Research - Planning a Practical Investigation

For this assessment you are going to develop and submit a research proposal on the subject of the physiological response to a stressful situation. The information that follows provides a step-by-step guide on how to complete a research proposal. By following the instructions and links provided throughout this document, you can obtain further support and detail about research methods.

Produce a proposal (Assessment criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4):

1. Firstly, you will need to click on the links (on the next page) relating to your research topic and read around this topic. (Assessment criterion 2.4).

2. Once you have a good understanding of the topic, you can devise a title based around your research topic (Assessment criterion 1.2).You may find that this title changes after you have done more reading!

3. Now that you have devised your title, you will begin to look into the background research relating to your topic. What is previous research saying about the topic in question? What are the concepts and theories, and who proposed (or opposed) them? What research was conducted and what was found? Can you justify why further research needs to be carried out based on previous research findings? (Assessment criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4.) You will answer such questions in the appropriate boxes provided in the Planning a Practical Investigation Answer Sheet.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this assessment is to devise a research proposal which could be carried out later as a practical research investigation.

The aim of planning the investigation is to ensure that all aspects of research are covered in enough detail, based on the following research aim:

An investigation to measure effect of personality on the stress response

TAQ 1:

Assessment criterion 1.4

Give a theoretical context to your investigation. You need to describe underpinning concepts and theories relating to your given topic.

Here you will be telling the reader about the stress response, how personality is linked to it, and the differences between different personalities and stress. Remember, there may be researchers who criticise these ideas; so when possible, it is a good idea to cite those that support your understanding, as well as those who refute it.

TAQ 2:

Assessment criteria 1.1, 1.3, 2.4

a) What is your rationale (reason) for proposing to carry out research on the given topic?
b) What are your main objectives? (What do you aim to achieve?)

TAQ 3:
Please complete the research project template found on your Planning a Practical Investigation Answer Sheet, filling in the boxes with the appropriate information required for your research proposal.

TAQ 4:
Assessment criterion 1.1
Now that you have completed all your research, go back and have a look at your original aim and research question to see if you can simplify it in the light of your reading and research. If you can, then cross out your old aim and research question (put a line through it) and put your new one in TAQ 4. Then also put the new one in blue underneath the old one in TAQ 3 (the one you have just crossed out) on the Answer Sheet.

TAQ 5:

Assessment criterion 2.2
Timeframe Log
The Timeframe Log is a log of how long it would take you to conduct and write up the proposed study if you were actually going to carry it out (bullet points are OK to use here). You may wish to include the following:
- time to do background reading;
- write up an introduction and references;
- prepare your methodology section;
- carrying out your practical;
- collating and analysing your data;
- completing a discussion,
- writing your conclusion and abstract.