The document outlines plans for interviewing and conducting a focus group to research how social media can be used to decrease the achievement gap. The interview plan details structured, in-person interviews of teachers and tutors from Bridgeport charter schools. Questions focus on how educators incorporate social media and its impact on student engagement, behavior, and grades. The focus group plan involves recruiting educators from low-income schools to discuss social media's role in the classroom and potential limitations include peer bias.

1. Interview Plan
1) Research Question:​ How can social media be better utilized to decrease the achievement
gap in lower socio­economically challenged schools?
2) I am trying to research on how social media can be instrumental in providing a quality
education. The project will focus on the utilization of social media within our schools to
help lower the achievement gap. ​Hypothesis: Having teachers incorporating their
curriculum in conjunction with social media will help students improve within the
classrooms. Most students utilized social media in their everyday lives and by teachers
creating educational activities to gather and share learning experiences, students will
improve academically.
3) The type of interview that I will be using for my research are group interviews. The
group interviews would be a great opportunity for group rapport that would encourage a
lot feedback since they are all from the field of education. This could benefit me by
providing a lot of information for my research. In addition to having a group interview,
my interview will be structured. I chose a structured interview because there are specific
answers that I’m seeking and it seems more focused and goal oriented.
4) I would like to conduct the interview in person. However, if an emergency occurs or
something else happens, I am open to having a video or phone interview.
5) The subjects that I will be interviewing are teachers, teaching assistants, or tutors. They
are essential to my research because each position is instrumental in providing instruction
and giving additional support in educating the students. The participants of my study will
be coming from the Bridgeport, CT Charter Schools System. The charter school in
particular is the Great Oaks Charter School, which educate 6th and 7th graders who are at
one or more grade levels below their actual grade. The main purpose that I wish to
interview these educators is because they work to provide better ways to educate at risk
kids from low income communities who are already a part of the achievement gap.
Tentative list of questions for educators:
● Do you incorporate social media within your classroom instruction?
● What type of social media do you incorporate in your lessons?
● How often do you utilized social media within your classrooms?
● Do the students use social media in group assignments or individual assignments?

2. ● Do class activities using some social media keep the students interested and engaged
in the lessons? If so, how?
● Do students stay on task or lose focus on classwork involving social media?
● Does assignments with social media involved, help students better understand the
subject or lesson? If so, how?
● Is there a difference in students’ behavior as they use social media within their
lessons? Are they more engaged or not engaged?
● For coursework involving social media assignments, is there a difference in their
grades in contrast to those without? Did their grades improve or decrease?
Sampling Plan
Research Question​: How can social media be better utilized to decrease the achievement gap in
lower socio­economically challenged schools?
Hypothesis​: Having teachers incorporating their curriculum in conjunction with social media
will help students improve within the classrooms. Most students utilized different types of social
media platforms in their everyday lives. Having the teachers take advantage of this by structuring
social media with educational activities will allow the students to gather and share their learning
experiences. This would help students improve academically.
The ​targeted population​ will be teachers and other educators such as teacher assistants or
tutors. They are the main ones who regularly interact with students and preparing the lessons to
teach the kids.
The ​sampling techniques​ I will use for my research is nonprobability sampling. For this
research, I am more focused on the relevance of my subjects in regards to the key issue in
education.
The ​specific sampling strategy ​that I would utilized in my research is probably relevance
sampling. The important issue that my research is based on is education. The population that is
best correlated to this issue are those in the education field such as teachers and others who teach
students. I would have the teachers integrate social media into their lesson plans by way of
learning activities and group projects to see if the students learn better and their grades improve.

3. The ​sample size​ is between 15­25. The reason I chose this particular size is because of my main
concern for the quality of information rather than having a large quantity of subjects.
The ​limitations​ that I might face when doing this research is that some teachers might be more
traditional and may prefer not to use social media within their classrooms. They could potentially
decide to opt out. Also, the teachers could have a limited amount of technological resources for
their students and wouldn’t be able to implement social media which could also have an impact
on this research.
Focus Group Plan
Research Question​: How can social media be better utilized to decrease the achievement gap in
lower socio­economically challenged schools?
Hypothesis​: Having teachers incorporating their curriculum in conjunction with social media
will help students improve within the classrooms. Most students utilized social media in their
everyday lives and by teachers creating educational activities to gather and share learning
experiences, students will improve academically.
Statement of Purpose​: To determine if the implementation of social media has an impact on the
achievement gap. The research and data collected from participants will provide insight into the
positive or negative consequences of social media in the classrooms.
Why Focus Groups​: According to the lecture notes, “focus groups are understood to provide a
deeper layer of insight, otherwise unavailable through surveys or structured interviews.” The
similar experiences or interests the group has could present a level of comfort and engagement
that might not happen in an interview. This would lead them to providing more information that
might be helpful in my research. Additionally, with the focus group, I can gather data from those
who are in the educational field at the same time within the same location.
Demographics and Location: ​The participants of the focus group are those from the
educational field and work in lower socio­economically challenged schools. As for the location, I
considered having the focus group take place in a church or conference room in Bridgeport, Ct.
Bridgeport is home to some lower socio­economically challenged schools which is I why want to
have my focus group take place in this area since they are trying to overcome this type of
situation. In addition, I chose to host my focus group in a church is because churches are very
open and active within the community as well as being a great place to do outreach to attract
interested participants. I consider churches to be a pillar within the community and they are very
concern when its comes to the education of the youth in their communities.
Recruiting​: A few options of recruitment include reaching out to different schools through
email, phone calls, or in person. Another option could be taking part in public outreach by going
to local churches or community centers to recruit potential subjects for my focus group.
Tentative list of questions:

4. ● Do you incorporate social media within your classroom instruction?
● How often do you utilized social media within your classrooms?
● Do the students use social media in group assignments or individual assignments?
● Do class activities using some social media keep the students interested and engaged
in the lessons? If so, how?
● Do students stay on task or lose focus on classwork involving social media?
● Does assignments with social media involved, help students better understand the
subject or lesson? If so, how?
● Is there a difference in students’ behavior as they use social media within their
lessons? Are they more engaged or not engaged?
● For coursework involving social media assignments, is there a difference in their
grades in contrast to those without? Did their grades improve or decrease?
Limitations/problems​: The possible limitations/problems that might occur could be peer
pressure or bias towards each other regarding their experiences or schools. The possibility of
those opting out could have an impact on my research.
Peer Review
Latoya Johnson
In our group, she was one of the first people to contribute to the discussions. She really
stimulated our group discussions by constantly providing valuable feedback for our posts. There
have been instances in which someone have yet to upload their post to the discussion board and
she would respond by encouraging us to give our input. I think she is a very engaging person. I
really appreciate the good rapport from her during this entire course. Her feedback has been
instrumental in helping me adjust or create stronger research plans. For this course, I would give
her a 18 out of 20 due to her great feedback and quick responses.
Alex Williams
In our group, he does contribute to the discussions. He provides good feedback for our
discussion posts. He helped answer any questions that the group might have. He is very engaging
and there is great rapport with him in our discussions. His feedback provided the opportunity for
me to clarify my responses and break things down further to explain my key points within the

5. group discussions. However, at times it seemed that he comes in later during the group
discussions, yet he does his part to respond. For this course, I would give him a 13 out of 20.