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Pre-Proposal for a Research Project First name Last name Fill in your first and last name. Capella University This assignment should be between 6 and 12 pages in length, double spaced using a 12 point Times New Roman font, not counting the title page and reference section. Unless your instructor directs you to do otherwise, save your assignment using the following pattern to name it: First name Last name u10a1. If Abraham Lincoln submitted this assignment he would call it Abraham Lincoln u10a1.

Quarter & Year: fill in 1st quarter, 2nd quarter etc. as well as the year. Address (optional): City, State, Zip (optional): Phone (optional): E-mail: Instructor:

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Pre-proposal for a Research Study

Offer a brief introduction to your paper beginning immediately under the heading above. Note: according to page 63 of the APA Manual you should not create a heading entitled Introduction. The first part of your paper is assumed to be an introduction. Your introduction should tell the reader what the paper is about i.e. which study is being evaluated and how the evaluation will proceed. You can find more information about how to develop introductions at the Capella Writing Center. Title of the Study Drawing on the learning you gained from the u05a1 and u07a1 assignments, develop a concise, meaningful title of no more than 12 words. Keep in mind that when people read a title the first thing that catches their eye is the lead off phrase. Also, the first words of the title are used to alphabetize a list of titles in a data bank. It is wise to mention the central phenomenon of the study at the very beginning of the title even if you have to spend time figuring out how to word the title in a sensible manner in order to make this possible. For example, instead of saying "An Action Research Project That Implements Best Practices for Classroom Management at School XYZ", it would be far more effective to say "Classroom Management: Best Practices Implementation at School XYZ. The central phenomenon of this study is Classroom Management. Research Paradigm Reflect back to the u3a1 assignment: Comparison of Research Designs. When you completed the final chart of u3a1 you matched the major research designs with five research paradigms which were described in the Research Paradigms Chart. A research paradigm is a lens through which a scholar/researcher views the social world. The research paradigms that

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL were introduced during this course are (a) positivism, (b) post-positivism, (c) interpretivism/constructivism, (d) critical advocacy, and (e) pragmatism. It is important to distinguish between these research paradigms and the various types of research designs. The

major research designs we explored in this course are: (a) experimental designs, (b) correlational designs, (c) survey designs, (d) grounded theory designs, (e) ethnographic designs, (f) narrative designs, (g) mixed methods designs, and (h) action research designs. For your research proposal you have selected one of the eight research designs listed above. In this section you are to identify the research paradigm that lead to your choice of design and which describes the way you are viewing the social world as you develop your preproposal. You should offer a brief explanation of why you have selected the research paradigm. Here is an example of how to proceed. This study emerged from a positivist paradigm. The study is designed as an experiment. The researcher assumes that social world contains stable pre-existing patterns that can be discovered (Newman, 2000). The research project has been designed to learn more about these stable patterns with a view to providing educators with meaningful insights into how they influence the learning process. Statement of the Problem Review chapter 2 of Creswell (2012). Develop a concise description of the research problem your research project will address. As you review chapter 2, pay particular attention to the difference between a research topic a research problem and a research purpose. Figure 2.1 on page 60 and the surrounding explanation will help you distinguish between them. Your description of the research problem should not overlap with your research topic or your research purpose statement. For example if your research topic is persistence among learners taking

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ED5006 at Capella University, you could express your research problem by pointing out that the persistence levels of learners taking ED5006 are lower than the persistence levels of other masters level courses offered at Capella. (This is only an imaginary research problem.) You could then develop the following research purpose statement. The purpose of this survey research project is to identify the primary reasons learners drop out ED5006 at Capella University. Researchers sometimes identify a research problem because of challenges and frustrations they encounter during their professional practice. For example, a teacher might be deeply concerned about bullying behavior at her school. At this point, the research problem is highly subjective in nature and is based on the personal observations and feelings of the researcher. It is essential the researcher moves from a subjective to an objective elaboration of the research problem. High quality scholarship is objective in nature. As part of this assignment you are to develop an annotated bibliography. Draw on the sources you have reviewed as you developed your annotated bibliography, and other sources, in order to develop a scholarly and objective description of the research problem. The imaginary teacher described above who is concerned about bullying behavior at her school could drawn on the sources listed at http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/bullying/bullying-research.html in order to develop a scholarly and objective description of bullying as a research problem. The Capella library contains these and dozens of other relevant research reports. During this course we design a realistic research project but we do not conduct field research. We do not have time in a single course to learn about research, obtain the necessary ethical clearances and conduct the research. That said you should have an actual research site in mind as you design your research project so that it is as realistic as possible. You might be able

