10 strategic points
Kam2004
MODULE2EXAMPLE.docx
Exemplar Ten Strategic Points for Quantitative Studies
Example 1: Quantitative Correlational Study
1. Topic – Provides a board research topic area/title: Relationship of Servant Leadership behaviors in principals, school culture, and student performance
2. Literature review - Lists primary points for four sections in the Literature Review: a. Background of the problem/gap; b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study); c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one; d. Summary.
a. Background of the problem/gap;
i. The national call for school accountability is a critical issue that has gained attention from federal educational lawmakers given the rate at which American students are falling behind other countries influenced federal lawmakers in the creation of the NCL Act (Koretz, 2009).
ii. The school principal of the twenty first century has been asked to do and be competent in more and more tasks than the previous two centuries of school principals including improving student performance and the school culture (Kafka, 2009).
iii. The characteristics of school culture are complex, and a leader must understand these complex variables before they create change with the school (MacNeil et al., 2009).
iv. Black (2010), who conducted a mixed method study showing relationship of servant leadership and school climate, suggest additional studies in this arrea.
v. Pritchard et al. (2005) explored the relationships between district and school culture and student achievement.
b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study);
i. Servant leadership model (Greenleaf, 1977; Patterson 2003)
ii. School culture models (MacNeil, 2009; Schein, 1985)
iii. Broad set of studies exploring relationship among these two models and performance in school. (Halawah, 2005; MacNeil et al.,2009)
c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one;
i. National Agenda: Need to improve the performance of students in schools to be competitive as a nation (Koretz, 2009).
ii. Changing Role of Principal: The role of the principal in American schools has changed dramatically from its beginnings of uniformed education (Rousmaniere, 2007).
iii. Servant Leadership in Principals Leads to More Effective leaders: The study used the Self-Assessment for Servant Leadership Profile (SALS) to assess whether or not a leader was a servant leader and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) to assess principal effectiveness. (Taylor et al., 2007).
iv. Principal’s Behavior Influence School Culture: The principal’s influence on school culture has an indirect effect on organizational and cultural factors of a school (MacNeil et al., 2009).
v. School Culture Influences Student Performance: A strong relationship exists between school culture and student performance (McCoach et al., 2004).
vi. Measuring Servant Leadership Behaviors: About 10 validated/tested Instruments exist to measure Servant Leadership Behaviors some of which have been used in schools
vii. Measuring Culture: Validated/tested instruments to measure culture exist and have been used in schools.
viii. Measuring Student Performance: State Test Scores are a standardized way to measure student performance used across all schools in a state.
ix. Methodology: The primary design from the Literature Review used to evaluate relationship between Servant Leadership and variables such as culture, climate, and performance has been correlational.
d. Summary
i. Gap/problem: There is a need to identify different approaches to improve student performance
ii. Prior studies: Prior studies show various relationships between two of the three variables (servant leadership behaviors, culture and student performance) with only one exploring all three
iii. Quantitative study: Instruments and sources of data exist to collect numerical data on the three variables
iv. Significance: research will add to the broad area of correlating leadership, culture and performance; research may identify specific approaches to be use by school leadership to improve student performance
3. Problem statement - Describes the phenomena to study (qualitative) or variables/groups (quantitative) to study, in one sentence: It is not known if there is a relationship between the level of a principal’s servant leadership behaviors and characteristics as perceived by teachers in principals, the school culture as perceived by teachers, and level of student performance.
4. Sample and location – Identifies sample, needed sample size, and location (study phenomena with small numbers and variables/groups with large numbers).
a. Location: Alaska
b. Population: All schools in rural Alaska
c. Sample: One district in rural Alaska with approximately 20 principals who each lead a single school
d. Number of observations for each principal in the sample: There are 5 to 10 teachers in each school all of whom will be asked to complete the instruments on the principal
5. Research questions – Provides research questions to collect data to answer the problem statement: R1: Is there a relationship between teacher-perceived principal servant leadership characteristics and teacher-perceived school culture? R2: Is there a relationship between teacher-perceived principal servant leadership characteristics and student achievement? R3: Is there a relationship between teacher-perceived school culture and student achievement?
6. Hypothesis/variables or Phenomena - Provides hypotheses with variables for each research question (quantitative) or describes the phenomena to be better understood (qualitative).
a. H1: There is a significant relationship between a principal’s servant leadership characteristics as perceived by teachers and measured by the SLAI and teacher-perceived secondary school culture as measured by the SCS.
b. H10: There is not a significant relationship between a principal’s servant leadership characteristics as perceived by teachers and measured by the SLAI and teacher-perceived secondary school culture as measured by the SCS.
c. H2A: There is a significant relationship between the principal’s servant leadership characteristics as perceived by teachers and as measured by SLAI and student achievement measured by the SIVS.
d. H2A0: There is not a significant relationship between the principal’s servant leadership characteristics as perceived by teachers and as measured by SLAI and student achievement measured by the SIVS.
e. H3A: There is a significant relationship between teacher perceived secondary school culture as measured by the SCS and student achievement as measured by the SIVS.
f. H3A0: There is a significant relationship between teacher perceived secondary school culture as measured by the SCS and student achievement as measured by the SIVS.
7. Methodology and design - Describes the selected methodology and specific research design to address problem statement and research questions: This study will use a Quantitative Methodology with a Correlation Design
8. Purpose statement – Provides one sentence statement of purpose including the problem statement, sample, methodology, and design: The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to develop an understanding of the relationships between secondary school principals’ teacher-perceived servant leadership, teacher-perceived school culture, and student achievement in all of the schools in the Lower Kuskokwim School District.
