Assignment: Research problem and purpose

In this week’s Workshop, visit your unique thread and carefully review how your research problem and purpose have evolved and what you have learned about the different approaches.

By Day 3Post a response to the following prompts:

Present your research question as two or three versions, based on the different approaches you have explored that seem most appropriate to your research problem and purpose.

Make a case for why each approach would work.

Identify the approach you believe best fits your research question. Then, re-formulate the question based on the approach you selected.

Describe how the approach you selected will direct the procedures you will later develop.

Summarize your choice of theoretical framework for your prospectus. Justify how your choice aligns with your current choice of research question and approach. If they are not aligned, choose a more appropriate framework.

Given your choice of approach, describe what data collection tools will be most appropriate to consider. Note: This is not a commitment to use all of the tools you identify; rather, it is meant to be a reflection on what is possible given your choice of approach.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.