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL to obtain descriptive statistics describing the research site you have in mind which illustrate the

extent of the problem that you are proposing to research. If so, for ethical reasons you should use a pseudonym to identify the research site so its actual identity remains hidden. This is common practice for many research projects. You should always reference the source of any statistics you present in your assignment but in order to protect the identity of the research site you may need to use a pseudonym in your citations. For example, the imaginary teacher described above might write something like this in order to illustrate the extent of the problem she proposes to research. Middle School XYZ, located in a large urban center in the south eastern region of the United States, has an approximate student population of 2000. During the 2010 school year, the principal of the school reported 112 incidents of student bullying that were considered serious enough to warrant disciplinary action (XYZ School Principals Report, Aug. 2011, p. 3). If possible, you should provide similar statistics to illustrate the extent of the research problem you are proposing to research. If you provide these kinds of statistics they should be real and not made up. However, you should protect the identity of the research site as illustrated above. These kinds of statistics might not be available to you but if they are they will help you describe your research problem in a scholarly and objective manner. Your main goal should be to avoid offering a purely subjective description of the research problem such as, I think bullying is a serious problem at my school. Background and Context for the Problem Ground your discussion of this research pre-proposal in the real world by writing about a setting you are familiar with. As mentioned above, use a pseudonym to represent the actual research site i.e. "School System XYZ" or "Corporation ABC". Provide a concise description of

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL relevant details such as grade level, size of the corporation, ethnic mix, socio-economic level of the surrounding community, significant cultural factors and so on. Importance or Significance of the Study Present a convincing argument about the importance or significance of your proposed study. To achieve this it might help to imagine you are attempting to secure funding for your research project. Funding agencies typically choose the most important and beneficial research projects to support. Explain how this research project would add to the existing knowledge base associated with your research topic. Identify the audience that this research project would be of particular importance to. You may wish to examine how the authors of the sample research studies provided by Creswell (2012) have elaborated on the significance of their studies. Research Design Refer back to your u3a1 assignment: Comparison of Research Designs. On the basis of

what you learned during that assignment, identify the most appropriate design for your proposed research project and briefly defend your decision. Creswell (2012) defines a research design as the specific procedures involved in data collection, data analysis and report writing. There are a number of research designs that are well known and understood among scholars. They can be categorized under the general research approaches of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. In addition, most research designs have variations which are also well known among scholars. Unfortunately there is not complete consistency among all scholars in terms of how many research designs there are, how they are grouped or how each is defined. However, Creswell (2012) offers a reasonable and well respected overview of research designs which is summarized in the following chart.

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Quantitative Research Designs

Experimental
Between Group designs such as true experiment, quasiexperiment, and factorial Within Group or Individual Designs such as time series, repeated measures or single subject

Qualitative Research Designs

Grounded theory Ethnography Narrative

Mixed Methods Research Designs

Mixed Methods Action research

Correlational

Survey

Explanatory

Cross Sectional

Systematic

Realist

Triangulation

Practical

Prediction

Longitudinal studies such as trend studies, cohort studies, and panel studies

Emerging

Case Studies

Constructivist

Critical

There are numerous types of narrative designs including autobiographies, biographies, life writing, personal narratives, narrative interviews, oral histories, ethno histories and so on.

Embedded

Participatory

Explanatory

Exploratory

Research Purpose Statement Review chapter 4 of Creswell (2012). Present your research purpose in a single thoughtfully developed sentence. Be sure to follow the seven guidelines for developing a research purpose statement found on pages 122-134 of the text which are summarized and illustrated below. All that is required in this section is a single sentence purpose statement although you can offer a brief elaboration after your purpose statement if you feel it is warranted. Be sure your purpose statement includes the research design and the research site, even though the site will be presented as a pseudonym. For example: The purpose of this action research project is to implement best practices for reducing bullying behavior in grade four classroom ABC of school XYZ.

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Creswell (2012, p. 123) offers the following seven guidelines for quantitative research purpose statements. 1. Write the purpose statement in a single sentence. 2. Begin the statement with key identifier words, such as the purpose of this study to clearly signal readers.

