Project Assignment: Mentored Research Proposal

Contents

  • Due Date
  • Assignment
  • Rubric for Assessment
  • Sample Proposal
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • More Questions?

Due Date

This project has two due dates, the first is a draft for peer review (DUE DATE EXTENDED to 11/8), and the final draft is due at the end of the semester.

Assignment

Knowing how to evaluate the work you are doing in your class is an important part of understanding how and why you use certain pedagogies or technologies, and ensuring you are providing a quality learning experience for students. Conducting a research project is also a part of the certificate in college teaching that most of you are pursuing as a part of your graduate career. This project will help you design a proposal for action research that will assist you with accomplishing this milestone for the graduate teaching certificate.

Deliverable

  • Individually outline a mentored research proposal to be used in a future semester

Format

The proposal need not be a full narrative of your project, but rather should contain several essential components of a research project along with some narrative as necessary.

Main components of the project and desired deliverables for the proposal are:

  • Introduction
    • Give an introduction to your proposed study
      • What is it?
      • Why is it important to you and your course
      • Generally what are you trying to do
  • Research Question
    • What is the specific, measurable, achievable and realistic question that you want to answer?
  • Review of Literature
    • What sort of work already exists on this topic?
    • What conclusions have been drawn by previous researchers?
    • What gaps in the existing body of work have you identified?
    • How does your work fit within these gaps?
  • Methods
    • What methods will you need to use to answer the research question?
      • E.g. Interviews, observation, surveys, etc.
    • How will you use these methods to answer your research question?
  • Constraints
    • Every research study has constraints of some sort, what are the constraints inherent in your methods/models? For example, how many students will you be working with? Does that constrain your ability to make a claim? What other constraints do you have?
  • Results
    • Predictions about how you would interpret your results
    • What types of evidence would support or refute your hypothesis
  • Other relevant information
    • Is there anything else that will be necessary for us to know about this project?

Rubric for assessment

Element In-Progress Satisfactory Distinguished
Introduction Proposal has limited or no overview of the project. Proposal lacks elements from the instructions Proposal contains elements from the instructions. Elements are explained with sufficient description Proposal gives detailed explanation of elements and contains more than the required amount of information
Research Question Research question is ill formed or unfocused Research question is formed well and most of the S.M.A.R.T. goal elements are present Research question is exemplary, all S.M.A.R.T. goal elements are present
Review of Literature Limited review of literature is evident, proposal contains little or no citations (Less than 2) Literature review is present and shows effort to tie it to the study. Proposal contains 5-10 citations Detailed review of literature is present and connected to study, proposal contains a high level of citations (10 +)
Methods Methods are not clearly explained and/or proposal lacks methods which would address the question Methods are clearly explained and are appropriate for answering the question.  Rationale for using said methods is given Multiple complementary methods are used to answer the question. Methods and their connections are clearly made, rationale is clearly explained
Constraints Constraints are unnamed or contain little evidence of connections to methods and literature review Constraints are discussed in the context of the study. Evidence of thoughtfulness about the constraints is present. Constraints are discussed in detail and connected to context of the study. Thought is given to constraints and future possibilities for study
Results Evidence types are limited or non-existent. Limited or no discussion about interpretation of results Discussion is given to how results will be interpreted, and evidence types are discussed Detailed discussion about how results will be interpreted, as well as detailed discussion of evidence types

 

Sample Proposal

This is a sample proposal that would achieve a Satisfactory score on the rubric above

Effects of Text and Background Colors on Reading Speed

This study will examine the effects on reading speed of font and background color. As instructors create online educational content many make changes to the layout, color and other design elements in order to promote more engagement or interest on the part of learners. It is important for instructional designers and instructors alike to understand what effects changing the color of text and background of their content pages might have on the ability for students to read. This study will focus on speed of reading a passage of text rather than on comprehension or recall.

Research Question

Is there a difference in the speed with which a participant can read sample course content if the content color is changed from black text on white background to white text on a black background?

Review of Literature

Methods

In order to answer this question I will need to develop a custom application which will record the start and finish time of a person reading a passage of text. I will use 2 different text passages which will each have a white text/black background and black text/white background version. The two text passages will be chosen to have the same amount of words and reading level. Participants will be asked to read each passage and press a “finish” button when they are done reading. The design will be counterbalanced so we will be able to control to be sure that the same passage/color combination is not given every time.

Participants will visit a website and after agreeing to participate in the study will be taken to a page with a start button. When they press the start button they will be taken to the first passage, after they finish reading they will press the finish button. The application will record the start and finish time for each user. After finishing the first passage they will be taken to a second passage that will have the opposite text/background color, and with the same start/finish buttons.

Constraints

This study will only measure speed of reading a focused set of text/background colors with a small body of text. There will be only a small group of people who will be participating in the study, so results will not likely be widely applicable. If we notice some differences with this group we might want to do a future study with a larger group and/or larger text bodies. If we do not notice a difference that still may not mean that more broadly there isn’t a difference. Future studies in this area may look at comprehension in addition to speed as well as multiple colors.

Results

If we find that the majority of participants are faster at reading one background/text combination than the other we would be able to start to make a conclusion that one type is able to be read more quickly with other textual forms. If we find that there seems to be an equal number of people reading the different types at about the same speed then we might start to think that there is no difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I do this for an Online, Hybrid or Face-to-Face Course?
Your project can be for any type of course you wish it to be, the project is more about learning to ask a question about your teaching or the student learning in your class and then think about how to answer that question.

Do I need to conduct the project?
No, this is simply a proposal to do the project in a future semester. If you are seeking the certification in college teaching credential you will need to conduct this, or similar,  project and write up your results in order to have a portfolio piece. So you do not need to create the instrument (e.g. survey or interview protocol) nor do you need to collect/analyze the data, but you do need to know what tool(s) you would use to conduct the project and how you would analyze it.

More Questions?

Email Scott for clarification at schopie1@msu.edu