I need help in Writing a Complete ACTION RESEARCH DESIGN on Elementary Students Lacking Foundational Math Skills

 

ACTION RESEARCH DESIGN on Elementary Students Lacking  Foundational Math Skills

Overview

Follow template EXACTLY …..   Some info is provided in template in yellow color

design an action research study that you might implement in your organization or that someone could apply in another organization to address a problem of practice.

Instructions

Develop your Action Research Design proposal using this Annotated Assignment Template (attached) and other linked course resources to guide you.

Complete the assignment using the Action Research Template (attached)  to guide you. 

Rubric Attached

Remember to complete the following:

• Provide a reference list and citations in the literature to support your design.

Additional Requirements

In addition to the requirements outlined above, your assignment should meet the following:

• Written communication: Written communication should be scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for members of professional contexts. Visit the Capella Writing Center for resources and guidance.
• APA format: Follow current Evidence and APA guidelines, including a cover page, headings, hanging indents for all citation entries, correct parenthetical citations within the body of the paper, and all other applicable formatting elements.
• References: Conduct any necessary research  to format reference list.

1

15

Action Research Design

Insert Your Name Here

School of Education, Capella University

EDD8040: Research Design for Practitioners

Insert the Instructor’s Name Here

Insert the Assignment Due Date Here

**** HIGHLIGHTED YELLOW COLORED ITEMS YOU CAN USE IN PAPER*****

How to Use this Template

This annotated template provides the instructions you will need to develop your u09a1 action research design proposal. Use the u09a1 assignment template for action research design to develop and submit your action research design proposal. The u09a1 assignment template for action research design include only the headings you will need but no instructions. Use this template to return to the instructions as needed. Before you develop your assignment read through this entire template with instructions.

Important Writing Instructions

This assignment and the entire course project needs be written in the third person voice. Do not write in the first person voice (I . . .). There should be none of you and your voice in this assignment or the course project. Do not use awkward language such as The researcher . . . or The learner when referring to yourself. Do not refer to yourself. Do not write in the second person voice (writing that uses the language you or your). I am not looking for a long paper; your writing should be clear, precise, and concise. The assignment should be no more than 8 to 12 pages of text.

In proposing and describing your action research outcomes avoid using the word would in a phrase such as would be. The use of phrases such as would be are colloquialisms unless preceded or followed by the word if. Instead replace would be or similar phrases with will be or other concrete phrases.

Use direct quotes sparingly. At the doctoral level your writing should be comprised primarily of summarizing and paraphrasing. Ensure your paragraphs have at least three sentences. There are no single sentence paragraphs in either scholarly or basic writing.

The word data are the plural form of the singular word datum, which is rarely used because datum is a single bit of data. Although in conversational language we treat the word data as singular, in scholarly writing you must treat data as plural (e.g. the data are, the data were, the data indicate, etc.). Similarly, we use double verbs in conversational writing but not in scholarly writing. There are no contractions in scholarly writing. Because you are proposing a study, use future tense verbs for proposing. When you present or discuss the literature, present studies using past tense verbs (refer to APA 6th ed. p. 78; or APA 7th ed. section 4.12 Verb Tense pp. 117-118). For in text citations follow the APA guidance found on in APA 6th ed. p. 177 Table 6.1; or APA 7th ed. pp. 261-266 and Table 8.1 on p. 266.

Scholarly writing is meant to be read and interpreted literally. Please avoid slang, colloquialisms, anthropomorphisms, and conversational writing (refer to APA 6th ed. p. 68; or APA 7th ed. p. 116 section 4.8). Instead be clear, precise, and accurate. Use direct quotes sparingly. At the doctoral level your writing should be comprised primarily of summarizing and paraphrasing. If you must use a direct quote with fewer than 40 words ensure the quoted text is in quotation marks followed by an in-text citation that includes the author’s name, year and page (refer to your APA manual 6th ed. Ch. 6 pp. 172-177; or APA 7th ed. pp. 261-266).

Double space your entire paper. That means do not add additional spaces between sections. See the manuscript in your APA 6th ed. manual starting on p. 41 for how a double-spaced paper looks or the sample student paper in APA 7th ed. pp. 61-66.

