Research Questions and Hypothesis In order to collect data and explore whether preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers understand the difference between normal range developmental delays and...

The Topic, Brief Review of the Literature, Problem Statement, Purpose Statement, Research Questions and draft research plan
Siggie: I’ve read through this quickly, and I have a few general suggestions that will help you further revise this CP. Before the suggestions for revision, I’ll mention that the content of this paper is quite good and reveals your acquaintance with the research literature. So, good start! Now, here is what I suggest for improving it. First, look at the PhD CP template and arrange the content of this paper to fit that template. You’ll note that you will have a 2 page intro that leads the reader, logically and inevitably, to a succinct problem statement, followed by purpose, research questions, etc (e.g. no background section). In doing this revision and re-arrangement, you will need to reduce the repetition that I noticed in places (e.g. the first sentence is repeated later, I believe in the Purpose section), add a table of contents, delete the running header, and so on (formatting). As far as content, follow the template suggestions, and pay careful attention to the alignment of your problem statement (must be specific and demanding of a research solution), purpose, and research questions. These must be exactly aligned. In other words, the problem you identify must be exactly what your purpose addresses, no more and no less, and your RQs must derive directly from your purpose. If you want to talk about this next step, let me know and we can talk by Skype tomorrow afternoon or later this week.
Warm Regards,
Peter
Introduction
About 51% of preschoolers and 30% of infants in the United States spend part of their day in some kind of out-of-home care or early education environment (United States Census, 2013), making early childhood teachers and caregivers significant participants in the life of many children. Consequently, it is estimated that as much as 10–20% of preschool-age children exhibit significant challenging behavior in ECE programs (Bradshaw, Mitchell & Leaf, 2008), so the need for effective and efficient behavior support in early childhood is evident, particularly in light of the long-term negative effects of early problem behavior (Myers & Pianta, 2008). In addition, teacher-child relationships become an integral factor associated with difficulties adjusting to school academically and behaviorally through eighth grade (Garner & Wajiid, 2008), and children who exhibit problem behavior are more likely to develop negative relationships with their peers and teachers. Many of these children already face significant disadvantages in the classroom, receive less mental health services, and are subjected later to more serious negative outcomes (Bradshaw et al., 2012).
According to Carter and Van Norman (2010), the estimated10–20% of preschool-age children who exhibit significant challenging behaviors are more likely to be misunderstood and mishandled, or harshly disciplined by school professionals (Fox, Dunlap & Gushing, 2002). But many young children who seem to show symptoms of disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) by being fidgety, overactive, or restless, or are showing signs of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) when displaying delayed or limited development of language, poor social skills and awkward emotionality, do so either in an isolated form or for a short time in toddlerhood and preschool age, and do not actually develop any disorder by the time they enter school (Campbell, 1990).
Carter and Van Norman (2010) found that preschool teachers report children’s challenging behavior as their greatest concern (Carter & Van Norman, 2010), and their data suggested that preschool teachers do not have the training or resources to implement research-based strategies which can effectively remedy or change many of these emerging behaviors (Conroy, Davis, Fox & Brown, 2002). As a result, they often refer children who need more assistance due to emotional behavioral needs out, without understanding the behaviors or the types of programs that are appropriate and available (Greenberg, Domitrovich, & Bumbarger, 2001).
Research conducted by Kokkinos, Panayiotou, and Davazoglou (2005) showed that teachers who experience chronic stress viewed behaviors exhibited by their students as more severe than their less burned out counterparts and were more likely to make the decision to refer a student with challenging behaviors out of the general education classroom (Kokkinos, Panayiotou, & Davazoglou, 2005). These students can end up labeled as having an emotional or behavioral disturbance, bounce from preschool to preschool for lack of anyone’s ability to manage them, and be placed within the special education system, which may only aggravate or worsen any original problematic behavior (Sugai, Horner & Gresham, 2002). This is something that could be potentially prevented if early childhood teachers and caregivers were more knowledgeable and equipped to know the difference between symptomatic behaviors and characteristics of disorders. Being key implementers of early education for young children, these teachers in particular should have appropriate knowledge and understanding of behavioral problems, ready to provide support and be aware of the resources and practices available.