3. If you plan to use a theory, introduce it in the statement by stating that you plan to test a theory. 4. Three options exist for using variables in this statement: you seek to relate two or more variables, to compare a variable composed of two or more groups in terms of the dependent variable, or to describe one variable. Use the words relate or compare or describe to indicate whether variables will be related, groups will be compared, or variables will be described. 5. If variables are related or groups compared, specify the independent and dependent variables and any control or intervening variables. 6. State the independent variable first (first position in the sentence) followed by the dependent variable second (second position in the sentence). If control or mediating variables are used, state them last (in the third position in the sentence). The placement of these variables in this sentence is important because quantitative researchers often view variables as related from left to right. 7. Identify the participants to be studied and the research site at which they will be studied. Sample 1 template: The purpose of this study is to test (the theory) by relating (the independent variable) to (the dependent variable) for (participants) at (the research site).

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Example: The purpose of this study is to test Mezirows theory of transformative learning by relating instruction in critical self reflection to transformative learning events for graduate students enrolled in ED5006 at Capella University. Sample 2 template: The purpose of this study is to compare (the independent variable) with (group 1) and (group 2) in terms of (the dependent variable) for (participants) at (the research site). Example: The purpose of this study is to compare transformative learning events experienced by learners in section one of ED5006 who receive instruction in critical self reflection with learners in section two of ED5006 who do not receive instruction in critical self reflection at Capella University. Creswell (2012, p. 131) offers the following seven guidelines for qualitative research purpose statements. 1. Use key identifier words to signal the reader, such as The purpose of this study is 2. Consider mentioning that the study is qualitative since audience may not be familiar with qualitative research. 3. Become familiar with qualitative research designs (see Chapters 13, 14, and 15), and indicate the type of research design you plan to use in your study. 4. State the central phenomenon you plan to explore. 5. Use words that convey intent about the exploration, such as explore, discover, understand, or describe. 6. Mention the participants in the study. 7. Refer to the research site where you will study the participants.

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Sample template: The purpose of this qualitative study will be to

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(explore/discover/understand/describe) (the central phenomenon) for (participants) at (research site). Example: The purpose of this qualitative case study will be to describe transformative learning events experienced by graduate learners enrolled in ED5006 at Capella University. Research Questions Drawing on the insight offered in chapter 4 of Creswell (2012) beginning on page 124, write the central question of the study as well as 2-5 sub questions. Be sure you offer both a central question and a list of sub questions. An effective way to create the central question is to restate the research purpose in question form. Here is an example of how to proceed. Assume your purpose statement reads as follows. The purpose of this qualitative case study will be to describe transformative learning events experienced by graduate learners enrolled in ED5006 at Capella University. Central research question. What transformative learning events are experienced by learners enrolled in ED5006? (Note: this is a rephrasing of the research purpose statement in question form and is therefore carefully aligned with the study purpose.) Sub questions. 1. What precipitates these transformative learning events? 2. In what ways do these transformative learning events alter the learners understanding of how the social world functions? 3. Did these learning events continue to alter student understanding and behavior after the class was completed? (Note: the sub questions further clarify the goals of the study and elaborate on what the researcher wishes to explore.)

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Evaluative Annotated Bibliography Go to the Capella Graduate Writing Center and review the material offered about

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Annotated Bibliographies. If the above link does not work for you, the route to the writing center is as follows. On the home page of iGuide hover your pointer over RESOURCES at the top of the page. On the drop down menu, under the heading Thinking, Reading, and Writing, click on the link to Graduate Writing Center. On the Graduate Writing Center screen click on Annotated Bibliography on the left hand side. (You may be able to go directly to the appropriate location by clicking on the link above.) Read the brief overview of annotated bibliographies which explains they are of two types: summative and evaluative. You will be creating an evaluative annotated bibliography for this section of your assignment. After you have finished reading the overview, click on the media presentation the left side of the page and review its content. Drawing on the resources available to you at the Capella online library, locate 5-10 relevant and scholarly sources that contribute to your understanding of the research topic and the associated research problem you are focusing on for this assignment. If possible, these sources should be research reports. Develop an annotated bibliography entry for each of these sources following the guidance offered in the Capella Graduate Writing Center. As previously mentioned, you may find that some of the information found in these sources will help you develop your Statement of the Problem and Importance or Significance of the Study sections of your assignment. Data Collection

