June 19, 2013

Proposal: An overall Plan Design to obtain answer to the research questions or problems Outline the various tasks you plan to undertake to fulfill your research objectives

Function To detail the operational plan for obtaining answers to your research questions. In doing so it ensures and reassures the reader of the validity of the methodology for obtaining answers to your research questions accurately and objectively

A research proposal must tell: What you are proposing to do How you plan to find answers to what you are proposing Why you selected the proposed strategies of investigation

Contents 1. Introduction – including a brief literature review Broader perspective 2. The problem Issues relating to central theme Gaps in the existing body of knowledge/unanswered questions Main questions that are being answered through proposed study Identify what knowledge is available/difference of opinion Rational that how your study will fill the identified gaps 3. Objectives/research questions of your study 1. Statement of main and sub-objectives

Contents 4. Hypothesis to be tested (if applicable) What you are going to test Use correct wordings 5. Proposed study design Study design used to answer your research questions Case study/descriptive/cross-sectional/etc. Identify the strength and weaknesses of study design Details about logistical procedures Details about population/sample/data collection methods/etc. 6. Setting for your study Brief description of organization, agency or community where study will be conducted (services, administrative structure, community size and social profile, issues relevant to your study, etc.) Salient features of study population

Contents 7. Measurement Procedures Details regarding operationalizing of major variables Discussion of instrument (including justification, strengths and weaknesses) Outline major segments of research tool and their relevance to main study objectives Evidence of reliability and validity Attach a copy of research instrument 8. Sampling Size of sampling population (if known with source) Sample size with justification Explanation of sample design (simple random sampling/stratified random sampling/others) 9. Ethical issues Identify relevant ethical issues propose ways to deal with them

Contents 10. Analysis of Data Data processing procedures Specify proposed strategy for data analysis 11. Structure of the report Proposed chapters of the study (in light of your objectives) 12. Problem and limitations Problems – refer to difficulties relating to logistical details Limitations – designate structural problems relating to methodological aspects of the study Anticipated problems (availability of data, securing permission from the agency to carry out study, obtaining sample, others) Due to limited resources– sometimes you do less than an ideal job – but – be aware and communicate – any limitations that could affect the validity of your conclusions Limitation of the study design, sampling or measurement procedures

Contents 13. Appendix Attach research instrument List of references??? 14. Work schedule Proposed time-frame for the project Keep sometime towards end as a cushion in case of any unforeseen hurdles 15. References and bibliography

References to the literature No separate section for ‘literature review’ References to the literature should be included in all sections Literature on issues pertaining to research design under ‘study design’ Literature relating to sampling under ‘sampling’ Literature pertaining to research instrument under ‘measurement procedures’ and so on

Planned study: relationship between academic achievement and social environment

Introduction may include Role of education in our society Major changes in the philosophy of education over time Factors affecting attitudes towards education Development of education in Pakistan Role of parents and peers in academic achievements Impact of social environment on academic achievement Etc.

The problem What theories have been developed to explain the relationship between academic achievement and social environment? Theoretical models will be basis of your study? What do previous studies have to say?

Objectives

Hypothesis

Study Design

Sampling

Analysis of data

Structure of report It is proposed that the report will be divided into the following chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Study population Chapter 3: Extent of parental involvement and academic achievement Chapter 4: Academic achievement and student attitudes towards teachers Summary, conclusions and recommendations

Work schedule

Data processing Once data/information have been collected the next step is to process the data How do you make sense of the information collected? How can you use this information to find answers to your research questions? How the information be analyzed to achieve the objectives of your study?

Editing Raw data (or simply data) ---- to clean data (free from inconsistencies and incompleteness) Research Instrument: Identify and minimize, as far as possible, errors, incompleteness, misclassification and gaps in the information obtained from respondents Possible errors: Forget to ask a question Forget to record a response Wrongly classify a response Write incomplete response Write illegibly

Coding After data cleaning, next step id data coding It is the process of transforming the information into numerical values Depends on measurement scales used for measuring a variable how the findings need to be communicated For coding quantitative and qualitative data: Step I: Developing a code book Step II: Pre-testing the code book Step III coding the data Step IV: verifying the coded data

Developing a code book Code book: provides set of rules for assigning numerical values to answers obtained from respondents See example in the text book

Analysis A frame of analysis should consist of: Which variables you are planning to analyze? How to analyze? What statistical procedures suite to the selected variables? Cross tabulation of variables Etc.

Role of Statistics in Research Simple tasks of statistics may include: Data summarization (percentages, mean, mode, variance, etc.) Statistics can play a major role in answering research question with a level of confidence on findings May assess the contribution of each variable in bringing out change Measure the association, relationship or independence between various variables Ascertain strength of these relationships (correlation coefficients) Make predictions by establishing trends (trend analyses) and developing models (regressions models)