Transcript Unit 2 Research Proposal Tentative Schedule

Unit 2 Research Proposal
Tentative Schedule
Week 6
 2/19-Intro to research proposals & primary research
Week 7
 2/24-Interviews & Observations
 2/26-Surveys & Short Research Proposal Peer review
 Minor Essay 2- Short Research Proposal Due
Week 8
 3/3-Research proposal subsections
 3/5-Peer review & debates
Research Proposal Final Draft- Due 3/6 by midnight
Today’s Goals
 Discuss strategies for using surveys as a research
method
 Learn about how to construct a statement of
qualification and brainstorm ideas for your own SoQs
 Learn the basics of APA formatting
 Finalize debate strategies
Research Proposal Overview


Title page
Abstract (100 words or less)


Statement of Purpose (usually 100+ words. Often the second longest section of the essay)



Name your primary research method and explain your general strategy for it (i.e. what do you hope to
find)
References


Briefly sum up the secondary sources you are using and how they are relevant to your research
Methods (approximately 100 words)


Explain why you are qualified to conduct this research
Mention qualifications as well related personal experiences
Literature Review (200+ words. Often the longest section of the essay)


State research question and hypothesis
Convince readers why the research is necessary
Statement of Qualification (approximately 100 words but may be longer)



Identify research question, research methods, & most important points of research
The APA version of a Works Cited page
Appendix


Usually includes supplementary information
The appendix for our research proposals will include detailed information about your primary research
(such as interview, questions surveys, or observation goals)
Methods Section
 Should explain any and all methodologies you intend to use in your
research
 Focus on what primary research you will conduct; it is already assumed
that you will find background secondary research information
 Your primary method should be one or more of the three previously
mentioned (interview, observation, or surveys). For each primary
method:
 Indicate whom you will be interviewing or surveying or what
setting/activity you will be observing
 Explain what, specifically, you will be attempting to find out from your
primary research. This can include questions you intend to ask or what
you will be looking for in observations
 Note: you should not list every question here, only the most important
ones for your research and what sorts of connections between
questions you will look for
Example Methods Section
This research will attempt to gain insight about whether the benefits of
stem cell research outweigh its ethical costs by examining the public’s opinion
on the ethics and moral issues related to stem cell research. Using primary
research, a random group of people will be selected to take an online survey.
This survey will ask several background questions to see how stem cell research
is viewed amongst the general population as well as how knowledgeable the
general population is on this topic. The survey will also attempt to see if a
person’s view on the ethics of stem cell research is related to several aspects of
their lives. It will determine if there is a correlation between gender, age,
religious involvement, and major/career and their views on stem cell research.
It will also see if a person’s personal experiences affect their views. Therefore,
the group of people that will take this survey must have a lot of variation. It
must be done in a location where there is a lot of variation of age, gender,
religious involvement, and major/career. This survey can be done online since a
wide range of people have access and use the internet on a daily basis.
A complete copy of the survey can be found in Appendix A.

Statement of Qualification
 The only part of this essay that should be written in first person
 Can include information about why the topic is important to you or what
personal experiences have shaped your view on it
 Must include several qualifications that make you specifically a good candidate
to conduct the research, such as:
 Your major or field of study at FIU (if related to the topic)
 Classes you may have taken at FIU (and possibly high school) that helped
prepare you to do this research
 Scholastic achievements or awards you might have received in the past (such as
high GPA, citizenship awards, or academic contests)
 Service work, jobs, or even club activities in related fields
 Events in your past that gave your firsthand experiences with the problem and
can be used to establish ethos
(Keep in mind that although we wish to avoid hyperbole, you should present
yourself in the most favorable way possible here)
Example Statement of Qualification
“I am qualified to pursue this research for several reasons. I
am academically qualified to pursue this research based on my
performance and excellence in biology and chemistry in high
school. Not only did I receive in A in both AP Biology and AP
Chemistry, I received a 5 on their respective AP exams. I am
qualified because I am also very interested in studying stem cells
in the future. I am currently majoring biomedical engineering
which is one of the major professions involved in stem cell
research. This topic also has connections to me on a personal
level. All of my grandparents have been diagnosed with diabetes,
so I will most likely get diabetes. I have also been very close to
getting skin cancer. It would benefit my family and me greatly if
stem cell research were able to find a way to cure many diseases.”
Example Statement of Qualification
“First and foremost, my identity as a woman not only brings
first-hand experience into the study, but it also drives my
ambition to create change in our current cultural climate and to
examine constitutional alternatives outside of censorship
approaches that feminists have traditionally tried. As a Women’s
Studies major, I also possess the background knowledge on
misogynistic culture and actions, as well as critical thinking
skills. This means that I not only have the skills to identify
harmful depictions within media and the implications that they
hold for women, but I also mentally possess the tools needed to
brainstorm viable tactics that will eradicate misogyny within
American culture, which will, in turn, cut down on violent media
depictions and the rape supportive attitudes that they cultivate.”
Journal Entry 20
 Focus: Research Qualifications/SoQ Brainstorm
 Take a few minutes to brainstorm about your relationship to the
topic you have chosen for your research proposal. Specifically,
consider how it relates to your major, education, and personal
experiences. Which of these make you uniquely qualified to
conduct this research?
 In what areas of your life have you excelled (academics, sports,
community work, hobbies, etc)? How might one of these areas aid
your credibility or be related to your research topic?
 What first interested you in this topic? How have your personal
experiences shaped your understanding/view on the topic?
 Have you received any awards or acknowledgements either
academically or related to the field of your topic?
 Most importantly, why are you more qualified than someone else to
research this topic?
APA Introduction
 What does APA stand for?
 What are APA style research papers used for?
 How might these differences affect the type of
information included in APA citations?
APA Overview
 Cover page
 Running Header of shortened research title (this will be different on the first
page)




