This assignment requires you to write the front part of a research article (Introduction, Literature Review). Your literature review section will prepare you for the interview we will be conducting in Live Session 2. Layout of a Qualitative Manuscript
Introduction
Provide an introduction to the paper and subject matter (approximately 1-2 paragraphs). Introduce your readers to the subject matter. Our subject matter is Gentrification and New Orleans.
The Problem
“Many qualitative research articles begin with a provocative data vignette or news story to pull readers in and indicate the importance of the phenomenon. For example, “After a brief decline in the last decade, fatal accidents caused by drunk-driving are again increasing at an alarming rate of x percent per year”. Another approach is to begin an article with a brief description of the focal phenomenon in plain (non-specialist) language” (Gopaldas, 2015, p. 116).
What is the domain, field or phenomenon that you are investigating?
What is the extent of the problem?
How is the problem defined?
Why is it important to study the problem?
“Common reasons given for studying a phenomenon are that it is historically new, growing in size, changing in nature, critical to a profession or critical to a social cause such as environmental sustainability or public welfare” (Gopaldas, 2015, p. 116).
Significance of the Problem
How big is the problem?
What is the impact of the problem?
Why should we care about the problem?
Literature Review
1. Read at least six journal articles from the list below on Gentrification in New Orleans. On your own, locate two additional journal articles on Gentrification in New Orleans to include in your literature review.
Synthesize the findings from the eight articles
Formulate a problem statement based on these articles (see Merriam & Tisdell, Chapter 4 pages 73 – 103)
Identify potential gaps in the literature
“What does the literature say about the phenomenon? Or what do we know? A literature review introduces the reader to the theoretical conversation about the phenomenon thus far. If there is considerable literature on the phenomenon, cite the landmark articles that started the theoretical conversation and those that changed the conversation significantly, especially those that were published in the journal you are targeting. Common ways of organizing literature are by chronology, discipline, level of analysis, methodology or theoretical perspective. For example, “Many studies address the national and individual factors that promote drunk driving. At a national level, studies show that […] ” How one reviews literature must be directly related to the theoretical problem, which is discussed next” (Gopaldas, 2015, p. 116-117).
Research Question
Identify at least one research question based on the literature. We are using Phenomenology methodology so write the research question with this in mind.
Research question: To leave no room for doubt about the research focus, I recommend restating the problems as research questions. While “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why” and “how” questions are all essential building blocks of a research question (Whetten, 1989), top academic journals really value answers to “why” and “how” questions. Fortunately, qualitative research is especially well-suited for developing explanatory (“why”) and processual (“how”) models. This does not necessarily mean that your question needs to contain the word “why” or “how”. For example, the following is a “why” question, implied by the verb “promote”: “What are the community factors that promote drunk driving?”
