Draft a proposal with a workable action plan

“We will test our labels” leaves too much undecided

• The materials team wants approval for its A/B task. A teacher needs to know the question, participants, procedure, scoring and privacy arrangements. A promise to “collect some data” does not explain what will happen or whether it is appropriate.
• This original GAC033-aligned lesson joins earlier work into a proposal. A proposal explains planned research and its reasons; it must not report expected success as a result. The main study in this sequence has not been conducted.

Connect purpose, evidence and question

• Start with the observed problem and driving question. Then give a brief synthesis of real verified sources and explain why a local comparison is useful. Do not paste the fictional teaching cards from unit 5.5 into a real literature review as if they were published studies.
• State the research question precisely: among the planned 24 class volunteers, does B yield more completely correct four-item sorting sheets than A under equal instructions and a two-minute limit? Explain why sorting success, rather than preference, is the selected outcome.

Specify a repeatable procedure

• Describe 12 participants per layout, shuffled assignment slips, identical item choices and no coaching. Each person sees one layout. Fix the answer key and the complete-success rule before collection. Store the approved task versions so a later revision cannot silently change what participants saw.
• Explain recruitment, voluntary participation, stopping or withholding a sheet, anonymous submission and the inability to retrieve an individual's sheet after anonymous submission. Name the teacher-approved record location, who can access it and when it will be disposed of.

{callout:example} Method summary: “With approval, we invite willing peers and assign one layout by shuffled slips. We give the same four-item task for two minutes without help. A sheet counts as a complete success only when all four placements match the fixed key. We report successes and group sizes without names.” {/callout}

Plan the analysis before the result

• Report complete successes out of participants for each condition. With 12 per group, counts share a denominator. If the actual groups differ in size, report both counts and proportions. Do not convert a small project result into an official test score or a claim about every classroom.
• List limits and possible interpretations. A difference could be consistent with a layout benefit under these conditions; reading differences or chance variation may still matter. A tie is a valid result. No outcome requires you to declare the preferred design successful.

{callout:warn} The proposal's expected pattern is a hypothesis, not evidence. Do not fill a results table with invented participant scores to make an unfinished project look complete. {/callout}

Make the action plan depend on approval

• Separate drafting, review, approval, pilot, revision and main collection. A plan can set intended dates but must make participant work conditional on approval. If permission is delayed or declined, revise the scope rather than bypassing it to meet a presentation date.
• Assign owners and evidence of completion. “Team handles ethics” is vague; “Procedure lead prepares the information script; teacher checks it before the pilot” identifies a task and a dependency. Allow time for revision after feedback.

Check coherence across the document

• Read the question, method and analysis side by side. If the question is about accuracy but the method asks only preference, the proposal is inconsistent. Correct the mismatch before improving the cover page or wording.
• Draft a one-page proposal with purpose, verified background, question, method, ethics, analysis, limits, schedule and references. Mark unconfirmed details as pending. A complete structure with unresolved approval is a reviewable proposal, not authority to begin.

{callout:key} A proposal is a connected argument for planned work: why this question, why this method, how it will run, how evidence will be analysed and what permissions and limits apply. {/callout}