Assignment 2: Research Process
Although you will not actually perform your research in this module, you will complete a section on the research methodology best suited for your capstone project. In a 3–4-page paper, your methodology section should include a discussion on the following areas:
Introduce the overall proposed methodological approach for investigating your research problem.
Will your study be qualitative or quantitative or a combination of both (mixed method)? Describe your methodological design.
Indicate how the approach would best fit the overall research design.
Your methods should have a clear connection with your research problem. In other words, make sure that your methods will actually address the problem. One of the most common deficiencies found in research papers is that the proposed methodology is not suitable to achieving the stated objective of your paper.
Describe the specific methods of data collection you would use.
Surveys, interviews, questionnaires, observation, and archival research are some examples. If you are analzying existing data, such as a data set or archival documents, describe how it was originally created or gathered and by whom.
Explain how you would analyze your results.
Will you use statistical analysis? Will you use specific theoretical perspectives to help you analyze a text or explain observed behaviors? Describe how you plan to obtain an accurate assessment of relationships, patterns, trends, distributions, and possible contradictions found in the data.
Provide background and a rationale for methodologies that are unfamiliar for your readers.
Very often in the social sciences, research problems and the methods for investigating them require more explanation/rationale than widely accepted rules governing the natural and physical sciences. Be clear and concise in your explanation.
Provide a justification for subject selection and sampling procedure.
For instance, if you propose to conduct interviews, how do you intend to select the sample population? If you are analyzing texts, which texts have you chosen, and why? If you are using statistics, why is this set of statistics being used? If other data sources exist, explain why the data you chose is most appropriate to addressing the research problem.
Describe potential limitations.
Are there any practical limitations that could affect your data collection? How will you attempt to control for potential confounding variables and errors? If your methodology may lead to problems you can anticipate, state this openly and show why pursuing this methodology outweighs the risk of these problems cropping up.
Assignment 2 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Introduced the overall proposed methodological approach for investigating your research problem.
8
Indicated how the approach would best fit the overall research design.
8
Described the specific methods of data collection you would use.
8
Explained how you would analyze your results.
8
Provided background and a rationale for methodologies that are unfamiliar for your readers.
4
Provided a justification for subject selection and sampling procedure.
8
Described potential limitations
4
Writing Standards
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrated ethical scholarship in appropriate and accurate representation and attribution of sources (i.e., APA); and displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Use of scholarly sources aligns with specified assignment requirements
12
Total:
60
