Upload
vohanh
View
215
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
[Title of your Document]
[Your Name]
A Proposal Submitted to the Faculty of
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in [XXXXX]
[Month, day, 2012]
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Nature of the Study............................................................................................1
Background......................................................................................................................1
Problem Statement...........................................................................................................1
Purpose of the Study........................................................................................................1
Research Questions and Hypotheses................................................................................1
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework.................................................................................2
Scope of the Study...........................................................................................................4
Definition of Key Terms..................................................................................................4
Significance of the Study.................................................................................................4
Summary..........................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................................6
Introduction......................................................................................................................6
Research Strategy.............................................................................................................6
First Main Topic...............................................................................................................6
Subtopic Here...............................................................................................................6
Subtopic Here...............................................................................................................7
Summary and Transition..................................................................................................7
Chapter 3: Research Design and Method............................................................................9
Chapter Overview............................................................................................................9
Research Questions and/or Hypotheses and their Rationales..........................................9
Research Design...............................................................................................................9
Population and Sample...................................................................................................10
i
Procedures......................................................................................................................10
Validity...........................................................................................................................10
Instrumentation..............................................................................................................10
Data Processing..............................................................................................................10
Assumptions...................................................................................................................11
Limitations.....................................................................................................................11
Ethical Assurances.........................................................................................................11
Summary........................................................................................................................12
References..........................................................................................................................13
ii
1
Chapter 1: Nature of the Study
Background
The background section should be 2-3 pages of information that will (a) introduce
your topic to the reader, (b) establish that the topic is important, and (c) tie the topic to
the literature. Ideally, the theoretical lens such as constructivism, feminism,
transformative framework/perspective, critical theory, and so on will be addressed as
well. Ensure that all assertions are well supported with citations.
Problem Statement
Clearly define the problem that prompted the study. Use citations to support facts,
statistics, and assertions. Include your rationale for choosing the problem. The problem
statement is most successful when it is intensely focused on the problem, which means a
paragraph or two is usually sufficient. Keep in mind that a gap in the literature typically
is not the strongest problem (or all studies would have the same problem!). The gap in the
literature should, instead, support the problem.
Purpose of the Study
Clearly define the purpose of the study. What purpose will your findings have?
For what purpose are you undertaking the study? Why are you collecting data? Describe
the general purpose of the study, the sample, and how you will examine the phenomenon
by stating the specific research approach, proposed participants, and location/setting. The
Purpose of the Study section should be no more than one page in length.
Research Questions and Hypotheses
For quantitative studies present your research questions and hypotheses in a
corresponding manner. For instance:
2
Research Question1: Do writing groups affect the time to completion for
dissertation writers?
H11: Writing groups do affect the time to completion for dissertation writers.
Research Question 2: Do writing groups affect graduation rates for students in the
social sciences?
H12: Writing groups do affect graduation rates for students in the social sciences.
You will work with your chair and methodologist to determine how best to
present your questions and hypotheses.
There are no hypotheses with qualitative studies. Instead, simply present the
research question (or questions) and any subquestions that stem from it. Qualitative
questions should be open-ended and exploratory in nature. A typical presentation of
qualitative questions is a brief paragraph presenting the main question followed by the
subquestions in a seriated list. For example:
The overall question guiding this study was: What are the perceptions of
dissertation writers as they begin to revise their proposals? The study was further
grounded by two subquestions:
1. How do dissertators feel about revision?
2. In what ways do dissertators energize themselves to write?
You will work with your chair to draft and revise your research questions until
they are a strong basis for inquiry.
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
Select a theoretical framework (quantitative) or conceptual framework
(qualitative) that is aligned with your proposed topic. This framework will assist you with
3
responding to the research questions, as well as help you analyze your results. Although
the theoretical/conceptual framework should also be aligned with your methodology, it is
separate from your methodology and should be used to ground your study.
Literature citations are essential in this section. For quantitative studies, you will
present a theoretical framework—showing the reader what theories your study is
grounded in. Keep in mind that this is an introduction and detailed information will be
presented in your literature review.
Qualitative studies have a conceptual framework: theories, models, and ideas that
will ground your study. Again, this is an introduction to these concepts as more detailed
information will be presented in your literature review.
Steps to follow when developing your theoretical or conceptual framework:
1. Clearly state the phenomenon you want to address in your study.
2. Search and review theories, concepts, or models that explain some part (if not
all) of your study.
3. Take note of the strengths and limitations of the theories, concepts, or models
in terms of which best explain the phenomenon or aspects of the phenomenon.
