Introduce the specific problem of practice in a particular educational setting.  The problem is specific to the site of study and hence not generalizable.  State the problem simply and clearly, then provide evidence to show that the problem is real, and there is a need for your capstone project to address it. Then describe the significance of the problem by first providing the practical contributions that the project will make to the organization. Also, identify the stakeholders that are relevant to your capstone project. Then, briefly describe the need to solve the problem, the relevance of solving the problem to the organization and the study population, and the implications of the project, that is, how solving the research problem will improve the current conditions in the educational setting. Provide references from literature to support the need for your research study and provide citations using the APA format. You then narrow your focus to the goal of your capstone project and formulate the purpose statement to guide the development of your capstone project. In your purpose statement, mention the aim of your study to solving the research problem, describe the importance of solving the problem, and briefly state the approaches you will use to collect your data.

Related Literature

This section of related literature comprises of three sub-sections, that is, an introduction to the literature review, and at least two subsections such as the narrative review and the theoretical review.  In the introduction to the literature review section, describe the context of your capstone project and support using related literature. In the narrative review, analyze and synthesize the current knowledge on the problem you are studying and show how it relates to your project. Select literature that is relevant to your project then categorize it into themes in the form of headings and subheadings in a logical order. Describe the findings from the literature, that is, results on the research topic, the studies that have been carried out, and the solutions that have been implemented to curb the problem. In the theoretical review section, introduce the theoretical approach by describing the theory that supports your research problem and discussing how the theory has informed the literature in your study. Then, describe the relationship between the theory and tour study. Finally, write down a summary and a conclusion of the chapter and introduce the second chapter of your project.

Procedures

Overview and Permissions

Briefly restate the purpose of the capstone project and the problem statement, and then describe the contents of the chapter in the future tense. Then indicate the information about your approval for the project and attach the specific approval letters in the appendices.  For a capstone project, you do not need an IRB approval because the project is site-specific, unless, the organization or school where you re conducting your study requires you to acquire the IRB approval. In case you will publish your project, state the intention to disseminate your project and seek IRB approval before collecting the data.

Investigator’s Role

Describe your relationship to the educational setting and state the biases and assumptions that may affect the way you collect and analyze the research data.

Ethical Considerations

Discuss any ethical considerations, including how you will secure the collected data, how you will use data, the influence of data, and how you intend to ensure confidentiality in your project, among other issues. In case you will share your project outside the site-specific stakeholders, secure an IRB approval for your project.

Questions

Your questions section comprises of a central question and sub-questions. Derive the central question from the problem statement and the purpose of the study.  Formulate a broad question which forms the central question and other more specific questions to be the sub-questions. You can include one or two main questions followed by two to three sub-questions per central question. The questions in your capstone project should be empirically testable and hence should be open to address in your data collection, data analysis, project design, and discussion of your project. For the doctor of education capstone project, draft your sub-questions in a way that directs the specific approach you will use for data collection and analyses. For the first sub-question, specify your intention to use interviews to collect the data, while for the other two sub-questions, specify the approach to use for collection in each, for example,  focus groups for the second sub-question and survey for the third sub-question.

Data Collection and Analysis

There are three approaches to data collection in a capstone project, that is, interviews and other two approaches that are chosen by the researcher. When using interviews, first restate the first sub-question, then state the exact number of participants you will include in your interview, and follow the recommendations in the established protocol of the organization. Justify your use of the interview approach in your project and discuss the details of the participants, the setting,  the process, and the partners you will involve in your data collection and recording.  When writing your interview questions, ensure that there is a basis in the literature and your topic of study. The literature should support at least ten questions. Explain the purpose of each interview question in detail to establish the validity of the questions and have the basis for discussing your findings while considering the literature. Then, describe how you plan to analyze the interview data by clearly stating the data analysis procedures and the rationale for analysis. In the case of qualitative data analysis, ensure you transcribe your interview for coding and to categorize it into themes. Then state and describe the specific instruments you will use to analyze the data.

