Running head: TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 1 TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 10 Ten Strategic Points for Dissertation Youting Zhang Grand Canyon University June 13, 2019 Ten Strategic Points for a Quantitative Correlational Study 1. Topic- Topic plays a critical role in offering a wide research issue in the area of: Influence of Cross-cultural experience on Student Leadership Development and Academic Achievement. 2. Literature review - Lists primary points for four sections in the Literature Review: a. Background of the problem/gap; b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study); c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one; d. Summary a. Background of the Problem: i. During the colonial and post-colonial times, ethnic minority groups were openly discriminated to the extent that there was segregation in education so that students from ethnic minority communities were not allowed to attend high quality schools that were only for Caucasian whites. For instance, in 1840s, the American Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of segregation so that it was an offence for ethnic minority students to study in high quality schools that Caucasian whites attended (Verkuyten, 2018). By allowing segregation to be permissible in schools and using the constitution to reinforce it, the American Supreme Court established discrimination against the minority that has been difficult to eradicate even at the present time. This is because it created a culture in which people from ethnic majority believed that they had superior abilities to and had more rights than people from ethnic minority cultures. ii. The study problem for the research stems from the gap in which cultural issues affecting minority students and student leaders have not been sufficiently addressed in most researches that have examined the challenges faced by minority students in multiverse school settings. Consequently, there has been a trend in which stakeholders in the education sector ignore cultural sensitivities of minority students when developing educational curricula and policies. This goes to the extent that only the cultures of majority ethnic groups are considered, which often disadvantage students from minority races to the extent that their academic, leadership, and social competencies can be affected. Educational discrepancies with regard to cultural and ethnic issues that affect students and student leaders from originate from historical injustices such as racial discrimination in America. II. There are different viewpoints that can be used to explain the cultural discrepancies that are deeply rooted in the education system. One such concept is segregation, which took an official turn in the education when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1875 to ban racial discrimination in public utilities. Federal agents countered the Act by separating Native American and other children from minority groups from their caregivers and put them in boarding .

1. Running head: TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 1
TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 10
Ten Strategic Points for Dissertation
Youting Zhang
Grand Canyon University
June 13, 2019
Ten Strategic Points for a Quantitative Correlational Study
1. Topic- Topic plays a critical role in offering a wide research
issue in the area of: Influence of Cross-cultural experience on
Student Leadership Development and Academic Achievement.
2. Literature review - Lists primary points for four sections in
the Literature Review: a. Background of the problem/gap; b.
Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation
for study); c. Review of literature topics with key theme for
each one; d. Summary
a. Background of the Problem:
i. During the colonial and post-colonial times, ethnic minority
groups were openly discriminated to the extent that there was
segregation in education so that students from ethnic minority
communities were not allowed to attend high quality schools
that were only for Caucasian whites. For instance, in 1840s, the
American Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of segregation so
that it was an offence for ethnic minority students to study in
high quality schools that Caucasian whites attended (Verkuyten,

2. 2018). By allowing segregation to be permissible in schools and
using the constitution to reinforce it, the American Supreme
Court established discrimination against the minority that has
been difficult to eradicate even at the present time. This is
because it created a culture in which people from ethnic
majority believed that they had superior abilities to and had
more rights than people from ethnic minority cultures.
ii. The study problem for the research stems from the gap in
which cultural issues affecting minority students and student
leaders have not been sufficiently addressed in most researches
that have examined the challenges faced by minority students in
multiverse school settings. Consequently, there has been a trend
in which stakeholders in the education sector ignore cultural
sensitivities of minority students when developing educational
curricula and policies. This goes to the extent that only the
cultures of majority ethnic groups are considered, which often
disadvantage students from minority races to the extent that
their academic, leadership, and social competencies can be
affected. Educational discrepancies with regard to cultural and
ethnic issues that affect students and student leaders from
originate from historical injustices such as racial discrimination
in America.
II. There are different viewpoints that can be used to explain the
cultural discrepancies that are deeply rooted in the education
system. One such concept is segregation, which took an official
turn in the education when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act
in 1875 to ban racial discrimination in public utilities. Federal
agents countered the Act by separating Native American and
other children from minority groups from their caregivers and
put them in boarding schools (Verkuyten, 2018). As a result,
students and educators from ethnic majority developed a biased
mindset towards people from minority races so that the
education system, which includes curriculum, leadership
development, and talent nurturing, developed in ways that
favored Caucasian whites and disadvantaged students from
ethnic minority groups. Segregation was later reinforced by the

3. ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, popularly known as Jim Crow
Law. The Law ensured that Whites and Blacks did not share the
same accommodation whether in public or private
establishments. The law had several effects in the education
sector. For instance, policy-makers and curriculum development
officers could confidently disregard cultural aspects of minority
students since they were guided by discriminatory laws
(Winnick & Porretta, 2018). Although segregation and separate
but equal Laws were supported by the constitution many
decades ago, they can be used to explain the current cultural
biases with regard to minority students’ academic, social, and
leadership integrity in American schools. This is because
stakeholders in the education sector have not made appropriate
changes to the curriculum development and student
empowerment models to suit the modern multicultural learning
institutions with emphasis on ethnic minority groups.
III. There are many conditions that have been proposed as
prerequisites for improved academic performance. These often
range from provision of learning resources to development of
conducive learning climate.
IV. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on the impacts
that leadership has on promoting learning behaviors in schools.
In particular, not many studies have been conducted to
investigate the effects of cross-cultural experience on academic
performance.
b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be
foundation for study);
i. Boundary-Breaking Leadership Development Model can be
used to demonstrate the operation ability of cross-cultural
students in leadership development programs (Robertson &
Webber, 2000).
ii. The Educational Administration theory states that particular
principles should be followed in cross-cultural leadership
development of students (Evers, 2000). Therefore, the approach
will support the research topic by showing the link between
administration and leadership development in cross-cultural

4. students.
iii. Another theory that can explain multiracial weaknesses that
the current educational system presents to ethnic minority
students is the critical race theory (CRT). The theory is based
on five doctrines that include: questioning abilities based on
racial identity; racism perpetuity; racial dominance;
consideration of interests and priorities based on racial
principles; and dismissal of liberalism (Hiraldo, 2010).
According to CRT, cultural discrepancies in learning
institutions that destructively affect social, academic, and
leadership competencies of students in ethnic minority
communities can be perceived to originate from the notion that
some cultures are superior to and more important than others
(Allen, 2017). Critical race theory is closely related to the
interest convergence theory that expresses the concern that the
education and other sectors only focus on fulfilling the interest
of majority cultural groups while trashing those of minority
cultures. Further afield, the doctrine of intersectionality can
also be used to explain cultural challenges in multicultural
learning environment under the premise that students from
ethnic minority cultures are subjugated due to sociocultural
issues such as class and religion.
c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one;
i. The Educational Administration theory states that particular
principles should be followed in cross-cultural leadership
development of students (Evers, 2000). Therefore, the approach
will support the research topic by showing the link between
administration and leadership development in cross-cultural
students.
ii. Integrated Transformational Leadership and School
Performance- Boerberg (2016) argues that schools that refine
transformational leadership behaviors to incorporate
instructional management can effectively improve the leaders’
impacts on achievements. In addition, Boerberg highlights the
importance of teacher-student relationships in school

5. improvements. Although collective efficacy mediates all of the
impacts of leadership on a achievements, students’ emotional
engagement also contributes to mathematics achievements
iii. The CRT fits the study in that it can be used to explain
racial discrimination in learning institutions. This is because it
reveals assumptions that cultures perceived as inferior are being
ignored or perpetually done away with. It also exposes the
assumption that cultural inequality is permanent so that students
from communities perceived to have inferior cultures should be
discriminated. The doctrine of equal but separate, and
intersectionality express cultural biases in the community,
which exposes the possibility that development of curricula and
education policies can be biased with regard to multicultural
sensitivities.
iv. Methodology- The study will utilize the quasi-experimental
quantitative research design to establish causes, effects, and
connection between cultural biases in the education curricula
and students’ performance in multicultural learning institutions.
There will be a control group to be studied with varying
conditions of cultural biases in educational institutions. The
results for both groups will be collected and compared to
determine the differences and their implications.
v. Quasi-experimental is ideal for this study since it seeks to
compare two or more variables. This will be attained by
understanding and assessing the statistical relationships
between them with no influences from any extraneous variable.
d. Synthesis/Summary
a. Background: There is need to close the existent literature
gaps on relationship between cross-cultural experience and
student performance in schools and leadership development.
b. Gap/Problem: cultural issues affecting minority students and
student leaders have not been sufficiently addressed in most
researches that have examined the challenges faced by minority
students in multiverse school settings.
c. Final thoughts
3. Problem statement - Explain the phenomena to study