4. Put the pieces of the theories, concepts, and/or models together with the aim
of explaining or describing the phenomenon or aspects of the phenomenon.
5. After synthesizing, you may identify/create a theory you would want to test or
you may recognize a gap (i.e. unexplained phenomenon or aspects of the
phenomenon), which your study would attempt to fill.
6. If possible, create a diagram to show the relationship among the various
concepts, theories, and/or models.
4
Scope of the Study
Declare those characteristics that limit the scope of the inquiry. For example,
decisions made throughout the development of the proposal such as the choice of
objectives and questions, areas of interest, other theoretical perspectives that could have
been adopted, and so on. Who will your participants be, where will they be from?
Definition of Key Terms
Alphabetical. List your terms following this format in alphabetical order. Terms
will be those terms that are unique to your study or uniquely used in your study.
Supported. Most of the terms will need to be supported with a citation. The
exception, of course, is if you are operationalizing a term specific to your study. Say, for
instance, that you need to define old in your study as anyone age 90 and older. Note that
all citations should come from the peer reviewed literature. Dictionaries are not used.
Uncommon. If using a common definition then there is no need to include the
term in this list. Theories will not be included, Acts of Congress will not be included,
neither will models nor commonly used terms related to methodology.
Significance of the Study
When writing the significance of the study, think of your findings. Who will care
about the findings? Who will be interested to learn of your work? How might these
findings make an impact on these individuals? How might your findings further the
ongoing academic dialogue? Try not to be too grandiose in these thoughts and instead
think of the individuals who might be affected and how, organizing the section around
the significance of the research, policy, and practice. Aim to present three solid examples
of how this study and its findings bear significance.
5
Summary
In two or three paragraphs summarize the main points of this section and
transition into the following sections. Explain how the document is organized (Chapter 2
will present literature related to writing groups and dissertation writing services. Chapter
3 will present a detailed look at multiple case studies and how this methodology was used
to investigate the efficacy of writing groups). For the proposal you may end here. For the
final document, you will come back and add reference to Chapters 4 and 5.
6
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Here is where you will include a brief introduction—not much is needed because
you just spent an entire chapter introducing your topic! Aim for keeping the introduction
here to a page or less. Explicitly state what topics will be covered in the review, using
your APA level headings to organize this statement. In other words, each level heading
(Level 1, Level 2, etc.) should be noted in this statement. Then, you can lead right into
your research strategy. Keep in mind that this chapter serves as a “report” of what other
researchers have already found and discussed regarding your subject. So the literature
should be reported in a way that compares, makes contrasts, and analyzes what is found
in the existing body of literature.
Research Strategy
Include your research strategy here. What databases were used? What key terms
were used? It might also make sense to say how many articles these searches produced
and then how you decided to use the articles you did. You need to include enough
information that your reader could easily replicate your search and find the same articles.
Note that some of you might decide to combine the research strategy with the
introduction under one heading, and that is just fine, too.
First Main Topic
Begin with the body of your literature review, organizing by main topics. Work to
include at least two (ideally more!) sources per paragraph. Try to avoid single-source
paragraphs and quotes.
Subtopic Here
7
One funny rule with APA style is that you will not move down to the next
heading level (as we have done here) unless you have two or more headings at that level.
If you find yourself with just one subtopic, you can consider adding a second subtopic,
removing the subtopic altogether, or moving the subtopic heading to a main topic,
instead.
Subtopic Here
The second subtopic that falls under the same umbrella (main topic) as the last
will begin here, then. Note that only the chapter titles and heading levels 1 and 2 are in
the table of contents.
Summary and Transition
Within the summary you can point out the gap in the literature, or make that a
separate section before the summary and transition. Other things you can include (and
your chair might require you include) in the literature review is a more robust look at
your theoretical or conceptual framework. If yours is a quantitative study, your chair
might require that you research and organize based off your variables.
No two literature reviews are alike—this is truly your chance to contribute some
original thought on existing research. All literature reviews must, though, have the goal
of analysis and synthesis of recent (mostly within the last 5 years), peer-reviewed
literature. This chapter is typically around 40 pages and includes at least 100 sources,
although there is not set requirement for either the number of pages or sources.
8
9
Chapter 3: Research Design and Method
Chapter Overview
To open the chapter you can begin by referring back to the purpose of the study,
taking care to align with the statement in Chapter 1 but avoiding word-for-word
repetition. Outline the major sections of this chapter, giving enough detail so that the
introduction is unique to your study (that is: go beyond simply listing the headings).
