Assignment Description

Developing a research plan and executing it in its entirety is a long and comprehensive process, but you have learned all of the necessary fundamentals for this during this term.

Last week, your assignment was to produce a number of elements plus an outline in preparation for delivering a research plan.

You were to locate and review at least 3 external sources, craft research question(s), create one or more hypotheses, determine what research approach and methods you would employ, and forecast what form your research and findings would be in at the end of your study.

You submitted this last week and should have received a critiqued version from the instructor.

Assignment Guidelines

• Revise your Week 4 Key Assignment according to instructor and peer feedback.

• Next, address the following for your final Key Assignment draft:

Final Key Assignment Draft

• For your final assignment, you will use the research plan outline you developed last week. Assemble all of the components, and using the tenets you learned this week for writing a refined and integrated paper, write your complete research plan in narrative style. This final product should be at least 1,500-1,750 words.

• In your narrative at a minimum, you should do the following:

o Seamlessly integrate all elements of the research plan.

o Extensively review the external resources you selected, and identify their relevance for studying your topic.

o Explain in detail the quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods you plan to employ and what findings you expect these to produce (the type not the specific results).

Assignment Objectives

• Examine the important research terms, concepts, techniques, and the importance of research theory as it relates to homeland security and emergency management research.

• Compare the major approaches to research design and demonstrate an understanding of the principles and processes involved in developing and addressing a specific research question.

• Differentiate quantitative and qualitative research methods relevant to Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

• Evaluate research on the basis of its construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and statistical validity.

• Design, conduct, and analyze the results of a research plan geared towards a Homeland Security or Emergency Management issue.