Designing and Proposing Your Research Project (Concise Guides to Conducting Behavioral, Health, and Social Science Research Series)

Designing a study and writing up a research proposal takes time---often more time than actually conducting the study! This practical guide will save you time and frustration by walking you through every step of the process. For starters, it will help you hone in on a research topic - a huge (and hugely important) first step. Then it will guide you in developing the research question, designing the study, and choosing the best strategies for sampling and measurement. The figures, tables, and exhibits offer a wealth of examples and tools, including activities and worksheets to practice alone or in a study group. While many research design books focus on either qualitative or quantitative studies, this book presents a balanced discussion of the relative strengths and limitations of each, as well as differences in how validity is handled for each. No research study can be perfect or provide all the answers. In fact, the best studies result in more questions than answers. This book will deepen your understanding of study limitations and ways to build upon them in future research. "Designing your own study and writing your research proposal takes time, often more so than conducting the study. This practical, accessible guide walks you through the entire process. You will learn to identify and narrow your research topic, develop your research question, design your study, and choose appropriate sampling and measurement strategies. The figures, tables, and exhibits offer a wealth of relatable examples, and students can use the many activities and worksheets to explore and apply concepts, as individuals or in groups. This book is part of the APA's Concise Guides to Conducting Behavioral, Health, and Social Science Research series. Aimed at undergraduate students in research methods courses or others with a lab or research project, each book describes a key stage in the research process. Collectively, these books provide a solid grounding in research from start to finish."--Back cover Series Foreword -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Choosing Your Research Question and Hypotheses -- 3. Choosing Your Studyʼs Purpose -- 4. Choosing Whether to Use a Qualitative, Quantitative, or Mixed-Methods Approach -- 5. Understanding Terms for Quantitative Studies: Concepts, Constructs, and Variables -- 6. Choosing Your Design -- 7. Choosing Your Sample -- 8. Planning Your Measurement Strategy for Collecting Data -- 9. Establishing Validity for Quantitative Studies -- 10. Establishing Validity for Qualitative Studies -- 11. Conclusion -- About the Authors -- About the Series Editor Designing your own study and writing your research proposal takes time, often more so than conducting the study. This practical, accessible guide walks you through the entire process. You will learn to identify and narrow your research topic, develop your research question, design your study, and choose appropriate sampling and measurement strategies. The figures, tables, and exhibits offer a wealth of relatable examples and tools to apply concepts, including activities and worksheets to practice alone or in groups with other students.
  Contents Series Foreword 1. Introduction 2. Choosing Your Research Question and Hypotheses 3. Choosing Your Study’s Purpose 4. Choosing Whether to Use a Qualitative, Quantitative, or Mixed-Methods Approach 5. Understanding Terms for Quantitative Studies 6. Choosing Your Desig 7. Choosing Your Sample 8. Planning Your Measurement Strategy for Collecting Data 9. Establishing Validity for Quantitative Studies 10. Establishing Validity for Qualitative Studies 11. Conclusion Index About the Authors About the Series Editor This practical, accessible guide walks you through the process of designing your own study and writing your research proposal.