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Research Plan Outline
Shamika Cockfield
Strayer University
Dr. Brian Stark
Educational Research Methods EDU508
08-10-2014

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Educational research involves a decision to study or describe something. All educational inquiry requires that some type of data be collected, that the data be analyzed in some way, and researchers come to some conclusion or interpretation. The largest distinction that can be made in classifying research is the distinction between quantitative and qualitative research.
Quantitative research is applied to describe current conditions and study cause-effect phenomena. Quantitative approaches consist of survey, correlation, causal-comparative, and experimental research.
Survey research involves collecting numerical data to answer questions about the current situation of the subject of study (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, p. 29). Survey research is used by a variety of different groups. Survey research sounds very simple but there is more to survey research than asking questions and reporting answers. When constructing survey questions they need to be consistent and be clarified for respondents. With my research topic survey research can be used to survey preschool teachers. In my survey participants will need to complete a 50-item questionnaire that asses multiple variable. The format of the questionnaire would use the following variables: (a) School Information (10 items); (b) Teacher/Classroom Information (20 items); (c) Transition Practices After Entering Preschool(1 item with 20 subcomponents each representing a barrier to transition); (d) Barriers to transition (1 item with 15 sub-components each representing facilitators to transition); (e) Facilitators of Transition(1 item with 10 subcomponents each representing facilitators to transition); and (f) Information Resources (3items).
Information obtained from survey will greatly impact my research topic “The Effectiveness of prekindergarten programs on school readiness”. With this survey I would be able to collect data and asses transition practices from preschool teachers as well as identify assessed barriers and facilitators for transition to preschool. Rural and urban preschool teachers can have different

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views on transition practices in preschool and with this survey researched it allows statistics of practices to be viewed from urban and rural areas. The purpose of this study would be to examine the use of transition practices at entry to preschool for children in rural and urban communities and schools. The use of transition practices has been linked to higher achievement.
The directional hypothesis that is that that achievement of preschool students that are exposed to more transitional practices is significantly different than the students who receive less transitional practices. It clearly identifies a relation or difference between variables (transitional practices). The non-directional hypothesis is preschoolers who are exposed to more transitional practices have higher achievement than preschoolers with less transitional practices. It states the direction of the relation or difference. The null hypothesis is that the achievement of preschoolers who received more transitional practices is not significantly different than preschoolers who received less transitional practices. Null hypothesis shows that there is no significant relation or difference between variables.
Correlation research is defined as research that involves collecting data to determine whether, and to what degree, a relation exists between two or more quantifiable variables (Gay,
Mills, & Airasian, p. 624).

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References
Murphy, M. A., McCormick, K. M., & Rous, B. S. (2013). Rural Influence on the Use of
Transition Practices by Preschool Teachers. Rural Special Education Quarterly, 32(1), 29-37
Griffith, A., Duppong Hurley, K., Trout, A., Synhorst, L., Epstein, M., & Allen, E. (2010).
Assessing the Strengths of Young Children at Risk: Examining Use of the Preschool Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale With a Head Start Population. Journal Of Early Intervention, 32(4),
274-285. doi:10.1177/1053815110384059

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References: Murphy, M. A., McCormick, K. M., & Rous, B. S. (2013). Rural Influence on the Use of Transition Practices by Preschool Teachers Griffith, A., Duppong Hurley, K., Trout, A., Synhorst, L., Epstein, M., & Allen, E. (2010).