Problem Definition
Exploring whether preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers know the difference between developmental delays and special needs is vital. A study such as this one is necessary in order to find out whether preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers understand the difference between normal range developmental delays and special needs, and whether having a full range understanding of the concept will help them distinguish typical, i.e. brief and passing, and therefore cope with it, from atypical, i.e. permanent and set, and make the appropriate referrals. Such a study can also examine the obtainable knowledge of early childhood teachers and caregivers have about typical developmental range and acceptable behaviors within it, and obtainable knowledge of characteristics of disorders such as ADHD, and PDD and look at existing methods they are currently using for handling or referring behavioral issues appropriately.
Distinguishing and addressing developmental delays from disorders will help teachers and caregivers cope with, and handle behavioral problems in the classroom, or otherwise make appropriate referrals. Being key implementers of early education for young children, teachers in particular need to have appropriate knowledge and understanding of behavioral problems, so they are ready to provide support as well as be aware of the resources and practices available to them (Fox, Jack & Broyler, 2005). Unfortunately, many early childhood teachers and caregivers are not prepared or equipped to meet the needs of children who have behavioral problems, which increases the likelihood of school failure (Doubet, 2008). This is something that could be potentially prevented if teachers and caregivers are more knowledgeable and equipped to know the difference between symptomatic behaviors and characteristics of disorders (Fox, Dunlap, & Cushing, 2002).
Problem Statement
The study proposed will examine teachers’ understanding of characteristics associated with developmentally appropriate behaviors of young children with normal range of barriers in language, and social-emotional abilities and skills, and characteristics associated with emotional and behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It will also attempt to measure teacher’s self-efficacy in his/her engagement with difficult children who might, or might not, have disorders such as ADHD and PDD, while they are displaying characteristics and challenges similar or even identical to the disorders.
In self-efficacy research people are asked to report the level, generality, and strength of their confidence to be successful in a given task or situation (Bandura, 2006c). For example, a teacher may be asked to rate his/her confidence in understanding the stages of early childhood language development, or in engaging with children with different levels of language development, which are of different generality levels. These teaching questions require careful consideration aimed at discovering what beliefs are triggered by the environmental contingencies and their relationship to personal agency. Self- efficacy beliefs weigh differently on predictive power depending on the task they are asked to predict. Bandura (2006c) cautions researchers against the use of an all-purpose measure of perceived self-efficacy to measure efficacy in a particular domain. When an assessment measure attempts to serve all purposes, the items are stated in general terms leaving questions as to what exactly is being measured (Bandura, 2006c). When assessment measurements are developed they need to address specific milestones in a domain and accurately describe the objectives, as well as have a strong sense of what they are asking when considering validity (Bandura, 2006c). Concepts cannot be uncertain, or negative findings will reflect faulty theory that undermines previous research.
Teacher-child relationships becomes an integral factor associated with difficulties adjusting to school academically and behaviorally all the way to 8th grade (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Garner & Wajiid, 2008), and children who exhibit problem behavior are more likely to develop negative relationships with their peers and teachers (Ladd & Burgess, 1999). Frequently, young children “act out” their thoughts and feelings for lack of language, social, and emotional competence (Sugai, Horner, & Gresham, 2002). Markowitz, Carlson and Frey (2006) found that many of them face significant disadvantages in the classroom, receive less mental health services, and are subjected to later more serious negative outcomes (Markowitz, Carlson & Frey, 2006).
According to the ecological system of Bronfenbrenner (1979), many behavioral challenges are typical consequences of contextual elements such as home, culture, place in the family, socio-economical status (SES) and such, positioning them within normal and expected complexity of development rather than irregular or abnormal (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). However, numerous studies link early childhood teachers and caregivers lack of training, knowledge and skills to an inability to support or handle children who present behavioral challenges, and consequentially, rather than increasing skills that develop children’s social competence and build resilience, they end up decreasing or eliminating such abilities with punishment techniques that are misapplied and therefore ineffective (Hemmeter, Santos & Ostrosky, 2008; Goldstein, Arnold, Rosenberg, Stowe, & Ortiz, 2001; Schmitt, Pentimonti, & Justice, 2012).
