The Research Prospectus by John Latham, Phd - 2106 Words

TH E R ES EARCH PROSPECTUS Getting the DNA of Your Research Design Righ John Latham, PhD Copyright 2005 All Rights Reserved Key Prospectus Components The Research Prospectus 1 TH E R ES EARCH PROSPECTUS Getting the DNA of Your Study Righ John Latham, PhD Copyright 2005 Introduction A research prospectus is a brief overview of the key components of a research study. These components together form the DNA of the research methodology design. The purpose is to build quality into the proposal process by getting this DNA right before launching into developing a full blown proposal. Experience suggests that if the DNA is right, the proposal comes together much easier, is more likely to be in ternally consistent, and requires†¦show more content†¦The typical format for this discussion is a literature review. The literature review outlines, discusses and analyzes the existing research ndings. At this point the prospectus the objective is to simply identify the main contributors to the topic and the key theories that are involved. Keep this very short! Level of Existing Knowledge Based on the literature review determine the current level of empirical knowledge on the topic. The level of knowledge will drive two decisions the applicability of hy potheses and the selection of an overall research approach. Hypothesis? While all research studies have questions all studies do not include hypotheses. The level of existing empirical knowledge will determine whether a hypothesis is appro priate. A hypothesis is not a wild guess it is a logical conclusion based on the previ ous research ndings identi ed in the literature review. A hypothesis is the predicted answer to a research question. The level of existing knowledge and the decision to include or not include hypotheses will drive the appropriate overall research ap proach. The Research Prospectus 4 Overall Research Approach Based on how much we know about the questions and the decision whether to use a hypothesis determine the overall research approach qualitative, quantitative, mixed. Identify the overall approach and the rationale for the approach. The Research Arc: Factors