Social Media

RESEARCH PROPOSAL OUTLINE

1. INTRODUCTION
a. Statement of the Problem
An overview of the issue under discussion. When stating the problem include statistics to show why we should pay attention to the issue (Why should we care?). You also give a summary of what researchers have found with regards to your research question.
b. Thesis or argument.
What gap is your research filling. Drawing from the summary above, what have the researchers failed to consider. How are you going to fill this gap? For example, in the paper I shared with you in class, I summarized the research on black women’s health (my research topic). I indicated that two aspects of intersectionality had been examined class and gender, however rurality had not been explored. In this regard, my research was filling this gap, making the case that while for black women’s health issues the intersections of race, class and gender have been examined, the spatial aspect, in this case rurality had been ignored. In (a) above you show what the research on your topic has found so far; b) you show what the research in (a) has not done and then you show how you will fill this gap.
c. Theoretical perspective
What theory are you using for your study? Your theory shows the assumptions informing your research question. Your theory can also form the basis of your argument or thesis in (b) above. The theoretical perspective or theory guides the research and influences the hypotheses and methods. The theory guides the focus of your study. The theory is first mentioned in the introduction. My research will be informed by theory A because…. A more detailed account of the theory is revisited in the literature review.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The main aim of the literature review is for you to use current research with a focus on specific research that directly connects to your research thesis. In the literature review, readers should be able to identify key findings from previous research that support aspects of your research question. If you successfully integrate previous literature, a reader should be able to have a thorough understanding of the topic under study.
In your literature review, each paragraph should have a topic sentence introducing an issue relating to your research argument. This should be followed by the evidence supporting that topic sentence. This evidence is drawn from various articles you are using to support your proposal. In other words, the supporting evidence for the topic sentence in a particular paragraph should include different citations. As you give the evidence, you should also evaluate it showing the important aspects of the evidence that relate to your research argument, but also highlighting the questions the evidence left unanswered and how your study will answer those questions. In essence, throughout your literature review, you continue making a case for your argument or thesis. The literature review, therefore, is not just a summary of the articles supporting your research proposal, but an effort to show that you have carefully read the supporting literature and are able to integrate supporting evidence from various sources.

3. METHODS
The methods section includes a detailed description of the methods of data collection (we will discuss this in more detail starting on Tuesday next week).
a. Conceptualization
In order to discuss the data collection procedures, you have to start with a detailed description of your concepts including a (i) clear definition; (ii) identify variables; (iii) how you will measure your study concepts. These definitions and measures must draw from the literature review in (2) above. This is the exercise you will be working on in your discussion forum this week.
b. Hypotheses: Once you identify your variables in (a) above, you make predictions (based on the literature review) of the relationships between those variables. For example in my research on rurality, based on the literature that shows that people who live in rural areas have poor access to health care, I can make the following prediction: Black women living in rural areas will have worse health outcomes than black women living in urban areas. I can also make the prediction that lower income black women in rural areas, have poorer health outcomes than upper-income black women in rural areas. Notice how my hypotheses reflect my theoretical perspective, intersectionality.