education research Archives

October 26, 2017

How to Write a Research Proposal

As a professor of education, one of my favorite courses to teach was “Introduction to Education Research.” The primary purpose of this course is to introduce students to the concepts and methods of education research. The emphasis is placed on methods most frequently encountered in social science research, especially in the field of education. Students are expected complete a research proposal during this course, and in the follow-up course, “Applications of Education Research,” they use this proposal to conduct a research study.

Why did I love teaching this course? Because education research is not an easy skill to develop, but with hard work and dedication it can be mastered. When I was able to help someone who hated statistics learn to love statistics, it gave me a sense of accomplishment. In this piece, I plan to take you through the process of developing an education research proposal that you can be proud of.

Let’s start off by discussing research problems and questions and then moving on to the four main parts of a research proposal.

Research Problem and Question(s)

A research question is the core of a research project, study, or review of the literature. It centers the study, sets the methodology, and guides all stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting.

A research question starts with a research problem, an issue that you would like to know more about or change. Research problems can be:

Areas of concern
Conditions that need to be changed
Difficulties that should be erased
Questions that need to be answered

A research problem leads to a research question that:

Is worth investigating
Contributes knowledge & value to the field
Improves educational practice
Improves humanity

The key features of a good research question:

The question is viable.
The question has clarity.
The question has gravitas.
The question is moral.

How to Get From Research Problem to Research Questions and Purpose

The following section was originally published on a site entitled Research Rundowns:

Step 1. Draft a research question/hypothesis.

Example: What effects did 9/11/01 have on the future plans of students who were high school seniors at the time of the terrorist attacks?

Example (measurable) Questions: Did seniors consider enlisting in the military as a result of the attacks? Did seniors consider colleges closer to home as a result?

Step 2. Draft a purpose statement.

Example: The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the 9/11/01 tragedy on the future plans of high school seniors.

Step 3. Revise and rewrite the research question/hypothesis.

Example: What is the association between 9/11/01 and future plans of high school seniors?

Step 4. Revise and rewrite the research question/hypothesis.

Example: Purpose Statement (Declarative): The purpose of this study is to explore the association between 9/11/01 and future plans of high school seniors.

Note: Both are neutral; they do not presume an association, either negative or positive.

Parts of a Research Proposal

A research proposal includes four sections, and they are as follows:

Section One: Introduction

Section Two: Review of the Literature

Section Three: Research Methodology

Section Four: References

The information that follows offers step by step instructions on how to complete each section of your proposal.

Section One: Introduction

Part #1: Write a paragraph that introduces your topic. Mention your topic in the first sentence. What are you planning to study? What is the purpose of the study?

Part #2: Fully discuss your topic. What specifically interests you? Think of a specific research question (or questions) and state it clearly and precisely. You can also begin to formulate your ideas on how you might study your research question, though you need not be very specific in this section. For example, if you plan to study attitudes toward school vouchers, suggest what characteristics influence how individuals feel about school vouchers (e.g., income, location, etc.).

Part #3: Explain to the reader why it is important to study your topic and put it into a larger educational context. Here is where you answer the “So what?” question. That is, you plan to study XYZ. So what? Why is it important to study this topic? What is the educational importance of this research? Why is this study significant? This is your opportunity to be broad, general, and theoretical in your thinking.

This section should be at least 3-5 pages. Based on the outline provided above, you must utilize sub-headings within this section. You must cite articles within this section to support your topic and claim.

Section Two: Review of the Literature

The purpose of this section is to find and summarize qualitative or quantitative research studies that directly relate to your research question(s). Use library databases to start searching for articles, but employ other resources when necessary.

When looking for articles, you need to adhere to the following guidelines:

Use scholarly journals rather than popular magazines, newspaper articles, or the internet.
Rely on the educational literature. If you are unsure whether an article or journal is included in the discipline, ask me.
In general, select recent articles (i.e., 1960 or later). However, if an article was written in 1952, for example, is extremely pertinent to your proposal, then use it.
Choose only research articles (qualitative or quantitative research) for the literature review. Do not include theoretical works, editorials, book reviews, program reports, etc. If you are unsure about an article, I will gladly take a look at it. Your literature review should not be more than 15 pages.

