I'm in a bit of a hurry, but I want to acknowledge some of the things that came up in my meeting today:
- distributed initial pie charts with data from Y8 and Y11 questionnaire
- asked students to look for anything interesting that caught their eye
- students pointed out key differences between Y8 and Y11 emotional reactions to feedback; noticed similarities in some places
- they felt that Y11s were more mature, which accounted for less emotional responses to feedback
- they felt that Y11s valued grades more than comments because they have higher stakes - the results help them make progress for importance GCSEs whereas Y8 don't have the same high stakes
- wanted to question the 'Ofsted' student - felt that it would be wrong to exclude this student's voice - specifically stated that it wouldn't be ethical and it would show bias in the result if we only consulted the students who 'praised' feedback or said 'what the teacher wants to hear' about feedback
Thursday 12 February 2015
Sunday 8 February 2015
Further analysis of the questionnaires
Last week I did some initial data analysis of the quantitative aspect of my questionnaire, so I thought I'd spend some time today looking at the qualitative side of things. Luckily, I didn't set myself too many qualitative responses to go through at this stage, so it wasn't too time consuming. However, I already have spotted some interesting trends that I'll want to explore further.
First of all, I asked students if they could think of a time within the past month where they received feedback. In Year 8, 15 out of the 19 respondents stated that they had, as did 11 out of 14 Year 11s. The next question asked those who responded with 'Yes' to describe what they did with the feedback they received. After analysing all of their responses, I've come up with the following categories:
Year 8
1) they increased their effort;
2) they added to their work;
3) they did nothing; or
4) they recorded their targets, but did not work with them.
Year 11
1) they acted on the target/used it
2) they reviewed their work by recording the target (but didn't necessarily use it);
3) they were given further instruction; or
4) they did nothing or ignored the feedback.
Overall, these seem to be fairly similar responses, with the majority of the students saying that they acted on or used their targets. However, roughly the same amount of students in both year groups also suggested they did nothing with their feedback, which is unfortunate.
Next, I looked at the 'No' students (those who had not received feedback in the past month). Their second question was to state why they thought teachers gave them feedback. Interestingly, all the 'No' students, in both Year 8 and Year 11, stated that feedback was meant to help them improve. No other alternatives or interpretations were given. This may be down to the fact that there were not many 'No' respondents, hence why no other interpretations appear, however I feel that their lack of experience with feedback may be limiting their awareness of its uses. I cannot say with certainty that this is why, but it's my initial reaction.
Interestingly, the 'Yes' students had more ideas about what feedback was for. Their responses tended to fall into the following categories:
Year 8
1) to improve; and
2) to learn from their mistakes
Year 11
1) to improve;
2) to learn from their mistakes;
3) to make you feel bad; and
4) Ofsted
Interestingly, the students who had received feedback felt that not only did it help them to improve, but it also helped them to recognise and learn from their mistakes. This suggests that mistakes are not necessarily seen as a bad thing when feedback is given.
In my last post, I already address the two 'negative' responses re: making you feel bad and Ofsted. I still believe that I would like to include one of these students on one of the interview panels, as I am interested in hearing more about what they think of feedback. I am curious about where their negativity stems from.
I also analysed the results of my Students as Researchers pre-test questionnaire. They had some questions which correspond to the student questionnaire, although I had to make some changes to evaluate the impact of their participation on their own self-awareness and understanding. Overall, their definitions of feedback matched those above (to offer advice and to identify their level of work). One difference was that two of the students (out of 6) stated that feedback could come from anyone, not just the teacher.
All of the student researchers said that they had received feedback in the past month. Their responses to what they did with it fell into two categories, again similar to those given above; they used the feedback or they recorded it (but didn't necessarily use it).
In terms of their understanding of the uses of feedback, they felt that feedback was used to 1) provide them with a grade; 2) help them improve; and 3) help them understand their own ability. Again, many of these themes remain similar across the groups.
Some of the different questions included an opportunity to define what 'research' means. Their responses were either to study something or to gather info (a number of them used the word 'data' in their response, which was nice as it shows a good working knowledge of the language we'll be using throughout the project.
