The DETA Research Toolkit was developed to serve as a guide to research conducted across institutions and disciplines, including both experimental and survey studies. DETA used it as a tool to work with institutional and individual partners across the country who are interested in using the toolkit to gather data to better understand the key factors in DETA (tech-enhanced, blended, and online) courses and programs that are influencing student success, in particular for students who are minorities (Black, Latinx, and other minorities), first-generation, low income, and/or students with disabilities and impairments.
To provide a little background on the development of the toolkit, in year one of the initial ED FIPSE grant (2014-2015), the DETA Research Center and its partners worked with distance education experts and other stakeholders to develop the research model and framework of inquiry serving as a foundation for the DETA research toolkit. The toolkit is intended to be used by researchers and practitioners across the country to gather data in line with the grant goals. Inside the toolkit, one will find pertinent research questions, guides to designing and conducting rigorous research, a student survey instrument packet, and data codebooks to help identify key variables, measures, and associated instrumentation. Moreover, the codes of the measures allow for an easier recoding and merging of data for cross-institutional analysis.
Excitingly, the DETA Research Toolkit 2.1 provides an array of new resources and tools such as emerging areas to help research move beyond the traditional paradigms of positivistic research, to bridge paradigms, and to explore innovative methodologies. DETA is enthused to provide new information to guide qualitative, design-based, and data visualization research. DETA looks to continue to engage other interested institutions as study sites and/or support IHEs in conducting research using the new research toolkit.
The DETA Research Toolkit 2.1 has been download across the nation and the globe.
Download the DETA Research Toolkit v2.1
Please take a moment give us some information about yourself so that we can better understand who is using the toolkit. Once submitted, a link to the toolkit will be emailed to you.
If you experience any problems, please contact us at DETAResearch [at] gmail.com.