Research Questions and/or Hypotheses and their Rationales
For qualitative studies you can reintroduce your research questions in a narrative,
tying them to your problem statement. For quantitative studies, reintroduce your research
questions and hypotheses, along with the rationales for the hypotheses. For mixed
methods studies, clearly identify which questions are qualitative in nature and which are
quantitative in nature. Including subheadings (Level 2) for “Qualitative Research
Questions” and “Quantitative Research Questions” might be the best way to organize.
Regardless of your methodology, try to present the questions in alignment with the
presentation in Chapter 1.
Listing interview questions is not typical (it is usually thought best to keep the
research and interview questions separate) but you might decide with your chair to show
the alignment between the two types of questions.
Research Design
Identify the research design and its connection to the research questions. Provide
a rationale for the research tradition chosen. This needs to go beyond why you chose
qualitative over quantitative or vice versa. Explain why you chose the specific qualitative
or quantitative tradition or research paradigm you chose over others.
10
Population and Sample
Identify the population and the sampling method used. Explain the inclusion
criteria and then take care to justify the size of the sample. If quantitative in nature,
mention the calculating tool used to determine the sample size. If qualitative in nature,
explain your rationale for the number of participants.
Procedures
Describe your proposed procedures in detail, beginning with recruiting
procedures, including data collection tools or strategies used, how this data will be
collected, and any follow-up planned with participants. If you plan to conduct a pilot
study, describe this in detail and how it will inform your main study.
Validity
Describe all threats to the validity of the study. If qualitative, describe how you
plan to ensure credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability. If
quantitative, describe in detail threats to internal and external validity.
Instrumentation
If quantitative in nature, name your data collection instrument, where and how it
has been used, and how the validity and reliability were established. If qualitative in
nature, describe any researcher-created or established tools and the rationale for using
them. For qualitative researchers, include your role as the researcher and how you plan
to control any biases.
Data Processing
Identify any software that will be used in the analysis of your data. Describe, in
detail, the strategy or strategies proposed for organizing and analyzing data collected.
11
Assumptions
The assumptions are related to the mechanics of your study. What about your
study is not discoverable so you had to assume to be true? If interviewing participants,
you must assume that they are answering honestly, so this is a major assumption. You
must also assume they are participating willingly. All researchers must also assume that
their chosen methodology is the most appropriate for their investigation. What also are
you unable to discover so must assume in order to conduct your study? Some chairs
allow for numbered lists—usually researchers list about three assumptions, although
there is no set minimum or maximum.
Limitations
Limitations are elements of your study that are outside of your control. Is there a
weakness in the design? Are there uncontrollable biases? For many, one limitation in the
proposal is the possibility of not having access to participants or not being able to recruit
enough participants to satisfy the minimum sample size. Unlike the scope and
delimitations, where you get to explain all the things you had control over as the
researcher (setting, participants, timeframe) this is where you can describe the things you
couldn’t control and what you plan to do to address these issues.
Ethical Assurances
How do you plan to ensure the ethical protection of your participants? Explain
your recruitment strategy, consent form, any Institutional Review Board permissions that
will be needed, whether participants will be confidential or anonymous, and how you
plan to protect the data collected. Note that participants are considered confidential if you
know their identities but do not share them (through the use of descriptors or
12
pseudonyms). Participants are considered anonymous if even you are unaware of their
identity. For these reasons, you will not have participants who are both confidential and
anonymous.
Summary
Summarize the entire chapter, which will go just beyond restating the headings.
Plan for a paragraph or two that briefly walks your reader through the highlights of each
section. Your reader should be able to read your summary and know what your
methodology is, instrument, data collection and analysis plan, and other aspects that will
be unique to your study.
13
References
Patterson, J., Laing, I., & Soltz, A. (2012). Title of the article here in sentence case, plain
font. Title of the Article Here in Italics and Title Case, 4(5), 6-8. doi:
10.x3425604
Walsh, L., & Patterson, J. (2009). Title of the book in sentence case and italics.
Minneapolis, MN: Name of the Publisher.
Zuckerman, J. (2003). Title of the web page here. Retrieved from
http://www.exacturlhere.com
Here are examples of the most commonly used sources
Article retrieved from an online database:
Patterson, J., Laing, I., & Soltz, A. (2012). Title of the article here in sentence case, plain
font. Title of the Article Here in Italics and Title Case, 4(5), 6-8. doi:
10.x3425604
Book:
Walsh, L., & Patterson, J. (2009). Title of the book in sentence case and italics.
Minneapolis, MN: Name of the Publisher.
Website:
Zuckerman, J. (2003). Title of the web page here. Retrieved from
http://www.exacturlhere.com