As you can see, there are some interesting points to pursue. I am meeting with the student researchers on Tuesday and Thursday this week to go over the data from the Year 8 and Year 11 questionnaires. I'm not going to share with them my interpretation of the findings at this point, because I'm interested in seeing how they read the results themselves; they might see things that are not clear to me, and I don't want to cloud their judgement with my own.
I will provide an update later. Cheers!
First of all, I asked students if they could think of a time within the past month where they received feedback. In Year 8, 15 out of the 19 respondents stated that they had, as did 11 out of 14 Year 11s. The next question asked those who responded with 'Yes' to describe what they did with the feedback they received. After analysing all of their responses, I've come up with the following categories:
Year 8
1) they increased their effort;
2) they added to their work;
3) they did nothing; or
4) they recorded their targets, but did not work with them.
Year 11
1) they acted on the target/used it
2) they reviewed their work by recording the target (but didn't necessarily use it);
3) they were given further instruction; or
4) they did nothing or ignored the feedback.
Overall, these seem to be fairly similar responses, with the majority of the students saying that they acted on or used their targets. However, roughly the same amount of students in both year groups also suggested they did nothing with their feedback, which is unfortunate.
Next, I looked at the 'No' students (those who had not received feedback in the past month). Their second question was to state why they thought teachers gave them feedback. Interestingly, all the 'No' students, in both Year 8 and Year 11, stated that feedback was meant to help them improve. No other alternatives or interpretations were given. This may be down to the fact that there were not many 'No' respondents, hence why no other interpretations appear, however I feel that their lack of experience with feedback may be limiting their awareness of its uses. I cannot say with certainty that this is why, but it's my initial reaction.
Interestingly, the 'Yes' students had more ideas about what feedback was for. Their responses tended to fall into the following categories:
Year 8
1) to improve; and
2) to learn from their mistakes
Year 11
1) to improve;
2) to learn from their mistakes;
3) to make you feel bad; and
4) Ofsted
Interestingly, the students who had received feedback felt that not only did it help them to improve, but it also helped them to recognise and learn from their mistakes. This suggests that mistakes are not necessarily seen as a bad thing when feedback is given.
In my last post, I already address the two 'negative' responses re: making you feel bad and Ofsted. I still believe that I would like to include one of these students on one of the interview panels, as I am interested in hearing more about what they think of feedback. I am curious about where their negativity stems from.
I also analysed the results of my Students as Researchers pre-test questionnaire. They had some questions which correspond to the student questionnaire, although I had to make some changes to evaluate the impact of their participation on their own self-awareness and understanding. Overall, their definitions of feedback matched those above (to offer advice and to identify their level of work). One difference was that two of the students (out of 6) stated that feedback could come from anyone, not just the teacher.
All of the student researchers said that they had received feedback in the past month. Their responses to what they did with it fell into two categories, again similar to those given above; they used the feedback or they recorded it (but didn't necessarily use it).
In terms of their understanding of the uses of feedback, they felt that feedback was used to 1) provide them with a grade; 2) help them improve; and 3) help them understand their own ability. Again, many of these themes remain similar across the groups.
Some of the different questions included an opportunity to define what 'research' means. Their responses were either to study something or to gather info (a number of them used the word 'data' in their response, which was nice as it shows a good working knowledge of the language we'll be using throughout the project.
As you can see, there are some interesting points to pursue. I am meeting with the student researchers on Tuesday and Thursday this week to go over the data from the Year 8 and Year 11 questionnaires. I'm not going to share with them my interpretation of the findings at this point, because I'm interested in seeing how they read the results themselves; they might see things that are not clear to me, and I don't want to cloud their judgement with my own.
I will provide an update later. Cheers!
Monday 2 February 2015
Some initial findings from my questionnaire
Good afternoon! I've just started to get some of my pre-interview questionnaires back, and thought I'd have a quick look at them whilst I had a free moment. Currently, I have thirteen responses (out of 53 sent out) from various Year 11s with me (many more from Year 8 are sat in a folder at home, anxiously awaiting my analysis). I've skimmed through some of the key questions, and have noticed a few early trends.
