Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 105

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015
collaboration, a low-broad immediacy term. Finally, speedy or rapidly, as defined in
Thesaurus (2007), were combined because not only were speedy and rapidly synonyms of
each other, but any term numbered from 18 to 23 was classified as a minor immediacy term
(terms not as important to the outcome of the study). Appendix B includes a complete list of
terminology used.
Research Questions
The following research questions guided the quantitative research study:
1. Does the complete textbook sample offer a homogeneous or idiosyncratic approach
to the usage of immediacy based on the number of scholarly immediacy citations
referenced?
2. How many instances of the word immediacy appear in each of the online teaching
textbooks, and which broad or minor immediacy terms are featured most
prominently in the first four chapters?
3. How prominent is teacher immediacy terminology in chapter titles?
Research Hypothesis
The following null and alternate hypotheses guided the study:
H 0 1: No difference exists between the two sets of textbooks in the number of references and
citations devoted to teacher immediacy regardless of the publication timeframe.
H 1 1: The more recent set of textbooks contains a larger number of scholarly studies related
to teacher immediacy due to the publication of more prominent scholarly immediacy studies
between 2003 and 2007.
Instrument Rationale
The independent variable for the study was the publication dates of the textbooks. In
the study, the publication dates formed two categories: 1999 to 2002 and 2003 to 2007. The
primary hypothesis indicated that the older set of textbooks would contain less discussion
and terminology associated with immediacy because more online immediacy scholarly
studies were published in the later period, corresponding to the newer set of textbooks.
However, the earlier date set sample contained an extra textbook. The more recent the
publication, the more likely online immediacy terminology would be included (see
Appendix A for a list of peer-reviewed prominent immediacy scholarly studies).
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