability
7. transcriptionns of audio or video recordings
8. relavance of a measurement or classification
5. Analysis and Interpretation - procedures for analysis, techniques, how support conclusions, intended or unintended circumstances, presentation of conclusions
1. Quantitative Methods - what statisical anlaysis conducted and appropriateness, descriptive and inferential , considerations, results
2. Qualitative Methods - process of developing the descriptions, claims and interpretations, evidences of warrant, practices that enhance the warrant, interpretive commentary
6. Generalization - 
1. specifics of the participants, contexts, activitees, data collections and manipulations
2. intended scope
3. logic that findings should apply
7. Ethics in Reporting - 
1. data collection analysis and reporting
2. agreements
3. conflicts of interest or biases
4. accurated stated
5. relevant data or empiricl materials 
6. funding support
8. Title, Abstract & Headings
1. title should convey accurately
2. abstract summary in accordance with the format and structure required
3. headings and subheadings make clear logic of inquiry