6. (qualitative) or variables/groups (quantitative) to study, in one
sentence: The current educational models and curriculum lack
aspects of minority cultures, which have led to multicultural
issues that have affected racial minority students’ social and
academic.
4. Sample and location – Identify sample, needed sample size,
and location (study phenomena with small numbers and
variables/groups with large numbers): A total of 20 schools
with heads who utilize transformational leadership models to
manage their schools and students. Students will be from both
high school and elementary levels. Both girls and boys across
different school-going ages will be selected as participants of
the study.
5. Research questions- Provide research questions to collect
data to answer the problem statement: What is the effect of
cross-cultural experience on performance of students in
schools? Does cross-cultural experience increase student
development in leadership? Does cross-cultural experience
leadership improve students’ academic performance?
a. Hypothesis/variables or Phenomena - Develop Hypotheses
with variables for each research question (quantitative) or
describe the phenomena to be better understood (qualitative):
The absence of cultural elements of different racial/ethnic
communities in student leadership structures reduces social and
leadership competencies of students from such communities.
Stereotypes and attitudes that some cultures are inferior to
others with regard to academic competencies and social and
emotional integrity negatively affect the performance of
students from the presumed inferior cultures. Cultural
inclusivity and neutrality in multicultural academic institutions
enhances students’ academic performance, social integrity, and
student leadership qualities.
b. Sampling Procedure- The main sampling procedure that will
be sued for this study is stratified random sampling. This
sampling procedure offers a convenient method of selecting
representative samples from subpopulations. This sampling

7. process is undertaken in the same way as simple random
sampling. As soon as each of the strata has been clearly defined,
subpopulation listing or frame is constructed of the people who
are the prospective participants (Mulcahy & Gregory,
2009). Stratified random sampling deals with some of the
concerns within the error introduced by random sampling. In
stratified random sampling, the population is subcategorized
into subgroups and subpopulations and the samples drawn from
such groups or strata. This method is useful when there is need
to make comparisons among the subpopulations, where the
subgroups have extremely different characteristics or in
situations in which there are concerns that a subgroup may be
underrepresented in the sample. This sampling process also
plays a crucial role in reducing possible biases and sampling
errors.
6. Methodology and design - Describe the selected methodology
and specific research design to address problem statement and
research questions: The study will utilize the quasi-
experimental quantitative research design to establish causes,
effects, and connection between cultural biases in the education
curricula and students’ performance in multicultural learning
institutions. There will be a control group to be studied with
varying conditions of cultural biases in educational institutions.
The results for both groups will be collected and compared to
determine the differences and their implications. There are
various reasons why this method will be utilized for research.
For instance, quantitative design is more reliable and objective.
In addition, it can utilize statistics to support generalization of
findings. Moreover, this methodology can be helpful in reducing
and restructuring complex problems to a limited number of
variables.
7. Purpose Statement – Provide one sentence statement of
purpose including problem statement, sample, methodology, and
design: The purpose of this correlational study is to explore the
strength of relationship between transformational leadership and
student performance and engagement. This purpose is driven by

8. the desire to determine if leadership strategies can be used to
improve the performance of students within the American
environment since concerns have been raised that American
students record lower or average performance in relation to
their counterparts in other developed countries.
8. Data collection – Describe primary instruments and sources
of data to answer research questions: The main data gathering
tools that will be utilized for this study are questionnaires.
Questionnaires are not only important in examining quantitative
significance of relationships between variables, but they can
also act as important tools for understanding the attitudes and
perceptions of students and teachers towards transformational
leadership model.
9. Data analysis – Describe the specific data analysis
approaches to be used to address research questions: The data
gathered will be analyzed and interpreted through the utilization
of Quasi-Experimental Design (often referred to as Causal-
Comparative) seeks to establish a cause-effect relationship
between two or more variables. (Moutinho & Hutcheson, 2011).
References
Boberg, J. E., & Bourgeois, S. J. (2016). The effects of
integrated transformational
leadership on achievement. Journal of
Educational Administration, 54(3), 35 374.
Allen, M. (2017). The relevance of critical race theory:
impact on students of color. Urban Education Research &
Policy Annuals, 5(1), 1-12.
Chen, S. S. (2014). The effects of transformational leadership of
principals on student
academic achievement (Doctoral dissertation).

