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Molly Duggan




HIED 866

CCL 824

HIED 745/845

CCL 826




COUN635


Individual Research Proposal

Assessment Rubric

Students will design and present both orally and in writing an individual research or program evaluation project. This assignment will be completed in stages with students completing and gaining approval of the various stages of the project as the semester progresses. Proposal stages include such assignments as the selection of the topic, statement of goals and objectives, research questions, literature review, methodology, and references. While these assignments will become part of the proposal, they are not the only components in the proposal. Students need to review APA and the Individual Research Proposal Assessment Rubric for specific details.

NOTE: This is a research proposal, not an actual study.Your assignment is to plan how you would do your research and prepare a proposal.You will not be conducting a research study.

Due Date  Assignment  Explanation
Week 2 Selection of the topic

Choose your topic based on what interests you and what might help you obtain the job of your dreams after graduation. For example, if you hope to work at a community college, chose a problem that pertains to the community college. If you plan to work in a high school setting as a counselor, choose a problem that pertains to high school students. As you are trying to choose a topic, you will need to do some reading the in the various areas that interest you. Start reading / pondering the first day of class – do not wait until the night before the topic is due. Remember, the topic you choose now is the one that you will use for the entire research project, so be sure that the topic both interests you and will be useful to you professionally.

Submit a one-paragraph description of your topic,  your rationale for choosing this topic, and a reference list of articles that you read to help you choose this topic via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu . You will receive a written response to your email with suggestions, comments, and approval/denial. Students will also be expected to share their topics in class on that day. 

This will not become an actual component of your Individual Research Project (IRP).

Week 3 Statement of goals and objectives

 Review page 16  and chapter 2 of text.

What are the goals of your research? What objectives do you expect your research to meet?  A goal answers the questions: What is the purpose in this research? What do I want this research to do? Objectives answer the questions: How will this be accomplished? What will I do to meet the goal(s) of the research?

Keep in mind the significance of your research as you craft your goals and objectives. This assignment will eventually evolve into narrative form as the introduction for your IRP.

Submit a list of your goals and objectives via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments. Students will also be expected to briefly share their goals and objectives in class on that day.

Week 5 Literature review

 Review page 16 and chapter 3 of text.

The literature review should reflect the following: (a) knowledge of the relationship between research and counseling/higher ed; (b) the ability to assess, plan, and reflect upon research in your area of interest; (c) knowledge of sources of research findings in your area of interest; and (d) the ability to develop a significance for the research.

How many journal articles do you need? As many as it takes to provide a comprehensive review that meets the afore-mentioned criteria.

Submit your Literature Review in APA 5th edition format via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments. Students will also be expected to briefly share their reviews in class on that day.

Week 6 Research Question(s),  Hypothesis(es), Variables, & Operationalized Definitions

 Review page 16 and chapter 2 of your text carefully.

Once you have identified a particular problem and have reviewed the literature on the problem, you will need to develop your Research Question(s) and / or Hypothesis(es) along with your list of Operationalized Definitions.

Research Questions guide the study; they need to be at an appropriate level of specificity and researchable (see pp. 36-40). Hypotheses are the researcher's prediction of what the results will demonstrate.They may be inductive or deductive as well as research or statistical (see pp. 40-45).

 Qualitative Research Statements and Questions identify the central phenomenon (see pp. 45-47).

Variables can be independent or dependent, extraneous or confounding, and continuous or categorical (see pp. 34-36). Identify and categorize the variables in your IRP.

Operationalized Definitions (see pp. 32-33) are precise definitions of the variables addressed in the study. These definitions define the concept by how that concept will be evaluated or measured.

For this particular assignment, simply list the aforementioned items and submit them via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments.

Week 8 Sampling

Review page 16 and chapter 5 in text. Review pp 18-19 in APA.

Describe your sampling procedures, including a demographical description of your sample, how you plan to select this sample and assign the sample to the various conditions.

Create an informed consent sheet for inclusion in the Appendix.

Submit your Sampling procedures and your sample informed consent in APA 5th edition format via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments. 

Week 9 Methodology  Review pp 17-20 in APA and appropriate chapters in text.

This section describes in detail exactly how the study will be conducted.This section needs to be so complete that the reader can replicate this study from reading this passage. This includes (a) the sampling information submitted previously (subjects or participants - (number, description / background, selection strategies), measures (appropriateness, description, reliability, and validity), materials or apparatus (appropriateness or description, protection of subjects, participants), data analysis (appropriate procedures, alignment with research questions / hypotheses, inclusion of all measured variables, operationalized definitions), and limitations of the study (internal validity, external validity). Includes citations.

This assignment also includes the creation of any surveys, questionnaires, interview questions with protocol, and focus/group questions with protocol.

Submit your Methodology in APA 5th edition format  and copies of any surveys, questionnaires, interview questions with protocol, and focus group questions with protocol via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments.
Week 10 Statistics  Review sections on research design in your text, including chapter 10.

What types of statistics (description or inferential) will you use in your study? Be sure that your statistics match up with the type of study you have chosen (i.e., if you have chosen to do a correlational study, be sure that you choose statistics for a correlational study). Include a brief explanation of why you have chosen certain statistics.

Submit your Statistics section in APA 5th edition format via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments.
Week 12

Group Review of Projects

 

References

Students are to bring one clean copy of the complete IRP in APA 5th edition format to class for Peer Review.  Copies of the Peer Review Assessment Rubric will be distributed in class.

Submit your References section in APA 5th edition via email by noon of this class date to mduggan@odu.edu. You will receive a written response to your email with comments.

 Week 13  Individual Conference

 Your opportunity to meet with me individually to discuss your research proposal and your poster presentation.

 

Weeks 14-16 Completed project

Students will sign up for one of these class days during which they will submit their Individual Research Proposals and do a Poster Presentation of their Proposals. Six or seven students will present during each class.

I need an electronic copy of your research proposal in my e-mail box  mduggan@odu.edu  by 4 pm on the day it is due. Please bring a hard copy with you to class to accompany your Poster Presentation.