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this study is to explore if preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers understand the difference between normal range developmental delays and special needs. It is also to addresses whether distinguishing developmental delays from disorders will help teachers and caregivers cope with and handle behavioral problems in the classroom, or otherwise make appropriate referrals. Being key implementers of early education for young children, teachers in particular need to have appropriate knowledge and understanding of behavioral problems, so they are ready to provide support as well as be aware of the resources and practices available to them (Fox, Jack & Broyler, 2005). Unfortunately, many early childhood teachers and caregivers are not prepared or equipped to meet the needs of children who have behavioral problems, which increases the likelihood of school failure (Doubet, 2008). This is something that could be potentially prevented if teachers and caregivers were more knowledgeable and equipped to know the difference between symptomatic behaviors and characteristics of disorders (Fox, Dunlap, & Cushing, 2002).
Teacher’s efficacy at understanding normal to atypical range of early childhood social-emotional development will be examined through a comparative, non-experimental study. The study will examine teachers’ understanding of characteristics associated with developmentally appropriate behaviors of young children with normal range of barriers in language, and social-emotional abilities and skills, and characteristics associated with emotional and behavioral disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). It will also attempt to measure each teacher’s self-efficacy in his/her engagement with difficult children who might, or might not, have disorders such as ADHD and PDD, while they are displaying characteristics and challenges similar or even identical to the disorders.
In self-efficacy research people are asked to report the level, generality, and strength of their confidence to be successful in a given task or situation (Bandura, 2006c). For example, a teacher may be asked to rate his/her confidence in understanding the stages of early childhood language development, or in engaging with children with different levels of language development, which are of different generality levels. These teaching questions require careful consideration aimed at discovering what beliefs are triggered by the environmental contingencies and their relationship to personal agency. Self- efficacy beliefs weigh differently on predictive power depending on the task they are asked to predict. When assessment measurements are developed they must be domain specific and accurately describe the construct, as well as have a strong sense of what they are asking when considering validity (Bandura, 2006c).
For this study, a preschool titled X with 35 preschool teachers and aids caring all together for some 120 children ages 2-5 will be sampled. Covariates to consider will be age and level of education of all teachers and aids participants, and their years of experience at their job.

Research Design
In a quantitative study with a post positivist approach data will be collected in order to explore whether preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers understand the difference between normal range developmental delays and special needs, several questions will be addressed. The hypothesis will be attempted to through a set of questions that will address the knowledge early childhood teachers and caregivers already have, and explore any potential gap.
The quantitative method is chosen since a qualitative method would not have allowed a precise definition or objective measurement of the variables. This method allows for the testing of the research questions for inferences that may be generalized beyond the sample population (Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). In addition, survey data collection is economical and employs a rapid turnaround of data (Fink, 2006). The quantitative data for this study will be collected through self-administered and established questionnaires that can produce meaningful statistics (Fowler, 2009). The quantitative method in the form of questionnaires will be distributed to 35 teachers to gather numerical information for measuring their subjective feelings of their knowledge of early childhood development and early childhood disorders, and their subjective opinions of the difference between early childhood developmental delays disorders.
A correlational design is also appropriate for this study to examine the relationship between teachers’ knowledge of early childhood developmental delays and disorders, and their effectiveness in handling children with difficulties. Correlational research designs are suitable when attempting to determine relationships between variables (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2007). Multiple regressions can also be used to predict outcomes, or consider the value of contribution of more than one predictor variable (Fink, 2006). Multiple regression analysis will be then performed to determine the contributions of the predictor variables (characteristics of early childhood developmental delays and disorders) and the covariates (teacher age, years of teaching experience) to teacher efficacy.
Research Questions and Hypothesis
In order to collect data and explore whether preschool teachers and early childhood caregivers understand the difference between normal range developmental delays and special needs, several questions will be addressed. The questions will also address whether distinguishing developmental delays from disorders...