Research Proposal Non Experimental: The relationship between classroom behavior issues academic achievement

Earlier in the semester, you developed a short proposal about a research topic. Based on your short proposal, you will now be responsible for writing a research proposal. Your proposed hypotheses and methodology must be appropriate for a nonexperimental study, and your proposed study must be feasible (i.e., a study you could actually conduct).

Your research proposal should be written in the style of a short report/brief report. The final proposal should be a minimum of 1900 words and a maximum of 2000 words, excluding the title page, abstract, and reference page. Your research proposal should be typed in a Microsoft Word format (either .doc or .docx), and you should use Times New Roman font, a font size of 12, and the text should be double-spaced. The margins should be set at 1 inch, and there should be no additional spacing between paragraphs. Per APA style requirements, your final research proposal should include a running head and page numbers. Your final research proposal should not contain spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors and must consist of complete sentences. Please proofread your final research proposal carefully.

Your final research proposal should include the following sections:

 

1. Title Page: The title page should include the title of the research proposal, your name, and your affiliation (i.e., University of Houston-Clear Lake). You should format your title page using the APA specifications for an empirical paper, not the student title page. The title page will not be included in your overall word limit for the research proposal.

2. Abstract: The abstract is a brief description of the study. Your abstract should include information about the current literature related to your topic, the hypotheses for your proposed project, the general methods you propose to use, the analyses you would use to test your hypotheses, and the primary potential conclusion from the proposed project. The abstract should be a maximum of 250 words and will not be included in your overall word limit for the research proposal.

3. Introduction: In this section, you should offer a brief description of your topic and what is scientifically interesting about it, and the section should serve as a road map for the rest of the research proposal. The introduction should also describe the current literature related to your research topic, which should include what we know from the literature and the current limitations. In an integrated way, make sure to address major theoretical approaches to the questions you will be studying, findings from prior research, and how your study would contribute to, and extend, prior research. You should consider what other scholars have said about your topic, whether there is historical or current background information about your topic that is important to consider, whether there are debates in the literature around your topic, and what has not yet been addressed in the literature related to your topic. At the end of the section, you should introduce the hypotheses for your proposed project. For the research proposal, you need to have at least two specific hypotheses you plan to examine. Because this class is focused on nonexperimental research methods and statistics, your hypotheses must be appropriate for a nonexperimental study. This section should consist of approximately 4-5 paragraphs and follow the “funnel” structure for the introduction in an empirical paper.

4. Method: In this section, you should describe who you anticipate the participants for your study will be. This should include a plan for how you would recruit your participants. The section should also describe the procedures that you would use to collect data and the measures or tasks that would be used in the study. For the measures, you should specifically address how you plan to operationalize the constructs in your hypotheses, and you should describe measures or questions for the independent/predictor and dependent/outcome variables within your hypotheses, as well as any demographics or covariates. Because this class is focused on nonexperimental research methods and statistics, you must propose measures and procedures for a nonexperimental study. This section should consist of paragraphs describing the potential sample, procedures, and measures/materials, and each measure/material should be described in short paragraphs within this section of the method.

5. Analytic Plan: Because you will not be collecting data, you will not have results to report. Instead, you will need to describe the statistical techniques you propose using to both describe your sample and variables and test your hypotheses. This means you will need to address descriptive statistics, both those you plan to use to describe your sample and those needed to provide appropriate measures of frequency or central tendency and variability for the variables in your hypotheses, and inferential statistics, specifically the appropriate statistics to test your hypotheses. You should only include descriptive and inferential statistics we have discussed in this class for the analytic plan. It is usually best to have separate paragraphs for the descriptive statistics and inferential statistics you include in your proposal.

6. Discussion: Because you are not collecting data, you will not have results to interpret. Instead, you should discuss what it would mean if your results supported your hypotheses and what it would mean if your results did not support your hypotheses. Start first by clearly restating the purpose of your study and your hypotheses. Then, think about how your potential results could contribute to the body of knowledge on your topic. You must use existing literature in your discussion, particularly for your interpretation of your potential results, and explain how your project can contribute new information to the field. The discussion section should also acknowledge the limitations of your proposed study and make suggestions for how future research can build from your proposed study. This section should consist of approximately 4-5 paragraphs and follow the structure for the discussion in an empirical paper.

7. Reference List: All sources cited in the research proposal should be listed in the reference page. The reference page should comply with APA style and will not be included in your overall word limit for the proposal. Short reports/brief reports usually have a maximum of 20-30 references, and you should have at least 10 academic references for the research proposal.

All citations and references should be reported using APA style. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/) is a helpful resource if you are unfamiliar with APA style.

Sanetti, Lisa M. H.. University of Connecticut, Department of Educational Psychology, Storrs, Connecticut, United States
Yel, Nedim. Data Analysis and Statistical Solutions LLC, Wrentham, Massachusetts, United States
Long, Anna C. J.. Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, United States
Collier-Meek, Melissa A.. Department of Health Studies and Applied Educational Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, United States
Kratochwill, Thomas R.. Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Correspondence:

Instrument Type:

Inventory/Questionnaire

Format:

Teachers read a randomly chosen vignette and answer the 25 items in response to the vignette. This process is repeated three additional times such that each participating teacher completes four iterations of the items after four vignettes.

