Application of Research methods

****Please do NOT submit this outline as your Unit 9 Assignment, instead make sure to submit formal paper in paragraph form.

****Please use to help organize and address all requirements in paper

(Content: Minimum Total of 3 pages without title and reference pages)

Title Page (use APA template under Doc Sharing to help format paper, not counted towards minimum length requirement)

Title of Paper

Your Name

Kaplan University

Class and Section

Introduction

Give a general background of what your paper will be about (Discuss your research topic of interest) *you can also restate your research question and hypothesis from template part of the assignment*

Include thesis statement (purpose of your paper or what you will be discussing, should encompass all parts included in paper) at end of introduction in one sentence

*** Sometimes it may help to write other parts of the paper and then go back and write an introductory paragraph.

Body Paragraphs

Methods

What research design (this should be one from the template, either single case, observation, survey, quasi-experimental or single factor experimental) was chosen and why?

Who are the participants (e.g. demographics)? How will they be recruited or enrolled? What will they do in the study? What instructions will be given to them?

How are participants sampled and assigned? What are your independent variable and dependent variables? What is your control and experimental groups (if choosing single factor experiment or quasi-experiment)? Provide operational definitions of independent variables?

What instruments will you need to use (i.e. survey, questionnaire, observation, interview, assessment, etc.) *will depend on type of research design chosen

How will you collect the data? How will it be analyzed?

Discussion

1. Clearly state whether your hypothesis was confirmed or disconfirmed

2. Discuss the results that confirm or disconfirm hypothesis (*you are making up results as if you actually conducted the study)

3. What limitations are there in your study? (i.e. internal validity issues, external validity issues, bias, missing data, reactivity, issues with instrumentation, not enough participants in sample, sample that is not representative of larger population, etc.) *review limitations we discussed with each research method---remember there will always be limitations with every research study*

4. How can these limitations be overcome?

5. What future studies could be conducted on your topic? (*this could be one way to overcome the limitations to conduct further studies, using perhaps a different research design)

6. How can professionals use the results of your study?

Conclusion

General statement to wrap up your paper based on what you have discussed. Sum up with three or four strong sentences that review the main points

Restate your thesis statement (being careful not to restate exactly)

Reference List (separate page at the end, not counted towards minimum length requirements)

Minimum of eBook and 1 credible outside source cited in proper APA, any additional sources used should also be cited

Please make sure to cite sources throughout your paper as in-text citations (author, publication year). All sources should be cited in-text at least once if not more.

Please use either resources in KU Writing Center or APA Quick Tips from KU Writing Center to help you with proper APA citations.

To view the recorded workshop on APA Quick Tips, please click this link: http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p8gjn8kh775/

I suggest visiting this site. It will help you structure your paper using the headings as subtopics. It is a great way to be sure that you are covering all of the material.