My Experimental/Quasi-Experimental Research Design Proposal

Date

Statement of the Problem

In order to address _________, it is necessary to know more about ________.

Purpose (e.g., one of these)

This study is intended to determine whether an inpatient hospitalization has long-term positive benefits on the social and academic functioning of 7th grade students with severe learning and emotional disabilities .

This study is an extension and replication of Polloway et al.’s study on the effects of homework practices on the attitudes, achievement, and motivation of high school aged students with learning and emotional disabilities. Further, this study is intended to provide insights into what happens during the completion of homework under both optimal and less optimal assignment conditions.

This study is intended to determine the effect of peer tutoring in content area instruction on the academic and social learning of middle school aged students with mild disabilities. Further, a qualitative component is intended to provide descriptive information of the social learning environment when students with disabilities function as tutors and tutees.

Search of relevant data bases, ERIC, PsycINFO, Dissertation Abstracts (descriptors = list).

Hand search of relevant journals ( list).

Search WRLC, Library of Congress for relevant books

Ancestry search of references

Descendant search in SSCI.

Contact "experts" on topic

 

This area of study is very important …. (Because ___ (1999 ) documented ___)

Repie, Lang, and Spencer (1999) provided some valuable insights ….

Walker, Boon and Fontana (1998) … contributing to the growing body of literature with ...

Furthermore, Hardy, Jeffs, and Jakulski (1997) concluded …..

However, little is known regarding the effect of Y on Z ….. (Problem or However Statement)

Even though some research has been conducted in this area, the findings are inconclusive due to (a) confounds in the research designs; (b) small sample sizes; and (c) short interventions (or other).

Therefore, this study is intended to (or, "the purpose of this investigation is to determine whether") provide additional information and insights into that problem by addressing previous limitations in the following ways ….

Thirty middle school aged students who meet state and federal definitions of learning disabilities and emotional disabilities and attended public schools in a large major metropolitan area in the eastern U.S. will selected as participants following district, school, parental, and individual informed consent.

List all relevant acceptable demographic data -- sometimes a supporting table is nice (see next slide) give ranges when helpful for definitions

Describe SES, school variables, individual characteristics

A two group (peer tutoring vs no peer tutoring) by three recall measure (pretest of content area learning vs. immediate test of content area learning vs delayed test of learning) with repeated measures on the recall factor design will be used.

Students were assigned at random to one of two treatment conditions and all students will be administered pretests, immediate posttests, and one-week delayed posttests on academic measures.

Both Conditions describe common materials here ----

follow-up with condition-specific materials

Treatment A materials

Treatment B materials

Both conditions -- All students will be seen by their regularly assigned teachers. All students ….

Provide a step by step description in sequence of the events common to both conditions

Include duration, intensity, group size information

Include all the things you looked for in the studies that you just coded!!!

Treatment A condition-specific procedures

Provide step by step of Treatment B variation ..

This is where you provide an accurate description of the curriculum, instructional procedures, and such ..

Treatment A condition-specific procedures

Provide step by step of Treatment B variation ..

Three comparable measures of content area learning will be designed by … and evaluated for content validity by having experts in the field evaluate ..

Each measure will consist of 40 items which will be subdivided into three subtests of (a) vocabulary, (b) important facts and concepts, and (c) application items.

Include a sample from each type of item

Reliability of the measure will be established using the following procedures/criteria ….

All tests will be scored using the following procedures

Scorers will be blind to (unaware of) experimental condition;

Scorers will be trained to use the following rubric for open ended items:

List examples of scoring rubric here

0 points =

1 point =

2 points =

3 points =

Reliability of scoring will be established by ---- and resulted in a percent of agreement of --- . When discrepancies are found, items will be discussed and resolved by...

Scores from the pretest, immediate and delayed recall tests will be entered into a 2 group (A vs B) by 3 measure (pre vs immediate vs delayed recall) analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on the recall variable. (this is a big shovel test)

Follow-up tests (e.g., Duncan’s) will be conducted to …..

If data do not meet the assumptions for ANOVA, the appropriate transformations, modifications, or nonparametric statistics will be used.

Results of this investigation are of importance because…..

My Survey Research Proposal

_______ is becoming an increasingly significant issue in education (reference)

(reference) has demonstrated that ______ has become a more significant issue in recent years, but the solution is unresolved.

In order to address _________, it is necessary to know more about ________.

Purpose (e.g., one of these)

This study is intended to determine the attitudes of elementary and secondary level teachers toward high-stakes statewide testing, and instructional changes teachers believe they make in response to such testing.

The purpose of this investigation is to examine students’ perceptions of bilingual programs; how they work, how effective they are; and the types of students who are enrolled in such programs.

This investigation is intended to determine the extent to which science teachers believe that the objectives of educational excellence are compatible with the objectives of full inclusion of students with disabilities.