Using Previous Coursework

It is okay to re-use work from previous discussions and assignments if that work was part of the course progression to the action research proposal. Note that previous course work will be flagged as a match in SafeAssign. That is okay; however, if your assignment includes work from previous discussions and assignments, please include a comment when you submit the assignment telling your instructor that your assignment includes some previous course work.

Understanding the Action Research Inquiry Cycle – Important Instructions

Although the problem is a real-world organizational problem or organizational process that needs improving, the proposal with its intervention and data collection and data analysis plan are hypothetical. To complete this assignment, you need to have a good grasp of the Action Research Inquiry Cycle (see the Week 6 multimedia learning activities and download the Cycle of Inquiry pdf). More Action Research information is available via the Given (2008) resource included in Week 9 “What you need to know.” You will be proposing a first cycle action research study, which your intervention will typically involve training faculty and or staff. The expected outcome of the intervention is that your participants will begin to implement what they learned in the training intervention.

Keep in mind that your hypothetical action research proposal will follow and present a plan for completing the first 5 steps of the 10 steps inquiry cycle. For step 1, diagnosing the problem, and step 2, generating alternatives, if the corresponding data are not available to you, you will need to have hypothetically already collected the data you need via a needs assessment and hypothetically collaborated with your organizational leaders to generate alternatives. Based on your understanding of the organizational problem or process and your review of the literature, you will propose a detailed intervention and a plan to implement that intervention (steps 3 and 4). Your action research proposal will also include a data collection plan and a data analysis plan (step 5), and will conclude with a discussion of (a) how the action research proposal relates to your specialization within the EDD program, (b) the ethical considerations for the action research study, and (c) a discussion of the potential weaknesses of the action research plan.

Preliminary Information

*****USE THIS FROM PREVIOUS USED WORK ONLY IN THIS AREA*******

Learning Community School is an elementary school located on the west side of Detroit, Michigan’s inner city. This school receives 99% free and reduced lunch and state assistance is the primary source of income for the student families. Students are not taking mathematics seriously in that virtual classes do not count toward their academic grade progression for the next school year.

Please provide a brief overview of the organizational issue you have chosen to study in this course. Include a short description of the organization where the issue exists with pertinent contextual information (e.g., type of organization, purpose of organization, number of personnel, teachers, students, etc., and other pertinent demographic information). In this paper, use a pseudonym rather than the actual name of the organization.

This section should be no more than one to two paragraphs. The purpose of this background information is simply to orient the reader to the remainder of the paper.

*****USE THIS FROM PREVIOUS USED WORK ONLY IN THIS AREA*******

With the continuous state of this country concerning the Covid-19 pandemic, many students are failing grade level expectations and are lacking in academic performance. Mathematics is a subject that builds foundational and procedural skills, and fluency. Much like a house, it has a foundation. Students cannot just learn by looking at a board or listening to a lecture (Salomon, 2003). However, many kids need hands-on experiences to understand elementary math concepts truly. One-way teachers can facilitate this process is by using math manipulatives. At present, this school district is using 100% virtual learning. During this new way of learning, student engagement is vital part of online learning and academic success. Many students are struggling academically because of many factors such as: not attending mandatory online learning meetings, multiple distractions within their home while attending school, students logging into class while keeping their cameras off to sleep, and/or playing other non-school related games while attending virtual learning classes.

This area of interest is important to me because teachers confront a professional future in which online instruction will play an increased role in student learning. As instructional activities are delivered online, a critical challenge for teachers will be to continue supporting those ideals key to the missions of Detroit Public School Community School District with the creation of an instructional environment that is culturally responsive, committed to equity and inclusion, and able to support a diverse student body. Shifting to virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a rethink by teachers who do not normally teach or design online mathematics course content for elementary grade students.

Problem

Define the problem as it exists at your organization. The problem in an action research study is an organizational situation, deficiency, or process that needs to be improved.

Begin with the statement, “The problem at Learning Community School issue is upper elementary students are lacking progress in foundational mathematics skills.

[insert organization name] is…” The statement should be one or two sentences at most. Then, provide evidence to support your problem statement. Supportive evidence may be:

· Records data to which you have access: persistence or survey data (surveys that have been conducted in the past by the organization), teacher observations, and do on;

· Information or knowledge you have about the problem through firsthand experience (such as from staff meetings, informal conversations, or review of student work.)

