Inquiry Plan
Your Inquiry Plan should contain the following pieces:
- Title (make up a title for your project)
- Problem Statement (the one you wrote/revised in the last few weeks)
- Purpose statement (1 sentence summary of your project)
- Research Questions (revision of what you drafted two weeks ago)
- Research Variables (revision of what you drafted two weeks ago)
- Data Collection Methods, arranged in a Triangulation Matrix (what data you will collect and how often you will collect each kind of data—weekly, monthly, once…)
- IRB: cover letter you will send to parents explaining your research project, and a very similar letter to send to your principal
- To Do list (see below)
Your plan should have headings to show that you have included each of the above things. See below for a more detailed outline of what you are including.
Inquiry Plan: in detail
This is an outline that you can follow. Please feel free to use this as the base for your inquiry plan, just filling in the relevant details in the blanks.
{Title}, by {your name}
Problem of Practice
{paste in Problem Statement, as turned in 10/13/08/revised since then}
Research Questions
The purpose of my project is ____________________________. I will be examining the research themes of __________________________________, in seeking to answer the research questions:
- {research question 1}
- {research question 2}
- {research question 3…}
Method
I will be examining these research questions through the following data collection methods, as outlined in the following triangulation matrix:
{Below is a sample matrix; put your own specifics in this table, deleting the sample items. Our hope is that this helps you to conduct your project this spring by being very specific now about what data you will collect and when you will collect it. In the first column, type your research questions (2-4 related questions). In the next columns, type in your data collection procedures for each question. Below each data collection procedure, give the duration (how long) and frequency (how often) you will be collecting that data. Note: the sample research questions in the matrix are not related to each other, but rather try to be representative of many of your projects). If you are collecting more than three types of data for a research question, just add column(s) to the matrix.}
| Data Timeline | |||
| Research Questions | 1st Data Collection Procedure | 2nd Data Collection Procedure | 3rd Data Collection Procedure |
| 1. How do students’ problem solving skills around number and operations change as their teacher emphasizes written communication skills? | Interview small groups of students | Keep records of assignments & journal of teacher thoughts in selecting certain problems and designing problem solving assignments | Copy students’ problem solving assignments; score with a rubric |
| Frequency | One interview for each of three groups | Assignments: daily Journal: weekly | Weekly |
| Duration | After school, last two weeks of April, 2007 | Feb 1-April 15 | Feb 1-April 15 |
| 2. How does math anxiety affect student achievement in probability in math class? | Keep a journal to record observations of instances of math anxiety and how students behave in class | Interview students individually to ask about math anxiety and their perceptions of its effects on their achievement | Keep copies of student tests & quizzes and teacher grade book to measure mathematics achievement |
| Frequency | Weekly | Interview 7 randomly selected students once each | Each quiz & test: Approximately 7 quizzes and 3 tests |
| Duration | Feb 1-April 30 | During recess, one student per day, during March | Feb 1-April 30 |
| 3. What happens to student math success in solving word problems related to geometrical topics with students work in small groups? | Ask students to journal about their thoughts/feelings about working in groups | Interview small groups of students | Keep a journal to record observations of students working in groups and how they respond to each other |
| Frequency | Every other week | Monthly for each of three groups | Weekly |
| Duration | Feb 1-April 15 | Feb 15-April 15 | Feb 1-April 15 |
| 4. we suggest limiting yourself to 3 questions | |||
| The more questions you ask, the more data | |||
| you have to collect. |
IRB
{On school letterhead, make this a business-type letter; you will need to fill in the blanks & make this specific for your project}
Dear Parent,
I am participating in a unique program called The Math in the Middle Institute Partnership. Through this exciting opportunity, I will be earning a master’s degree through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in August, 2009. One requirement of the master’s degree is that I conduct a research project as part of my master’s thesis. My research project will involve me studying my own teaching practice in your student’s math class, and trying to increase student achievement in mathematics.
I will be studying my own teaching practice in your student’s math class. Everything I will do in class will be part of normal teaching practices for the benefit of student learning. My research project will not get in the way of me teaching the students what they need to know for the Nebraska State Standards in Mathematics for ___ grade. My goals in teaching your student have not changed, and your student will still be doing regular ___ grade mathematics activities in class.
{edit the next paragraph to fit your specific data collection plan}
During class, we will be working on specific problem solving strategies to help students become better problem solvers. On some days, I will be asking your student to work in cooperative groups. Additionally, I will interview a few students ___{after school}___ to ask them about ________. I will audio-tape interviews in order to help me take notes; no one but me will hear the tape. In ______, I will be asking all students to fill out a short (5 minutes) survey about _____________. I will be keeping some copies of student work throughout the semester in order to help me see student growth in math class.
Attached is an official permission slip from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, giving your student permission to participate in my research. While all students will be participating in all in-class activities, giving your permission means that I will include your student’s data in my project, and that your student may be interviewed. Choosing to participate or not to participate in the research will not affect your child’s grade or standing in math class in any way. I will not know which students are participating in the research until the end of the school year.
Please contact me at school (phone number, and/or email address) if you have any questions about this, and I will gladly explain my project to you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Principal Letter
Note: Do NOT yet send this to your principal. Wait until you get feedback on this Inquiry Plan assignment. You will need to get your principal’s permission before IRB will approve your project. Additionally, LPS teachers need Dr. Leslie Lukin’s approval; we will seek that for you, so you just need to pursue principal approval.
{On school letterhead, make this a business-type letter; you will need to fill in the blanks & make this specific for your project—you can use some of the same paragraphs as for your IRB parent letter—just be sure to take out “your student” and put in “students”}
Dear {Principal Name},
As you know, one requirement of my participation in the Math in the Middle Institute Partnership is that I conduct a research project as part of my master’s thesis. My research project will involve me studying my own teaching practice in math class, and trying to increase student achievement in mathematics. In order to proceed with my research project, I need a letter from you giving me permission to conduct my research project in my math class in our school next spring, January 5, 2009-April 17, 2009. Your permission letter needs to be on school letterhead; I need it either as a document I can attach to an email or else a hard copy that I can fax to UNL. The following paragraphs describe my planned research project.
I will be studying my own teaching practice in math class. Everything I will do in class will be part of normal teaching practices for the benefit of student learning. My research project will not get in the way of me teaching the students what they need to know for the Nebraska State Standards in Mathematics for ___ grade. My goals in teaching students have not changed, and students will still be doing regular ___ grade mathematics activities in class.
{edit the next paragraph to fit your specific data collection plan}
During class, we will be working on specific problem solving strategies to help students become better problem solvers. On some days, I will be asking student to work in cooperative groups. Additionally, I will interview a few students ___{after school}___ to ask them about ________. I will audio-tape interviews in order to help me take notes; no one but me will hear the tape. In ______, I will be asking all students to fill out a short (5 minutes) survey about _____________. I will be keeping some copies of student work throughout the semester in order to help me see student growth in math class.
While all students will be participating in all in-class activities, those who give permission and whose parents give permission will have their data included in my project, and that those students may be interviewed. Choosing to participate or not to participate in the research will not affect students’ grades or standing in math class in any way. I will not know which students are participating in the research until the end of the school year.
Please contact me if you have any questions about this, and I will gladly explain my project to you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
To Do List
Things I need to do before next semester:
- Acquire recording equipment & blank tapes for interviews.
- Get a box of some type (that holds files) to store all the data I will be collecting (copies of student work, etc)
- Get parent cover letter translated into necessary languages for parents.
- {What else do you need to do to be ready to conduct your research project next semester?}
