The final project for EDTE 250 - Education Research is an action research proposal. The purpose of this proposal is to introduce you to the process of putting together a research proposal.
PLEASE NOTE: This 250 final project in NO WAY commits you to any future research project.
Project Description
Each proposal needs to be done in Microsoft Word and emailed to John (cowanj@csus.edu) by 12/01/06. There is no set length for this project. You should fill in each required area with the amount of information it takes to clearly communicate your intentions. Everything that is included as a section of the research proposal will be covered as content during the course so that you will have a very good idea of what to do for each step by the time the paper is due.
Each student must submit a proposal for a research project that is to include the following elements (This proposal format is also available in Word and PDF):
1. Area of Focus Statement
An area of focus statement identifies the purpose of your study. To start, write a statement that completes the following sentence: "The purpose of this study is to. . ."
2. Research Questions
One of the most difficult things to do is to define a solid, over-arching research question. Most researchers initially can make statements about their proposed research easier than they can produce a research question.
3. Description of the Innovation/Intervention
For this section write a description of the specifics of what you will do (your intervention).
4. Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a list of literature resources that includes both the citation information (where the document came from) and a short description of what content is contained in the document.
5. Description of Study Participants
Describe the characteristics of the group members who will be included in your study.
6. Description of Negotiations
What will you need to do to implement your study. This includes items such as scheduling of labs, permissions, etc.
7. Timeline
The timeline should contain the dates from the beginning to the end of the study and should list any activity that you will be involved related to your study.
8. Statement of Required Resources
This is similar to listing the materials for a lesson plan. What will you need (people, materials, rooms, etc.)
9. Description of Data Collection Strategies
Data collection methods include items such as journals, interviews and surveys.
10. Description of how your study will be conducted in a trustworthy way.
Trustworthiness refers to how a study is designed in regard to how it accounts for bias. In action research, this is accomplished through the use of a variety of data collection tools to look at the same data.
11. Description of Validity
Closely related to trustworthiness, Validity in action research refers to a specific framework which governs how researchers reach findings in ways that accounts for bias, chance occurrences, and other factors.
12. Special Considerations
Special considerations will be anything that you identify that will need to be considered and addressed for your study to be successful.
