Action Research Literature Evaluation

[WLO: 1, 2][CLO: 2, 3]

Last week we focused on developing your area of focus based on an existing problem or challenge in early childhood education that you would like to change or improve. This week you will gain deeper insight into your area of focus by reviewing and evaluating literature related to your area of focus. You started this process in this week’s discussion, and will continue the same process for this assignment. You may use the article you reviewed in the discussion this week as one of the four resources required for review and evaluation.

For this assignment, you will utilize appropriate databases and digital tools to identify academic sources relevant to your action research area of focus, and then evaluate each source for research timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Additionally, you will identify, evaluate, review, and summarize four relevant scholarly, peer-reviewed articles to inform your own action research proposal. The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand what others in the field have done to improve the same or similar challenges that you are interested in improving. Week 2 Literature Evaluation Assignment Template is available for developing your Week Two assignment. For this assignment, please use a minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text journal articles. Articles must be current, meaning each article must have been published in the past five years.

You may use the Ashford Library or appropriate digital research tools (i.e., Google Scholar (Links to an external site.)) to locate scholarly sources for this assignment. Remember, not all sources and articles in the Ashford Library are scholarly, so please be sure to refer to the Instructor Guidance for this week and the MAECEL Source Guide for further tips and information on locating scholarly, peer reviewed journals.

You may also be interested in using an online bibliographic management program such as RefWorks (Links to an external site.), NoodleTools (Links to an external site.), or Diigo (Links to an external site.) to collect, manage, annotate, share, and cite your sources. Please be sure to carefully review the Instructor Guidance, the course Anchor Paper, and course readings for this week to inform the development of this assignment.

*Reminder to Students: Remember to save all copies of your work throughout the course as you will use each assignment as part of the Final Action Research Proposal. For many of the discussions and assignments, you are building on your work each week, so it is appropriate to use content from your discussions in your weekly assignments, generally expanding and extending concepts and sections as you progress from week to week. You will have the opportunity to make revisions to each section of your proposal based on instructor and peer feedback prior to your final version in the Final Action Research Proposal, so be sure to revisit the feedback you have received from your instructor and classmates each week to continuously refine your proposal throughout the course.

• Content Expectations
• Part 1: Article Summary Tables: For each of the four articles, complete one table using the Week Two assignment template to evaluate the source using the CRAAP test, and then provide a summary in the areas indicated in the table. Each section must be complete and add relevant information related to the article.
  • CRAAP Test: Using the CRAAP test, evaluate each of the four required sources for timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Provide the overall score and a narrative with a summary of your evaluation.
  • Title, Author, Year: For each article, provide an accurate title, author, and year of publication.
  • Purpose of the Study: For each article, clearly explain the purpose of the study.
  • Subject/Participants: For each article, discuss the subjects or participants involved in the study.
  • Variables: For each article, identify the independent and dependent variables in the study.
  • Quantitative and/or Qualitative Instruments: For each article, examine the instruments used to collect data, including any pertinent information on the validity and reliability of the instruments.
  • Interventions: For each article, summarize the interventions used in the study to improve a situation or existing challenge that the research addressed.
  • Outcomes/Results: For each article,explain what kind of evidence used to support his/her claims.
  • Implications: For each article, examine the implications and conclusions of the study.
  • Relevance to Proposed Study: For each article, appraise how the study relates to the challenge or situation you are interested in improving in your own action research proposal.
  • Part 2: Literature Evaluation Table: Complete the summary table after completing each of the article summary tables for each article. The purpose of this table is for you to synthesize information from the articles you reviewed to determine how each one will inform your own action research proposal, specifically focusing in the interventions and qualitative and quantitative instruments. The content from this assignment will be used to support the development of the Week Three Assignment in ECE 660.
  • Literature Evaluation Table: Based on your four article summaries, use the literature evaluation table to organize your decisions regarding which interventions and instruments are the most relevant to your own action research proposal.
• Research and Resource Expectations
  • A minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
• Writing and Formatting Expectations
  • Title Page: Must include a separate title page with the following:
    • Title of paper
    • Student’s name
    • Course name and number
    • Instructor’s name
    • Date submitted
  • Academic Voice: Academic Voice is used (avoids casual language, limited use of “I” or first person, it is declarative).
    Purpose and Organization: Demonstrates logical progression of ideas.
    Syntax and Mechanics: Writing displays meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
    APA Formatting: Papers are formatted properly and all sources are cited and referenced in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
• Suggested Assignment Length
  • This assignment should be approximately five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and reference pages).
• Next Steps
  • Review and Submit the Assignment: Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to ensure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Submit the assignment for evaluation no later than Day 7.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.