9. Data collection – Describes primary instruments and sources of data to answer research questions:
a. Independent variable: Level of principal’s servant leadership characteristics /behaviors: Data will be collected using one of the standard instruments/surveys that measure the Servant Leadership Style by measuring level of servant leadership characteristics in 6-10 dimensions currently used for similar studies (Dennis and Bocarnea; 2005)
b. Dependent variable: Level of culture in the school: : Data will be collected using one of the standard instruments/surveys currently used for similar studies that measure School Culture by measuring the different dimensions of climate (MacNeil et al., 2009).
c. Dependent Variable: Student performance will be measured by the state/school standardized test scores (SIVS).
10. Data analysis – Describes the specific data analysis approaches to be used to address research questions.
a. Descriptive statistics to summarize the sample demographic data and the data on the three variables
b. A test for univariate outliers to determine if any cases may not statistically be part of the sample collected.
c. A test the assumptions of normality and homoscedasticity
d. Inferential statistics for testing linear regression for the three hypotheses
Example 2: Quantitative Causal Comparative Study
1. Topic – Provide a board research topic area/title: Impact of teacher collaboration within Mathematics PLCs on Texas state math assessments
2. Literature review - List primary points for four sections in the Literature Review: a. Background of the problem/gap; b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study); c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one; d. Summary:
a. Introduction and Background
i. Gap exists in tactics that contribute to improved performance in mathematics state test scores especially for low SES Hispanic students (NCES, 2010). .
ii. Opportunity to quantity the relationships between collaboration in teachers and higher state mathematics test scores (DuFour, 2011).
b. Theoretical Foundation
i. Models of collaboration (Naughton, 2006).
ii. Models of high performing schools (Sanders, 2010; Wilson, 2011),
c. Review of Literature topics with key theme:
i. Trends in Education at the National & State Level: Gaps exist in the performance on state mathematics tests (NCES, 2010)
ii. Characteristics of the Low SES Student Population: Although performance gaps continue to be higher for some high minority low SES schools (NCES, 2010), others are high performing or excelling schools on state test results (Jensen, 2009; Dyson, H. 2008). .
iii. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs): PLCs are being established with departments to improve collaboration and identify tactics to improve student performance (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006).
iv. Teacher Collaboration: Collaboration has been shown to contribute to school and student success in qualitative but not quantitative studies (Piccardi, 2005; Erkens, 2008; DuFour, 2011).
v. Teacher Collaboration (independent variable) can be measured using a tested and validated instrument (dependent variable) (Naughton, 2006); Student Achievement can be measured using mathematics results on state test scores
vi. Methodology: Quantitative causal comparative design: The study will use a causal comparative design to compare two groups as has been done in prior studies
d. Synthesis/Summary
i. Background: There is Need to Close the Mathematics Achievement Gap
ii. Gap/Problem: Demonstrate relationship between collaboration in PLC and mathematics achievement in high minority low SES grade schools
iii. PLCs: The Way to Implement Change is through Collaboration through PLCs
iv. Collaboration: Collaboration is a mean to Impact Student Achievement
v. Final Thoughts
4. Sample and location – Identify sample, needed sample size, and location (study phenomena with small numbers and variables/groups with large numbers): Need at least 30 grade schools that are high performing and 30 that are low performing on state mathematics test scores in the state of Texas. Schools need to have established PLCs for mathematics.
5. Research questions – Provide research questions to collect data to answer the problem statement: R1: What differences exist, if any, between the levels of perceived teacher collaboration within PLCs in schools identified by the state of Texas as high performing versus those perceived at low performing schools that serve both, a high percentage of low SES and Hispanic students, on state math assessment?
6. Hypothesis/variables or Phenomena - Develop Hypotheses with variables for each research question (quantitative) or describe the phenomena to be better understood (qualitative)
a. Compare high performing schools on their state test scores in mathematics (group 1) to low performing schools (group 2) on their perceived level of collaboration in the mathematics PLCs.
b. HA: There would be a significant difference between the levels of perceived teacher collaboration within PLCs in schools identified by the state of Texas as high performing versus those perceived at low performing that serve both, a high percentage of low SES and Hispanic students, on state math assessment.
c. H0: There would be no significant difference between the levels of perceived teacher collaboration within PLCs in schools identified by the state of Texas as high performing versus those perceived at low performing that serve both, a high percentage of low SES and Hispanic students, on state math assessment.
7. Methodology and design - Describe the selected methodology and specific research design to address problem statement and research questions: Quantitative methodology with a causal comparative research design
8. Purpose statement – Provide one sentence statement of purpose including problem statement, sample, methodology, and design: The purpose of this causal comparative quantitative study is to examine to what extent the level of teacher collaboration within Mathematics PLCs is a factor that may influence the mathematics achievement level on the Texas mathematics assessment of elementary schools identified as 'high performing' or 'low performing', and serving a majority of low SES and Hispanic students.
9. Data collection – Describe primary instruments and sources of data to answer research questions: For the independent variable, this study will use the Mathematics Staff Interaction Questionnaire (MSIQ) developed by Naughton (2006). To measure the dependent variable, the researcher will use archival data (provided by the district’s Research Review Board office) for each elementary school in one North Texan school district to differentiate schools based on achievement level as indicated by the 2011 Texas mathematics assessment.
10. Data analysis – Describe the specific data analysis approaches to be used to address research questions: A priori analysis will be used to justify the sample size. Descriptive statistics will describe the sample characteristics and variable results. An independent t-test will test for difference between the two groups of 30 schools (high performing versus low performing on mathematics) on level of collaboration:
