Week 7 adv workshop

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R8360 Final Project: Building a Qualitative Research Plan

The purpose of the final project is to develop knowledge and practice skills that will prepare you for developing a qualitati ve dissertation proposal. In fact, most of

the assignments closely parallel the requirements for a qualitative research proposal as described in the Qualitative Checklist. This process is a hands-on

opportunity to develop an idea of interest or passion into a research plan. This includes intensive work on the alignment of your problem statement, purpose

statement and research question with a qualitative approach; developing an interview guide; practice conducting an interview; and preparing and analyzing data.

At the end of this assignment, you will also be asked to reflect on what you’ve learned, and what you make carry forward with you to the dissertation.

Beginning in Week 5 and extending through the rest of the course, you will work on the components that constitute your Final Project. The Final Project will be

produced in a stepwise fashion, and each week you will be working on a new step. You’ll receive feedback from your classmates and instructor on each step that

you will incorporate into the final document.

Be sure to watch the Final Project Guidelines video included in this week’s Media Resources in preparation for Final Project Step I.

The Final Project is comprised of the following six steps. These are presented in the video, and the instructions for each step are described in detail in the week

each occurs. Use this list and the table to plan your time, and anticipate the due dates for each component and the final project.

Step I: Revising the Problem/Purpose Statement and Choosing the Approach (Week 5)

Step II: Developing an Interview Guide, Invitation and Data Collection Protocol (Weeks 6 and 7)

Step III: Conduct the Interviews, take notes and Journal (Week 8)

Step IV: Transcribe and Organize data and peer debrief (Week 9)

Step V: Considerations for Qualitative Analysis: Analysis Plan, Coding Strategies, Software Choices (Week 10)

Step VI: Research Trustworthiness, Reflection, Final Submission (Week 11)

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Step

Assignment

Start (development & 1st

submission)

Revise based on feedback

and submit to Instructor by

Final

I Revise the problem statement, purpose

statement, research question.

Week 1 Discussion & Workshop Week 5, Day 6

I Choose and justify the choice of approach. Week 2 Discussion & Assignment

Week 3 Discussion & Assignment

Week 4 Workshop & Assignment

Week 5, Day 6

II

Develop the interview Guide

Week 6 Workshop & Journal

Week 6, Day 7

II Revise the interview guide, develop the

invitation and data collection protocol

Week 7 Workshop, Journal, & Assignment 2 Week 7, Day 7

III

Conduct the Interview, take notes & journal

Week 8 Workshop & Journal

NA

IV

Transcribe and organize data

Week 9 Workshop & Assignment

NA

IV Peer debrief Week 9 Workshop & Assignment;

Week 10 Workshop

NA

V

Analysis Plan

Week 10 Workshop & Assignment 1 & 2

Week 10

V

Develop codes & categories

Week 10 Workshop & Assignment 1 & 2

Week 10

V Compare hand-coding with QDA software

considerations

Week 10 Assignment 1 & 2 Week 10

VI

Research quality

Week 11 Workshop

Week 11

VI

Reflection

Week 11 Journal

Week 11

VI Final Project Week 11 Assignment

Week 11

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Once you’ve assembled all of the pieces of your Final Project, use the template located in the course resources to organize and submit. The template has the

correct headings, sub-headings and page numbers to properly organize your work. And, this is practice for using templates required in the Dissertation process.

Your work will not be accepted unless it uses the template, and you will lose points for late submission.

Below is the outline you can follow to make sure you have correctly included

all of the materials needed for the final project.

I. Abstract Title page

II. Abstract (see instructions in template for what should be included)

III. Title Page

IV. Table of Contents

V. Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study

a. Background

i. Summarize literature from your prospectus, annotated

bibliography and articles you found in this course that points to

a gap in the research that is worthy of further study

b. Research Problem

i. State the research problem in terms of the gap in the research

literature

ii. Frame the problem in terms of how further research could be of

benefit

c. Purpose Statement

i. Use the template to present your statement that includes

1. Target group/individual/organization/event of interest

2. Phenomenon of interest

3. Terminology that indicates the approach to be used

d. Research Questions

e. Conceptual or Theoretical Framework

i. Present the framework that you have revised from your

prospectus

VI. Chapter 2: Research Plan

a. Research Design: Choice of Approach

i. Describe the Phenomenon of Interest

ii. Description of Approach

iii. Rationale for Chosen Approach

b. Role of the Researcher

i. Reveal any personal and professional relationships you have

with the participants

ii. State how biases will be managed

c. Participant Selection

i. Describe the target group of interest

ii. Describe the sampling strategy and ideal sample size (if you

were to conduct this as a real study)

iii. Describe the criterion for sample selection (if you were to

conduct this as a real study)

iv. Describe how participants were be contacted and invited for

this effort

d. Instrumentation

i. The Interview Guide

1. Describe the basis for development (literature, theory,

personal experience) of the interview questions)

2. Describe efforts to insure content validity and credibility

ii. Describe other data sources (e.g., journal, notes, video)

1. Describe how and how

e. Procedures for Data Collection

i. Please include a narrative of

1. Where/how the data were collected

2. Duration of data collection events

3. How data were recorded

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4. How the participants were debriefed

5. Ethical procedures to protect the participants during the

recruiting, data collection and debriefing process.

f. Data Analysis Plan

i. Repeat the purpose and research question

ii. Describe the plan that best fits the chosen approach

iii. Describe examples of codes and categories you developed

iv. Describe considerations for choosing QDA software

g. Issues of Trustworthiness

i. For each dimension of trustworthiness describe (a) what you did

[if anything]; and (b) what other strategies could be considered if

this was your dissertation

ii. Credibility

iii. Transferability

iv. Dependability

v. Confirmability

VII. Chapter 3: Summary and Reflections

a. Introduction

i. Restate research purpose and question

b. Reflection on Social Change

i. Discuss the relevance of your proposed research to Walden’s

mission of social change

c. Reflection on Course Learning

i. Reflect on what was learned about conducting qualitative

research

d. Next Steps

i. Consider your next steps in preparation for the dissertation

VIII. References