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

Experimental Design and Procedure
Table 4 summarizes the experimental design of the study. Prior to intervention
implementation, all children‘s vocabulary and social-emotional skills were assessed.
Classrooms were divided into two experimental groups for intervention implementation:
the intervention group, in which teachers implemented dialogic reading techniques while
reading emotion-laden storybooks in small groups; and the book reading control group, in
which teachers read the same storybooks provided to the intervention group without
using dialogic reading techniques (i.e., teachers read storybooks as they would typically
read). Following intervention implementation, all children‘s vocabulary and social-
emotional skills were again assessed.
Study procedures took place from September 2007 through May 2008 and
included the following sequential tasks:
Recruiting children to participate (September through October)
Collecting pre-intervention data (Mid October through December)
Conducting training meetings with teachers (Mid December through Early
January)
Implementing intervention methods (January through mid April)
Collecting post-intervention data (April through May)
Conducting brief follow-up meeting with teachers (late May).
Each of these phases will now be discussed.
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