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If your proposed research project will use a quantitative design, review chapter 5 as well as the chapter describing the specific quantitative design you have selected. Briefly describe how you would collect data to advance your research project. If your proposed research project will use a qualitative design, review chapter 7, as well as the chapter describing the specific qualitative design you have selected. Briefly describe how you would collect data to advance your research project. If you are selecting a mixed methods design you should review both chapters 5 and 7 as well as the chapter devoted to the specific mixed methods design you will be using. An effective strategy for developing this section of your assignment is to look at the headings in the appropriate chapter that have been presented as questions. If you systematically answer each of these you will do well. Of course, these questions are different depending on whether you are doing a quantitative study or a qualitative study. If you are doing a quantitative study the chapter headings to look for in chapter 5 are the following. What participants will you study (p. 141)? What permissions will you need (p. 147)? What information will you collect (p. 150)? What instrument will you used to collect data (p. 157)? How will you administer the data collection (p. 169)? If you are doing a qualitative study the chapter headings to look for in chapter 7 are the following. What are the different sampling approaches for selecting participants and sites (p. 206)? How will you gain access to the people and sites (p. 210)? What types of qualitative data will you collect (p. 212)? What procedures will be used to record data (p. 225)? You should offer a description of each method of data collection you will be using, i.e. surveys, interviews, observations and so on. Explain briefly how you will conduct each and

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL insure they are effective. Of course before answering these questions you should read what Creswell has to say after each question in the appropriate chapter in his text. Data Analysis and Interpretation

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If you will be using a quantitative research design, review chapter 6 as well as the chapter describing the design you have selected. Briefly describe how you would analyze and interpret your data to advance your research project. If this is a qualitative research design, review chapter 8, as well as the chapter describing the design you have selected. Briefly describe how you would analyze and interpret your data to advance your research project. To do well in this section you are encouraged to once again systematically answer the questions posed in the appropriate chapter of Creswell. If you are doing a quantitative design the questions to answer as presented in chapter 6 are as follows. How do you prepare the data for analysis (p. 175)? How do you analyze the data (p. 182)? How do you report the results (p. 195)? How do you interpret the results (p. 197)? If you are doing a qualitative design the questions presented in chapter 8 are as follows. How do you prepare and organize the data for analysis (p. 238)? How do you explore and code the data (p. 243)? How do you use codes to build description and themes (p. 247)? How do you represent and report findings (p. 253)? How do you interpret findings (p. 257)? How do you validate the accuracy of your findings (p. 259)? Of course before answering these questions you should read what Creswell has to say after each question in the appropriate chapter in his text. Ethical Considerations Review the readings for Unit 8. The articles can be located by following these directions.

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL From the iGuide home page hover your mouse over Resources. On the drop down menu under Office of Research and Scholarship, click on Research Center Site. Click on Education & Training at the top of the screen. Click on Belmont Report on the left side. Review the summary. Click on the Belmont Report link embedded in the summary and read the report.

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Return to the Education & Training page and click on History of Research Ethics. Click on the View Media link and explore the interactive presentation. Return to the Education & Training page and click on Rights of Research Participants. In order to do well in this section you should have three subheadings as follows. Respect for persons. Following this subheading you should explain how this ethical principle has influenced the design of your study. Hint: the informed consent process emerges from this ethical principle. How will you insure your participants understand the research project you wish to conduct and how will you arrange to have them provide you with their informed consent? Beneficence. Following this subheading you should explain how this ethical principle has influenced the design of your study. Hint: this ethical principle addresses the balance between the risks and the benefits of your study. You should discuss both. Explain why the benefits of the study outweigh the potential risks to participants. Explain what steps you would take to minimize the risks. Justice. Following this subheading you should explain how this ethical principle has influenced the design of your study. Hint: this principle insures an equitable distribution of both the benefits and the burdens of the research project you are designing. How will you insure that you will not exclude participants who are likely to benefit from the study?

