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Leadership Foundations : Qualitative Research : Proposal Writing
Dissertation Proposal Development
Online
Professor: Shirley Freed, PhD Class Times: 10 - 20 hours/week - your choice of time
Office Hours: by appointment Phone: 471-6163 (of), freed@andrews.edu
Office Address: Bell Hall Rm 173 e-mail: freed@andrews.edu
Web page: http://www.andrews.edu/~freed
Course Description: Designing and writing the doctoral dissertation proposal in cooperation with
the student's dissertation committee. Graded S/U
Prerequisite: Before beginning the class you should have a topic and committee approved. The
class is set up in such a way that you'll be working directly with your committee and extending your
topic into a full-blown proposal.
Resources: The wonderful thing about teaching online is that I can share with you multiple links and
many excellent resources. You should not feel compelled to chase every link to its' origin but
should view many of these links as opportunities to expand your understanding of research.
Required readings and activites are marked with **.
Required Textbooks:
Creswell, John. 2003. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.
Sage Publishers. Thousand Oaks.
Fitzpatrick, Jacqueline. Secreist, Jan. and Wright, Debra. 1998. Secrets For a Successful
Dissertation. Sage Publishers. Thousand Oaks.
Hart, Chris. 1998. Doing a Literature Review. Sage Publishers. Thousand Oaks OR Galvan, Jose.
2004. Writing Literature Reviews. Pyrczak Publishing. Glendale, California. (I recommend the
second one just because it's cheaper but I know some of you have already purchased the first one
and that is fine).
Conceptual Framework: Andrews University embraces the theme, "True education means more
than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now
is. It has to do with the whole being, and the whole period of existence possible to all people. It is
the harmonious develpment of the physical, mental, and spiritual powers. It prepares the student for
the joy of service in this world and the higher joy of wider service in the world to come. . . In the
highest sense the work of education and the work of redemption are one." White, pg. 13, 30.
The mission of the Schoool of Education is to provide programs based on a redemptive Christian
worldview to prepare professionals for global service. To Educate is to Redeem.
We believe we accomplish this mission through six major knowledge base areas - one of which is
research. This knowledge base addresses valuing and conducting disciplined inquiry for decision-
making. The outcomes of this knowledge base and shared by all programs in the School of
Education are that each graduate will be able to:
- Read and evaluate research in their discipline
- Conduct research in their specialty area(s)
- Report research findings according to standard guidelines in their field
While the first two are major outcomes for this course, you can expect to reach the third outcome
when your dissertation is complete and published. You will see some connections with the other
SED core knowledge bases - in particularly, the knowledge bases on worldview and communication
and technology. Throughout the course we will be challenged as researchers living in a postmodern
world. How does our worldview influence the way we do research? We will be sharpening our
technology skills as we use the data bases in the library as well as the internet as a sources of
information.
What to expect:
Since research itself is nonlinear, you can expect this class to be an intertwining of reading, writing,
talking, and listening as we seek to unravel some of the many issues surrounding proposal writing. I
will be trying to establish an online community similar to the many research communities that exist
in the professional world. You will have opportunities to develop skills that will contribute to the
overall functioning of our research community. We will have you in research partnerships so that
you can give feedback to each other.
Communication Tools:
One of the benefits of the class being housed inside WebCT is that you have free access to three
different communication tools: Discussion Board is the place where you'll do asynchronous
dialogue with the whole class - mostly about your reading, Chat Rooms are places where you
might go for feedback to your partner and any other synchronous conversations you wish to have
with class members (you need to keep in mind that conversations in the "rooms" are recorded but
conversations in other spaces are not recorded) and Class Email is useful if you want to try to keep
your class email separate from your other email.
In sum, I will use multiple ways to try to make sure you don't lag behind in this experience.
Special Needs:
In a recent class, we were almost half way through the class before I discovered a student who was
legally blind. I had never met her face to face! Clearly, she would have benefited from some
adaptations that I was willing to make but we hadn't discussed the possibilities SO if there are any
accommodations that you would like to have, make sure to contact me.
SO - with that introduction, let's look at what we'll be doing on a weekly basis! Please note that I
have set this up so the week ends on Sunday night - I'm hoping that'll give you the better part of the
weekend to work on assignments, if you haven't been able to get to them earlier.
| Date |
Objectives |
Readings Due
(Check modules)
|
Assignment Due |
Pre Week
Feb 2 - 8 |
Introduction
to the Online Classroom and to one another |
Download Syllabus |
Share research interests |
Week One
Feb 9 - 15 |
PW1 - Access
library databases, use APA style formatting, establish a support
network of researchers |
Fitzpatrick 6,8 |
Data base searches |
Week Two
Feb 16-22 |
PW2 - Review the
research process, preview qualitative, quantitative and mixed
methods proposals, review AU proposal guidelines |
Fitzpatrick 1, 3
Hart1,2 OR Galvan1,2
Creswell, 1 |
Review proposals |
Week Three
Feb 23 - 29 |
PW3 - Articulate the
problem, purpose of study and research question(s) |
Creswell, 4, 5
Hart 4 OR Galvan3 |
Problem-purpose-research questions - feedback to partner |
Week Four
Mar 1 - 7 |
PW4 - Search appropriate
data bases for all literature related to study, organize literature
graphically accoding to topics, subtopics and overlapping topics,
begin writing literature review |
Creswell, 2
Hart 3,5,6 OR
Galvan 4,5,6,7 |
Data base searches |
Week Five
Mar 8 - 14 |
PW5 - Continue writing
literature review and searching databases, connect with content
expert(s) on committee |
Fitzpatrick ApA,D
Hart, 7. ap 2 OR
Galvan 8,9
Creswell 3a |
|
Week Six
Mar 15 - 21 |
PW6 - Peer review
of your literature review, evaluate partner's literature review |
Hart 5a OR Galvan 10 |
Literature Review feedback to partner
|
Week Seven
Mar 22 - 28 |
PW7 - Finetune research
questions, connect to theoretical framework where reasonable |
Creswell 6Fitzpatrick, 2
|
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Week Eight
Mar 29 - Ap 4 |
PW8 - Articulate research
methods including data collection and analysis and sample, connect
with methods expert(s) on committee |
Creswell 9, 10, 11 |
|
Week Nine
Ap 5 - 11 |
PW9 - Write methods
section, peer review methods section |
Creswell 7, 8 fitzgerald, 7 |
Methods chapfeedback to partner
|
Week Ten
Ap 12 - 18 |
PW10 - Connect with AU
Institutional Review Board, connect with dissertation secretary,
meet with committee for sign-off, submit approved proposal to
professor of class |
Creswell 3bFitzpatrick 4, 9, 10
|
Connect to IRB |
Evaluation: Your final grade will be calculated on the following basis:
1) Research Proposal 80 points
This will be a fully approved dissertation proposal. See AU guidelines in the course modules.
See APA manual for style issues.
2) Reading &Online Conversations in WebCT 20 points
Each week there are a number of required readings you'll want to explore. As you read, write down
questions to bring to the WebCT bulletin board. You'll notice some suggestions for discussion
starters in the modules - you should not feel limited to those and you should feel free to ask other
questions. I will not be controlling or dominating the bulletin board space. Nor will I be counting your
posts. I will be looking for quality and presence - not quantity. This is a reflective activity and you
need to use it to ask real questions and to respond in authentic ways.
I have also set you up to give and receive feedback from your partner at least three times during the
class. I am hoping this will help you to see the value of a community of researchers!
Criteria: S/U
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