Methodology
and Rationale Assignment Instructions
Overview
This
assignment gives you the chance to do two things. You will build a basic
methodology that should be logically sound enough to be able to study your
research question in an observable, unbiased way. You will also build a
rationale that explains why your research gap should be filled.
Instructions
In
150-400 words describe a hypothetical methodology for studying your research
topic. In the same document, in 250-450 words, create a rationale to a
scholarly audience of experts on your topic justifying why your identified
research gap should be filled and why your proposed study should be conducted
to your audience.
Requirements:
1.
Do
not use first or second person in the rationale, but you may use first person
in the methodology.
2.
In
addition to a specific explanation of how you will test your research question,
your methodology should explain how you will analyze the data and how you would
recognize a significant result. Use the following outline to build your
methodology paragraph. Generally, 1-2 sentences will be enough for each item:
a.
Explain
who or what your sample is and how you will locate it.
b.
Describe
your independent variable’s process.
c.
Describe
how you will collect and observe your data.
d.
Describe
how you will analyze your data.
e.
Describe
what a significant result would look like.
3.
In
your rationale, the question you are answering is this: Why is your research
proposal a good way to study this problem, and why should we fund this
research? Pretend you are convincing a board of academics in this field that
your research proposal is worth financial support. Remember: your audience are
already experts in the field, so you do not need to explain basic principles.
4.
Your
grammar, spelling, and punctuation should be flawless. Visit the Liberty
University writing centers if you want extra help.
5.
Use
current APA formatting; no abstract or title page is required but do include a
reference page if you use sources.
Additional
Suggestions for Methodology:
1.
Look
up methodologies in the journal articles you have been researching and use
those as models and guides.
2.
Everyone’s
methodology will look a little bit different. Your methodology may include an
experiment with two groups getting different treatments, one group that gets
tested before and after a treatment, or a large group of people filling out a
survey. Or you may be suggesting a research proposal that involves reading
literature and analyzing it.
3.
Remember
that simply reading textbooks or other journal articles is just secondary
research. A good methodology does primary research and finds new information
rather than just compiling old information.
4.
Whatever
you do, make sure that your results cannot be brought into question. For
instance, if you wanted to test the effects of a drug on humans and did not
clarify what humans, I might wonder if your results would be skewed because
more or fewer men or women could be in different experimental groups than in
the others. Be specific about your demographics or aspects of your methodology.
5.
Similarly,
if you were doing a study of postmodern literature but did not say when the
postmodern era began, you would get very different results based on your cutoff
date.
6.
You
can be creative with your methodology, but you must also be skeptical. Would
you have faith in your methods to return a reliable result?
7.
Here
are a few questions you can ask yourself to get started:
A.
What
would I need to find to suggest that my hypothesis is correct?
B.
How
can I eliminate variables that might confuse my results? (i.e. If studying
effects of sunlight on positivity in a work environment, make sure you are not
also adding free food or opportunities to walk around.)
C.
If
you’re studying humans, which ones, and why does it matter? How old are they?
What ethnicity? What religion? What income level? What education level? Not all
of these will matter for every study (education level would be more important
than religion in studying effects of education on earning potential), but
identify the ones that do.
D.
If
you’re doing textual analysis, what texts do you plan to analyze? And what will
you be looking for when you read them?
Additional
Suggestions for Rationales:
1.
Usually,
the introduction of a journal article shares some similarities with a
rationale—they both typically mention the problem being studied and why it’s
important to learn about it. Use the journal articles you’ve researched so far
as models and guides for developing your rationale.
2.
Your
rationale will likely be 1-2 paragraphs.
3.
You
can begin your first paragraph with a mini thesis statement that sounds
something like “Research Topic X is important to study because a significant
finding will have such-and-such an effect(s).” Use your own words, but those
key elements (research topic, value judgment, effect(s) that is important to your
audience, etc.) should appear in your justification.
4.
The
rest of your rationale can expand on these effects as you connect those to your
audience and show the importance of what you are proposing studying.
5.
The
last sentence of your rationale should summarize your main idea and emphasize
the importance again.
6.
Remember
to speak in terms of what your audience (the people you want to convince) want.
Are they philanthropic and want to help others? Are they considering you for a
research grant to promote an area of study they care about? Don’t make it
obvious you’re talking to someone in particular (i.e., “Because my
audience loves children, I want to study children.”), but consistently speak in
terms of the benefits others will receive from what you find. These do not need
to be big benefits either—research is often a series of small steps towards big
conclusions.
Note: Your
assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
