Assignment Description

 

This first assignment will become the foundation for the research plan that you will create in this course. Planning a research study requires critical attention to details, beginning with a well-articulated research topic and derived research question. The overarching research question drives the literature search, as well as the methods of data collection and analysis. This first assignment requires that you consider your already-defined research question and the various sources of information that might inform your proposed study.

Assignment Instructions

 

Complete the following:

 

Explain why you selected this research question.

Describe what you already know about the problem. 

   

How might your practice experience inform a study regarding this problem, given the research problem that you have identified?

What do you know about the origins, prevalence, and correlates of the problem?     

How might you apply your personal and professional knowledge and skills to the study planning process, if you were to conduct a study on this topic?

 

Explain how a search of the literature on the topic that you have selected can inform both the researcher and influence the research design process. 

    

What functions does the literature review serve?

 

How you might go about conducting a literature review for your proposed study on the topic that you chose? Describe the steps you might take.

 

Explain whether there are other sources of information that might be related to your topic. 

    

What are the sources?

 

How might you go about getting this information?