9. Gkolia, A., Koustelios, A., & Belias, D. (2018). Exploring the
association between
transformational leadership and teacher’s self-efficacy in Greek
education system:
a multilevel SEM model. International Journal of Leadership in
Education, 21(2), 176-196.
Moutinho, L., & Hutcheson, G. D. (2011). The SAGE dictionary
of quantitative
management research. Sage Publications.
Mulcahy, J. W., & Gregory, J. L. (2009). A Handbook of
Statistics and Quantitative
Analysis for Educational Leadership. University
Press of America.
Norton, L. F. (2012). Teacher leadership style and student
engagement in the middle
school classroom. Dallas: Dallas Baptist University.
Verkuyten, M. (2018). The social psychology of ethnic
identity. New York: Routledge.
Winnick, J., & Porretta, D. L. (2018). Adapted physical
education and sport (6th ed.). New York: Human Kinetics.
Evers, C. W. (2000). Doing educational administration:
A theory of administrative practice.
Robertson, J. M., & Webber, C. F. (2000). Cross-
cultural leadership development. International Journal of
Leadership in Education, 3(4), 315-330.

10. Purpose of Assignment
This activity helps students recognize the significant role
accounting plays in providing financial information to
management for decision making through the evaluation of
financial statements. This experiential assignment requires
students to use ratios to evaluate and analyze a company’s
liquidity, solvency, and profitability.
Two-Rivers Inc. (TRI) manufactures a variety of consumer
products. The company's founders have run the company for
thirty years and are now interested in retiring. Consequently,
they are seeking a purchaser, and a group of investors is looking
into the acquisition of TRI. To evaluate its financial stability,
TRI was requested to provide its latest financial statements and
selected financial ratios. Summary information provided by TRI
is presented below.
Required:
a. Calculate the select financial ratios for the fiscal year Year 2.
(use MS word or excel but excel is more recommended)
Current ratio is a measure of how much short term assets are
available to meet the short term liabilities of the company
=current assets/current liabilities
= 9900/6300
= 1.57:1
A current ratio between 1.5 and 3 is ideal showing the
company’s ability to address short term obligaions.
Acid test ratio is the measure of how much fluid cash is
available for the short-term liabilities of the company
= (cash + short-term investment + accounts receivable)/current

11. liabilities
(500 + 400+ 3200)/6300
= 0.65:1
A higher acid test ratio number shows the organization has a
better amount of quick assets to its current liabilities. In this
case the liabilities are higher than the assets.
Time interest earned is the measure of how many times income
has to be multiplied to cover the interest
=income before interest and income taxes/ interest expense
= income before taxes = 7060
income taxes = 900
= 7060 + 900 = 7960
Times interest earned = 7960/900
=8.84
Organizations with a time interest earned ratio higher than 2.5
are considered acceptable risk. The high value of the
organization is therefore acceptable.
Debt to equity is used in determining the financial leverage of a
company
(short term debt + long term debt + fixed payments)/
shareholder’s equity)
8300/8700
=0.95
Ideal debt to equity ratio falls between 1 and 1.5 showing the
organization is operating at sub-optimal levels.
Inventory turnover is a ratio on the number of times an
organization has sold and replaced inventory in a given time.
=cost of goods sold /average inventory
17600/5800
=3.03
The ideal inventory turn-over ratio is between 4 to 6 thus the
ratio is bad for operating efficiency and financial stability of
the organization
b. Interpret what each of these financial ratios means in terms
of TRI's financial stability and operating efficiency.

12. Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.
Purpose of Assignment
This activity helps students recognize the significant role
accounting plays in providing financial information to
management for decision making through the evaluation of
financial statements. This experiential assignment requires
students to use ratios to evaluate and analyze a company’s
liquidity, solvency, and profitability.
Two-Rivers Inc. (TRI) manufactures a variety of consumer
products. The company's founders have run the company for
thirty years and are now interested in retiring. Consequently,
they are seeking a purchaser, and a group of investors is looking
into the acquisition of TRI. To evaluate its financial stability,
TRI was requested to provide its latest financial statements and
selected financial ratios. Summary information provided by TRI
is presented below.
Required:
a. Calculate the select financial ratios for the fiscal year Year 2.
(use MS word or excel but excel is more recommended)
b. Interpret what each of these financial ratios means in terms
of TRI's financial stability and operating efficiency.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.