Project On Absenteeism

PROPOSED ACTION PLAN

DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERVENTION

In this section, address the following under the Description of the Intervention:

• Describe the intervention you envision implementing to address the problem. Go beyond a general overview and include as much specific detail as you can about the actions to be implemented at this time. IDENTIFY THE ACTION RESEARCH PROCESS THAT WILL BE USED FROM THE LITERATURE. THEN LIST THE SPECIFIC STEPS YOU WILL TAKE TO IMPROVE ATTENDANCE. Provide a step by step with details of the intervention. Use the ARRP Planning Stages to address this area be very detailed with timeline 10 weeks, participants and stakeholders, procedures, tier system how will each be addressed, how will it affect the school, What are the incentives, when will you know that its successful how you address those that are not successful, what changes need to be made in the school to help with this process, how can the school incorporate this system and how will the organization benefit from the intervention. What is the importance and impact of the intervention? address why this intervention is the best way to address the problem.

• provide a rationale for your choice of intervention with no more than one to three sentences per question.
o How will this intervention benefit your organization and its stakeholders?
o Why is your intervention the best way to address the problem?
o Why would your organization support this study?

• Cite support for your approach in the literature.

• Be concise and provide details.

PARTICIPANTS and STAKEHOLDERS

In this section:
Briefly describe

• how you have collaborated with different stakeholders and stakeholder groups in the organization thus far in identifying an organizational issue and defining the problem.

• the roles of the people you anticipate will be participants in the study and their approximate number.

Notes
Change and improvement in organizations are collaborative efforts. Describe who the participants will be in your action research study. Before designing any improvement project or action research study, you would also need to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders as you explore the actual causes of the problem and preferred ways to address it.

Stakeholders and participants are not necessarily the same people, but they could be. Stakeholders have a stake in solving or improving a problem situation, and provide the necessary shared input needed to define a problem, consider ways to address it. This happens before beginning the implementation of the intervention and is an essential part of change management.

It is possible for stakeholders to later become participants in the study. It is also possible that some stakeholders may not be study participants. For example, a school principal may be a stakeholder in a process to define a problem with student achievement or teacher performance but would not be a participant in a study that provides instructional coaching for teachers. Both teachers and a school principal, however, could be stakeholders with whom you collaborate in the planning stages of the study.

A study participant is someone directly engaged in implementing the intervention and from whom you collect data.

SCOPE and SIGNIFICANCE of the STUDY

In this section, provide a statement explaining the scope and significance of your study. Justify the study as a capstone project. address how study can be used by other sites

Notes
The statement may include the number of people who will be positively impacted or affected by your intervention, its systems implications, its impact to the organization or department(s) as a whole, any linkage to organizational goals and objectives, its duration, the implications beyond the institution/organization, and/or the strength of leadership commitment to the implementation of the intervention and the action research study. Your study should have implications for change and impact at the organizational level.

 
ACTION RESEARCH (PART 2)
INSTRUCTIONS

Please read these instructions carefully, paying close attention to exactly what is requested under each heading and the guidelines about length. Include only the content requested in each section.

To prepare this form for part 2, you will

1. Review and update (if needed) the
a. Statement of the Problem,
b. Research Questions, and
c. Site Permission sections above.

For example, you may need to add evidence or data to support or amend the problem statement, add a research question(s), and/or update the site permission section to reflect additional actions or discussions you may have undertaken.

Make adjustments to any other sections above that have changed since you completed the form or that are not consistent with the information you provide below.

2. You do not need to repeat information that you provided above in the sections below.

3. The sections below are designed to capture additional information about your research plan and expand on some of the information you provided above. Together, the entire form will become your action research plan.

Each section below corresponds to an entry in the Topic/Problem Approval and Proposal Form.

The “In this section” instructions state exactly what should be included in each respective section.

The “Notes” provide additional information and guidance about the content of the section.

ORGANIZATIONAL AND SCHOLARLY CONTEXT

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK and LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section, refer to literature you have reviewed thus far to:

1. Provide a brief discussion of

• recent research, best practice literature, and theory about the problem or areas of opportunity for improvement to provide an understanding of its dimensions, impact, and significance. (What key literature did you review to better understand the problem?) Your review should demonstrate the importance of the problem and the need to address it.

• recent research, best practice literature, and theory about ways to address the problem to provide an understanding of the best ways to address the problem, including your chosen intervention. (What key literature did you review to design your intervention?) Your review should identify the theories and best practices that form the conceptual foundation (framework) for the intervention. Briefly explain how they apply. (What key concepts and theories specifically support your choice of intervention, given your organizational context?)