Your task is to:

Briefly, restate your research topic in an opening paragraph. Provide a short introduction about what question(s) you are trying to answer, why this is educationally interesting, and why you chose it. Also, provide a brief overview of the topics you will cover in your literature review.
Divide the literature that you have into sections of like Then, for each section, write an essay summarizing the studies. Be sure to state the research purpose, method(s), and findings ONLY for the studies that are paramount to your study. [NOTE: Use transitions within your essay so that it flows and does not appear like disjointed blocks of information.]
Write a concluding paragraph that summarizes the articles. For example, how will these articles inform your research?
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE.

Section Three: Research Methodology

The purpose of this section is to allow you to explain your research methodology. This can be the hardest part of the proposal for some students; therefore, do not wait until the last minute to write this section. Think about your design when you write your literature review.

Your task is to:

In a brief introduction, restate your research problem(s)/question(s).
Indicate the following parts of your research methodology:

Describe your vehicle of observation. How do you plan to collect your data? If you are creating a survey, what kinds of questions do you plan to ask? If you are going to do interviews, what will you ask of your interviewees?
What population do you plan to use? How do you plan to sample this population?
How will you select your sample? What kind of sampling method will you use?
How will you analyze your data? What kind of analysis best fits your project, and why?

If you plan to conduct qualitative research, discuss the following issues (be as detailed and accurate as possible):

Define the theoretical constructs will you be using.
What is the main concept you are investigating? What other concepts will be examined (note the concepts’ potential structures, processes, causes, and consequences)?
What type(s) of qualitative analysis will you conduct?

If you plan to conduct quantitative research, discuss the following issues (be as detailed and specific as possible):

Clearly, state your hypotheses.
Identify and operationalize your variables. List the independent variables and the dependent variable.

List the pros and cons of your methodology.
Write a concluding paragraph that summarizes the research design and proposal. When writing this section, imagine that have enough resources for your research design. Since you will not perform the research be creative, but appropriate, with your design.

Section Four: References

On the last section of your proposal, include an APA-formatted bibliography of the articles, books, websites, etc. that you refer to in the text. This page should be titled “References.” The references should be listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author. As a rule of thumb, you need an average of 4 references per page. For instance, if your proposal is ten pages, then technically need 40 references. However, this does not necessarily to have four references on each page.

Please carefully note the following issues:

The entire proposal should be no more than 40 pages excluding the title page and the “References” section. Any page(s) over the 40th page will not be read. All of the parts must be typed, double-spaced, in a 12-point font, with 1-inch margins on all four sides of each page.

If you followed the outline and instructions that we have provided, we are confident that you have completed a top-notch research proposal.

October 24, 2017

Does Class Size Really Matter?

Education reformers and researchers debate a lot of things, but shouldn’t it be easy for them to agree on the importance of small class sizes in PreK-12 classrooms? Maybe. Keep reading to find out. When we speak of small class sizes, that usually means 20 students or under for elementary school classrooms and 20 to 25 students for high schools classrooms. The concept of using small class sizes to boost academic achievement and to solve classroom management woes is a popular one with parents, educators, and politicians. At least 80% of the states in the union have passed some type of class size reduction law or policy in the last two decades.

However, in spite of more than four decades of research, the efficacy of this ubiquitous practice is deceptively hard to measure, which has led to many debates. Most education researchers agree that small class sizes in the primary grades coincide with higher academic achievement and higher graduation rates for students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Their disagreement is linked to whether or not the benefits of small class sizes outweigh the ginormous price tag, especially in states that already find it difficult to fund education adequately. Recently, those same researchers have been trying to figure out the mechanisms that allow smaller class size to work, and who benefits most.

Here are the most interesting insights from their research:

Small class sizes work is because it gives teachers an opportunity to offer students more personalized instruction, which is probably the reason that academic achievement goes up. Teachers don’t necessarily change what they are doing, they are just able to increase their efficacy.
The efficacy of classroom management efforts is increased in smaller groups. Kids also seem to pay more attention.
Smaller class sizes must be coupled with competent administrative and parental support for it to work.
Students in smaller class sizes seem to outperform those who are taught in larger groups. We already knew that, but it is nice to have it verified by empirical research.
Smaller class sizes don’t have the same positive effects if you decrease the physical space in which they are convened. The more space the better.
Students with special needs benefit from smaller class sizes. To clarify, we are referring to students with disabilities who are mainstreamed into regular education classrooms.
Students were found to be more engaged in classrooms with fewer students and reported better relationships with their teachers and peers.
Students in smaller classes spent more time on task than students in larger classrooms.
Teachers in small classrooms reported having more time to differentiate instruction.
Students who experienced small class sizes in elementary school were able to continue that success throughout their K-12 career and were more likely to attend college.
Small class sizes have a positive effect on teacher retention. As class sizes go down, retention rates go up.
Teacher quality can have a positive or negative effect on the efficacy of reduced size classrooms. If you place a low-quality teacher in a classroom with 20 kids or less, the results will more than likely be poor.
Supports, such as professional development, quality curriculum resources, can enhance the effect of reduced class size.

