USING YOUR CHOICE OF TOPIC COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SEVEN TASKS:
1. Give your proposal a title and develop one research question and/or research objective. (50 words)
Task 1 asks you to distinguish between the broad aim of your research and specific research questions/objectives. One objective/question is sufficient to show that you understand this distinction and to inform the rest of the assignment
2. Undertake a short literature review. Summarise key theory and evidence relevant to your research and show the importance or benefit of your study question/objective. (400 words)
Task 2 is less concerned with content (i.e., your knowledge of the particular topic) and more concerned with the process of a critical literature review (i.e., that you know how to synthesise different sources, relate your project to debates and disagreements, and identify knowledge gaps that provide a rationale for your research objective/question). For this task, you are required to do enough additional reading to identify four or five relevant non-trivial references for use in the literature review (try to include a mix of newspaper/magazine articles, web sites, and academic journals
3. Explain your research philosophy, strategy and methodology. In particular, comment on what makes your research positivist, phenomenological or any other philosophy you choose or a hybrid of approaches. (400 words)
Task 3 tests your ability to explain your research strategy and methodology in terms of an appropriate selection from the range of concepts introduced in the lecture course: e.g., positivist/phenomenological research; deductive/inductive approaches; theory-testing/theory-building; quantitative/qualitative data; research sample frame / sample size and so forth.
You will need to think carefully about both your research question/objective and your research philosophy/strategy/approach, as these will influence your choice of research technique in Task 5.
4. Discuss and reflect on the ethical implications of your research. (150 words)
Task 4 ensures that you understand and have learned how to comply with the University's procedures for ensuring that proposed research complies with prevailing ethical standards.
5. Discuss and critically justify (referenced) your design of an effective data collection method to research the question/objective you specified and in keeping with your research strategy. Pilot your data collection method with a sample of 10 students to collect your data. (300 words plus questionnaire/interview schedule)
Show as an Appendix an example of any data collection questionnaires or documentation you would use Task 5 tests your ability to design a research instrument to implement your chosen research methodology and so answer your question/meet your objective.
6. Analyse data obtained Q5 and in light of your aims, philosophy and issues of reliability and validity discuss your findings and conclusions
(300 words)
Task 6 tests your ability to understand and justify and interpret appropriate data analysis methods
7. Critically evaluate your research proposal by reflecting on the appropriateness of your research philosophy and methodology in relation to alternatives approaches. (200 words)
Task 7 demonstrates your ability to reflect critically upon the strengths and weaknesses of your research strategy, methodology and research instrument in terms of theory and in light of lessons learned during the pilot data collection and analysis phases of the research.