The Purpose Statement Study Guide writing assistance or homework assistance

1. The purpose statement. Take your cues from our textbook about how a purpose statement is to be written. Phrase it like the examples given. Keep it concise. If your statement is several sentences long, chances are you are not yet sure what the purpose is. A clear purpose can be expressed in one sentence, with a second sentence for the problem. After you post your own statement (I will return your topic ideas forthwith), you provide feedback for your classmates on their statements. In writing your topic statement, be blunt and direct: "The purpose of my research is to investigate/find out/test (or another verb) ...." Bam. One and done. If you go beyond two sentences, you have too much. 

2. The second part is your revised and extended topic discussion. As mentioned, follow the steps shown on pp. 38-39. Answer the prompts in order, no more than one short paragraph (4-6 lines) per prompt. (An entire paragraph is not required; if you can say what you want to say in one sentence, that is great. The more concise, the better. If your answer is more than six lines long, you have too much.)

1. Note the difference between "basic research" and "applied research" on p. 30.

2. Look at the situations of what research is not. Yes indeed, many beginning researchers fall into these traps.

3. The purpose statement is indeed very straightforward: "The purpose of this research is to ..." Clarity, precision, and completeness are key. Read all those sections.

4. Problem statements tend to cause, well, problems for new researchers. A problem must be clearly stated. A problem is the negative consequence of an action (or inaction) as in, "If we do not perform Action A, we will have to deal with negative consequence B." A problem must be tangible, that is, it must have real repercussions for people. In addition, please memorize the following sentence. Print it, frame it, and put it on your office wall: "Not knowing something is never in itself a problem." It may contribute to the problem or lead to consequences, but it is not the problem itself. 

5. Read p. 40 on sub-problems.

6. Read p. 44 on theoretical vs. conceptual frameworks. Be aware that there is a difference. Don't try to understand everything. Even experienced scholars have trouble keeping the two apart. If you attend professional conferences, you will often see presentations on conceptual vs. theoretical frameworks. At this point, it is sufficient for you to know that there is a difference.

7. Read pp. 45-48 about hypotheses. As in #6, be aware of what independent and dependent variables are, but there is no need to understand everything. The example on blood pressure on p. 47 illustrates the difference well. Know what mediating and moderating variables are; no need to understand everything fully as this point. 

8. Read pp. 50-51. This section is quite clear.

9. Look over the lists on pp. 52-54 and pp. 55-56. Again, no need to memorize. Instead, mark them as a crucial reference for later. 

10. The PPT slide deck and the website extend our textbook discussion and offer a different viewpoint and a shortened overview of this material. Looking at the slides is not a substitute for reading the textbook.