M.Ed. Proposals
Purposes of the M.Ed. Proposal
Your proposal serves a number of purposes:
- To develop a case for the importance of what it is you intend
to do. Your proposal should describe the relevance of the project
to your own teaching, and its importance to the larger educational
community. Usually this is done in the first chapter of your
proposal.
- To demonstrate that you have a working knowledge of the area
in which you are conducting your study. Your proposal should show
how you situate your own work within the body of knowledge that
already exists about your area of investigation. This is usually
the purpose of chapter two, (the review of the literature),
although your introductory chapter may also make reference to
existing work in your chosen field of inquiry.
- To present a plan for carrying out the project. Mter the
proposal has been approved by your advisor and other committee
members, the proposal becomes the guiding document that you will
return to as you see your project through to completion. The
actual methodology for your project is described in detail in the
third chapter of the proposal. This chapter also describes the
setting of the study, who will be involved, and a possible
timeline for the project.
- To establish a kind of contract between you and your
committee. Once it is accepted, the subsequent successful
completion of the project you describe in your proposal represents
your fulfillment of a significant portion of the requirements for
the degree. Assuming all the other course requirements have been
met, it is only a short step from successful completion and
defense of the project, to graduating with the Master's
degree.
Overview of Proposal Content
The following outline of the content of your proposal is only a
GUIDELINE. Individual project proposals may vary depending on the
advice and preferences of your project advisor and research
committee. Consider the following categories as descriptors for
the project proposal for this course, but keep in mind that they may
be modified, deleted, or added to after consultation with your
advisor.
Chapter One: Introduction to the Problem
- Introduction
- Purpose of the Study
- The research questions (or)
- The research hypotheses
- Significance of the Study
- Design of the study (Methodology)
- Setting
- Data sources
- Data collection
- Data analysis
- Definition of terms
- Limitations of the Study
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This will vary from project to project. Essentially, the purposes
of this chapter are to establish your credibility as someone working
toward a mastery of the knowledge in your area of inquiry, and to
situate your project in relation to what is already known about the
topic. Your purpose here is to establish the links between the
theoretical frameworks of others, and the knowledge you are
developing through your inquiry.
Chapter Three: Methods and Procedures
(Action research as a way of structuring educational inquiry.)
- Design of the study
- Location and Setting
- Curriculum materials
- Project participants
- Data sources
- Procedures for data cdllection
- Procedures for data analysis
- Timeline for the study