The Department of Child and Adolescent Studies College of Human Development and Community Service 714 278 2255 Fax 714 278 4456 http hdcs fullerton edu cas cashome htm CAS 301 Assessment Committee Patricia A Szeszulski Sharon Seidman Milburn Diana Wright Guerin Learning Objectives for CAS 301 Developmental Inquiry Methodology Adopted Fall 1998 CAS 301 Developmental Inquiry and Methodology prepares students to interpret evaluate and engage in detailed study of human development in its many forms and contexts with an emphasis on enhancing students ability to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate applications of research findings relating to education and child development CAS 301 is a prerequisite for the CAS developmental core courses and the senior seminar CAS 490T which build upon the competencies and knowledge developed in CAS 301 Proficiency in these skills is necessary for success in subsequent CAS courses and students must receive a grade of C or better in this course to enroll in subsequent CAS courses The Department of Child and Adolescent Studies has adopted the following learning goals for this course Students who have successfully completed this course will be able to Access existing information regarding infants children adolescents and their development Design and execute research to broaden understanding of exogenous and endogenous factors in development Critically evaluate assertions in both popular media and scholarly publications about infants children adolescents and their development Communicate their evaluation and understanding in both oral and written formats to a variety of audiences To develop these skills students in CAS 301 are expected to have opportunities to identify and critically review relevant information from both scholarly and general sources conduct empirical research analyze data and communicate findings in oral and written APA style format These skills will be tested on the CAS 301 Competency Exam administered to all CAS 301 students at the end of each semester The exam will assess students knowledge of the following learning objectives and their ability to integrate these skills and apply to them to the understanding of development Learning Objectives for CAS 301 2 INFORMATION ACQUISITION The first step in the research process is to locate existing information about a given topic using a variety of techniques to access information After completing CAS 301 students should be able to demonstrate all of the following skills Understand the utility of computerized Locate a given item in the CSUF Library given databases e g PsycFIRST and ERIC and be able to search effectively using Boolean operators AND or OR to find requested information Understand the utility of OPAC and be able to determine whether or not a given resource book or periodical is owned by CSUF and to provide the call number location collection and status checked out check shelves the call number and collection Demonstrate an awareness that information may differ in quality based on its source popular media Internet research journal book Identify where given information would be found in these sections of an APA style research report Abstract Introduction Method Participants Design Materials Procedure Results Discussion KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION The next step in the research process is to identify questions that have not been adequately answered by the existing information and to select and implement the appropriate method for gathering data about a given research topic After completing CAS 301 students should be able to demonstrate all of the following skills Create a research hypothesis and generate predictions based on it Classify a research approach as experimental or correlational Identify different strategies for collecting data e g naturalistic observation systematic observation case study archival research survey research and the advantages and disadvantages of each Explain the utility of using more than two levels of an independent variable in a study Variables Discriminate between independent variables predictor variables including the subset called subject variables dependent variables and criterion variables Distinguish between variables factors and values levels of variables Explain the difference between conceptual and operational definitions and the importance of each Identify the scale of measurement used for given measures nominal ordinal interval ratio Assess quality of measurement using the general concepts of validity and reliability including criterion validity convergent divergent validity face validity test retest reliability inter rater reliability Sampling and Assignment Distinguish among sampling techniques random haphazard quota stratified random Describe the implications of restriction of range in a correlational study Recognize methods of subject assignment within between and mixed and explain the advantages and disadvantages of each Distinguish between random selection and random assignment and explain their implication for interpretation of research Developmental Research Strategies Understand basic questions about development such as Age related changes and differences Relative contributions of nature and nurture Continuous and discontinuous patterns Stability and instability Degrees of universality i e universal cultural individual differences Describe and understand the utility of various research approaches for studying questions about development i e longitudinal crosssectional sequential cross sequential twin adoption Learning Objectives for CAS 301 3 Research Ethics Understand the importance of evaluating the Identify stress and psychological harm to cost benefit ratio when designing research Demonstrate awareness of the importance of peer review of proposed research methodology prior to data collection Identify when deception may be necessary in conducting research and be able to distinguish deception from a lack of informed consent participants that potentially result from research participation Understand the ethical issues related to conducting research with children and other special populations EVALUATION AND INTERPRETATION The next step in the research process is to interpret and integrate the new information with pre existing knowledge This process includes analysis of the data collected as well as a critical comparison of current findings and past work To accomplish this synthesis after completing CAS 301 students should be