Prepare Problem and Purpose Statements
Anthony Nwora
EDR-8300
Dr. Dale Crowe
Northcentral University
12/19/2021
Top of Form
Problem Statement
The problem addressed by this study is viability of distance learning in rural areas. The specific problem that has been addressed in this study is the viability of distance education for many rural high schools in Virginia. This study has been guided by the knowledge that there are very many obstacles in establishing and maintaining a distance education program. These obstacles must be overcome in order for this program to be successful. One of the obstacles that hinder the success of distance education is funds (Dunnick, 2015). Rural schools have limited funds required to run this program and this makes it difficult for them to use it and get the expected results. The second factor that affects distance education is inability to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers. Additionally, many rural high schools serve populations that are regarded as poor and this makes it hard for the schools to obtain the right funds. Teachers are also not attracted to rural schools. Another obstacle is lack of expansion of the curriculum to accommodate distance education.
Area of Interest
The main area of interest is distance education. Before 2020, distance education had become popular among schools and especially those that are in rural areas. The main factor that led to this popularity is advances in information technology. Technology has made it easier for educators to teach their students (Howard, Schenk, & Discenza, 2004). Many people prefer distance learning because it enables them to acquire knowledge and skills from different location without getting into the physical class. In 2020, Coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of schools and students were required to learn from home. This has led to an increase in the use of distance education programs. One of the issues that students in rural areas face is lack of transport and the cost of transport. The solution to these issues is distance learning.
Distance learning is highly recommended for rural high schools in the United States because it can help students to have access to highly qualified teachers. This learning strategy can also be helpful in that it can reduce the cost incurred by accessing highly qualified teachers (Liu & Yen, 2014). Distance education is also beneficial to students living in rural areas because they do not have to go to the physical class to be taught. They can receive education from home.
Even as distance education continues to be applied and recommended, educators are concerned whether this type of learning is effective as face to face learning. With face to face learning, students are usually in class with their teacher and there are fewer distractions as compared to distance learning. Another concern is whether students in the rural areas can be able to maintain this program due to the internet cost required for the program. These concerns raised by scholars with regards to the effectiveness of distance learning have inspired this research area.
Problem and Purpose Statement
Theoretical Focus |
Applied Focus |
|
First sentence of Problem Statement |
An investigation to analyze distance education |
An investigation to determine the effectiveness of distance education |
First sentence of Purpose Statement |
To investigate the effectiveness of distance education |
To determine whether distance education is effective and whether it can benefit rural high schools |
Problem Statement
The problem is that even though distance education can be viewed as a better and viable option or alternative for high schools in the rural areas in the United States, there are a number of obstacles that can hinder the process of establishing and maintaining this strategy. One of the challenges that rural schools face that makes it hard for this program to be established and maintained is lack of funds. Many schools survive through grants (Howard, Schenk, & Discenza, 2004). The government also allocates some fund to the schools but these funds are not usually enough because there are very many things that the funds allocated have to cater for.
The second obstacle hindering the effectiveness of distance education in rural high schools is lack of highly qualified teachers. It is very difficult for high schools in the rural areas to have access to highly qualified teachers (Wardhani, 2020). Many highly qualified teachers prefer to work in urban areas as compared to rural areas. This causes teachers not to engage in distance learning programs for schools in the rural areas. I believe that a lot of incentives has to be channeled towards attracting highly qualified teachers to work in the urban areas.
The third obstacle is lack of financial resources. Many families in the rural areas that are in the bottom threshold financial difficulty my not be able to afford all the resources required to establish and maintain distance education for their children. It becomes very hard for students to engage in this program because they do not have the right gadgets and funds to cater for internet cost.
Another obstacle is lack of support from schools. Distance education must be supported by rural schools in order for it to be effective (Wardhani, 2020). Schools must be ready to expand their curriculum with the use of distance education. They must also inform the people in the rural areas about the distance education program. Community members must be informed about the program in order for them to allow their children to participate.
References
Dunnick, R. D. (2015). The effectiveness of distance education in a small rural high school: A phenomenological study. Liberty University.
Howard, C., Schenk, K., & Discenza, R. (2004). Distance learning and university effectiveness: Changing educational paradigms for online learning. Hershey, PA: Information Science Pub.
Liu, H. C., & Yen, J. R. (2014). Effects of distance learning on learning effectiveness. Eurasia journal of mathematics, science and technology education, 10(6), 575-580.
Wardhani, N. W. (2020, October). The Effectiveness of Distance Learning for Elementary School. In The 5th Progressive and Fun Education International Conference (PFEIC 2020) (pp. 114-119). Atlantis Press.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Theoretical Framework
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Date
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework serves as the “roadmap” for the entire investigation.
It serves as a foundation upon which to develop and support your research, as well as a framework for defining how you will approach the research topic philosophically, epistemologically, methodologically, and analytically.
The theoretical framework for a study has repercussions for every choice made during the research process, supporting the researcher’s conviction that the theoretical framework for a study should be determined at the start of dissertation work.
Theoretical Framework
Choosing an acceptable theoretical framework for your study is a critical and vital procedure that every student-researchers should undertake.
A thorough and deliberate grasp of the study topic, goal, importance, and research questions is required when choosing a theoretical framework.
The topic, goal, significance, and research questions must all be firmly connected and intricately intertwined so that the theoretical framework may serve as the basis for the work and guide the researcher’s choice of study design and data analysis.
This Study’s Theoretical Framework
Nurses are no longer bound by the dominant discourse of the past, the “paradigm wars,” which required integration with one of the philosophical paradigms and a particular methodology for doing research.
Modern methodological pragmatists believe that blending research approaches is permitted provided the method is led by phenomena and ideally theoretically based.
While research methodologies are not necessary to follow a certain methodological paradigm, philosophical assumptions should have a significant effect on research procedures.
The study’s epistemology and ontology shape the viewpoint and dynamic relationship with technology on a regular basis, which considerably adds to the study’s framework.
Cont’d
Due to the nature of sensor data (quantitative) and the nature of contextualized clinical aspects that influence sensor data (qualitative), an integrated approach to boost knowledge development of AI systems in healthcare research will be devised.
The fundamental goal of AI in healthcare research is to see how doctors perceive AI in their practices and whether the tools’ adoption leads to a revolution in medicine.
The other goal is to find out what concerns healthcare professionals have about AI’s impact on data security and privacy.
Quantitative information system research, on the other hand, will be done inside a well-defined framework derived from the literature, with a clear underlying expectation of how the phenomena would likely behave.
Cont’d
Because the goal of this study was to analyze individual behaviors in a specific sample, the quantitative technique seemed ideal. A hypothesis is verified or tested using quantitative research methods.
Quantitative approaches have shown to be beneficial and important in a community of scientists that share a common objective of acquiring a better understanding of information systems (IS) phenomena.
The quantitative method had the advantage of being able to generalize to a whole population or a sub-population because it used a smaller sample, but the disadvantage was that it tended to take only a snapshot of a concept at a specific time and may not have been in-depth, and it underestimated test-takers’ and testers’ experiences as well as what they intended by so doing.
Hypothesis and the Research Framework
In order to uncover important patterns that explain a specific occurrence, qualitative research comprises the construction of scientific narratives as well as the analysis and interpretation of textual or numerical data (or both) acquired mostly via interviews and conversations.
It is critical to understand various ways for constructing and delivering these advanced scientific narratives in order for them to convey scientific information.
A qualitative hypothesis can be used to do this. Testing hypotheses in qualitative research is usually fraught with issues that cause concern.