This is the research question:
To what extent do youngsters aged 11 to 18 manage their food waste on a daily basis in Mauritius?
Introduce the context for the environmental issue that you are investigating. What is the problem? Is it a local +/or global problem. Discuss the issue. In this section you should be picking out parts of the syllabus which relate to the environmental issue.
Research Question: State a relevant, coherent and focused research question. (To what extent do youngsters aged 11 to 18 manage their food waste on a daily basis in Mauritius?)
Explain the connections between the environmental issue (either local or global) and the research question. This might include a hypothesis if it makes sense.
Method: Design a repeatable method appropriate to the research question that allows collection of sufficient relevant data. Make sure you explain the method so it is repeatable (remember the sandwich challenge) and how you know there will be sufficient relevant data (the rule 5×5 is useful here). For ecological studies including transects, it is usually appropriate to have at least 3 transects.
In this section you should identify your variables and explain how they are controlled or considered.
A useful strategy for control variable identification is to construct a table although students should be aware that this is included in the word count.
Sampling Strategy: Make sure your sampling is clear and justified. Why have you chosen to collect this amount of data using your method?
Ethical considerations: What are the ethical implications of your study. Again you must include a statement about this even if there are no major ethical issues in your investigation
Data Presentation: Results should be presented in an informative and easily interpreted manner. This should include graphical display of data and some data manipulation to enable you to discuss the validity and reliability of your data and conclusions.
If the data has been collected from surveys, consider how you can group responses to show processing.
Interpretation of Data: Identify all the trends, patterns and relationships in the data. Come to a conclusion for your research question based upon your data.
Please note that it is ok to say the data doesn’t support, ordoesn’t provide enough data to confirm a definite conclusion to research question.
Discussion: How does your conclusion relate to your environmental issue discussed in the context / introduction?
Strengths, Weaknesses and Limitations: Identify and discuss the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of your method (not your results).
Modifying the Method: Suggest ways you could modify your method to avoid the weaknesses you have identified.
Further Areas of Research: Where could you take this research in the future?
Justify one potential application / solution to the environmental issue identified in your context / introduction. This should be based on the findings of your study.
Evaluate the relevant strengths, weaknesses and limitations of this solution.