Qualitative Research Methods Final Paper Assignment Your final paper assignment requires that you write a methods proposal that can answer a research

Qualitative Research Methods

Final Paper Assignment

Your final paper assignment requires that you write a methods proposal that can answer a research question using qualitative methods. It will consist of a short literature review, a lengthier methods proposal, a discussion of the ethical considerations and limitations of your chosen methods, and a brief discussion of expected findings.

Over the course of the semester, you have read and synthesized the previous research about your chosen topic. For your final paper, you will use that literature to develop a proposed research study. Your paper will consist of the elements listed below in the rubric. Your work should reflect graduate-level analysis and writing.

Final Paper Rubric

Title Page                                           5

§  Include an appropriate title, your name, and the date

Abstract                                             10

§  One paragraph (about 200 words) summarizing entire paper on a separate page

Literature Review                             25

§  A synthesis of the literature on your topic (do not simply summarize each article one by one), 4 pages long

§  Must include the use of 10 academic, peer-reviewed journal articles

§  Use APA in-text citations

§  Should have a logical conclusion that summarizes the main lessons drawn from the literature and explains why your proposed study would be beneficial

Methods Proposal                             40

§  Drawing from previous literature, develop a research question that has not yet been sufficiently answered. (~3 pages long)

§  What methods will you choose to answer this question? Be as detailed as possible.

o   What kind of data are you trying to gather? How will you obtain the data? Who are the participants and how will you find them? What kind of sampling will you use?

o   How will you analyze data? How will you organize the data in a way that makes analysis possible? What kind of coding will be done and why?

§  This section should be a detailed overview of your planned study and should contain as much detail as possible.

Ethics and Limitations                     25

§  ~2 pages long

§  What ethical considerations are important to your study? For example, what burden do you place on participants? How would you protect participant identities?

§  What limitations exist based on the methods you have proposed? What kinds of questions can you NOT answer with this study? What limitations might you as a researcher present (e.g., lack of reflexivity)?

Expected Findings                            20

§  This should be a brief conclusion to your paper (about 1 page long) that includes expected findings if you were to conduct the study

§  What could we learn from this data? Why would that be important?

Reference Page                                  10

§  All references cited in the paper should be listed

§  All sources listed here should be cited in paper

§  Must be in APA format

§  Need 10 academic, peer-reviewed journal articles

Appendix                                           15

§  The appendix includes the actual instrument you will use to collect data. This may be a survey, interview guide, focus group guide questionnaire, etc.

§  If you are conducting participant observation, you should detail here what kinds of observations you will be making. How will you know if something is relevant to the study?

§  If you are using secondary data analysis (e.g., content analysis from an existing text), what kinds of codes would you likely use to analyze the data. Be very specific and thorough.

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