Essay Title: A written research proposal for the research to be carried out in the dissertation stage
Word Limit: 3500 words Max, 3000 word Min.
Learning outcomes assessed:
1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the key principles of research design regarding a particular project as well as an appreciation of the various research strategies.
2. Critically evaluate sources of information and/or argument in relation to research objectives.
3. Demonstrate effective skills in the communication of research findings.
4. Apply project management tools, processes and techniques.
5. As appropriate to specific student needs, students will develop an advanced understanding in at least one of the following areas:
6.A range of research methods for data collection;
7.Data management and analysis, and awareness of issues affecting data interpretation;
Important Guidelines:
1. Title
The title should be clear and specific, but not too detailed. For example, assume we had done an experiment in which we had examined whether or not having breakfast affected people’s ability to concentrate later in the day.
A good title would be ‘The effects of breakfast on mid-morning concentration
levels’.
Avoid using titles that are:
• Too vague
• Very detailed
• The American Psychological Association suggests the title to be about 10-12 words long.
2. Introduction and Literature Review
Introduction
This section is very important. In order to get the reader engaged with your work you need make sure that you set the scene for the whole essay in a clear way.
Clarify the topic and the aim of the essay. Keep in mind that the reader might not be familiar with your topic, and hence you should provide explanations for all relevant terms and a brief overview of the structure of theessay. Avoid lengthy discussions or explanations regarding definitions or relevant research findings. Such discussions should be incorporated be part of your literature review.
Basically, this section introduces the reader to the topic:
• Give an introduction to the area of
• Provide a rationale for the study using previous studies
• Show how the current study fits in with existing literature
Literature Review
Literature review will be focused around your chosen topic -should summarize and discuss the most recent and most relevant research findings related to the
current research project.
• This part should highlight the research gap
• The review provides the background of the problem
• Critical evaluation is essential
State the problem: For example:
• Why this study needs to be conducted
• What issues this study raise that have not been raised in other studies?
• What is the purpose of this study?
• What is the research question and the hypothesis
The hypothesis, research question and objectives of the study should be stated at the end of this section.
3. Methodology
It explains each step the researcher will take in order to conduct the research. This is a very important part of a research project outline and should receive a lot of attention. In this section the intended methods of data gathering and data analysis, ethical issues as well as difficulties in gathering data and other material should be described. It is important to describe this section in detail.
If, for example, a study will use questionnaires to collect data, the procedure of developing the questionnaires, the type of questions and the reasons for using those specific questions, and the procedure of analysing the data gathered from these questionnaires should be explained clearly.
A draft of the questionnaires used (if copyright terms allow) should be added in an appendix.
Sampling
Describe the population under consideration (provide a brief description on age, sex, education etc.), inclusion and exclusion criteria, number of participants.
Describe how participants will be recruited and from where.
Research design
• Qualitative / Quantitative study
• Analysis & its justification
Ethics
• Name the ethics committee
• What efforts will be taken to protect participants?
• The right to withdraw
• Participation is voluntary
• Issues of Confidentiality
• How they will receive a copy of results when study is finished
Proposals should address research ethics adequately, or which have serious ethical problems. Please include examples of how others have considered ethical issues
within existing published research in your chosen area. Refer to relevant documents in appendices (e.g. consent form, information sheet, debrief).
Instruments used to collect the data
What instruments you will use?
For example, interviews, questionnaires (i.e. describe what each measurement assess –how reliable and valid are your questionnaires?
For qualitative study, describe the process of designing the interview schedule
(refer to appendices). Provide some (2) examples of the questions asked.
Procedure
Complete description on what will happen to a participant. Describe how you will contact the participants.
Data analysis
How the data will be collected and what statistical measures will be used?
This section should explain in some detail how you will manipulate the data that you assembled to get at the information that you will use to answer your question.
Select a statistical test to analyse your data depending on your research question (i.e. testing for a correlation between variables, a predictive relationship or to compare values?). It will include the statistical or other techniques and the tools that you will use in processing the data.
4. Expected Results
This section should give a good indication of what you expect to get out from your research.
It should join the data analysis and possible outcomes to the theory and questions that you have raised.
Reference section
This is the list of the relevant works. Use APA referencing style.
General Tips
• Be consistent and use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling
throughout the essay.
• Writing style should be in the third person.
• You should use the APA reference style for in text citations
and references.
• Create a “References” section at the end of your work.
• Please note that Wikipedia will NOT be accepted as an appropriate
reference for the essay.
• If needed, ‘Appendices’ may be used to direct the reader to supporting and complementing material.
Note:
a) Make sure your essay’s word limit is within the indicated appropriate range (see section 1). Assignments that overly exceed the absolute maximum will not be marked.
b) Your assignment should be word processed, Arial font size 11 or 12 and double spaced, with numbered pages and your student name and number printed as a footer on every page. Please indicate the word length at the end of your assignment.
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