EDUC 701 Research Question and Outline Assignment

Course Project: Research Question and Outline Assignment Instructions

You will submit a research question and an outline to your instructor. Later in this course, you will use your research question and outline to write your Course Project: Final Paper Assignment.

Tips for Developing a Research Question

From the problem you have identified in Course Project: Identifying a Problem Assignment, develop a quality research question. It is essential to develop a specific research question that holds your interest so that you can focus your research and your paper. For example, researching a broad topic such as “Education Leadership” is difficult, since there may be hundreds of sources on all aspects of educational leadership. On the other hand, a focused question such as “What impact does a principal’s leadership style have on teacher burnout?” is easier to research and can be covered in more depth.

Put your research question in the following form:

“What impact do/does _____________ have on ____________?”

Tips for Developing an Outline

Later in this course, you will use your research question to write a Course Project: Final Paper (i.e. Your Course Project). Develop an outline similar to the one below. You will use this outline to help plan for the course project.

For example, say your research question is “What impact does a principal’s leadership style have on teacher burnout?”

Ask yourself, what type of information do I need to answer the research question?

Break the research question into individual parts before starting your research. For example:

· Find articles, research studies, and theories on leadership styles (Course Project: Annotated Bibliography Sources 1 – 5 Assignment)

· Find articles, research studies, and theories on teacher burnout (Course Project: Annotated Bibliography Sources 6 – 10 Assignment)

· Find articles, research studies, and theories on the principal/teacher burnout relationship (Course Project: Annotated Bibliography Sources 11 – 15 Assignment)

Below is an Example Outline. Use the headings in this example in your outline as these will be the same headings used in your final paper draft/final paper. For this course, write your outline in “first person” in terms of what you will do for each section of your paper. Think of this as your plan for writing your paper. NOTE: This is not a sample paper. You will need to create a title page with a running head on your written assignment for submission.

Example Outline

I. Introduction

A. Introduce the problem

1. I will explain the problem.

2. I will include practices, policies, or procedures that have led to the problem

B. Importance of the problem.

1. I will discuss the importance of the problem and its significance to teaching and learning.

2. I will discuss steps, if any, that have already been taken to address the problem.

C. Research question (Place the research question at the end of the introduction).

1. I will address the following question:

“What impact does principal leadership styles have on teacher burnout?”

II. Related Literature

A. Principal leadership styles

1. I will address the topic of educational leadership styles.

2. I will provide related research studies to principal leadership styles

B. Teacher burnout

1. I will address the topic of teacher burnout.

2. I will provide related research studies to teacher burnout

C. Principals’ leadership style and teacher burnout

1. I will address the relationship between principal leadership style and teacher burnout.

III. Learning Theory Association

A. Principal leadership styles

1. I will address educational theory/theories guiding educational leadership.

B. Teacher Burnout

1. I will address the theory/theories addressing teacher burnout.

C. Principals’ leadership style and teacher burnout

1. I will synthesize the learning theories associated with principal leadership and teacher burnout.

IV. Definitions

1. Transitional leadership

2. Transformational leadership

3. Teacher burnout

V. Gaps in the research

A. I will provide recommendations for future research.

VI. Biblical World View

A. I will address the problem of leadership/teacher burnout from a biblical world view.

1. I will Google search the phrase “A Christian perspective on leadership.”

2. I will Google search the phrase “A Christian perspective on burnout.”

VII. Conclusion

A. I will end with a summary of the paper and overall conclusion.