Abstract on separate page from everything else
All subsequent sections put together
Section titles bolded and centered
First paragraph of each section not indented (but subsequent paragraphs
indented normally)
 References page with all secondary sources used
 Appendix detailing your research method (questions for interviews or surveys.
Nothing needed for observations)
 Check Purdue OWL’s APA style guide for specific formatting:
Purdue OWL APA Style Guide
APA In-Text Citations
 Basic format:
 (Author’s last name, year of publication, p. page
number)
 Ex: (Anderson, 2013, p. 258)
 Page number can be omitted for online sources and for
summaries or paraphrase (you are still encouraged to
put the page number whenever possible)
 As with MLA, if the author is unavailable, you may use
the first word or two of the title instead
 Unlike the title of your own essay, every word that is
more than four letters long should be capitalized
APA Reference Page
 Begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page
"References" centered at the top of the page (do NOT bold, underline,
or use quotation marks for the title).
 Use a hanging indent like MLA format
 Example academic article:

Hyun Lim, J., Christianson, K. (2013). Second language sentence
processing in reading for comprehension and translation. Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 16.(3), 518-537. Retrieved from doi:
10.1017/S1366728912000351.
 Example book:
 Delfitto, D. (2005). Adverb classes and adverb placement. In Blackwell
Companion to Syntax (83-120). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
 Example website:
 Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart:
For People Who Make Websites, 149. Retrieved from
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving
Surveys/Questionnaires
Advantages
Disadvantages
 Great method for getting the
 Longer preparation time than
layman’s perspective on an
issue
 Has strongest logos of the
three methods by providing
statistics, graphs,
percentages, etc.
 Easiest citations
 Can reach the largest number
of subjects
other research methods
 You cannot get in-depth
responses or a personal
understanding of most of your
participants
 Extremely sensitive to subject
selection; picking the wrong
subjects will skew your results.
Look for a uniform subject pool
 Interpreting results may require
more math skills than results
from other methods
Survey Requirements
 Survey at least 20 subjects, who should be appropriate
to your inquiry and requirements
 Provide a copy of your survey
 Survey must have at least 10 questions
 Provide a detailed list of the results to your survey
questions (this can be filled out, hard copy surveys or a
print out of your results from qualtrics)
Survey Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Write out your purpose and main research question
Figure out how to reach the respondents you need
(your method of distribution)
Draft potential questions
Test the questions on several people before
widespread distribution. Revise questions that seem
ambiguous or too subjective
Look for connections between answers. This will
often be in the form of a correlation or comparison
Survey Citations
 APA/MLA
 None!
 When referencing the results of your own survey for a
project, you do not need to provide citations for MLA or
APA format
 However, you should explain in your essay some of the
basics of the survey, such as whom you surveyed, how
many people, etc
 If you reference a survey from a past project or essay, even if
it was your own, you should reference that essay or article
regularly
Survey Questions
 These should be predominately determinate questions that can be
answered by entry of a single number or selection of one of several
predetermined multiple choice answers
 You should, again, have 2-3 background questions to better understand
your subjects
 Construction of the survey/questionnaire is important; there is visual
rhetoric involved here.
 Short questionnaires are more likely to be finished. Many respondents
will have limited attention spans or interest
 Ordering and layout of questions is important; don’t give away the
purpose of your experiment
 Avoid any and all ambiguity in your question wording; you do not have
the opportunity to explain a question as you might in an interview
 You may want one or two short answer questions, but limit these. Keep
in mind you will not be able to easily use them for data tables or
statistics
Group Activity: Surveys
 In your unit 2 groups
 Select a topic from your group members that might use
surveys as a research method
 Develop 5 survey questions you could use for this
topic. Focus on important questions rather than
background questions for this activity
 Be sure to include what answer options, usually in
multiple choice, that you will provide with the
questions
 Finally, in a couple sentences, describe what
connections between questions you will be looking for
Group Activity: Final Debate
Planning
 In your unit 2 groups
 Answer the questions below to make sure you are fully prepared for the debates
(starting Tuesday). It may also be helpful to share the contact information of
everyone in the groups.
1.
What are three speaking points that you will share with your opposing
groups? (Answer this first on a separate sheet of paper and submit it as soon
as possible)
2.
What speaking point will each person utilize (there should be one for each
group member, possibly two if you know your opponents have more group
members)? What rhetorical appeal(s) will be involved in each?
3.
Who will be the backup speaker for each speaking point? (Have one other
student familiar with the basic argument in case someone is absent during
the actual debate)
4.
What will your opening strategy (for pro groups) or closing strategy (for con
groups) be? Who will be making the opening or closing remarks?
5.
How will you attempt to counter your opponents shared speaking points?
Homework
 Read EW p.203-206
 Journal Entry 21
 Focus: RP Source Evaluation 3
 Find the third source you will be using for your research proposal (a
peer reviewed article)
 Read and analyze the third source you will be using for your Research
Proposal. Sum up the argument it makes in the journal entry as well as
the most important or convincing facts in the article. Then reflect on
how that article has changed your perspective.
 General suggestion: focus on logos for all RP source evaluations
 Minor Essay 2: Short Proposal (due Tuesday 3/3)
 In a single page, typed, double spaced, APA essay
 Identify your research question, hypothesis, selected research method,
and why your research is important
 Including all required information in the clearest way possible is more
important than artful prose here.