Let’s get into the specifics of this requirement:
Assignment 1: Research Proposal
The goal of your first assignment is to present a clear research project and should be between 5-6 pages (but not more) in length not including a title page, your preliminary literature review, and references (of the sources you cite within your proposal). HW1 must be submitted as a Word Document Attachment in the Assignments section of the classroom by Sunday, 11:55pm EST at the end of week 2.
Assignment Formatting: your assignments should follow the conventions of graduate-level writing. This includes having 1-inch margins on all four sides, being double-spaced without an extra space in between paragraphs, using 12 point Times New Roman font, as well as being grammatically free and stylistically free of errors. You should be using the Chicago Writing Style for this assignment as well as all others within this course. For more information on writing style please review the course overview section of the course. There is no need for fancy cover sheets or pictures inside the document itself.
In this assignment you will need to:
1) Present the research problem you intend to assess and provide some contextual information that helps demonstrate your understanding of the nature of the problem.
2) Clearly state your SINGLE academically rich research question and hypothesis.
3) The purpose and importance of your research should be made clear. Explain why this is important to investigate as a research project. What can we learn from this event? How will the knowledge we gain through your research help our understanding of the topic?
4) Conduct a preliminary literature review. You should discuss enough literature to explain the current state of research on your topic and to identify a gap in that literature that warrants your research.
5) Discuss your theoretical framework and then your research design that you plan to use to answer your research question. This should be done in a language common to the social sciences. Here’s a hint as a case study you should be discussing how you plan to carry out case study research. Within this discussion, the references you used to support your comments should reflect your knowledge of case study methodology, and content analysis including specifics on the application of qualitative or quantitative research.
The research proposal that you submit for this class is similar in style to what you would submit as a research proposal for your master’s thesis. The specific format to be followed has the following parts.
These include:
Title and Abstract: Your title should be descriptive enough that it helps readers understand what your research is about. Your abstract should stage for the research topic, explain the method in use, and mention important implications of the study. The abstract should be between 150-250 words in length.
Introduction: Identifies student’s a specific research question and sets the general context for the study.
This section should include:
• a statement of the problem or general research question and context leading to a SINGLE clear statement of the specific research question;
• background and contextual material justifying why this case or topic should be studied; and
• a purpose statement and hypothesis
Literature Review: Reviews the literature on a specific research question. The literature review focuses on discussing how other researchers have addressed the same or similar research questions. It introduces the study and places it in a larger context that includes a discussion of why it is important to study this case. It provides the current state of accumulated knowledge as it relates to the student’s specific research question.
• Summarize the general state of the literature (cumulative knowledge base) on the specific research question.
• Include a short conclusion and transition to the next section.
Theoretical Framework/Approach: The theoretical framework section develops the theories or models to be used in the study and shows how the student has developed testable research hypotheses.
This section should include
• an introduction discussing gaps in the literature, how this study will help fill some of those gaps, and justification for the theory or model to be used in study;
• a summary of the theory or model to be used in the study, including a diagram of the model if appropriate
Research Design/Methodology: Describes how the student will test the hypothesis and carry out his/her analysis. This section describes the data to be used to test the hypothesis, how the student will operationalize and collect data on his/her variables, and the analytic methods that will be used, noting potential biases and limitations to the research approach.
Conclusion: this should be a concluding statement that reiterates the importance of the research question and why it should be carried out.
References: as always you need to have a reference list that lists the sources you used within your research proposal in a professional manner. The references list is often what is used to gauge how well researched a project is. On this list, we will be able to see if scholarly sources are being consulted or simply just news articles and magazine articles of lesser caliber. You should take pride in this list and show off your hard work in developing your research proposal.
Ultimately a research proposal is a pitch to someone about a project that you have confidence can be carried out in the manner specified. Research proposals are often done in professional settings in order to gain a bid on resources such as grant money or another financial backing. For this reason, the information conveyed must not only articulate you have found a clear research gap or problem that has yet to be adequately addressed, but that you have the capacity to complete the project as specified given the current time available.