· Evaluations or results of past efforts to address the problem.

· Other

Please be specific. It is not necessary to have reviewed or analyzed the data for the purposes of this assignment, but you must be specific about the evidence you have or would have available to analyze in support of the problem. For example, if student test scores are one source of evidence that supports your problem statement, include type of test(s), which grade levels and subject areas, and the actual findings or the expected findings in terms of the test scores that support your statement of the problem.

Here is an example: The problem in the School of Education at Capella University is that only about half of first course learners are attending the three live webinars in the first course. The first course instructors believe that attendance at the three live webinars is a critical component of the first course experience in preparing first course learners to succeed in their programs but the administration is hesitant to make attendance at live webinars mandatory.

Important Note: This problem reflects an actual action research study conducted over 2018-2019 of which one of this course subject matter experts was one of the researchers. This example was selected not only to provide an example but also to discuss how to think about a first cycle action research intervention. The researcher who conducted this study believed that a solid foundation provided by the first course will improve overall retention and graduate rates and that the live webinars play a critical role in a good first course experience. However, in terms of a first cycle action research intervention the researchers did not make any attempt to connect the first course intervention to retention and graduation. The intervention was the inclusion of animated videos that reminded learners about each upcoming live webinar. The goal of this first cycle action research study was to increase learner attendance rates at the live webinars. The researchers collected attendance data from the quarter before the intervention was introduced so that the webinar attendance rates during the quarter the intervention was implemented could be compared to the attendance rate of the previous quarter. The researcher’s only goal was to change learner behavior in the short term. Similarly, do not attempt to link your action research study to long term goals. Think in terms of the immediate goals. So, for example if your problem is poor performance scores for ESL students, you might propose an intervention that teaches ESL instructors some strategies and techniques for improving how the teach ESL learners. Ultimately of course you will want to see better scores but for a first cycle action research intervention that teaches ESL instructors some strategies and techniques for improving how the teach ESL learners your data collection will focus only on the immediate goal of: are ESL instructors beginning to incorporate the intervention strategies and techniques in the ESL classes? The next cycle of action might include intensive instructional coaching for ESL instructors. Again, keep in mind that a first cycle action research study will focus on the immediate goals possible and not long-range goals.

THIS SECTION SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN ONE OR TWO PARAGRAPHS. Be concise in your description of the problem that needs to be addressed.

This section does NOT contain a solution or description of an intervention.

Topic

Every local problem has a larger context. The topic provides the broader context within which your organizational problem is situated. For example, if the problem is the lack of parental involvement with high school teachers, staff, and administration, the larger topics might include transitional difficulties for students moving from eighth grade to the ninth grade and how research has demonstrated the impact of parental involvement on student academic success. If the problem is poor motivation in online courses, the broader topic might be student motivation in general.

For this section: Write no more than
one or two paragraphs
about the topic or issue that provides a larger context for your local problem. Provide citations. (Note: You may use material from your Week 8 literature review assignment as appropriate).

Do not write about your own research setting or problem here.

Intervention

A differentiating factor for action research is that it merges action and research.

For this section: Describe what the organization is doing now (if anything) to address the problem you have identified. Then, describe the detailed step-by-step intervention you envision implementing to address the problem or improve the process. Cite support for your approach in the literature. The expectation is that you will synthesize the intervention from the six studies you included in your Week 8 literature review and or other studies you have located.

Be concise but provide key step-by-step intervention details. A typical action research intervention is training or professional development. There should be sufficient details so that this section is written like a recipe that another researcher could follow and duplicate the study and intervention in exact detail. Also, your intervention cannot be the same intervention that your organization has already implemented. Your intervention needs to reflect your creativity in using the literature to create a new intervention that does not yet exist at your organization.

Research Questions

Please adapt the two standard action research questions below.

To what extent will the [intervention] bring about a change in [the problem] at [a specific organizational site]?

How will [the intervention] bring about a change in [the problem] at [a specific organizational site]?

