Research propoeal
Order Description
Research proposal
(If you are undertaking a research project you may submit a research proposal).
Please choose any topic of Education that you see it is a suitable to conduct it in ethnographic methods and that you can do it very well (For PHD level).
PLEASE send the topic to me before working on it.
The proposal needs to include the following:
— Background and significance
— Research aims and questions
— Theoretical framework
— Methodological issues and methods, including your positionality as a researcher
— How do you envisage undertaking your analysis?
— What form of representation might you use in your thesis? And why would you use this form?
Here some further advice from my course convenor:
Background is intended to bring the reader into an understanding of your topic. It should address issues such as why what you are proposing is relevant to the domain/field. How what you are proposing fills a gap in the literature. How you are ‘qualified’ to undertake the research in the sense of how we discussed the issue in class. Background should of course, as with other aspects of the proposal, include some relevant references which help situate your research while building confidence in what you are proposing. Significance should not be trivial. Rather you should address how what you propose will contribute to new knowledge that is appropriate and relevant to the domain/field with which the knowledge is identified. This is a matter of value. What would the field be able to do as a consequence of your research being realised that they may not have been able to do otherwise. The aim/s should be where you speculate (or hypothesise) what will result as a consequence of the study being realised. Your questions flow from this/these. Your theoretical framework provides you with an underlying framework for your research and offers you a way to interpret and explain your results. With your methodology try to set out the design of the study which is the strategic component of the research. In other words how would you go about doing the research. Then remember that your methods are selected to assist in validating the study and building objectivity and the structural integrity of the proposal. Also remember that methods include the obvious ones (interviews and observations) but also the more analytical ones. Because this course has been about ethnographic methods they should be your main focus. Please don’t forget this! The issue of representation is just that. How would you critically analyse and re-present the meaning of your results as reasonable evidence (and connected to your aims).
SPECIFIC CRITERIA
Understanding of the question or issue and the key concepts involved
• understanding of the task and its relationship to relevant areas of theory and educational research
• clarity and accuracy in use of key terms and concepts in qualitative research
Depth of analysis and/or critique in response to the task
• depth of understanding of key concepts and issues explicitly raised during the course and in your follow up readings
• depth of analysis relating to definition and discussion of ethnography, including theoretical and practice related concerns
Familiarity with and relevance of professional and/or research literature used to support response
• range of research literature on qualitative research – in addition to the required course readings – to support response
Structure and organisation of response
• appropriateness of overall structure of response
• clarity and coherence of organisation, including use of section headings and summaries to enhance readability
Presentation of response according to appropriate academic and linguistic conventions
• clarity, consistency and appropriateness of conventions for quoting, paraphrasing, attributing sources of information, and listing references
• clarity and consistency in presenting tables and diagrams
• clarity and appropriateness of sentence structure, vocabulary use, spelling, punctuation and word length