Research Proposal Assignment 5: METHODOLOGY - First Draft

Objective

To produce the first draft of the method section of the final research proposal

Instructions

The third and final chapter of a research proposal is the method. This chapter explains and justifies the method you will use for data collection and analysis.It should be based in your literature review and you should cite the literature in support of your proposed method.

Below is a detailed outline of what your methodology section has to include:

1) Introduction

1.1) Start the introduction with the reiteration of the purpose of the proposed study.

1.2) Clearly state the research question and hypothesis(-es).

Remember that while the hypothesis(-es) must simply be narrow and testable, the research question should be broad and understandable to the general public.

Here's an example of a research question and hypotheses:

"The research question explored in the proposed study is whether Hagan's Power Control Theory, as an explanation of adolescent girls' delinquency, is supported through an examination of dating patterns by social class.Specifically, is adolescent girls' delinquency lower among the lower class than the middle and upper classes due to greater restrictions placed on girls' dating patterns by lower class families?"

This research question could then be reduced to multiple testable hypotheses. To continue the example:

"There are two hypotheses stemming from the above research question:

H1: As limits increase on 14-16-year-old girls' dating patterns, girls' delinquency levels

decrease.

H2: Families with total gross yearly incomes of $40,000 or less place more limitations

on 14-16-year-old daughters' dating than families with higher total gross yearly

incomes."

1.3) The statements of the hypotheses should be followed by an explanation of why the hypotheses were so stated.This would be based in background and/or theory and supported by your literature review.

Here's an example:

"It has long been known that lower class, adolescent females engage less frequently in delinquent behavior than female and male children of the middle and upper classes with children of the middle-class classes engaging in less delinquency than lower class males, but more delinquency than lower class females. The delinquency rate among middle and upper class children is similar between male and female adolescents (Eichenberg, 2019). Hagen et al. (1990) stated that lower class families placed greater restrictions on the behaviors of adolescent daughters, to include dating patterns, than on adolescent sons resulting in lower rates of delinquency for daughters and higher rates for sons.Hagan et al. posited that these restrictions limited opportunities for delinquency as compared to middle- and upper-class adolescents who experience similar rates of delinquency by gender, thus explaining in part differing delinquency rates by social class and gender."

2) Variables

2.1) Discuss which variables you are proposing to study.

2.2) Explain why you are proposing analyzing these variables specifically. Refer to your literature review for support.

2.3)Connect your variables to your hypotheses and explain which variables you are designating as the independent (the presumed cause) and which the dependent variables (the presumed effect). This would be based in theory, so again you will need to refer to your literature review.

Example:

"The primary independent variable (IV) will be family income as a proxy measure of social class.The dependent variable (DV) will be the dating patterns of daughters by family-based restrictions."

2.4) Variable Operationalization

Next, you need to operationalize your variables into measurable dimensions and attributes.That is, clearly state how these variables will be measured in your proposed study. Refer to past research for support.Remember that your study subjects or units of analysis cannot be your IV or DV, so families and adolescents cannot be your IV or DV. A variable is something that changes (income, age, number of delinquent acts, etc.).

In an example above, we use household income as a measure of social class (this is to say we operationalize family social class as annual household income).

3) Population of Study

Identify the population being studied.Who or what are they?What is the unit of analysis?How will you gain access to them and the information you need to collect about them?What sampling method will be used and why?If not sampling, explain why it is not necessary.Lean on the past literature to justify/support what you plan to do.

4) Research Design

Explain how you are proposing to collect the data for your study if you were going to actually collect the data. Is the proposed method quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods?

How will you collect the data? Why this method (for example, why a survey) specifically?

5) Research Ethics Applied to the Proposed Research

Explain how you will you address ethical issues and human subjects protection in this project.In this section you need to detail how you will ensure confidentiality or anonymity or otherwise protect your subjects. Explain how you will address informed consent, potential harm to participants, voluntary participation, and deceiving subjects, if relevant; if not relevant to your study explain why not.You must state that Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval will be obtained prior to collecting data on living individuals (if you are doing human subjects research).If the unit of analysis is, say law enforcement agencies, and the data pertains to agency practices, then state clearly that this is not human subjects research.

6) Conclusion

This is where you summarize your method section and re-tell the reader what you are proposing to do. Be concise but make sure to cover all of the above-listed major parts of the section.

7) References

Finally, you must include a list of all material you consulted and cited. As you write the method, you should be basing your discussion on your literature review and textbook. That is, don't try to write this section off the top of your head, so to speak.

General requirements:

1) As all written assignments in this class, the method section must be in APA format. Among other things, you must provide a title page, use double space, write only in third person, cite your sources both in-text (in-text citations) and at the end of the paper (full references), limit the number of direct quotes, and be objective in your wording. Cite sources used in APA format and provide an APA formatted source list at the end which must be entitled "References" and not anything else (e.g., Works Cited or Bibliography). Do not simply cut and paste citations; ensure they are in the required APA format. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the APA Sample Paper posted in Modules to see what a good APA research paper should look like.