The “to what extent” research question is typically a measurement question that will drive the quantitative component but for an action research study that is completely qualitative the “to what extent” research question can be answered by participants’ perceptions and descriptions of the extent to which change or improvement was made. However, for small samples in which only qualitative data will be collected, think of “to what extent” question as the question that will drive the interview questions that will be used to uncover and illuminate the outcomes. In other words, when the sample is small and there is no quantitative data to show outcomes then “to what extent” will be answered descriptively. The “how” question is a process research question that will drive the qualitative component in order to tell the story of how the intervention led to change. The how research question refers to two things: (a) The process by which the intervention does its work (known as process tracking or monitoring) and is answered by telling the story of how the intervention works and (b) the ways in which the problem is changed or improved (known as the assessment of outcomes) when using qualitative descriptive interview and or focus group data. Keep in mind that action research studies overall are qualitative in nature (see Stringer 2014 p. 36) but can typically include both quantitative and qualitative data, although with very small samples (e.g., fewer than 20 participants), only qualitative research might be used. Again, use and adapt the two standard action research questions above.

Purpose

Provide a statement of purpose. You may use the following formulation and add a few sentences of clarification if desired:

The purpose of the proposed action research study is to implement [insert your intervention] in order to improve [insert area to be improved]. Be sure the purpose statement aligns with your problem statement and research questions.

Existing Research

Include a synopsis of literature you reviewed for your Week 8 assignment. Do not copy and paste your Unit 8 paper here. Provide a synopsis of the literature of about one page that includes existing research that is relevant to your organizational issue, the problem, and/or your proposed intervention.

Participants

Change and improvement in organizations require collaborative efforts. Describe who the participants will be in your action research study. Before designing any improvement project or action research study, you will also need to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders as you explore the actual causes of the problem and preferred ways to address it. Stakeholders and participants are not necessarily the same people, but they could be. Stakeholders have a stake in solving or improving a problem situation, provide the necessary shared input needed to define a problem, and consider ways to address it. This collaboration happens before beginning the implementation of the intervention and is an essential part of change management. For your hypothetical proposal, if no real-world collaboration has taken place, then describe hypothetically what should have happened to arrive at the intervention you are proposing.

It is possible for stakeholders to later become participants in the study. It is also possible that some stakeholders may not be study participants. For example, a school principal may be a stakeholder in a process to define a problem with student achievement or teacher performance but will not be a participant in a study that provides instructional coaching for teachers. Both teachers and a school principal; however, could be stakeholders with whom you collaborate in the planning stages of the study.

For this section provide the roles of people who would be stakeholders and study participants in your study, and approximate number.

Collaborating Stakeholders
Study Participants

Describe how study participants will be selected via recruitment.

Data Collection

Action research studies involve two types of data collection. First, data are collected throughout the implementation of the intervention to monitor the implementation and make adjustments in the implementation as warranted by the data and information that are collected. This type of data is important in presenting a process analysis of how the implementation unfolded. Often action researchers keep a journal of reflections as well as informal or unplanned conversations and observations during the implementation.

The second type of data is collected to answer the research questions that correspond to the expected outcomes or objectives of the intervention. These data depend, of course, on the research questions and the intervention and may include interview-perception data, focus-group data, meeting minutes, student work or assessments, or observational data.

Note: some process data may also be used to answer research questions. For example, a staff meeting part way through the implementation may be part of monitoring data that result in changes to the implementation. These data may also be used to answer a question such as How did staff perceive the [insert intervention] implementation?

For this section: Complete the APA formatted table below or use the APA formatted table that is in the u09a1 template with headings only.

TIPS:

· Note which data will be useful for the process analysis.

· Be as specific as possible in describing the data.

· Be realistic. What is feasible?

· Try to identify actual data that might be available or possible to collect at your organization. But, remember that this study is a hypothetical study. You may include relevant data even if you are unsure it will be possible to collect it at your organization.

· The key is to identify data that are aligned with your research questions and the purpose of the research.

· Within the table content you can use Times New Roman 12 point, 11 point, or 10 point font. Just be consistent.

Table 1

Data Collection Plan

Research Question

Data to be Collected

Data Source

When Collected

To what extent . . . ?
How will . . . ?

Use the APA formatted table above which has five rows and four columns. Follow these instructions and remove the instructions from the final version. Please note that if your table crosses over to another page, see APA pp. 147-148 for how to format for continuation.

