Action Research Area of Focus

[WLO: 3][CLO: 5]

In this course, your summative assignment is an action research proposal that you will work on each week.

For an overview of the week-by-week plan for how each assignment will build to the final proposal, please see the Final Action Research Proposal Overview.

For the Week One Assignment, you may use content from this week’s Discussion Two: Preliminary Area of Focus to expand and extend your ideas for your action research proposal. This content will eventually be further developed to be a part of the Introduction Section in your Action Research Proposal. Depending on the feedback you received from peers and your instructor in the discussion, you might make changes to your preliminary ideas to more clearly establish and solidify your area of focus. After Week One, your area of focus cannot change since we have a short six week time frame to develop your Action Research Proposal. As a result, be sure to consider your area of focus very carefully as you develop this assignment. Please refer to the Weekly Guidance for further information and examples to inform this assignment. 

Please be sure to carefully review the Instructor Guidance and course readings for this week to inform the development of this assignment.

*Reminder to Students: Remember to save all copies of your work throughout the course as you will use each assignment as part of the Final Action Research Proposal. For many of the discussions and assignments, you are building on your work each week, so it is appropriate to use content from your discussions in your weekly assignments, generally expanding and extending concepts and sections as you progress from week to week. You will have the opportunity to make revisions to each section of your proposal based on instructor and peer feedback prior to your final version in the Final Action Research Proposal, so be sure to revisit the feedback you have received from your instructor and classmates each week to continuously refine your proposal throughout the course.

• Content Expectations
  The following content areas are required in this assignment.
  • Context for the Proposed Study: In one paragraph, describe your current professional role and setting. If you are not working in early childhood education at this time, you can use a previous or future role that aligns with your career goals and interests.
  • Purpose and Educational Significance: In one to two paragraphs, explain the purpose of your study and the student outcomes you want to influence. Further, discuss at least one scholarly article that indicates why this is an important area to address in education.
• Explanation of Problem: In two paragraphs, explain a statement of the problem or situation that led to this interest or why you want to pursue this topic.
• Population: In one paragraph, describe the target population (age/grade, quantity of participants, students or adults). Explain why you have chosen this population for this study, including details about why the population is appropriate for this study.
• One Research Question: Develop one research question that aligns with your area of focus and clearly addresses what you hope to answer and influence in this proposed study. The question needs to be answerable and it must appropriately represent the population/participants you identified. Be sure to review the readings related to developing good research questions to inform the development of your questions.
  • Locus of Control: In one paragraph, evaluate whether your idea is within your locus of control. If you are using a past experience or contrived topic because you are not currently working in ECE, please explain locus of control as related to your previous position or anticipated future position.
• Research and Resource Expectations
  • One scholarly, peer-reviewed source is required, in addition to the course textbook.
• Writing and Formatting Expectations
  • Title Page: Must include a separate title page with the following:
    • Title of paper
    • Student’s name
    • Course name and number
    • Instructor’s name
    • Date submitted
  • Academic Voice: Academic Voice is used (avoids casual language, limited use of “I” or first person, it is declarative).
  • Purpose and Organization: Demonstrates logical progression of ideas.
  • Syntax and Mechanics: Writing displays meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
  • APA Formatting: Papers are formatted properly and all sources are cited and referenced in APA style as outlined 
• Suggested Assignment Length
  • This assignment should be approximately three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and reference pages).