outline a potential educational research topic of
interest. This may be the topic that you began exploring in
EDR-8300, or it may be something completely different. You may
even have already started to think of an actual research problem
and research purpose that fall within your topic area, and you can
refer to this as well. The point of this assignment is to explore
qualitative research designs, and link your topic (and research
problem if possible) to a potential research design, and explain the
applicability and relevance of doing so.
This week’s assignment is to develop a white paper that will serve
as an educational tool to engage, inform, and convince your
audience about the significance and applicability of your chosen
research design for a potential study. This week you are provided
with an explanation of the function and structure of a white paper
(Spotlight on Skills).
Remember, alignment among design and methods is a key
consideration in qualitative research. As you will see, the concept
of alignment threads its way throughout the research set-up, to
ensure that all the different components of the study fit together as
an “integrated whole”. In this assignment, you will begin to think
about alignment, and this concept will be more fully explored in
week 5 of this course. However, to be informed while writing this
week’s assignment, please skip ahead and review the material
presented in the introduction to week 5 to learn what is meant by
alignment in qualitative research.
As you prepare for this week’s assignment, also please be sure to
integrate feedback from the EDR-8300 course. The feedback that
you received in that course was intended for ongoing improvement,
and so it will be useful now. Please note, even though you are
recommended to refer back to your work in EDR 8300, you are not
permitted to use the same work in this course, as that would
constitute self-plagiarism. As such, be careful not to simply copy
and paste but rather refer to your instructor’s feedback that was
provided so you can revise your work based on that feedback.
You will accomplish several tasks with this assignment, and your
paper should be structured to include 4 parts:
1. Give some thought to what area is a potential of interest to
you, based on your personal professional experience and the
current research literature. Explain why you are interested in
this topic and/or research problem, how it relates to your field
of practice or career, and how this topic and/or research
problem can be explored by way of qualitative design. (1 page)
2. Select a design that is aligned with the topic and/or research
problem as described above, so that there is a good “fit”
between them. Explain why this design was selected as
appropriate for the topic/research problem, and describe in
detail how you will implement this research design. (1 page)
3. Critique another research design (or designs) that you
considered, and state your argument as to why this other
design (or designs) may not be suitable for researching your
topic and/or research problem. (1/2 page)