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Research Proposal

Parts of a research proposal. TitleStatement of purpose, introductionJustification/significanceLiterature reviewMethods/planPlan for analysis/evaluation of results. Purpose statement. Specify problem clearly, including brief definition if necessaryKeep it briefIndicate your methodsIndicate

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Research Proposal

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    1. Research Proposal Kathryn Summers 2002

    2. Parts of a research proposal Title Statement of purpose, introduction Justification/significance Literature review Methods/plan Plan for analysis/evaluation of results

    3. Purpose statement Specify problem clearly, including brief definition if necessary Keep it brief Indicate your methods Indicate your subject(s)--what/who you’ll be analyzing, and where

    4. Introduction Identify an issue in literature, theory, or practice Explain why the problem is important Why it is significant for the field, how it relates to prior work or adds new knowledge How the study might help improve practice Keep a clear focus on the key concept being tested/explored Identify your audience

    5. Literature review: information to include Problem addressed Purpose or focus Information about sample/population/subjects Key results Any relevant technical or methodological flaws

    6. Literature review: research priorities Articles in respected, national journals Books Recent conference papers (major, national conferences)

    7. Research questions Descriptive questions Where do children ages 10-13 choose to read? How often do they read? How long do they read at a stretch? Where do they go to choose books? What do they look at when choosing a book? What do children’s parents read? How often? Where? For how long? Do/did children’s parents read with them?

    8. Research questions Multivariate questions Does where children read affect how long they read? Does what children read affect how long they read? Do parents’ reading habits affect their children’s reading habits?

    9. Methods Scope/limitations Clarify what answers/knowledge your study will provide Clarify what answers/knowledge your study will not provide (delimitations) For example, our study of children’s reading will NOT initially include research about parents’ reading habits or possible interaction between parents’ habits and children’s habits. Limitations—weaknesses in your design that might affect your data For example, our study will have a small sample size and our sample will be determined by availability rather than representativeness.

    10. Method population Describe who/what will be studied Describe how the subjects will be recruited/obtained. Discuss your selection criteria/methods Explain/justify the sample size

    11. Method instruments Questionnaires Field guides Participant screeners Usability test plan Pre- or post-test materials Surveys Other data collection/data recording methods Data processing methods

    12. Making sense of unstructured data (interviews, think alouds) Read it all, to get a sense of the whole. Jot down any initial categories that seem persistent Pick one document, go through it thoroughly, write category notes in margins. Repeat for a few more documents. Make a list of topics. Do some mapping, to group similar topics. Sort into major, minor, and leftover topics. Code your data, to see if you get interesting patterns. (Use abbreviations for topics)

    13. Making sense of your data (cont.) Rewrite category labels to be very descriptive, very brief. Try to reduce your total number of categories. Make sure category/data mapping is still accurate. Recode data if necessary. Group data for each category, analyze the groups. (Again, recode data if necessary.) Draw final conclusions.

    14. Possible kinds of categories Settings/contexts Perspectives held by subjects Processes Actions Decisions Strategies Relationship/social structure codes

    15. Internal/external validity Internal Validity How can you make sure your recorded data is accurate and reflects reality? Multiple observers Multiple methods/cross checking Feedback from participants External validity How can you make sure other researchers would be able to duplicate your findings?

    16. Assignment requirements Roughly 15 pages including the following sections: Title Statement of purpose Justification/significance Literature review Methods/plan for experiment Plan for analysis/evaluation of results

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