2. Explain, briefly, how systems theory, action research theory, and change theory provide additional support for your conceptual framework. These theories have implications for how you framed the problem and for your expectation that the intervention you have designed will bring about the changes you seek.

Discuss/explain the aspects of systems theory that apply to the situation. Then apply the theory to the problem or issue and intervention. How is the problem a systems or systemic issue? How would success of the intervention affect the system in which the issue exists?

Discuss/explain the action research approach or paradigm and its unique elements. How does action research theory apply in this instance as an appropriate method to address the issue?

Discuss/explain the aspects of change theory or change management theory that are relevant to the implementation of the intervention. Then explain how they apply to your study.

Planning Your Literature Review: Part One
In the Background and Context you will establish the scholarly and professional basis of your project. The section will provide a logical blueprint for the literature review that you will carry out in the project itself. In this section, you will not simply list sources but rather explain how the sources you choose will contribute to the project.
The full first draft of your proposal’s Background and Context section will have two parts:
• Part one will address the historical and organizational aspects of your topic.
• Part two will address the theoretical and empirical basis of your topic.
Part one (this assignment) asks you to outline and describe a literature review plan that will enable you to describe (in the capstone report) where your topic originated and where it has been written about. In addition, part one asks you to outline and describe a literature review plan that will enable you to examine the social, political, and organizational theories that explain the institutional context in which you carry out your capstone and will guide your interactions with stakeholders in your institution. Your review plan should also include a review of theories relevant to any national and/or global aspects of your topic.
Note: This assignment calls for a plan of your literature review, not the review itself. The review will take place during the capstone project and will be written in the capstone report.
For this assignment, you will:
• Describe a plan to collect and organize literature that explains the history of your topic.
• Describe a plan to collect and organize literature that explains the institutional context of the capstone.
• Describe a plan to collect and organize literature that will help guide interactions with stakeholders during the capstone.
• Describe a plan for a literature review that includes reference to national and/or global aspects of the topic.

Building Your Literature Review: Part Two
In your last assignment in Unit 2, you developed a literature review plan for your proposal. In this assignment, you will write a 3 page literature review paper that incorporates all of the sources you accessed in your part one.
In this assignment you will:
• Provide sufficient discussion of the literature to demonstrate an understanding of scholarly research, theoretical, and professional literature as they relate to the problem and the specific project selected;
• Discuss the theoretical or conceptual framework used originally in the development of the program.
• Address applicable theories from your specialization.
• Discuss the evaluation model/plan to be used (Logic, CIPP, or other) as the basis for the evaluation, including evaluation theory and a rationale for your choice of model (if doing a program evaluation).
• Review/discuss the curriculum or instructional design model and theory that will guide your project (if doing a curriculum project).

Notes
This is a review of the literature, both scholarly and theoretical. It should demonstrate your grasp of the literature about the problem and intervention, and your understanding of the theory or theories that support your study. Be sure to properly cite your sources. This is not an essay about your problem or intervention, rather a literature review that refers to your study only in terms of how the literature reviewed applies to it.

Please provide an introduction, conclusion, and headings as appropriate.

Limit this section to about 500 words or less.

Your references should be listed in the reference section of the form.

RESEARCH PLAN

RESEARCH QUESTION(S)

In this section, restate your research question or questions from the Topic/Problem Approval part of the form.

Notes If you have amended your research question(s) or added or deleted questions, state your revised research questions here. Ensure you also replace your original question(s) in the Topic/Problem Approval part of the form. Your research questions must be the same throughout your proposal.

Your research questions form the basis for the study. Your data collection plan is determined by and must align with the research questions.

POPULATION and SAMPLE (approximately 200-250 words)

In this section, expand on the Participants and Stakeholders section you completed above by

1. describing the key stakeholders of your study. (Specify their role(s) in the organization and why they would be impacted by your study.)
2. describing your sample selection process, sample size, including any criteria for inclusion or exclusion from the study.
3. justifying your sample selection process and explaining why/how the size and make-up of your sample will serve the purpose of the study.

Notes
In an action research study, the POPULATION consists of the stakeholders of the institution in which you carry out the study, and stakeholders of sufficiently similar institutions.

The SAMPLE consists of those who will be selected to directly participate in your intervention. Select a sufficient number to support the analysis you intend to use:
• For parametric statistics, sample must be > 30
• Non-parametric statistics are to be used for samples of 11 to 29.
• Qualitative analysis must be used for samples of 10 or fewer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION of the INTERVENTION (approximately 450-500 words)

In this section, expand on your brief overview in the Topic/Proposal Approval part of the form (Milestone 1) and give a detailed (step-by-step) description of each stage of your intervention.