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Limitations of the Research Project It is impossible for a research project to be perfect. Drawing on the learning you

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experienced doing u5a1 and u7a1, identify the limitations and weaknesses of the research project described in this pre-proposal. Researchers strive to be aware of the limitations of their work and to make other scholars aware of them. It is difficult to be critically reflective about our own work but the more skillful you become in this high level cognitive activity the more you will deserve the title of scholar. After identifying each weakness present a strategy on how it could be addressed. Here are some sample weaknesses you might wish to identify and explain how you could address each one to limit its impact on your study. Not all of these will apply to your project; these are presented to help you see the kinds of issues you should write about in this important section of your assignment. 1. Most research projects have a limited number of participants to draw data from. The limited number of participants for any research study is an inherent limitation. The fewer participants you have the less valid and reliable your results will be. You could estimate how many participants you will have if you were actually to conduct your study and offer a brief discussion about how just one research study cannot involve enough participants to insure totally valid results. How will you increase the number of participants if you get a poor response to your requests for participation? 2. Research designs are never perfectly operationalized. You could discuss the primary problems you anticipate you would have conducting this research project and how those challenges will limit the research project. How will you strive to rise to these challenges?

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3. Data collection seldom goes as planned. What do you anticipate will be your primary problems collecting the kind of data you will need? What could you do to improve your data collection plan? 4. The research problem may be far more complex than a single research project can address. What additional research projects do you envision will be needed after yours is completed that will explore the research problem in a variety of ways? 5. Some research projects are of limited interest to others and the results are difficult to get published. What could you do to enhance the appeal of your research and how can you insure it gets published? 6. Most likely you have limited experience as a researcher. How could you obtain the help and mentoring you would need to make your research project more effective and successful? 7. Every research design has inherent weaknesses. Reflect on the specific research design you have chosen by reviewing what Creswell (2012) has to say about it. What weaknesses do you see within it as a design? How could you limit the impact of those weaknesses?

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References With the help of your APA manual, develop a reference list of all sources referred to in this assignment. The most common errors learners make when developing their reference section are (a) not using hanging indents, (b) improper capitalizing of titles and (c) not using italics for titles. Immediately below you will find a number of websites which show you how to format 95% of all sources you will ever use. Below that, you will find detailed explanations on how to create hanging indents, properly capitalize your titles, and how to use italics in a reference list. Capella Writing Center APA Style Website APA Sample Paper Reference List Hanging Indents APA requires us to use hanging indents to format our reference lists. You can see what a properly indented reference section looks like by going to pages 49-51of the 6th Edition of the APA manual. The manual also discusses the issue on page 37. There are additional examples below. If you use Microsoft Word 2007, take the following steps. 1. Use your mouse to select the text that you wish to convert to hanging indents. Usually this will be your entire reference list at the end of your paper. 2. With the appropriate section of text selected, right click your mouse. 3. Select "paragraph" from the menu that appears on your screen. 4. Click the down arrow beside the word special and select hanging and then click OK. Your selected text should instantly reformat so that it looks like the following examples. Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass. Newman, L. (2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. O'Dell, C. & Grayson, C. (1998). If only we knew what we know: The transfer of internal knowledge and best practice. New York, NY: The Free Press. Notice how the first line of each reference comes right over to the margin and the rest of the reference is indented. This is done in APA so that the last name of the author stands out so that you can quickly locate the appropriate reference. You can turn off the hanging indent feature by going through the above process once again but this time selecting "none" in the final step. Click on the following web sites for additional information and illustrations Capella Writing Center APA Style Website APA Sample Paper Reference List Italicizing

Running head: PRE-PROPOSAL Every APA formatted reference list entry has an italicized section. However, what gets

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italicizing varies depending on the nature of the reference. The titles of books included in your reference list are to be put in italics. Gronlund, N.E. (2003). Assessment of student achievement. New York: Allyn and Bacon. The title of periodicals is put in italics (but not the title of the article). Annscheutz, B. (1999). The high cost of caring: Coping with workplace stress. In OACAS Journal 43 (3), 17-21. Click on the following web sites for additional information and illustrations Capella Writing Center APA Style Website APA Sample Paper Reference List Capitalizing One of the unusual and unexpected features of APA is that it requires us to capitalize only the first word of the title in a reference list and not the remaining words that would ordinarily be capitalized, see page101, and the examples on pages 49-51 found in the 6th Edition of the APA guide. If there is a secondary title following a colon and then we also capitalize the first word of the secondary title but not the others. For example - Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. If the title of the work contains proper nouns, then those proper nouns are also capitalized. Click on the following web sites for additional information and illustrations Capella Writing Center APA Style Website APA Sample Paper