Common Planning Mistakes
Common Planning Mistakes
Three traps. Most first-time researchers fall into at least one.
Problem too big
“I want to improve student motivation.” That is not a study. That is a career. Cut it down to one specific, reachable piece of motivation: I want to test whether morning praise of effort increases homework submission in Grade 7 over four weeks.
A big problem is not wrong. It is just not a research question. The question has to be small enough to test in one term, with the students you actually have, in the lessons you actually teach.
Intervention too vague
“I will use student-centered methods.” What student-centered methods? When? For how long? An intervention has to be a specific, repeatable action that anyone could implement after reading your plan.
A good test: hand your intervention design to a colleague who knows nothing about your study. If she could walk into the classroom tomorrow and run it without asking you a question, the intervention is specific enough.
Data tools chosen at the end
Some teachers plan the intervention first and worry about data tools later. By then it is too late. The tools must be in place before the action stage starts, so that pre-intervention data can be collected.
Without baseline data, you cannot show change. The pre-test, the pre-observation tally, the starting questionnaire all have to be ready before Day 1 of the action stage.
One short definition helps the third mistake make sense.
