Part I: Introduction

This section should include some perspective about the problem you are trying to analyze; in other words, you should review the literature concerning your subject. The library or the web will be a good source of information. This research should provide the rationale for your study; it is a very important part of your paper / project.

Part II: Statement of the Problem

This section should contain a clear and concise description of the problem that you are trying to solve. This should be short, not to exceed one paragraph.

 Part III: Statement of the Hypotheses

This section should contain a listing of the hypotheses (null and alternate) for each test you are conducting.

Part IV: Methodology

This section needs to include a detailed explanation of the manner in which you selected your sample(s). Make sure the reader knows whether or not this sample was randomly selected. If it was randomly selected, make sure the process of selection is well documented. This section should include a statement of the possible weaknesses of our study based on your inability to collect a random sample. Describe your sample(s) in detail. Be sure to tell the reader the makeup in terms of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.

The section should also include a description of how you obtained your data from your sample(s). If you used a questionnaire that you developed, include it in this part of the project. Give reasons for including specific questions. If you used a questionnaire developed by someone else, you should provide background information on the questionnaire including its author and purpose. Include a copy of the questionnaire in this section. Any and all descriptions of how you conducted your study should be placed inside this section.

Part V: Analysis of the data

If you are doing some preliminary descriptive statistics on your sample(s) be sure to include this information here. You may wish to include charts, frequency tables, means and standard deviations. Explain, in great detail, how you conducted your test(s) and how you analyzed your data and results. All statistical results should be provided. You may want to include a printout of the results (if you used Excel) in this section.

 Part VI: Conclusions and Implications

This section should include the conclusions that you made after analyzing your data. Be sure you do not make grandiose statements about your population in general if your sample was not representative of the entire population. You might add your own opinion about any other study that you might think appropriate to follow your own.