Provide a clear timeline for how the intervention will be introduced and implemented at the site.

Explain how the implementation of the intervention involves ongoing collaboration with participants and stakeholders, including how stakeholders will be kept informed of progress during the implementation.

Notes
A weekly schedule of the implementation can be a useful way to document how your intervention will be implemented.

Check back to the Intervention section in Part 1 above to be sure it is aligned with your detailed description in this section and the two sections are consistent. Adjust and update the Intervention section above if necessary.

Pay attention to language and use the same words to name your intervention in both sections. For example, if you describe the intervention as a professional development initiative in one section, do not call it a training intervention in the other section. Check that the duration of the implementation matches, and so on.

DATA COLLECTION PLAN

In this section, you will use the table to provide a detailed description of the type of data you will collect and data collection procedures (i.e., how, when, and from whom or from where it will be collected). In the table, describe each source of data you will gather DURING and/or AFTER the intervention to monitor the implementation and to assess its outcomes and answer your research questions separately.

Research Question* Data to be Collected**
Data Source+ When Collected++ P, O, PO +++

Notes
* Research Question: State research question(s), one per row
** Data Collection: What data will be collected to answer the research question? (e.g., survey, interview, meeting minutes, performance assessment data, etc.) Is it qualitative or quantitative?

+ Data Source: Who will provide the data or where will you find it? (e.g., students, faculty, counseling records, records database, etc.)

++ When Collected: When will the data be collected? (e.g., prior to implementation of the intervention, during the intervention, week “x” of the intervention, after the intervention, etc.)

+++ P or O or PO Indicate whether the data will be process or outcomes data, or both (in the event the data will help tell the story and assess/evaluate outcomes). An example might when participants are interviewed several times during the implementation and their perceptions help tell the story of how the intervention is implemented (“how it’s going” or process data) and provide data for a research question such as, “How did [participants] perceive the intervention?” (outcomes data). Responses will help tell the story of participant perceptions during the implementation, and also provide an answer to the question at the end of the study.

Add rows as needed.

IMPORTANT

• Attach a copy of each data collection tool you plan to use.

• If permission is required to use the instrument, attach a copy of documentation showing permission has been granted.

• If using an investigator-developed survey, provide a plan for field-testing the tool.

• REMINDER: any quantitative instrument or inventory used in your study MUST be existing published instruments. Examples might be a Clinical Anger Management survey, tests of self-efficacy, attitudinal assessments, a climate survey, etc.

• All researcher-developed data collection tools (surveys, interviews, observation schedules) must be field-tested DURING the preparation of the Research Plan. Attach a report of the field test to the research plan. (This may be accomplished once you are in the capstone course as well.)

Notes
None of this detail should have appeared in any other part of the proposal form! Be careful not to make the common mistake of combining the data collection description and the data analysis description.

Data are either qualitative (e.g., interviews, narrative-type observations, open-ended surveys or questionnaires) or quantitative (e.g., observational data, surveys using Likert or other scales, performance data, records data). Both types of data can be collected in an action research study.

Action research studies involve two types of data collection: process data and outcomes data.

Process Data: First, data are collected throughout the implementation of the intervention to monitor the implementation and make adjustments in the implementation as warranted based on data and information that are collected and analyzed during the implementation. Remember that in action research, telling the story of the intervention is just as important as the reporting of intervention results. In addition, this type of data is important in “telling the story” of the implementation in presenting a process analysis of how the implementation unfolded. Often action researchers keep a journal of reflections as well as informal or unplanned conversations and observations during the implementation. Process monitoring data will help you explain HOW the intervention brings about change and provide insights into why the intervention did or did not bring about the anticipated results. These data will also help you respond to your broad “how” or “what” research question.

Outcomes Data: The second type of data is collected to answer the research questions and assess the outcomes or objectives of the intervention. The data to be collected depend, of course, on the research questions and the expected outcomes or success criteria of the intervention and may include, for example, interview data, focus group data, meeting minutes, student work or performance assessments, observational data, attendance data, and so on. Outcomes data enable you to assess the outcomes of the study and answer the research questions. These data are most often collected at the conclusion of the intervention to determine and evaluate outcomes that were achieved and the perceptions of participants about the intervention, its implementation, and its outcomes.

