Please note: The entire paper is not due in one week. It needs to be done in stages. I already completed the first part, “the research problem” and submitted it, but I’m waiting for feedback. i will send you the first part of the paper to review and start working off of. Below is a description of the entire assignment.
Project
Assignment
Write
a 7 to 10 double spaced Concept Paper that describes
a proposed applied research project
You
may want your employer, a government agency or foundation to sponsor an applied
research proposal. To gauge their interest, you can prepare a short paper that
briefly describes your proposal. This short paper may be labeled a “concept
paper,” “pre-proposal” or “white paper.” Here we will arbitrarily use the term
concept paper. With a concept paper, you will avoid the work of writing a full
proposal for a sponsor who is not really interested in funding the research. If
the potential sponsor of the proposed research is interested, you can follow up
with a complete proposal that includes a detailed literature research, project
plan and budget. A concept paper often does not include details such as a
budget, the qualifications of the project staff, the project plan, specific deliverables,
and so forth.
Some
general advice
The concept paper must provide
a general understanding of why the research is valuable, and it must
sketch out the approach that you plan to take.
When you write a concept
paper, assume that the reader does not know much about the issue or
subject. Avoid acronyms (e.g., FDNY, PANYNJ) and jargon.
When
you write your concept paper, you should include the following section:
A brief introduction
A background section that
explains why the topic is worth investigating and the specific research
question or hypothesis that will be investigated.
An approach section that
clearly states the research question (or hypothesis if you can predict
what you expect to find) as well as a very brief description of the next
more detailed section on where you plan to acquire and analyze the data.
The sources of the data and
how it will be compiled
The plan for and analyzing the
data
Each
of these parts of you paper are covered more fully in other readings, but here
is a brief discussion to give you a general idea.
1.
Introduction.
The introduction should be very brief, only a half page or so. The introduction
should describe the contents of the entire proposal, including the topic,
research questions and methods. Don’t include details that are covered in the
other sections.
2.
Background
Clearly
state the research topic. This is a general
statement; try to use one sentence.
Explain
why the research topic is important, that is, what is the problem that you
want to address. (This may also be called the “statement of “need” or
“problem statement.”). This statement often refers to information (this
could be anecdotal incidents, media reports, prior research, etc.) that
indicates that a problem really does exist. Do not write more than one or
two short paragraphs.
The
literature review (optional) is an important part of any proposal. This is
integrated into your background section. A literature review is not a
separate section. Instead cite a reference when it is discussed in the
background section. Unfortunately, the course covers too much material for
you to find and read a complete review of literature for many research
topics. However, your grade will improve if you describe at least two
relevant references that concern your research topic.
3.
Approach
Clearly
state the research questions or hypotheses. These research questions are
the means that you will use to address the research topic. To keep your
paper focused, do not include more than five research questions or
hypotheses. If the research is very specific, there may be only one
research question.
The
research questions need to be specific enough to make it clear why you are
choosing the sources of data that you list in the third section of the
paper.
Clearly
explain how your findings may help find possible solutions to the problem..
4.
Data
Describe
the variables and the data that you will use in your research project, and
where you intend to acquire the data. Your data may be quantitative or
qualitative or a combination of both. It is be obvious how the data is related
to the research questions or hypotheses. Possible sources of data are described
in a separate document.
If you are
collecting a complicated set of data, you will want to design a database where
you can store the data. To avoid redundancy where you must record the exact
same data repeatedly, consider using separate tables to different types of
data. If you use separate tables, you should describe the fields (e.g., case
number, respondent ID) that would use to link the tables.
5.
Data
analysis
There are
two fundamental approaches to analyzing data: descriptive and inferential.
Research projects often involve a combination of both. These topics are
explored in greater depth in other handouts.
You may
be able to answer your research question by only using descriptive statistics,
that is, measures of central tendency and variability (e.g., mean, mode,
standard deviation) and by showing the results of your research graphically
(e.g., pie charts, line graphs, histograms).
If you
are analyzing qualitative data, you should explain how you will discover the
underlying themes or structure of the data.
You will
need to choose inferential statistics if you want to address any of the
following three areas:
·
You
want to generalize from your sample to a larger population.
·
You
want to discover whether there is a statistically significant relationship
between two or more variables.
·
You
want to discover whether there two or more variables have caused a change in
two more additional variables.
If you
want to address your question using inferential statistics, you will need to
state your hypothesis, and select an appropriate statistical method. You do not
normally state the null hypothesis, but keep in mind that statistical tests are
tests that show whether there is a reasonable probability that the results
could have occurred by chance, that is, they are tests of the null hypothesis.
To select
the correct statistical methods, you will need to state the level of
measurements (e.g., categorical, ordinal or interval) and which of the above
three areas you want to address. In some instances, you will also want to
figure out whether your samples are related or unrelated. See the reading about
how to find themost appropriate statistical test among the readings for week 6.
For more guidance, use the “selecting statistics” feature at http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/.
The parts
of your concept paper and how they fit together are illustrated in the
following diagram.
