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Data Analysis

Rachel Furhman

Grand Canyon University

TCH-539: Introduction to Educational Research

Dr. Mark Potts

November 24, 2021

Overview of the Study

The goal of this action research study was to demonstrate if allowing students to choose

the books they read will increase their motivation and improve their comprehension skills. The

belief being that when students have a choice in reading it “enables student empowerment and

ownership of the reading experience, including what, when, how, and even where they read”

(Waterford.org, 2018). Through this research, I explored how students’ motivation and

comprehension increased when they were given time to read independently in class as opposed

to being given assigned passages. The study consisted of 65 seventh-grade students from my

three LAL classes; 39 girls and 26 boys. Of these 65 students, two have 504 plans and two other

students have IEPs.

Finding and Analysis

Qualitative Findings

Prior to allowing students time for independent reading in class, I had them complete a

survey to show what types of books they enjoyed reading and how often they chose to read

independently. At the time, less than half of the students stated that they enjoyed reading

independently and that if given the choice, they would not choose to read at home. Of those

students, only a handful of boys said they read for pleasure while 15 girls said they do enjoy

reading, especially Manga and other graphic novels. After allowing the students time to read

independently in class and creating a reward system, there was a slight increase in their

eagerness to read. Of the 65 students surveyed after the study, 55%, 12 boys and 24 girls,

showed an increase in motivation to read. According to Linda Jacobsen (2021), this is not

uncommon, “large numbers of boys aren’t reading” this is largely because boys would rather be

outside playing sports or inside playing video games. While I am not surprised by this data after
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observing and getting to know my students, it does leave me with the lingering question of how

do I get my students, particularly my male students, to want to read?

Increase in Motivation to Read Independently

No Change
45%

Increase Seen in
Girls
37%

No Change Increase Seen in Girls Increase Seen in Boys

Quantitative Findings

In this study I was looking to identify if allowing students a choice in their

reading material would aid in improving reading comprehension. To measure this, I used the

reading scores shown in SuccessMaker, a reading diagnostic tool created by Savvas Learning

Company. Students tracked their progress on the program using a plot chart. At the end of the

study, I reviewed the students’ plot charts and found that the data correlated with the findings

from the qualitative study. While all students showed an improvement in their reading

comprehension levels, female students showed a .04 increase over the male students. The girls

in the class showed an average increase of .25 levels, while the boys showed and increase of .21.

While this is not a large difference, it does show a connection between reading levels and the
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motivation to read independently. Since in the surveys, a greater number of girls demonstrated

and eagerness to read independently it goes to show that this does make a difference on reading

comprehension levels, however slight it may be.

Patterns

“Patterns are common results in data for a group of students. A pattern should be specific

and allow you to target instruction where it is needed” (Hogan, 2020). Based on both the

qualitative and quantitative research, the greatest pattern identified in this study is that there is a

correlation between male students’ motivation to read and their comprehension levels. Through

the survey, I learned that my male students would choose to read less often than my female
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students, and based on the reading comprehension scores from SuccessMaker, the male students

showed a slightly lower increase in scores than the female students.

Connection to the Research Questions

Prior to the start of this study, I created three questions that I hoped to find the answers

to. Those questions were: Will seventh-grade students’ comprehension scores improve when

they are given extra time to read materials of their choice in addition to the core reading

requirements? What activities could be implemented in the classroom to motivate students to

become avid readers independently? Will allowing students’ choice in their reading materials

lead to a greater connection between students and reading? Through the analysis of the data, I

was able to begin to answer these questions. I did see a slight improvement in my students’

comprehension scores, while the results were not quite what I was hoping for, some

improvement is better than none. For some students, there did seem to be a connection between

what they read and their desire to read independently, once students were introduced to other

genres, they now had more options of what to read which did encourage them to read more. For

others, reading still does not interest them. Due to the short time span of the research, I am

unable to conclude which activities helped motivate students to read more as the competitions

are still ongoing. Based on this research, I do feel that “when it comes to nurturing kids’ love of

reading…choice…can make a difference” (Gonser, 2020).

Additional Research Questions

After reviewing the data, a few new questions have come to mind. While it is not a large

difference, why is there a difference between the motivation of the male students versus that of

the female and how do I increase the motivation in my male students? Also, if I continue with

the study, will I see an improvement in the number of students that enjoy reading? Would giving
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students a longer amount of time to read independently in class improve their motivation and

comprehension?

Actionable Steps

Based on the data and the new questions, there are a few things that I’m going to try. To

begin with, I’m going to increase the amount of time students spend in class reading

independently from 40 minutes to 60 minutes a week. I’m also going to survey the boys in the

class to see what types of books they may enjoy reading and try to provide them with those.

Lastly, I’m hoping that since the study was done over a short time, that with an increased amount

of time the results will show a greater improvement in reading comprehension and motivation.
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References

Gonser, S. (2020, February 27). If we want bookworms, we need to get beyond leveled reading.

Edutopia. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/if-we-

want-bookworms-we-need-get-beyond-leveled-reading. 

Hogan, M. (2021, July 6). Analyzing your assessment data: Patterns of need & root cause

analysis. Illuminate Education. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from

https://www.illuminateed.com/blog/2020/02/analyzing-assessment-results-for-problem-

analysis/. 

Jacobson, L. (2021, July 12). Why boys don’t read. Parenting.

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/why-so-many-boys-do-not-read/

Waterford.org. (2018, December 12). 8 student choice tips to boost reading comprehension.

Waterford.org. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from

https://www.waterford.org/resources/student-choice-tips-to-boost-reading-

comprehension/.