Methods

Chaney, B. H., Eddy, J. M., Dorman, S. M., Glessner, L., Green, B. L., & Lara-Alecio, R. (2007). Development of an Instrument to Assess Student Opinions of the Quality of Distance Education Courses. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 145-164.
Development of tool and testing based on the Standards for Educational
and Psychological Testing and Dillman’s 4 stages of pre-testing.
Stage 1: Professional review of survey and statistical analysis of survey items
Stage 2: Test survey for reations on 10 distance ed. students
Stage 3: Pilot study and construct validity evaluation
Stage 4: Outside review by 3 people


Conrad, D. L. (2008). From Community to Community of Practice: Exploring the Connection of Online Learners to Informal Learning in the Workplace. American Journal of Distance Education, 22(1), 3-23.
• Based on qualitative research methods
o Interviews
o Questionnaire
• Likert-type scales
• Rating questions


Flowers, J., & Cotton, S. E. (2007). Impacts of Student Categorization of Their Online Discussion Contributions. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(2), 93-104.
• Qualitative Analysis
• Students given discussion review (“Reflective Activity Form”) where they counted their week 1 total number of messages, social messages, and off-topic messages. They also rated their messages and classified quality as high, fair, or poor.
• Wk 4, students engaged in a post-treatment discussion on a new topic.
• A questionnaire was administered in Week 5.


Gaytan, J., & McEwen, B. C. (2007). Effective Online Instructional and Assessment Strategies. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 117-132.
• Descriptive research method.
• Goal: to investigate the perceptions held by students and faculty regarding online instructional and assessment techniques.
• Data collected using a questionnaire survey instrument (Gay, Mills, and Airasian 2006) administered to faculty and students.
• Likert scale type questions.


Jones, J. G. (2008). Issues and Concerns of Directors of Postsecondary Distance Learning Programs Regarding Online Methods and Technologies. American Journal of Distance Education, 22(1), 46-56.
• Qualitative Data
• Online questionnaire consisting of twenty items that contained both demographic information and items that examined technology utilization for the distributed/distance learning programs.
• Average of 4-7 interviews of 45 minutes each were carried out with the 27 directors who finished the study.
• Interviews were based on 5 set questions which were after being initially asked were then discussed in more detail.
• Patterns and themes from coded data were derived from a method developed by Glaser and Strauss


Keeler, C. G., & Horney, M. (2007). Online Course Designs: Are Special Needs Being Met? American Journal of Distance Education, 21(2), 61-75.
Descriptive method including statistics.
(1) identifying design elements
applicable to special-needs populations:
• Paired elements cited by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (2000), early versions of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (World Wide Web Consortium 2006), other legal documents, guidelines for internet accessibility, and research literature with elements in the Instrument of Instructional Design Elements of High School Online Courses (IODE)
(2) reporting the frequencies
of those elements in contemporary practice.
• Frequency statistics were derived from a study performed in 2003 (Keeler 2003a) of a random sample of twenty-two online high school courses, sixty-six lessons, and 183 assessments from five online high schools. rural and disadvantaged schools, and others focus on servicing students


Moisey, S. D., Ally, M., & Spencer, B. (2006). Factors Affecting the Development and Use of Learning Objects. American Journal of Distance Education, 20(3), 143-161.
• Students designed and used learning objects. Challenges and other information was gathered via an online conference discussion and an essay written at the end of the semester. Researchers analyzed this data using manual and open coding techniques to identify common themes among individual postings, in the case of the conference postings and excerpted paragraphs, for the essays.


O"Leary, P. F., & Quinlan Jr., T. J. (2007). Learner–Instructor Telephone Interaction: Effects on Satisfaction and Achievement of Online Students. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 133-143.
• Satisfaction of phone call was measured using the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm via a questionnaire based on disconfirmation principles and the service quality (SERVQUAL) methodology.


Offir, B., Bezalel, R., & Barth, I. (2007). Introverts, Extroverts, and Achievement in a Distance Learning Environment. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(1), 3-19.
• Mixed method research approach (qualitative and quantitative)
• Students without significant differences provided data from different colleges via questionnaires and in-depth interviews.
• These questions related to factors that characterize learning via the videoconference medium


Seo, K. K. (2007). Utilizing Peer Moderating in Online Discussions: Addressing the Controversy between Teacher Moderation and Nonmoderation. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(1), 21-36.
• Comparison study between moderated and non-moderated discussion groups.
• Groups of students were required to participate in online discussions for four weeks. They were asked to post at least one message per week.
• Eight students volunteered to serve as trained moderators. Each moderator was randomly assigned to a group.
• Spontaneous moderating was avoided by monitoring the discussions.