Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

day schedules and because teachers were allowed to read storybooks whenever and
wherever convenient in order to accommodate established classroom routines, the times
and locations (i.e., inside versus outside of the classroom) of storybook readings varied
both between and within classrooms. Further, teachers‘ storybook reading techniques in
experimental groups were subject to vast variability depending on all teachers‘ training,
storybook reading experience, and adherence to intervention methods (i.e., reading
frequency for all teachers and presentation of questions added to individual storybook
pages for teachers assigned to the intervention group). Perhaps this exchange of
experimental control for ecological validity resulted in the lack of statistical support for
intervention methods. Given the extent of both the within- and between-classroom
variability possible in the study, effects of intervention methods may not have been
strong enough to demonstrate positive effects on children‘s emergent literacy and social-
emotional skills.
A second explanation could be that teachers, and perhaps particularly teachers
assigned to the intervention group, did not properly implement intervention methods. A
vast majority of teachers implemented intervention methods in addition to their weekly
classroom routines and special events without the help of additional staff. As previously
discussed, teachers reported that having additional classroom volunteers would have
aided them in implementing intervention methods. Teachers may have felt that
implementing intervention methods accordingly required too much of their time given
their regular job responsibilities. Further, intervention group teachers may not have
discussed emotional storybook content as prompted by the questions added to individual
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