Discussion: Research Study Proposal

Discussion: Research Study Proposal

Discussion: Research Study Proposal

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Over the next few weeks, your Individual Assignments will focus on the development of your very own proposal for an original quantitative research project.  This means, you will be reviewing literature on a topic in health care, developing a research question, and considering how you will apply research methodology and statistical analysis to your research question.  You are planning real scientific research study from scratch.

For week 2, you will develop a problem statement as the start of your research proposal.  You will use this problem statement throughout the course in a five-part Research Study Proposal–Part I: Problem Statement assignment.

Identify a research area that interests you. Within that research area, focus on a particular problem.

Begin to review relevant research studies related to the identified problem.

Choose at least 2 peer reviewed articles from the University Library related to your topic and problem area; they should be no more than 5 years old.

Compose a one to three sentence problem statement.  Then, write a 350-word description of the stated problem citing the relevant peer reviewed literature.

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

HCS 542 WEEK 4 Research Study Proposal – Part II: Literature Review Matrix and Research Question

Resource: Ch. 3 of Introduction to Health Research Methods

            And Ch. 3 of Research Techniques for the Health Sciences

Read the document Finding Peer Reviewed Empirical Research Articles

Conduct a literature review that is related to your problem statement from week 2:

• Conduct background reading on your topic.

• Select at least three peer reviewed empirical research articles related to your research question.  The articles should be no more than 10 years old.  They should be actual empirical research articles; not review articles, meta-analyses, presentation abstracts, book reviews, letters to the editor, etc.

Complete the matrix using the three empirical research articles that best support your research question.  Use a matrix to describe the three articles with the following columns:

• In-text citation for each article in first column
• Study design type and description (how the design is applied in this study)
• Sample(s) size and description (including pertinent demographics, and any comparison groups)
• Pertinent measurements being made, and how
• Key findings
• Strengths of the study methods (e.g., the design, the sample, the measurements, the analyses used)
• Weaknesses of the study methods (e.g., the design, the sample, the measurements, the analyses used)

In the last two rows of the matrix, provide a brief summary/synthesis of each of these columns that addresses:

• How are the studies as a group demonstrating each heading? 
• What holes are there that need to be filled in future research?

Create and present a single-sentence research question that is based on these research needs addressed in your last row.  The research question needs to:

1. Ask about the relationship between at least two measurable variables relevant to your research problem and the literature review.
2. Specify the population(s) you want to study these variables in.

Provide a reference page for your sources, including the articles, according to APA format.

The entire assignment should be 1000-1500 words.

Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

HCS 542 WEEK 5 Research Study Proposal–Part III: Methodology Outline

In this week’s individual assignment, we consider the method section of our research proposal.  This week, we focus on our sample of participants and what we’ll ask them to do, as well as what specific data we’ll collect and how we plan to analyze it.  It can be helpful to read the Method sections of some of the empirical articles you’ve read for class to give you an idea of what this might look like.

Research Study Proposal – Part III: Methodology Outline Instructions:

Select the population, sample size, and data collection methods appropriate for your problem statement and research question.

Develop an outline describing each of the following:

• Your identified target population;
• Your specific sample of participants:
  • What/who will comprise your sample(s)?
  • How you will find and recruit them?
  • How large will your sample(s) be?
  • What is your rationale for these decisions, including method for determining your sample size?
• Method for getting the data from the sample:
  • What general process will you use to collect the data? (e.g., Where will you collect it?  Who will collect it?  etc.  What is the process you and the participant will go through so you can get the data, in other words?)
  • What specific variables and/or comparison groups you will be studying, and how specifically will you measure those variables?
    • What instruments or measurements will you use to get the data?
    • What specific questions will you ask your participants, if you are using a survey or questionnaire?
    • How did you decide on these particular instruments and questions?
• Ethical Considerations
• Plan for data analysis:
  • What descriptive and inferential statistics you will gather and calculate with regard to the data?
  • What is your rationale for choosing each of these different statistics to look at?

Include the rationales for the various methods and decisions you are using/making, throughout.

Provide citations/references as appropriate to support your ideas, rationales and decisions.

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HCS 542 WEEK 5 Research Study Proposal–Part III: Methodology Outline