Focus Groups

Focus groups aim at acquiring information about a problem of practice through discussion. Different participants meet in a particular place and at a specific time. Restate the second sub-question then, establish the validity of the questions by describing the purpose of the focus group questions while considering the literature. Then transcribe code and categorize the information for analysis. Describe the specific tool you will use to analyze the data with reasons for your choice.

Survey

First, restate the third sub-question that uses survey as the approach for collection and analysis. You can use s surveys to explore how quantitative data results could influence the education practice. State the exact number of surveys you will administer. State the survey questions in a list and describe how the question relates to literature and the topic of study. You can use either open-ended or closed-ended questions comprising of three to five demographic questions or at least ten survey questions that are supported by the literature. You use the open-ended questions when using the qualitative format and Likert scale, semantic differential scale, among others, when using the quantitative approach. Discuss the specific time, place, process, participants, and procedures you will use to collect, record the data. Finally, explain your plan of analyzing the quantitative and the qualitative survey data, that is, the rationale for analysis and the type of figures you will use, for example, graphical representations, and bar charts, among others.

Document Analysis

You can use the document analysis approach to collect information for your doctor of education capstone project. Explore most primary sources of data rather than secondary sources, for example, meeting minutes, letters, diaries, legal documents, among others. Identify the specific material collected and describe the reasons for choosing each document.

Observations

Develop the observation protocol, addressing both the descriptive and reflective field notes, and include it in the appendices. Sate if the observations will be scheduled or not, and if you will be a participant or a non-participant observer. You should also indicate how frequently you will conduct the observations and after what duration. Ensure you carry out at least five observations for your doctor of education capstone project. Write a summary of the second chapter and introduce the third chapter.

Findings

Begin by restating the purpose and problem statements of the capstone project. Then describe the contents and organization of the chapter using the past tense.

Description of Participants

Organize your participants’ descriptions using level 2 APA headings, that is, use the level 2 APA heading interview participants for the qualitative data to indicate the section where you will describe the interview participants. For the quantitative data, use the level-two APA heading survey participants where you will describe the survey participants. For qualitative data, describe each participant that took part in your project using pseudonyms. Present the pseudonyms using the appropriate title of the participant, that is, parent, teacher, student, among others. For the quantitative survey, provide an overall description of the individuals who participated in the survey in the heading.

Results

Organize the results section according to the capstone project sub-questions.  Begin with level-one results heading, followed by a paragraph that briefly restates the data collection procedures. Qualitative analysis of the results of the interview leads to themes that are related to the problem of practice. Organize your sub-questions and the corresponding themes and then present the data in the form of narratives and qualitative tables such as those including open codes and themes, and frequency codes across qualitative data points.

Discussing of Results and Summary

Discuss the project findings considering the literature reviewed. Examine all the major topics at the beginning of your project, and then describe your results considering the current findings from other related literature. Discuss the narrative and the theoretical reviews, each under an APA level 2 heading. Describe the relationship between your findings and current literature, that is, how your results support or refute the current information. Also, describe the implications of your findings to solving your project problem. Then write down a summary for the results and a transition to the fifth chapter.

The Conclusion

Overview and Restatement of the Problem

Briefly restates the purpose and problem statement. Then describe the contents and organization of the chapter using the past tense. Using a paragraph, restate and describe the problem while referencing the problem statement in chapter one in the past tense.

Proposed Solution to Central Question

Describe the solution to the problem by answering the central question in detail. Provide a description and the goals of the solution. Describe the scholarly reason for choosing this solution based on the themes in your findings and the literature. Also, explain how the solution will be used to address the problem.

Solution Implications

Examine the benefits and the drawbacks of the various aspects of solving the problem. Explain the positive and negative implications of the solution. Indicate the specific recommendations for the stakeholders to address the effects.

Evaluation Plan, Summary, and References

You then have a plan to assess the effectiveness of the solution to the problem. Describe the type of evaluation you will use, that is, formative, goal-based, among others. Justify the evaluation approach you choose in the plan and provide details of who will carry out the assessment, how you will achieve the assessment and the standards you will use. Summarize your project and conclude your solution implications. Ensure you list all the in-text citations in your references according to the APA manual and have at least fifty reference sources. Ensure you proofread your capstone project before submission.