Tips on Preparing a Successful Educational Research Proposal

1. Tips on Preparing a Successful Educational Research Proposal Fiona Fui-HoonNah, professor, BIT Nancy J. Stone, professor and chair, Psychological Science Diane Hagni, CERTI March 7, 2014

2. Data about the mini-grant program • 20 projects funded since spring 2011 • Projects from 11 departments • Five team projects • Two awardees received multiple grants • 52% of awardees are tenure-track; 48% non-tenure-track • Awardees have ranged from lecturers to Curators’ Professors

3. Data about the mini-grant program • Average award is $3,171; minimum awarded, $500, and maximum, $7,500, for a multi-disciplinary project • Five projects had matching funds from their departments or other sources • Go here for suggested areas of focus

4. Resources on CERTI site http://certi.mst.edu/educationalresearch/

5. Comparison of grant programs

6. What is educational research? • A systematic process for understanding learning and teaching effectiveness • i.e., applying the scientific method • A means to uncover the processes and interactions underlying learning and teaching, such as • Motivation • Acquisition of knowledge • Presentation of material • Impact of environment and interaction

7. General suggestions • Be sure to follow directions closely • Be clear and specific • Consider your audience • Justification • Research question • Procedure • What are you measuring? How will you measure it? • IRB (http://irb.mst.edu/) • Social and behavioral science

8. Research question/statement Not specific or measurable Specific and measurable Providing video demos with the lab instructions(i.e., specific intervention) will help students to improve their lab test scores (i.e., specific and measurable outcome[s]). • Students will be better learners. Hypothesis Students who receive <intervention> will achieve higher <outcomes – e.g., test scores> than students without <intervention>.

9. Research strategy / assessment Non-specific or unclear Specific with adequate details An experimental study will be used to test the intervention where students will be randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions - <control condition – i.e., without intervention> and <treatment condition – i.e., with intervention>. Followed by research procedures and assessment details • Students may incorporate the intervention and then provide feedback regarding the intervention.

10. Measuring outcomes Non-specific or unclear Specific with adequate details Satisfaction with the course will be assessed using the measurement items in Eastman et al. (2011) that were adapted from Oliver (1993). [Validated measure] OR We will develop our own measures for assessing Satisfaction with the course to more specifically assess the unique aspects of the course. [“Homemade” measure] • Student feedback will be gathered and assessed. Note: It would be helpful to review existing validated measures in the literature and adapt from them in developing your homemade measure.

11. Summary • Format (see call for proposals for more info) • A brief abstract (100 words) • Purpose of project • Motivation and significance of research project • Pertinent information about your class (anticipated student enrollment, number of sections taught, etc.) • Research question to be addressed • Clear educational research question/statement • Hypothesis/Hypotheses (preferred/recommended) • Learning outcomes to be addressed • Be specific • Methodology • Research design (e.g., experiment, survey, case study – can be combination) • Research procedures • Measurement of outcomes • Evaluation and feedback • How will you document success and show how project objectives are achieved • Budget with justification • Deliverables