The effects of parental alienation on men’s mental health as it relates to developing secure attachments with their child/children and spouse.

The effects of parental alienation on men’s mental health as it relates to developing secure attachments with their child/children and spouse. Order Description 1. General description of the areas of concern – set the stage (3-4 paragraphs). 2. Significance of the Problem a. Include explicit statement of significance specific to the topic studied. b. Why is it important to conduct the study? c. This section will probably not be very long but it should be very powerful! d. What theoretical/practical reasons are there for wanting to know the answers to the research questions? 3. Analyze the Theoretical Basis for the Study a. The organization of the variables that will be considered to answer the research questions likely will have a theoretical basis. Explicate how the most appropriate theoretical perspective helps conceptualize the study. Competing theoretical perspectives should be analyzed in Chapter 2 Literature Review. b. Include theoretical definitions of important terms and all constructs (should not include operational definitions that will appear in the methods section). 4. Synthesize and Critically Analyze the “Very Relevant Literature” a. Make the argument for the dissertation using the “studies in the existing literature that incorporate all the major variables or constructs that are present in the proposed study” (Rudestam & Newton, 2001, p. 63). Figure 4.1 (Rudestam & Newton, 2001, p. 64) provides a visual conceptualization of relevance of literature. b. This may require examining the intersection of only a subset of variables and repeating the process with another subset of variables because the literature does not have all variables incorporated in extant research. 1 This outline was adapted from the Dissertation Outline prepared by the Ball State University School Psychology Program 5. Problem Statement a. State the purpose of the research explicitly and succinctly. b. The introduction should lead up to and provide support for the problem statement. 6. Research Questions and Hypotheses a. Ordinarily the researcher will have a few research questions, with a number of hypotheses for each. b. Do not operationalize variables in this section. Use theoretical questions and hypotheses written in the language of constructs. c. A research question should (a) be in the form of a question, (b) suggest a relationship among constructs, and (c) be empirically testable.