* Research Question: State research question(s), one per row

** Data Collection: Which data will be collected to answer the research question? (survey, interview, tracking data, and so on). Is it qualitative or quantitative?

+ Data Source: Who will provide the data or where will you find it? (such as faculty, staff members, counseling records, or records database.)

++ When Collected: When will the data be collected? (prior to implementation of the intervention, during the intervention, week X of the intervention, after the intervention).

Note: if your table will run across two or more pages, please see APA 6th ed. pp. 147-148 or APA 7th ed. p. 212 for how to format a table continuation.

Data Analysis

For each data source mentioned under Data Collection, explain how you will analyze the data. You are not expected to provide detailed descriptions of data analysis but refer to the readings in this course or other external sources for information about basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Discussion

Write a reflective essay that responds to the following questions. Cite sources to support your writing as appropriate. Write in the third-person voice.

How is the proposed action research study related to your EdD specialization (i.e., Adult Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Leadership and Management, Performance Improvement Leadership, Personalized and Competency-Based Instruction, Reading and Literacy, Reading and Literacy, Teacher Leader in K-12 Studies, Teacher Leader in Digital Transformation)? How does the action research proposal align with your specialization and expand knowledge and inform practice within your specialization?

What are possible ethical or regulatory considerations for the study you have designed? Be sure to address all ethical considerations (i.e., researcher bias and preconceptions, approvals, confidentiality, privacy, anonymity, informed consent, potential harm and risk, and correct data interpretation and use or misuse of results) and support your discussion with the literature.

What are potential weaknesses of the study as you have designed it? What are some ways you might overcome these weaknesses under ideal circumstances?

References 6 OR MORE

References go on a separate page. Ensure references are in the hanging indent format and are properly APA formatted; refer to APA Publication Manual 6th edition (2010) Chapter 7 or APA 7th ed. pp. 289-309 and Ch. 10 starting on p. 313 for guidance and examples.

Research Plan

for

[Insert brief, informative title]: An Action Research Study

by

[Insert your name]

A paper in partial fulfillment

of requirements for EDD8040

Instructor:

Date:

INSTRUCTIONS

This project is a hypothetical action research design based on the issue at the organization you chose to focus on in this course. Use the literature you selected about the issue, your assignment in Unit 8, and the knowledge gained in the course to develop a well-aligned research study design.

Because you have not conducted a needs assessment or otherwise collaborated with stakeholders at your site about this issue (except, perhaps, informally as part of your job), you may need to make assumptions about some of the elements of the design.
Please note where you are making these assumptions
and provide the basis for the assumptions. For example, you may not have access to all the information about your problem but can identify the data you would, ideally, consult and/or collect. Include that data and note that you assume it exists and that you would have access to it.

Delete all instructions, including these, when you have completed the paper, except for the heading of each section and the research data table, with the legend beneath it. (Delete “INSTRUCTIONS” above).

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION

Please provide a brief overview of the organizational issue you have chosen to study in this course.

Include a short description of the organization where the issue exists with pertinent contextual information (such as type of organization, purpose of organization, number of personnel, teachers, students, and other pertinent demographic information). In this paper, use a pseudonym rather than the actual name of the organization.

This section should be no more than one to two paragraphs. The purpose of this background information is simply to orient the reader to the remainder of the paper.

SECTION ONE

Problem

Define the problem as it exists at your organization. The “problem” in an action research study is an organizational situation, or the cause of an organization issue, that needs to be improved. Carefully consider the scope of your problem. The problem should not be a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

If the organizational problem of interest to you is a large problem with multiple causes that would require a multifaceted approach from different areas of the organization to improve it, it may be possible to delineate a particular aspect of the problem that you will address. Remember that you cannot address the problem by implementing an intervention if you have no authority in the organization to do so. Your ability to collaborate with others and exercise influence in your organization will also help determine the scope of your project. Your study should address a problem of importance and substance, and be one where an intervention could result in improvement to measures that matter to your organization.

FOR THIS PAPER: Begin with the statement, “The problem at [insert organization] is…” The statement should be one or two sentences at most.