TIPS:
• Be realistic. What is feasible?
• Identify actual data that would be available or possible to collect at your organization.
• The key is to identify data that are aligned with your research questions and the purpose of the research.

DATA ANALYSIS PLAN

In this section, list each type of data you will collect (e.g., teacher interviews, department survey, meeting minutes, etc.) exactly as listed under Data Collection.

Use the same language to identify a particular data source throughout the proposal. Do not, for example, call an instrument a survey under Data Collection and a questionnaire under Data Analysis.

Create a two-column table with each data type listed in the first column and your data analysis plan in the second column. Use one row for each data source. Include
• how you will organize your and prepare your raw data for analysis.
• the process you will use to analyze your qualitative data and the statistical tests (if any) or descriptive statistics you will use to analyze your quantitative data.
• how you plan to store and protect your data.

NOTE: Do not describe the data or explain how or why it will be collected in this section.

Cite the literature to support your data analysis strategy.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS: LIMITATIONS, VALIDITY, ETHICS

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

In this section, describe in depth any limitations of your study that are currently apparent.
Indicate areas of your plan that need to be improved before the start of your study, and how you will improve them. Identify areas of your plan that cannot be improved and give reasons for not redesigning your plan to address these limitations.

Notes
Limitations reflect weaknesses or potential weaknesses in the proposed study. Consider your instruments and data collection strategies, your sample, your analysis, or any other aspect of the proposed study for which there might be an inherent or potential weakness.

Ask yourself:
• What are potential weaknesses of the study as I have designed it?
• Are there any threats to validity that are unavoidable or difficult to minimize?
• Are there limits to the type of data I can collect?
• Are there restrictions that limit who is able to participate?
• What are some ways I might overcome these weaknesses by revising my research plan?

All studies have limitations, and they must be identified and discussed because they reflect the extent of critical thinking you have applied. The limitations set boundaries for the study and the inferences that may be made based on your implementation and the data you will collect.

Be careful not to confuse limitations with issues of scope. In an action research study, the scope is defined by the local situation you are trying to improve. It is not a limitation that your study doesn’t involve participants outside of the local site.

CREDIBILITY, DEPENDABILITY, TRANSFERABILITY

In this section, present a strategy to ensure credibility, dependability, and transferability of your study. Address each of these constructs separately.

Notes
Recall that these are action research analogues to validity, reliability, and generalizability in inquiry research, and should be used INSTEAD of the conventional inquiry terms. For exa
mple, various strategies such as member checking may be used to increase the credibility of the study. (Check your text, Action Research, by Stringer, and other sources on validity measures for qualitative and action research.)

ETHICAL ISSUES AND RISKS TO HUMAN SUBJECTS

In this section, describe any ethical and risk aspects of your study and what you will do to mitigate these risks. These include:
• Participant risk
• Potential coercion
• Conflict of interest
• Confidentiality
• Bias

Notes
Ask yourself: What are possible ethical or regulatory considerations for the study I have designed?

Review the CITI Training and the IRB application that you will complete later. NOW is the time to consider issues that could delay or prevent later IRB approval.

For example, if you are the supervisor of potential participants in your study, you might decide to ask a colleague to recruit the participants and to temporarily move your supervisory role to another leader in your organization. You might further assure participants that their participation, including their performance during their participation, will have no bearing on their performance reviews. These steps could help mitigate a potential risk of coercion. Your direct reports might, otherwise, feel compelled to participate (i.e., feel coerced) for fear of possible negative repercussions should they decline to be part of your study.

COMMUNICATION AND SCHOLARSHIP

COMMUNICATION PLAN

In this section, provide your plan to share the results of your action research study with stakeholder groups and participants.

Notes
While you will be collaborating with others during the implementation of the intervention and collecting data from your participants, there is a need to share the findings of the study after you have analyzed outcomes data and evaluated the results. In addition, you will share the implications of the study and recommendations for future action research cycles. The communication plan should include a strategy for sharing the results in a format and setting appropriate to your audience. Some stakeholders may be interested in reading your monograph, but to ensure the widespread dissemination you will want to present the key findings and implications in ways your audience can relate to and understand. This is important if the findings are to be accepted and used to inform further research and decision-making.

You will not need to report on your sharing session but must include a plan for communicating results as part of the proposal.

REFERENCE LIST

In this section: Provide a list of all works cited in the proposal, formatted using the APA Manual 7th edition. Include literature cited in the Topic/Problem Approval Form. Do NOT include any literature not cited in this form. (A list of works that includes relevant literature you have not cited is a bibliography, not a reference list.)