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EDD 630, Section 7934
Educational Research Seminar: Overcoming Adversity
Fall, 2010


Final Research Proposal

The final research proposal describes the study you will conduct next semester, as the foundation for the hands-on component of EDD 631. It is therefore the culmination of both the literature studies you will have done this semester and a final demonstration of the extent of your ability to apply that which you have learned in class into a feasible and theoretically interesting research study.

The final proposal contains all of the same parts and stylistic/formatting requirements as the initial proposal and will likely cover much of the same ground as well. The difference is primarily in quality and depth. The reasoning—including the hypothesis and research design—should be more solid and thorough. Biases, confounds, and barriers should be better addressed. Your understanding of the field and how your study both grows from it and connects back to it should be more sophisticated and thorough. Your methods and results especially should be tighter. All of this unless it was fine in the draft: I’m not going to be grading you on how much it’s improved, but how good it is against an ideal, student proposal.

Of course, another difference between the final and initial proposal is how much each section is worth. In the final proposal, all sections are weighted more evenly, reflecting my hopes that your final proposal is a balanced product in which the parts complement each other to create an organized, well-thought-out whole.


Grading Rubric for Initial Research Proposal

N.b., criteria within each section are listed in general order of importance, the most important being first.

Element Percent Weight Target/Criteria
Abstract 5
  • Contains all requisite parts
  • Is requisite length
  • Succinctly, comprehensibly summarizes proposal
Introduction 10
  • Demonstrates a thorough understanding of pertinent background
  • Background well-presented and sufficiently covered
  • Connection between background and current study well-made
Methods 20
  • All major, relevant sources of bias, confounds, and barriers addressed
  • Variables are operationalized in practical and relevant ways
  • Addresses hypothesis
  • Is simple
  • Contains all requisite parts
Results 15
  • Makes expected outcomes easy to understand
  • Covers all important aspects of results
  • Graphics strike a good balance between amount of information and clarity
  • Text compliments graphics without being unnecessarily redundant
Discussion 15
  • Connections between expected results and both hypothesis and theory are well-reasoned and clearly presented
  • Implications for practice and theory are sufficiently discussed and thought out
  • Implications of at least one other, possible set of outcomes are addressed
References 5
  • Articles are well-chosen given topic
  • At least six are given
  • Are properly formatted
Overall Writing Quality 10
  • Is well-organized (paragraphs build on each other, each paragraph has a topic sentence that is supported by all other sentences, etc.)
  • Is strongly succinct, clear, and engaging
  • Adheres to APA style
  • Is grammatically correct and spelled correctly
Overall Quality and Sophistication of Thinking 20
  • Demonstrates an expert grasp of the scientific process and scientific thinking
  • Logic is flawless while implementation is practical
  • Demonstrates sophisticated critical thinking about sources, hypothesis creation, and implementation
  • Demonstrates encyclopedic understanding of field and its relation to topic