Then, provide evidence to support your problem statement. Supportive evidence may be:

· Records data to which you have access: persistence or survey data (surveys that have been conducted in the past by the organization), teacher observations, and do on;

· Information or knowledge you have about the problem through firsthand experience (such as from staff meetings, informal conversations, or review of student work.)

· Evaluations or results of past efforts to address the problem.

· Other

Please be specific. It is not necessary to have reviewed or analyzed the data for the purposes of this assignment, but you must be specific about the evidence you have or would have available to analyze in support of the problem. For example, if student test scores are one source of evidence that supports your problem statement, include type of test(s), which grade levels and subject areas, and the actual findings or the expected findings in terms of the test scores that support your statement of the problem.

Avoid stating your opinions. Do not make assertions without supporting examples, evidence, explanation, or additional information. (Consult The Craft of Research on making and supporting claims.)

THIS SECTION SHOULD BE NO MORE THAN TWO TO THREE PARAGRAPHS. Be concise in your description of the problem that needs to be addressed.

This section does NOT contain a solution or description of an intervention.

Topic

Every local problem has a larger context. The topic provides the broader context within which your organizational problem is situated.

For this section: Write no more than
one or two paragraphs
about the topic or issue that provides a larger context for your local problem. Provide citations. (You may use material from your Unit 8 assignment as appropriate.)

Do not write about your own research setting or problem here.

Intervention

A differentiating factor for action research is that it merges action and research.

For this section: Describe what the organization is doing now to address the problem you have identified (if anything). Then, describe the intervention you might envision implementing to address the problem. Cite support for your approach in the literature.

Be concise and provide details in no more than two to three paragraphs.

Research Questions

Provide at least one research question. You may use the following formulation:

How will [the intervention] bring about a change in [the problem] at [a specific organizational site]?

A broad research questions such as the sample question may have one or more subquestions about specific aspects of the intervention.

The how in this formulation refers to two things:

a) The process by which the intervention does its work (known as process tracking or monitoring); and is answered by telling the story of how the intervention works and

b) The ways in which the problem is changed or improved (known as the assessment of outcomes) when using qualitative data.

If the outcome is assessed by quantitative data as well as qualitative data, then a question such as To what extent will the intervention result in change? may be used as a research question. The phrase to what extent implies a causal effect.

Purpose

For this section: Provide a statement of purpose. You may use the following formulation and add a few sentences of clarification if desired:

The purpose of the study is to implement [insert your intervention] to improve [insert area to be improved; be sure it aligns with your problem statement and research questions].

Existing Research

For this section: Include a synopsis of literature you reviewed for Unit 8. Do not copy and paste your Unit 8 paper here. Provide a synopsis of the literature of about one page that includes existing research that is relevant to your issue, the problem, and/or your proposed intervention.

Participants

Change and improvement in organizations are collaborative efforts. Describe who the participants will be in your action research study. Before designing any improvement project or action research study, you would also need to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders as you explore the actual causes of the problem and preferred ways to address it.

Stakeholders and participants are not necessarily the same people, but they could be. Stakeholders have a stake in solving or improving a problem situation, provide the necessary shared input needed to define a problem, and consider ways to address it. This happens before beginning the implementation of the intervention and is an essential part of change management.

It is possible for stakeholders to later become participants in the study. It is also possible that some stakeholders may not be study participants. For example, a school principal may be a stakeholder in a process to define a problem with student achievement or teacher performance but would not be a participant in a study that provides instructional coaching for teachers. Both teachers and a school principal, however, could be stakeholders with whom you collaborate in the planning stages of the study.

For this section: Provide the roles of people who would be stakeholders and study participants in your study, and approximate number.

Collaborating stakeholders:

Study participants:

Describe how study participants would be selected.

Data Collection

Action research studies involve two types of data collection. First, data are collected throughout the implementation of the intervention to monitor the implementation and make adjustments in the implementation as warranted by the data and information that are collected. This type of data is important in presenting a process analysis of how the implementation unfolded. Often action researchers keep a journal of reflections as well as informal or unplanned conversations and observations during the implementation.

The second type of data is collected to answer the research questions that correspond to the expected outcomes or objectives of the intervention. These data depend, of course, on the research questions and the intervention and may include interview-perception data, focus-group data, meeting minutes, student work or assessments, or observational data.

Note: some process data may also be used to answer research questions. For example, a staff meeting part way through the implementation may be part of monitoring data that result in changes to the implementation. These data may also be used to answer a question such as How did staff perceive the [insert intervention] implementation?

For this section: Complete the table.

TIPS:

· Note which data will be useful for the process analysis.

· Be as specific as possible in describing the data.

· Be realistic. What is feasible?

· Try to identify actual data that would be available or possible to collect at your organization. But, remember that this is a hypothetical study. You may include relevant data even if you are unsure it would be possible to collect it at your organization.

· The key is to identify data that are aligned with your research questions and the purpose of the research.

Research Question*	Data to be Collected**	Data Source+	When Collected++

Notes

* Research Question:
State research question(s), one per row

** Data Collection:
Which data will be collected to answer the research question? (survey, interview, tracking data, and so on). Is it qualitative or quantitative?

+ Data Source:
Who will provide the data or where will you find it? (such as students, faculty, counseling records, or records database.)

++ When Collected:
When will the data be collected? (prior to implementation of the intervention, during the intervention, week X of the intervention, after the intervention).

Data Analysis

For this section: For each data source mentioned under Data Collection, explain how you would analyze the data. You are not expected to provide detailed descriptions of data analysis, but refer to the readings in course or external sources for information about basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Discussion

For this section: Write a reflective essay that responds to the following questions. Cite sources to support your writing as appropriate.

How would this research be related to the specialization of Educational Leadership and Management?

What are possible ethical or regulatory considerations for the study you have designed?

What are potential weaknesses of the study as you have designed it? What are some ways you might overcome these weaknesses under ideal circumstances?

This is a hypothetical problem, intervention, and research design. Explain how you would collaborate with stakeholders in identifying a problem, designing an intervention, and conducting a study in preparation for an actual action research study.

References

For this section: Provide a list of all works cited in the paper, formatted according to current APA guidelines.

Action Research Design Scoring Guide

CRITERIA	NON-PERFORMANCE	BASIC	PROFICIENT	DISTINGUISHED
Design a research study using organizational knowledge and existing research. 20%	Does not design a research study using organizational knowledge and existing research.	Designs a research study using organizational knowledge and existing research, but the design is incomplete.	Designs a research study using organizational knowledge and existing research.	Designs a research study using organizational knowledge and existing research and makes connections to practical application.
Apply knowledge and logic of action research and research principles. 20%	Does not apply knowledge and logic of action research and research principles.	Applies knowledge and logic of action research and research principles but does not provide enough supporting evidence or there is a misalignment in the application.	Applies knowledge and logic of action research and research principles.	Applies knowledge and logic of action research and research principles, and makes connections to practical application.
Propose an improvement initiative based on existing research and organizational information. 20%	Does not propose an improvement initiative based on existing research and organizational information.	Proposes an improvement initiative but proposal lacks strong evidence based on research and background information to support the proposal.	Proposes an improvement initiative based on existing research and organizational information.	Proposes an improvement initiative based on existing research and organizational information and demonstrates strong knowledge of relevant literature and assessment of own site.
Apply ethical considerations to a research design. 20%	Does not apply ethical considerations to a research design.	Applies ethical considerations to a research design but does not provide supporting literature and examples.	Applies ethical considerations to a research design.	Applies ethical considerations to a research design and demonstrates strong knowledge of relevant literature and assessment of own site.
Communicate clearly, supporting a central idea in appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics. 10%	Communication is unclear and does not support a central idea in appropriate format. Does not use correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.	Communicates clearly, supporting a central idea. Format is inconsistent and contains substantial errors of grammar, usage, and mechanics.	Communicates clearly, supporting a central idea in appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.	Communication is exemplary, using evidence to support a central idea in a consistently appropriate format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Writing adheres to APA formatting rules and APA writing 10%	Writing does not adhere to APA formatting and APA writing style.	Writing reflects inconsistent use of APA formatting and APA writing style.	Writing adheres to APA formatting rules and APA writing style.	Writing is exemplary, exhibiting strict and nearly flawless adherence to APA formatting rules and APA writing style.