Student name:

Natasha Karunaratne
Project #:
1
Working version of project title:
Educate A Girl, Change The World

Research Proposal--first draft

1. State the essential question

How does educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose ones own
path enable a female student to be successful?
Good.
2.

State the primary research question

How do female students from impoverished backgrounds benefit from attending all-female, secondary
public schools in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the United States?
Good.
3.
State the secondary research questions you have (make sure these are fairly
comprehensive and extensive).

How does the educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom of a female student
from an impoverished background compare to that of a female student from an affluent
background?
What is educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose ones own path?
What are the similarities and differences between the all-female, secondary, public education
systems of Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the United States?
How do the futures of the girls who attend all-female, secondary, public schools differ from
the futures of girls from the same country who do not attend such schools?
What is considered an impoverished background?
How is success defined through an educational lens?
What are the social, political, and economic advantages and disadvantages of providing all-

female, secondary, public schools in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the United States?
What types of students do all-female, secondary, public schools in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the
United States consider to be successful and why?
These are thoughtful questions.
4.
Description of what the final product will look like. (Be sure that you are very thorough
here. Take us through the entire process from now until the final product. If it would be helpful
to you, number the steps and proceed through them through and including your final product.
In short: you MUST describe the process here. This is vital to the approval process on your
research proposal.)
1. Read background books, articles, and websites focused on girls' education.
2. Determine which factors of the education systems to compare.
3. Find all-female, public, secondary school in the U.S. or an all-female, private, secondary
school that serves students from impoverished backgrounds. Identify which schools to use in
Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and the U.S. You must complete steps 2-3 for the final draft!
4. Develop interview questions for administrators, teachers, students, and researchers.
5. Contact at least 1 person associated with each school and maintain communication.
6. Choose 3 girls, each 16 years of age, from each school, to use in case studies.
7. Contact these girls and gather background info concerning their home situation, their
academics, their experiences, and their opinions.
8. Interview school administrators, teachers, and topic researchers.
9. Analyze gathered info about case study girls, the 3 schools, and the topic of girls' education.
10. Create infographics summarizing elements of this analysis.
11. Obtain photos of girls, their homes, their schools, and interviewees.
12. Write summaries of findings.
13. Design photographic book, including summaries, infographics, and photos.
This seems like a solid plan.
5.
State how this research will advance the frontiers of knowledge and/or matter and be
significant in a meaningful way.
I find that this project is essential to the world, because we have had too many recent incidents (ex.
Malala being shot, hundreds of Nigerian girls being kidnapped) to avoid this topic any longer. I am
taking on this project to persuade girls themselves, parents, governments, nations, and the world that
our top priority should be making sure that girls have educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and
freedom to choose their own path.
A noble goal.
6.

State anticipated potential pitfalls or problems of this research effort

Because I am looking at this project through a global lens, many of the potential problems will come

from the fact that I can not be in the countries or schools I am researching. This will require skyping to
interview people in other countries and emailing to obtain background information about the schools.
Additionally, I intend to create a photographic book, so the fact that I cant take the photos myself will
be a major issue. You could have your case study girls take pictures. Selfies! Lastly (and hopefully this
will be the last problem), I wish to compare all-female schools which serve girls from impoverished
backgrounds, which means I would need a all-girls, public school or an all-girls, private school that
provides scholarships for most, if not all, the students attending. It is fairly easy to locate all-girls,
public schools in Rwanda and Sri Lanka, but most public schools in the U.S. are co-ed, and very few
private schools provide a large number of scholarships. If I cannot solve this problem of finding a
schools that serve girls from impoverished backgrounds, I will need to dismiss the U.S. from my
comparative analysis.
Chances are, you will also have to stay on top of your subjects to ensure they complete your surveys.
7.
State a tentative plan to locate and review the literature related to your project. This
includes printed/published sources and online sources. [The research strategy, part #1]
I will look for literature that focuses on educational systems, gender equality within education, and the
respective education systems of Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the U.S. that girls in those countries receive. I
plan to find such literature by searching the internet, and databases for articles and websites related to
these topics. Additionally, I will be going to libraries in search of books or essay collections written by
education researchers.
8.
State a tentative plan for research and data collection. (Data collection can take multiple
forms--surveys, test groups, interviews, observations, etc etc. This will differ from project to
project. [The research strategy, part #2]
My project will be mostly interview and survey based. I will email surveys to school administrators and
education researchers so that I can quote them in my book. I will also interview administrators,
students, teachers, and researchers to understand their experiences and opinions regarding girls
education.
9.
State a tentative plan for research and data analysis and interpretation. [The research
strategy, part #3]
After I interview and survey the students, teachers, and administrators of the three respective schools, I
will compare and contrast the answers to try and get the bigger picture of the similarities and difference
between these educational systems. For example, I will compare the dropout rate for each school and
try to determine why this is so. I will only know exactly which factors I will be analyzing once I read
all the background literature regarding the countries educational systems.
9.
List the tools you will need to complete this effort. Identify tools that might currently be
unavailable to you
Some of the books I have found are not in the Boston Public Library system, so I would need to
purchase those. Additionally I would need to use Shutterfly, or a similar company to print my final