This research is intended to determine the extent to which technology is employed by high school physical education teachers.

Search of relevant data bases, ERIC, PsycINFO, Dissertation Abstracts (descriptors = list).

Hand search of relevant journals ( list).

Search WRLC, Library of Congress for relevant books

Ancestry search of references

Descendant search in SSCI.

Contact "experts" on topic

 

This area of study is very important …. (Because ___ (1999 ) documented ___)

Repie, Lang, and Spencer (1999) provided some valuable insights ….

Walker, Boon and Fontana (1998) … contributing to the growing body of literature with ...

Furthermore, Hardy, Jeffs, and Jakulski (1997) concluded …..

However, little is known regarding the attitudes of …..on the issue of …. (Problem or However Statement)

Even though some research has been conducted in this area, the findings are inconclusive due to (a) lack of recent research findings; (b) small sample sizes; and (c) localized respondent groups (or other).

Therefore, this study is intended to provide additional information and insights into that problem by addressing previous limitations in the following ways ….

Participants will include 300 regular education students, currently teaching in public schools in grades 6-8…

Participants will be selected by...

A 45-item survey will be developed that will...

Three subscales will consist of 15 items each which will address areas of (a)..., (b) ..., and (c) ...

Include a sample from each type of item

Reliability of the measure will be established using the following procedures/criteria ….

Survey will be piloted on a sample of 40...

Reliability of survey will be established by….It is anticipated that the full scale reliability will be at least .90, and subscale reliability will be no less than .80.

Surveys will be mailed to …..

A second mailing will be undertaken after…

A third mailing/follow-up telephone call..

Means and standard deviations will be presented for each item.

Scale and subscale means will be correlated with …. Demographic variables to determine whether…

T-tests will be conducted between --- groups to determine whether there are differences on ….

Results of this investigation are of importance because…..

My Qualitative Research Proposal

_______ is becoming an increasingly significant issue in education (reference)

(reference) has demonstrated that ______ has become a more significant issue in recent years, but the solution is unresolved.

In order to address _________, it is necessary to know more about ________.

Purpose (e.g., one of these)

This study is intended to observe and describe the development of scientific reasoning processes in students with mild mental handicaps and learning disabilities.

In this research, I intend to study the lived experiences of middle-school bilingual students as they attempt to make the transition between native language and English language instruction in public school settings.

In this investigation, I intend to observe and describe the group social processes of adolescent girls in urban school settings.

Search of relevant data bases, ERIC, PsycINFO, Dissertation Abstracts (descriptors = list).

Hand search of relevant journals ( list).

Search WRLC, Library of Congress for relevant books

Ancestry search of references

Descendant search in SSCI.

Contact "experts" on topic

 

This area of study is very important …. (Because ___ (1999 ) documented ___)

Repie, Lang, and Spencer (1999) provided some valuable insights ….

Walker, Boon and Fontana (1998) … contributing to the growing body of literature with ...

Furthermore, Hardy, Jeffs, and Jakulski (1997) concluded …..

However, little is known regarding the attitudes of …..on the issue of …. (Problem or However Statement)

Even though some research has been conducted in this area, the findings are inconclusive due to (a) lack of recent research findings; (b) small sample sizes; and (c) localized respondent groups (or other).

Therefore, this study is intended to provide additional information and insights into that problem by addressing previous limitations in the following ways ….

Participants will include 12 students with learning disabilities or mild mental handicaps, currently enrolled in inclusive science classrooms teaching in public schools in grades 6-8…

Participants will be selected by…

Participant observations and field notes

Video and audiotape records

Interviews with students

Interviews with parents

Interviews with teachers

Student products, including worksheets and projects

Grades and test scores

Initial interviews with informants

Eight weeks of classroom observation (4 weeks in fall, 4 weeks in spring)

Ongoing interviews with informants

Transcription of audiotapes

Examination of student products, test scores, and grades

Analytic induction "involves scanning the data for categories of phenomena and for relationships among such categories, developing working typologies and hypotheses upon an examination of initial cases, then modifying and refining them on the basis of subsequent cases" (Goetze & LeCompte, 1984, p. 179-180).

Data will be assimilated and evaluated in order to develop hypotheses about the development of scientific reasoning in students with mild disabilities.

Discrepant-cases and negative-cases will be used to further understanding and refine hypothetical constructs.

Observed events will be subjected to the constant comparative method, in which incidents, categories, and constructs are subjected to overlapping comparisons (Goetze & LeCompte, 1984).

Obtained and internally validated results will be compared with qualitative and quantitative descriptions of the development of scientific reasoning and understanding in nonhandicapped populations as well as populations with mild disabilities (e.g., Driver, 1989; Mastropieri & Scruggs, 1992).

Results of this investigation are of importance because…..

 

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