Research Proposal Assignment Guidelines

1. Demonstrate the knowledge and understanding of critical awareness and application of theoretical and methodological perspectives relevant to an investigation of our chosen research topic

2. Synthesise, evaluate and defend the findings of your research and communicate the results in a focused, logically organised, appropriately concluded format and referenced according to the format and standard of the Harvard system.

What am I required to do in this assignment?

Your research proposal must include the following:

· Research question, aims and objectives

· Background/research context explaining the rationale

· Theory chosen for your project and how this relates to your research question

· Research methods you are using and a brief discussion of ethics

· Completion plan

You must choose one of the following research methods for your project:

Substantive literature review, content analysis, discourse analysis, desktop research

You must use a minimum of 8 academic sources (i.e. peer-reviewed journal articles and academic books) in order to pass.

Your work must be Word processed, double spaced, Arial 11 Font. You must number the pages and you must also include a word count.

You will need to source articles in the library, especially journal articles, as they will provide you with the latest research evidence/arguments.

Ensure that you include your in-text references. In all cases, in-text citations must match up with what appears in your

reference list. Every in-text citation should correspond to a reference on the list at the end (and vice versa).

You must write in your own words. You are reminded that plagiarism of any type will be penalised and result in a fail.

What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations from UIF)

In order to pass the assessment, you will need to:

· Demonstrate a critical understanding of the most appropriate theoretical perspectives which can be adopted to study your chosen topic.

· Refine and develop the research question identified to produce an answerable question with a clear focus, set aims and objectives and discusses relevant ethical considerations.

· Produce a systematic strategy for deciding what to search for, with clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, to identify the most relevant literature and then implement it.

· Propose and justify a potentially appropriate method and methodology to collect secondary and or primary data that could address the research question within prescribed resource parameters.

· Discuss how such data might be analysed and in what ways the findings might be useful.

How does this assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?

The aim of this assignment is to develop a workable plan for the Assessment 2 Independent Project, consisting of a clearly formulated answerable research question, a set of aims and objectives, research context/background, a relevant theory and methodology that will be used for the actual project and the completion plan.

You are expected to work independently for the assessments on this unit and seek advice from your supervisor regarding the direction of your research.

However, all teaching for this unit takes place during the first six weeks (before the submission date) to help you gain an understanding of the key assignment requirements. You will find the first two lectures particularly helpful for completing this assignment, as they are designed to encourage you to think about formulating a good research question, choosing the right method and linking theory to research.