So there you have. Under the right conditions, smaller class sizes do have a positive impact on the academic achievement, engagement, and behavior of PreK-12 students. What do you think? Are we missing something?

September 27, 2015

These 3 Studies on Education Results May Shock You

Studies are a dime a dozen these days, but there are still plenty that force you to pay attention. Let’s talk about three education related ones that just might surprise you.

Being uneducated is more dangerous than chain smoking. According to the Post’s review of a study published in PLOS ONE, “more than 145,000 deaths could have been prevented in 2010 if adults who did not finish high school had earned a GED or high school diploma – comparable to the mortality rates of smoking.”

That’s staggering considering smoking and education aren’t necessarily congruent.

For decades Americans have been warned about the horrors of smoking because of the adverse effects that it has on one’s health. While having an education has always been synonymous with success, not sure if anyone, or any study for that matter, has ever gone this far to connect poor health, or death related to poor health, to lacking a proper education.

The study, according to the Post, doesn’t directly correlate poor education with death. Rather it counts death as “an estimate of education’s impact on mortality, and do not indicate direct causality.”

While this study doesn’t directly state that failure to attain an education will result in death, it does portend that death is a consequence of one’s failure to gain an education. Make sense?

This type of information is multi-faceted because of how far it stretches. Personal responsibility plays a role; the government has an act in this play; the private sector and many other areas are also complicit.

How we move along with the information posted from this story will be interesting as well. Because, maybe more than anything, this shows just how stark the consequences are for our society if we fail to properly educate our children.

The results may be death.

The Ivy Leagues may not be worth it. Saving a year’s worth of salary for one year of higher education at Harvard may yield great career results for some but that may not be true for all.

According to U.S. News and World Report, a recent Brookings Study shows that “other schools may either not cost as much and yield a similar salary and success of loan repayment, or they may cost about the same but generate higher earnings potential.”

Harvard is a small sample size and represents a limited portion of the zenith of college costs. But, in essence, the study shows that one may earn just as much for the duration of their career by attending a college with cheaper tuition.

That’s not a knock against Harvard as students, and their parents, are free to choose any school that matches with their educational goals.

This is an alternative that students have always taken. Take Ronald Nelson, a student who was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools.

Instead of choosing a prestigious Ivy League school, and the tuition that came along with it, Nelson went with the University of Alabama.

He said that Alabama “offered him a full scholarship and admittance into their selective honors program.” Nelson also wants to save for medical school and states that going to an Ivy League higher education institution would not allow him that luxury.

Still–students and parents have to make the decision that’s best for them. Rising costs of higher education will likely force more students to choose cheaper schools over ones with higher tuition rates.

Closing the achievement gap would increase the GDP by $10 trillion by 2050.

Talk about boosting the economy.

One study after another has shown a wide educational achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest children in the United States. This prompted researchers at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a group focused on narrowing inequality, to study and conclude that if America could improve education performance for the average student, everyone would benefit.

The U.S. ranks behind more than 33 advanced industrialized countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development when it comes to math and science scores. The study used scores from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, a test used around the world to measure and compare achievement.

America ranks behind countries such as Korea, Poland and Slovenia in the 24th spot.

Elimination of the achievement gap in the U.S. will boost the economy — but this requires raising the country’s average score to 1,080. The average combined score for the U.S. is 978, and the O.E.C.D average is 995.

If the U.S. could move up a few notches to number 19 – so the average American score would match the O.E.C.D. average – it would add 1.7 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product over the next 35 years, according to estimates by the Washington Center. This could lead to approximately $900 billion in higher government revenue.

If the U.S. scores matched Canada, number 7 of the O.E.C.D. scale, America’s gross domestic product would increase by 6.7 percent. After taking inflation into account, this is a cumulative increase of $10 trillion by 2050.

The achievement gap in America is a pressing issue, and it is certainly something we have to hone in on to eliminate. I hope to see our country’s O.E.C.D. ranking improve in the near future so we can narrow, and eventually close, the achievement gap and benefit from the boost in the economy too.

What do you think of these bizarre study results? Do any of these statistics surprise you?

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.