Factors and Subscales:

Subscales: Implementation self-efficacy; Positive outcome expectations; Negative outcome expectations.

 

This measure consists of 25 items.

Age Group:

Adulthood (18 yrs & older)

Population Group:

Human; Male; Female

Other Population Details:

Respondents: Public School Teachers
Location: United States

Keywords:

Health Action Process Approach; Face Validity; School-Based Interventions; Teacher Beliefs; Implementation Self-Efficacy; Positive Outcome Expectations; Negative Outcome Expectations; Behavior Change

Index Terms:

Behavior Change; Educational Measurement; School Based Intervention; Self-Efficacy; Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation; Teacher Expectations; Best Practices; Psychosocial Outcomes; Face Validity

Source Citation:

Test Development
Sanetti, Lisa M. H. (2024). Assessing teachers’ intervention-related expectations and self-efficacy: An examination of the factor structure of the implementation beliefs assessment. School Psychology, No Pagination Specified. doi: 10.1037/spq0000624
PsycINFO Record: 2024-72007-001

Test Release Date:

20240909

Digital Object Identifier:

http://dx.doi.org.uhcl.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/t93274-000 

Accession Number:

9999-93274-000

 

Second

2023

Author:

Lorenz, Timo; Binder, Benjamin

Author ID:

Lorenz, Timo: ORCID: 0000-0002-3830-489X
Binder, Benjamin: ORCID: 0000-0001-6012-787X

Email:

Lorenz, Timo: timo.lorenz@medicalschool-berlin.de

Affiliation:

Lorenz, Timo. Medical School Berlin, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany
Binder, Benjamin. Medical School Berlin, Department of Psychology, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence:

Lorenz, Timo, Medical School Berlin, Department of Psychology Rüdesheimer Str. 50, 14197Berlin, Germany, timo.lorenz@medicalschool-berlin.de 

Instrument Type:

Inventory/Questionnaire

Format:

Items are rated using a 7-point rating scale (1 = would definitely not do this to 7 = would definitely do this).

Factors and Subscales:

Subscales: Helping strangers; Helping friends.

Language Present:

English; German

Language Available:

German

Construct:

Prosocial Behavioral Intentions

Test File:

Full text; 999988722_full_001.pdf

Websites:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

Commercial Availability:

No

Permissions:

May use for Research/Teaching

Fee:

No

Test Items Available:

Yes

Classification:

7600 Social, Group, and Interpersonal Relationships

Reliability:

Internal Consistency: Incongruent with the original study, the PBIS-G showed low internal consistency (𝛼 = .57; ω = .63).

Validity:

Convergent Validity: The PBIS-G was positively correlated with past prosocial behavior, r = .35, p < .001, and moral identity, r = .24, p < .001. Discriminant Validity: The results of the discriminant validity test were inconsistent with the authors’ assumptions. The PBIS-G scores correlated positively with materialism (r = .20; p = .003)—versus negatively.

Factor Analysis:

Confirmatory Factor Analysis: The CFA results indicated a good two-dimensional model fit (p(𝜒²) = .674; df = 1; RMSEA < 0.001; CFI = 1.000; TLI = 1.029; SRMR = 0.003). Measurement Invariance: Measurement invariance testing with an existing US sample showed configural measurement invariance, indicating differences in the mode of action in both cultures.

Methodology:

1000 Test Validity
1040 Convergent Validity
1060 Discriminant Validity
1100 Test Reliability
1110 Internal Consistency
1200 Factor Analysis
1210 Confirmatory Factor Analysis
1400 Measurement Invariance

Test Location:

Table 1, Page 57, 2023-68114-001

Number of Test Items:

This measure comprises 4 items.

Administration Method:

Electronic

Age Group:

Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs); Thirties (30-39 yrs); Middle Age (40-64 yrs); Aged (65 yrs & older)

Population Group:

Human; Male; Female

Other Population Details:

Location: Germany
Respondents: Online Participants Identifying as Male, Female, Or Gender Diverse

Keywords:

Prosocial Behavior; Behavioral Intention; Prosocial Behavioral Intention; Helping Strangers; Helping Others; German Adaptation

Index Terms:

Assistance (Social Behavior); Prosocial Behavior; Stranger Reactions; Behavioral Intention; Social and Interpersonal Measures; Cross Cultural Test Adaptation

Source Citation:

Test Development
Lorenz, Timo (2023). I will give a little help to my friend – Validation of the German Prosocial Behavior Intention Scale (PBIS-G). Psychological Test Adaptation and Development, 4(1), 55-65. doi: 10.1027/2698-1866/a000032
PsycINFO Record: 2023-68114-001

Test Release Date:

20230508

Digital Object Identifier:

http://dx.doi.org.uhcl.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/t88722-000 

Accession Number:

9999-88722-000