¶ … School Advisory Systems Some studies describe the attributes of programs that are run after school and assist in boosting social and academic growth of the youth in high school. Since the number of afterschool programs is limited, the importance of adopting the practices discussed in this paper will be significant and consequential. Following these practices will also help boost investment in after-school programs for youths in high school (Holstead, Hightower King & Miller, 2015). The effectiveness of advisory programs have corresponded to scope and intensity in the past. The delivery of learning and the ensuing firm innovation differs from program to program. Various methods are used to examine the range of delivery of various advisory programs, which are both quantitative, and qualitative (Sawang, Parker and Hine, 2016). Irrespective of the chosen hypotheses, Research methods have to be effective. If they are not, there is a risk of failure to collect useful information, and consequently fail to review or evaluate current and future strategies effectively.

Literature Review

Miglin, Stephens, Hurd & Al-Bataineh (2015) suggested in their research that there was need to determine if the advisory program currently in used a Central Illinois Junior School is really helping the school's students meet their needs. According to the hypothesis, the research assumed that school advisory programs actually help learners socially, academically and generally help in the proper development of adolescents. The research questions included: What is the meaning of an advisory program? Do students think that the advisory programs are really helpful? What are the topics that students point out as more helpful, interesting, and engaging to them? The design of the study was a mixed approach of survey that consisted open-ended questions, Likert scale questions, and objective questions that were distributed electronically to the students after advisory sessions. Data analysis was based on specific exploration of descriptive stats. The instructor of the class inspected E validity of the survey, and thus, the assessment of the class peers regarding advisory programs was fairly done, and that it assessed the effectiveness of the advisory programs implemented in a school in Central Illinois. Students reported the program as being effective and useful because it presented them with subjects and topics with which they identified easily. This, therefore, demonstrates the effectiveness of the survey in studying the relevance of the advisory programs.

Hendon and Jenkins (2012) tailored a research design to determine if advisory programs for teachers really influenced achievement by learners. The effectiveness of the programs on academic achievement was examined by reviewing the graduation and exam pass rates at Alabama High School Graduation. Faculty surveys were also done. The results, after reviewing the data that was collected, demonstrate that there is no direct relation between the programs implemented at Handley High School and student achievement study; it however, points out some positive results of the Teacher Advisement Programs along with the Get on Track strategies that necessitate exploration in future. The validity issue in the results relates to the possibility that the advisement programs may not be solely responsible for improving academics. This, aspect was, however, controlled by asking the students and the faculty staff on the most probable cause of the improvement. The small size of the program and the matching small number of personnel to help in the planning, plus the limited funding was yet another challenge. This aspect of the problems was overcome by working within the constraints of the budget. This paper helps research because it brings on board a variety of methods that will help in reviewing the rates of graduation, though it does not necessarily support the original hypotheses.

A study by Drusin, Gerber, Miller, Storey-Johnson & Ballard (2013) endeavored to determine the experiences by students in the first year at Weill Cornell Medical College with advisory programs for the students in the first and second year. The issue that the study sought to address was that the students in first year negotiate new culture with some amount of enthusiasm and anxiety. Since there are a variety of approaches for providing guidance, the research sought to provide a case study experience with regard to advisement programs. The research used the survey approach and collected data for the first year class of 2011. The data was then compared to that of the...

In the study, 50 advisors in the faculty were assigned one to three students in the first year; and were required to follow them for two years. Both students and faculty staffs were assigned responsibilities. The evaluation of the program was done with an anonymous questionnaire. Each of the students was given a questionnaire at the end of a lecture. Analysis of data was done by SPSS, V.15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The small sample size was the biggest challenge to the study. The challenge was overcome by a literature review. The study also provides a new research approach with a fresh objective; thus it helps the immediate study.
In another study, Crooks, Burleigh, Snowshoe, Lapp, Hughes & Sisco (2015) sought to establish the effectiveness of the Australian Fourth R: Uniting Our Nations meant for the aboriginal youth. The study was aimed at determining the effectiveness of the programs in enhancing the bonding between participants and collect data that influenced the development of new programs. The team of researchers used a case study method to assess the Fourth R programs in TVDSB. It involved interviews with the youth participants in the program. Other stake holders from the schools that implemented the program were also interviewed. 35 secondary and elementary school students were interviewed. 45 secondary school students, 7 educators, and several principals were interviewed. Data summary and analysis was done with SPSS and a thematic analysis of qualitative data conducted. The thematic network technique was used to analyze, identify and report data patterns. The validity issues included perceptions of stakeholders on the improved success by students, sample bias from the student interviews, the involvement of the evaluators in development of programs and the tendency by participants to provide only positive information. The value of this research is that it focuses on the value of varying perspectives from different participants in evaluating the success of an advisement program; with a special focus on culture.

Another study by Fornari, Murray, Menzin, Woo, Clifton, Lombardi & Shelov (2014) shows how recent medical schools have established mentoring programs in the development of their curricular. The study is informed by the fact that mentoring is an essential aspect of the education of undergraduate medical students. The survey targeted 14 administrators from U.S. medical schools set up in 2006. The interviews ran along issues of structure and implementation of the mentorship programs in the various schools. There were 45 question items spread out to all new medical institutions that met the criteria for inclusion. Both qualitative and quantitative questions were applied. Likert scale items were also used with a provision for open comments. The quantitative data was analyzed with the descriptive statistics in Excel. The validity issues had to with the fact that half of the institutions noted making use of a combined mentoring program. This suggested in some cases that there was an overlap between mentoring and advising. The research showed that there was continued mentoring in U.S. medical schools. The experiences in these mentoring programs raise important issues that should be addressed by the leadership at these schools; particularly when reviewing mentoring programs for medical schools. The study helps this research by introducing both qualitative and quantitative considerations.

Discussion

The common activities involved in research methodology revolve around testing hypothesis, analysis of data, measurement interpretation and drawing conclusions from the information collected. It is important to master the research methodology before embarking on the research. The design, and the methodology of research refer to the same thing; mapping research. Although of the suitability criterion for an inquiry approach is a utility element, the same is not the case for educational and mentoring programs. These require the fulfillment of two conditions, i.e. internal and external validity. Internal validity which is also referred to as control is the condition that allows allocating blame for the independent information variable for the information acquired or being sure that the data collected is a result of the information variable. External validity, also referred to as sampling allows for the generalization or inference on the findings drawn from the source information population (Holden & Tryhorn, 2013; Attride-Stirling, 2012). The central concern is that it is not easy to design a research study that meets both conditions.

However, the classical experiment has the privilege of the availability of both conditions. The problem is that the controlled experiment isn't helpful in education because it appears too strong on internal validity but weak in representation. The external validity aspect is often absent in experiments that are more controlled. Such investigation may, therefore be deemed to elicit less control on external validity. The selection is dependent, partly, on the chance of attaining such control and representation on a specified research undertaking. It is also…