In weeks 1, 3, and 5, you will work on a research proposal. This
assignment progresses in stages so that at the end of the course, you
will have a completed proposal and understand the components of the
research process. Overall, the assignment will help you think about
research approaches and how they can be applied based on your chosen
worldview or the nature of the groups you wish to research. By selecting
the best approach from the start, researchers are more likely to get
good results to answer research questions.
This week you will select a proposal topic that interests you and you
would like to learn more about. This can be something you do for work,
academic studies, or a personal interest. You will use the four
combinations of worldviews, designs, and research methods you learned
this week to discuss a project involving your research topic. You will
determine whether your proposed study should apply a quantitative,
qualitative, or mixed-methods approach.
The importance of a good research question cannot be overstated. It
is integral to a research study and ensures the researcher is focused on
a measurable target for successful research results. It also ensures
that the research objective is clearly defined, and the target is
measurable. For example, if you wanted to study whether or not
membership in afterschool clubs increases the likelihood of developing
friendships, it is important to apply operationalization
Links to an external site.,
or precisely define your variables and measures. It would be essential
to clearly define what constitutes after-school clubs, and a precise
definition of what is to be counted as success. At this stage, you are
transforming your question into a hypothesis
Links to an external site.—a prediction or proposal of an explanation that can be measured and validated, or rejected, through testing.
After choosing your research proposal topic and formulating your
hypothesis, the next step is to learn what is already known. By
reviewing the existing literature, you may learn that your area of
interest has been asked and answered in various ways or that gaps in the
literature need to be addressed. You may want to replicate and retest
prior research or develop an investigation of your own.
As you think about your proposal, consider whether your approach will be inductive, deductive, or mixed. In the research strategy
Links to an external site.
chart provided next, you can review how different types of inquiry lend
themselves to three different types of research methods: qualitative
(inductive), quantitative (deductive), and mixed methods, combining both
types of data collection.
Introduction (1- 2 paragraphs)
Write an introductory paragraph that includes the following:
Explain the significance of your selected research proposal topic, including why it is important to you. (Can be anything)
Describe the target population or demographic for your proposal.
Justify your selection and why the chosen group is appropriate.
Describe any important, unique, or relevant information about your proposal that your readers should know.
Worldview (3-5 paragraphs)
Summarize, in your own words, the four worldview approaches that you
learned about this week: constructivism, positivism/post positivism,
pragmatism, and advocacy/participatory.
Justify the worldview approach you selected for your project
including why you think this is the best choice for this type of
research.
Conclusion (1 paragraph)
Summarize why this topic is important to you and what you have
learned this week that you were able to apply to this stage of the
research process.