First of all, only two out of the thirteen respondents said that they have either 'ignored' or 'haven't used' feedback that they recently received. This suggests that most students are working (or engaging) with the targets they receive, which is a good sign. However, when asked to describe what feedback is used for, one candidate wrote that feedback is only used to 'look good when Ofsted check our books'. Another student wrote that feedback is used to 'take the piss out of u with sracstic comment [sic] and call u a god damn idiat [sic]'. I'm definitely going to flag these respondents up for potential interviews, but again I won't make the final decision here until I discuss the results of the questionnaire with my student researchers. Regardless, I find these negative comments fascinating!
The comment about Ofsted suggests that the student has a strong opinion about the effect that Ofsted has on learning; he seems to be implying that we only provide feedback to tick a box, not to help students make progress. While I think some would argue there is an element of truth in this, it takes a lot away from the real potential that feedback should have in helping students to progress. It appears to me that this particular student has become 'jaded' about the system, which could mean he's not valuing feedback as much as he could be. It would be interesting to see where these ideas arose from. I'd also like to know what the other student meant when he said that teachers use feedback to 'take the piss' - is he implying that feedback is used to personally attack students? If so, that's quite troubling!
Interestingly, the same 'Ofsted' comment student ranked comments as being neither helpful nor unhelpful, while ranking grades as being extremely helpful. However, on the whole, the other respondents were quite positive about feedback. The other responses to the uses of feedback tended to follow along the lines of 'providing ways to improve'. When ranking comments and grades, the majority of the thirteen respondents placed comments and grades at about the same level.
Another interesting point that appears to be developing so far is that five of the initial 13 feel that positive and negative comments affect them emotionally; the rest felt neutral about both. This is interesting because much of the literature that I've read so far states that many students feel the emotional effect of positive and negative comments; however, what I've seen so far suggests that this isn't always the case.
Obviously these findings are only just preliminary. I can't say for certain that these trends will continue when the rest of the data comes in, but nevertheless they provide an interesting starting point. More information will follow when I start to do some proper analysis using Numbers.
First of all, only two out of the thirteen respondents said that they have either 'ignored' or 'haven't used' feedback that they recently received. This suggests that most students are working (or engaging) with the targets they receive, which is a good sign. However, when asked to describe what feedback is used for, one candidate wrote that feedback is only used to 'look good when Ofsted check our books'. Another student wrote that feedback is used to 'take the piss out of u with sracstic comment [sic] and call u a god damn idiat [sic]'. I'm definitely going to flag these respondents up for potential interviews, but again I won't make the final decision here until I discuss the results of the questionnaire with my student researchers. Regardless, I find these negative comments fascinating!
The comment about Ofsted suggests that the student has a strong opinion about the effect that Ofsted has on learning; he seems to be implying that we only provide feedback to tick a box, not to help students make progress. While I think some would argue there is an element of truth in this, it takes a lot away from the real potential that feedback should have in helping students to progress. It appears to me that this particular student has become 'jaded' about the system, which could mean he's not valuing feedback as much as he could be. It would be interesting to see where these ideas arose from. I'd also like to know what the other student meant when he said that teachers use feedback to 'take the piss' - is he implying that feedback is used to personally attack students? If so, that's quite troubling!
Interestingly, the same 'Ofsted' comment student ranked comments as being neither helpful nor unhelpful, while ranking grades as being extremely helpful. However, on the whole, the other respondents were quite positive about feedback. The other responses to the uses of feedback tended to follow along the lines of 'providing ways to improve'. When ranking comments and grades, the majority of the thirteen respondents placed comments and grades at about the same level.
Another interesting point that appears to be developing so far is that five of the initial 13 feel that positive and negative comments affect them emotionally; the rest felt neutral about both. This is interesting because much of the literature that I've read so far states that many students feel the emotional effect of positive and negative comments; however, what I've seen so far suggests that this isn't always the case.
Obviously these findings are only just preliminary. I can't say for certain that these trends will continue when the rest of the data comes in, but nevertheless they provide an interesting starting point. More information will follow when I start to do some proper analysis using Numbers.
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