Part 1: Research Design Justification (1,500 words): Research design refers to how your research study will be conducted and the reasons for your choice of approach (service evaluation, research, or quality improvement). What is a research design
Part 1: Research Design Justification (1,500 words): Research design refers to how your research study will be conducted and the reasons for your choice of approach (service evaluation, research, or quality improvement). What is a research design justification & proposal? This assignment is in two parts. The first part sets out a justification for the approach (service evaluation, research, or quality improvement) you would use on the topic or area that you would like to investigate. The second part requires you to write a fill research proposal on a topic of your own choice. It should be written to convince the reader that the research is important, doable and that you have thought it out sufficiently for it to be successful. For your assignment, it is important to note that for this module you will not actually be doing the research study but writing on how you would propose to do the study.
Sections Your assignment should contain the following sections:
Part 1: Research Design Justification (1,500 words): Research design refers to how your research study will be conducted and the reasons for your choice of approach (service evaluation, research, or quality improvement). You should identity the nature of the approach you have chosen – (service evaluation, research, or quality improvement) - and justify why you have selected this for the proposed study. Enough detail must be presented so that the reader can determine the adequacy of the approach. Your proposed study must be central to the discussion with the literature offering support to your proposed choice.
Part 2: Research proposal (4,500 words): You are required to write a full research proposal on a topic of your own choice. The following headings must be addressed:
1.Introduction/Background: This section should introduce the topic, provide justification, and place it in a broad context by reporting how it fits in with relevant work in the field, gradually narrowing down to a research problem. You are required to show evidence of a range of international, national, and regional studies. You should use the reviewed studies to support what you want to say about your proposed study. It should state if the focus is service evaluation, research, or practice development. This section should be as concise as possible
Proposal Question: You will need to select a question on which to base your proposal. You may already have an idea of an area that you would like to investigate. Alternatively, it can help to think about what you are interested in finding out about, maybe from personal experience or a current topical news or social issue.
Study Aims and Objectives: Aims and objectives of the proposed study should be clearly stated and should give an indication of the expected outcomes of the research study. They must be realistic and achievable within the period of the proposed study.
2.Methodology: The following sub-headings should be included in this section:
Research Design - Research design refers to how your research study will be conducted and the reasons for your choice of study methodology. You should identify the associated paradigm, the nature of the research approach you have chosen and justify and critique why you have selected this research design (qualitative or quantitative) for the proposed study. Enough detail must be presented so that the reader can determine the adequacy of the design. However, it is important to remember that your proposal is not a theory paper on research methods. Your proposed study must be central to the discussion with the research literature offering support to your proposed choice.
Methods of data collection - You are required to describe and justify the method of data collection that you will use in the proposed study and why it is appropriate for the approach and study. You should also indicate how, when and where the data will be collected. Other important issues relating to data collection should also be included in this section such as details about the tools (questionnaires, interview/focus group schedules) that you may use in the proposed study. These tools should be included in your appendices. You should also include details of your pilot study. Additionally, some details about recording of data should be included.
Sampling - You will need to provide details of and justification for your choice of sampling technique and sample size, as well as details about who the participants will be. Inclusion and exclusion criteria must be stated along with the rationale for these decisions
Data analysis - You are required to describe and justify the methods of data analysis for your proposed study. If quantitative data are to be collected and analysed you must indicate the specific parametric and non-parametric equivalent statistical tests that will be used together with the variables to be used in each test, and the statistical package that will be used (i.e., SPSS Version 23). If your proposed study is qualitative, you must provide clear guidelines as to how the data will be analysed, identifying the data analysis software/ model/framework of data analysis that you will utilise (e.g., Newell & Burnard’s Model of Content Analysis (2006).
Robustness of data collection methods -You are required to discuss the reliability, validity and generalisability of any measurement tools to be employed in a quantitative study. For qualitative studies, you are required to discuss the robustness of the study (i.e. Trustworthiness
- dependability, transferability- credibility and confirmability
Ethical & Data Management Considerations: For your approach consider the ethical issues and the data management issues relevant to your proposed study. You should provide a detailed discussion exploring any relevant ethical issues pertaining to your proposed study (protection of participants’ safety, confidentiality etc.) and how these will be addressed. It may be useful to read the guidelines as identified by ORECNI (www.orenci.org.uk) and on the UU Research Governance website.
Dissemination: You are required to describe how you will disseminate the findings of your proposed study to a variety of audiences.
User Involvement: You should describe how you will facilitate user involvement in your proposed study (if this is appropriate). User involvement refers to "An active partnership between the public and researchers in the research process, rather than the use of people as the subjects of research. Active involvement may take the form of consultation, collaboration, or user control. Many people define public involvement in research as doing research with or by the public, rather than to, about or for the public” (INVOLVE 2004)
Anticipated Research Impact: In this section, you should detail what you think the impact of your study findings might be. For example, the findings of a study could lead to a change in practice, education, or policy. You should be realistic about the outcomes from the study.
Timeframe: You are required to prepare a detailed time frame for the proposed study. This can be presented as a Gantt chart or a list of time periods. The timeframe should detail all aspects and stages of the proposed research study from the beginning to the end of the study and should be as realistic as possible.
3.Appendices: You are required to include a Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form (if applicable) for your proposed study in the appendices. These documents are not included in the word count for the assignment. For guidance, you may want to explore the University of Ulster guidance at http://research.ulster.ac.uk/rg/forms/RG1a%20Guidance.pdf. You should also include any tools that you would propose to use in the study within the appendices, for example, an interview or focus group schedule or a questionnaire.
