Dear Writer,
I am developing my Dissertation. I need help on developing Research Questions that are in alignment with these two statements. Also could you please correct my references so that they are all in APA 7th addition format for the Dissertation.
The Problem statement is;
Statement of the Problem
The problem to be addressed in this study is the effect that the lack of knowledge of meaningful art interventions for students in early childhood education, and students with special needs, and how this lack of knowledge affects their personal development. The inclusion of art-based education in the curriculum is omitted, underfinanced, or criticized by the policymakers who fail to understand the role creativity plays today (Page & Thorsteinsson, 2017). The role technology and design play today are impossible to overlook. As a report issued by Deloitte (2020) recognized, due to technological progress in the work force, the areas requiring creativity and communication skills will be highly in demand. As Page & Thorsteinsson (2017) emphasized, government and policymakers misunderstand the role technology, design, and arts education play in student development and preparation for the future. Chow et al. (2018) revealed that students tend to develop communication and interpersonal skills more effectively in arts-based education. In other words, arts integration into the curriculum could benefit students by enhancing their creativity and interpersonal skills, which co Arts integration into the curriculum could benefit children at many levels besides improving creativity and communication skills. For example, it was revealed that arts-based education could alleviate stress and eliminate stigma among students, yet arts interventions were not popular among school administrators due to budgeting issues and misunderstanding of their meaning (Gaiha et al., 2021). Students must have equitable access to education and its benefits. Such an approach to arts education among school administration and policymakers could deprive them of opportunities to develop relevant skills and learn in a safer and friendlier environment. As Gonzalez-Dolginko (2018) recognized, legislation must be introduced to increase awareness of the importance of arts in the curriculum and address misunderstanding among educators and administration of public schools.
REFERENCES:
Gaiha, S. M., Salisbury, T. T., Usmani, S., Koschorke, M., Raman, U., & Petticrew, M. (2021). Effectiveness of arts interventions to reduce mental-health-related stigma among youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC psychiatry, 21(1), 364. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03350-8
Gonzalez-Dolginko, B. (2018). Status Report on Art Therapists in Public Schools: Employment and Legislative Realities. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 35(1), 19–24.
Page, T. & Thorsteinsson, G. (2017). The Impact of Conventional School Education on Students Creativity. i-Manager’s Journal on School Educational Technology, 13(1), 12-20.
Sasz, S. (2018). Arts integration: Implementing a critical yet devalued core subject into U.S. public schools. The People, Ideas, and Things Journal, 9, 1-5.
Wilkins, K. G., Bernstein, B. L., Bekki, J. M. (2015). Measuring Communication Skills: The STEM Interpersonal Communication Skills Assessment Battery. The Research Journal for Engineering Education, 104(4), 433-453. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20100
The Purpose Statement is:
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative study is to determine how a lack of access to Art Integrated Learning (AIL) affects students’ development of creativity and communication skills that directly reflects and encompasses the research questions to follow. The study has the goal of determining how exposure to AIL affects students’ communicative and creative skills and if there is a difference between learners who were and were not exposed to it. The variables of the study will include creativity skills (DV), communication skills (DV), and AIL (IV). The target population for this study is two groups of graduates, including those who were exposed to AIL in schools and those who were not. The study will be conducted remotely due to the current restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the participants will be recruited from four to six schools (with AIL and without AIL) selected across the United States.
The sampling frame of the study is individuals. The study will use convenience sampling due to its simplicity and accessibility. The sample size for the qualitative part of the study will be 12 participants, as this is the most optimal sample size for descriiptive analysis of the phenomenon (Boddy, 2016). The quantitative part of the study will have to include around 370 (both groups) participants, as the number of students who graduated from schools with and without AIL is vast (Pan, 2020). The study will develop an interview for the qualitative part of the study. A survey will use the Creativity Measurement Questionnaire by Fields & Bisschoff (2014) and the STEM Interpersonal Communication Skills Assessment Battery by Wilkins et al. (2015). Data analysis methods include manual coding for the qualitative part of the study. Microsoft Excel will be used for statistical analysis. The study results could inform the educational practice by showing how AIL affects students’ development, creativity, and communication skills.
Akhter, S., Pauyo, T., & Khan, M. (2019). What is the difference between a systematic review and a meta-analysis? Basic Methods Handbook for Clinical Orthopaedic Research, 331-342.
Bjorklund, Camilla and Ahlskog-Bjorkman, Eva. “Approaches to Teaching in Thematic Work: Early Childhood Teachers’ Integration of Mathematics and Art.” International Journal of Early Years Education, 25, 2017.
Boyd, Wendy, and Cutcher, Lexi. “Learning from Early Childhood Philosophy, Theory, and Pedagogy: Inspiring Effective Art Education.” Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 40, 2015.
Craw, Janita. “Making Art Matter-ings: Engaging (with) Art in Early Childhood Education, in Aotearoa New Zealand.” Journal of Pedagogy, 2, 2015.
Kiger, M. E., & Varpio, L. (2020). Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide No. 131. Medical teacher, 42(8), 846-854.
Week 4 Instructions
Research Questions
Research questions allow researchers to address the problem and fulfill the purpose of any study. Research questions must be aligned with the problem and purpose of the study, both in content and in wording. One way to begin identifying the best research questions for a study is to try posing the topic as a question. For instance, if you are interested in teachers’ views of merit pay, your question might be: “What are the perceptions of teachers regarding merit pay for student performance?” If you are interested in determining if your new reading curriculum results in academic gains as measured by standardized tests, your research question might be: “How do reading scores change after implementing the new reading curriculum?” Or, “What is the effect of a new reading curriculum on students’ reading achievement as measured by standardized tests?”
Once you have identified a research topic question, you should formulate two or more sub-questions serving as the research questions for your study. For instance, consider the question, “How do reading scores change after implementing the new reading curriculum?” For this topic, question, you might develop these sub-questions:
1) How do reading scores change for males after implementation of the new reading curriculum?
2) How do reading scores change for females after implementation of the new reading curriculum?
3) How do students rate reading enjoyment after implementation of the new reading curriculum?
Ask yourself, “How can I measure or answer these questions?” This will help you narrow options for an approach to use for data collection. Here is a checklist to use in the development of your research questions:
• Did I create several questions closely related to my topic and aligned with my problem and purpose statements?
• Are my questions measurable or answerable?
• Is the scope of my questions reasonable for the time and resources I have to complete this research?
• Will these questions help me better understand some area needing to be changed or improved?
• Are my questions phrased to avoid leading language such as: “Since children hate homework, how many minutes of after-school work should be assigned?”
• Are my questions worded to avoid the word “why” as this is very difficult to answer in any study?
• Do my questions avoid a “yes” or “no” response, since scholarly research should provide more in-depth results?
The tool below can be used to help create research questions. Hypotheses are only required for quantitative methodologies.
