A few ideas about the methodology for my 610 proposal!

Before I forget...

Here are my current, draft research questions:
RQ1: Do pre- and post-information concept maps measure knowledge change?
RQ2: If so, how do knowledge structures change as evidenced in the pre- and post-information maps?

Measurement ideas!
RQ1: Look at the number of:
-Nodes/concepts
-Links
-Labels
Compare the numbers of each of the three variables between the pre- and post-concept maps.
Is there a significant difference?
Do the numbers of nodes, links, and labels increase (one-directional)?

RQ2: Assess the nature of change according to these categories (Todd, 1999):
-Appending
-Inserting
-Deleting
Consider, are these categories mutually inclusive/exclusive?

Question? Do I want to do more than 2 repeated measures?
pre-information map
post-information 1 map
post-information 2 map

Ideas from Creswell chapter 8 (pp. 158-167)
- A pre-experimental design (Study a single group and provide an intervention during the experiment. No control group to compare with the experimental group)
- Compare pre- and post-information concept maps
- A within-group design (Study only one group)
- For example, a repeated measures design (Assign participants to different treatments at different times during the experiment)
- A one-group pre-test-post-test design (a pre-test measure followed by a treatment and a post-test for a single group)
Group A 01----------X------------02
Group A pre-info map---------new information-----------post-info map
-Potential threat to internal validity would be a selection threat (participants can be selected who are more naturally adept at the concept mapping technique)
-Paired t-tests for data analysis? (I'm comparing two paired measures)
-My hypothesis is testing the difference between pre- and post-info concept maps (a test of difference rather than relationship)

Just some thoughts to capture for my methodology section!