Requirements for the Proposal Textbook – Chapter 24 Required Text: Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N. E. (2006) How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education. 7th edition. Boston: McGraw Hill Companies. ISBN 978-0-07-352596-9 The research proposal is a hypothetical experiment. (You will not necessarily complete your study during the course of this session). Threats to internal validity are found in Chapter 9: Internal Validity. Note: There are no subject characteristic threats in this particular design that not accounted for by the design. The twelve threats to validity are listed along with the twelve designs on page 283 in Chapter Thirteen. These are fully explained in Chapter Nine. Internal validity refers to the possibility that some other hypothesis might account for the changes in the treatment or intervention group. “Stated differently, internal validity means that observed differences on the dependent variable are directly related to the independent variable, and not due to some other unintended variable” (p. 179). The research proposal is a detailed plan written in the future tense and using third person pronouns (No “I” etc.) It is intended to provide information to anyone monitoring the research and to permit replication of the research. It is also a tool for brainstorming and clarifying the experiment to prevent problems. The sections of the research proposal are explained in Chapter 24, pp. 595-601. A sample research proposal is also included in Chapter 24. Keep in mind that this is just a sample and the text is single spaced to conserve text space. See APA manual for spacing requirements. SEE SAMPLE TABLE OF CONTENTS ON NEXT PAGE! TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory section (No heading) Title Page (With Running Head and page header) Table of Contents Main Body (Intro statement with no header) I. Problem to be investigated (Level 1 heading) A. Purpose of the study (including assumptions) Level 3 heading for A-E B. Justification of the study C. Research question and null hypothesis D. Definition of Terms E. Brief overview of the study II. Background and review of related literature (Level 1 heading) A. Theory, if appropriate (Level 3 heading A-C) B. Studies directly related C. Studies tangentially related III. Procedures (Level 1 heading) A. Description of the research design (Level 3 heading A-F) B. Description of the sample C. Description of the instruments used (scoring procedures; reliability; validity) D. Explanation of the procedures followed (the what, when, where, and how of the study) E. Discussion of internal validity F. Discussion of external validity References Appendices (Level 1) A. Consent form (Level 3) B. Permission to conduct the study (Level 3) C. Instrument (if available, or an explanation of what the researcher-constructed instrument will include and the scoring method) (Level 3) Proposal Requirements Related literature should be from peer-reviewed journals of recognizable merit and scholarship. There are a number of journals that furnish opinions; do not rely on these. Also, beware of using secondary sources. Do not use any material from digests as references; you may use these for general information only. If the material is cited in the paper, it must match the list of references and the articles you include. Proposal Requirements (continued) Plagiarism constitutes a major failure to complete this assignment correctly. Look at the APA Handbook 5th Edition for information on how to use quotations and paraphrases correctly. The questions included in the chapter are excellent as a checklist to insure that you have written the sections consistently and have not included contradictory materials from section to section.