product of a photographic book. I will also be using a laptop for emailing and skyping, but I have one.

10.
Budget: what materials do you anticipate needing for your project? Please provide a list
with quantities and an approximate cost per item, along a brief description of why you need this
for your project. Use the chart below; feel free to add more cells if you need them.

item

quantity

cost
per
item

why you need this item for your

project

Girls' Education in the 21st Century:

Gender Equality, Empowerment,
and Economic Growth (Book)

$20

To understand Girls' Education in

Women's Empowerment Through

Education (Book)

$45

To understand how education can

empower women.

Shutterfly Photographic Book

$40

To print the final project

the 21st Century: Gender

Equality, Empowerment, and
Economic Growth.

11.
Bibliography- early draft. This bibliography must include at least 5 books, 5 scholarly
journal articles, 5 websites, and least one potential source who you might interview. Use proper
bibliographic citation (MLA or APA format; your choice). You are welcome to use EasyBib or
refer to the formatting template created by Purdue University:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ Explain why you anticipate (at this point) that these sources
would be relevant.
Books:
Kristof, Nicholas D., and Sheryl WuDunn. Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for
Women Worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
Prasanta Kumar, Sethi. Women's Empowerment Through Education. N.p.: AV Akademikerverlag
GmbH & KG., 2013. Print.
Sahlberg, Pasi. Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?
New York: Blackstone Audio, 2011. Print.

Stabiner, Karen. All Girls: Single-Sex Education and Why It Matters. New York: Riverhead, 2002.
Print.

Tembon, Mercy, and Lucia Fort, eds. Girls' Education in the 21st Century: Gender Equality,
Empowerment, and Economic Growth. Washington DC: World Bank, 2008. Print.
Articles:
Abeyasekera-Van Dort, Asha, et al. "Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of gender equity in Sri
Lankan higher education." Women's Studies International Forum 29.6 (2006): 562+. General OneFile.
Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Pahlke, Erin, Rebecca S. Bigler, and Meagan M. Patterson. "Reasoning About Single-Sex Schooling
for Girls Among Students, Parents, and Teachers." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 71.5-8 (2014):
261+. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Ruterana, Pierre Canisius. "Children's reflections on gender equality in fairy tales: a Rwanda case
study." Journal of Pan African Studies 4.9 (2012): 85+. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
"Teach a Woman to Fish: Overcoming Poverty Around the Globe." Publishers Weekly 21 Apr. 2014:
70. General OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Wolfe, Gail E. "Does Educating Girls Really Change the World?; Girl Rising: One Girl with Courage
is a Revolution. Directed by Richard E. Robbins, RO*CO Films Educational, 2013. 101 min. $350.00
(University price). www.rocoeducational.com." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 71.5-8 (2014): 278+.
Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Websites:
Girl Up. United Nations Foundation, 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Global Partnership for Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
Komera. N.p., 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
The Girl Effect. Nike Foundation, 2 Dec. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
United Nations Girls' Education Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Women Thrive Worldwide. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Interview Source:

Jacqueline Bhabha: Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Director of research at the
university's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights who specializes in children's rights
Margaret Butler: Founder of Komera
All these sources will be relevant and useful to my project research because they will help me further
understand girls education. Through this combination of books, websites, articles, and interview
sources I will gain a clear picture of how girls are oppressed right now, how education can empower
girls, and what an effective educational system looks like. Sources such as the Komera website, and
Margaret Butler, the founder of Komera, will help me research the education system specific to
Rwanda and specific to the school I will be contacting. These sources will help me see the big picture
as well as the specifics that I will need to know in order to complete my own research.
Natasha,
It is clear that you are passionate about this project. It is also quite evident that you have put a
great deal of thought into how to carry out this ambitious research effort. Keep in mind that in the
final draft, well be asking you to layout the plan for the steps on the actual project week by week
(from November 1 March 31).
Best,
Mr. M and Ms. F