Research Proposal on "Fear and Impact"

Quoted Instructions for "Fear and Impact" Assignment:

I'm a teacher from Kuwait and my doctor said the most important is cover all the elements of proposal research, I will paste it here

he said also you need to write any education issue in your school and you will try to suggest solution it in future so I chose 'fear exam and what impact of students' grade' in 10th grade

note : in this research how we neet solve that issue how to overcome the fear and anxiety

you can choose any grade in high school

I don't know if that a good topic or no , please if you have a good topic u can tell me

Elements of a Research Proposal

A research proposal is a written document that includes the following three major sections: (a) the introduction, (b) the review of the literature, and (b) the design and method of the study. The purpose of your proposal is to present your idea by showing that you have thought it through very carefully and have planned a good research study. The proposal document varies from a concise statement of the proposal to a more comprehensive description of the research project. In seminar 3, the latter takes the form of the first three chapters of a thesis or a dissertation, illustrated below.

Section 1: The Introduction (Chapter1)

Chapter one of the proposals may include the following sections:

Introduction

Statement of the problem

Statement of purpose,

Research questions

Research hypotheses

Significance of the study

Definition of terms

Limitation and delimitations

Start chapter 1 with a general overview of the chapter. In a paragraph, describe the organization of the chapter.

The introduction:

The introduction is the part of the proposal that provides readers with the background information for the research reported in the proposal. Its purpose is to establish a framework for the research, so that readers can understand how it is related to other research. The introduction starts with a general statement of the problem area (a topic), with a focus on specific research problem, to be followed by a rational or justification for the proposed study. In the introduction, you should:

Create reader interest in the topic,

Lay the broad foundation for the problem that leads to the study,

Place the study within the larger context of the scholarly literature.

Reach out to a specific audience (Creswell, 1994, p.42).

Statement of the Problem:

A research problem is a gab, issue, concern, or controversy that the investigator needs to study. It is important to note that a problem is distinct from the topic of the study, the purpose and the research questions (Creswell, 2008, p.85). When you present your problem statement, state it within a context that includes a theoretical or conceptual framework.

Purpose of the Study:

The purpose statement focuses the problem and it conveys the overall intent of your study. It contains the main focus of the study, the participants in the study, and the location of the study. According to Creswell (2008), a researcher should keep in mind the following key points:

Write a purpose statement in a single sentence.

Signal the reader by starting the statement with *****the purpose of this study is/ will*****¦*****

In quantitative research, identify the variable that will be used in the study (i.e. independent, dependent, and controlled variables).

In a qualitative research, clearly mention the central concepts or ideas of the study.

Specify the method of inquiry to be used.

Identify the unit of analysis in the study.

Identify the participants to be studied and the research cite at which they will be.

Research Questions

Research questions narrow and focus the purpose statement and reflect the problem the researcher wants to investigate. Onwegbuzie and Leech (2006) indicated that research questions are related to the research objectives, thus they seek to describe, explore, explain, predict, and/ or influence. These questions could be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative research questions are more specific than qualitative research questions, and most of the quantitative questions fall into one of three categories: (a) descriptive, (b) Comparative, and (c) relationship.

Conversely, qualitative research question are open-ended, evolving, and non- directional (Creswell, 2008, p. 143), and most of them tend to seek to discover, to explore a process, or describe experiences (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2006).

Research Hypotheses:

Research hypothesis are statements investigators usually use to make predictions about outcomes of a relationship. There are two types of hypotheses: the null and the alternative to the null. Generally, the null is used if theory/ literature does not suggest a hypothesized relationship between the variable under investigation; the alternative is used when theory/ literature suggests a relationship or direction of a change (Pajares, 2007). When you write your hypotheses make clear distinction between the dependent and independent variables.

Limitations and Delimitations:

Limitations describe the potential weaknesses of the study. For example, perhaps your study deals only with a purposive sample, and you may say this sample will decrease the generalizability of the findings.

Delimitations describe how a study will be narrowed in scope. For example, the study may focus on elementary teachers in Al-Ain who responded to your research instrument.

Significance of the Study

In research proposals, theses and dissertations investigators usually describe the significance of their studies. The investigator presents clearly the importance of his study. In writing this section the researcher might include:

Three to four reasons why the study adds to the scholarly research and literature in field.

Three to four reasons about how the study helps improve practice.

Three to four reasons why the study will improve policy (Creswell, 1994, p. 111).

Definition of Terms:

Definitions of terms will help the reader to understand the concepts and the terms you use in the study. So, briefly define each of the important terms and concepts of the study. Keep in mind that your definitions should be consistent with usage in the extant research and theory. Many researchers prefer to write operational definitions of their variables. An operational definition is a statement that describes how a particular concept or a variable is to be measured.

Summary:

In a paragraph or two, summarize this chapter.

Section Two: The Literature Review (Chapter2)

Overview:

Begin with a general overview of the chapter. In a paragraph, describe the organization of the chapter. If possible outline your search strategy- the procedures you used and sources you investigate.

Purpose of the review:

The review serves several important functions: (a) it provide a framework for establishing the importance of the study, (b) give credits to those who have laid the ground for your research, (c) demonstrate your knowledge of the research problem, and (d) convince your reader that your proposal will make a significant contribution to the literature.

Materials to Include in a Review:

It is important to know at this step what materials to abstract and how to abstract them. Regardless of the research approach (quantitative or qualitative), the following elements should be included:

Bibliographic Entry: accurate and complete reference citations.

Problem: A statement of the problem, or a purpose of the study being reviewed

Participants: The sample number and sample frame of the study

Methodology: this section describes how the research was conducted.

Results and Conclusions: Results indicate whatever occurred, such that certain statistics. Conclusions, on the other hand, refer to what the researcher has made of the results.

Writing the Review:

A review is not just a list of quotations extracted from the articles; it is a coherent summary and synthesis of the literature. The ***** paraphrases the cited articles to enhance the meaning and flow of the review. A well written review often has the following structure:

An overview of the research problem, and the objective of the review.

Historical development of the issues or theories that are considered.

Major categories of articles (by school of thought, by variable, by context, by research paradigm, or by some other categorization).

Critical review of articles.

Differences and similarities of positions and findings.

Current state of understanding, including gaps in knowledge (Wiersma & Jurse, 2009, P 69).

Pitfalls to be avoided when writing the review:

Many students***** reviews suffer from one or more of the following errors:

Lack of organization and structure.

Lacking focus, unity, and coherence.

Being repetitive and wordy.

Failing to cite influential papers.

Failing to keep up with recent development.

Failing to critically evaluate cited papers.

Citing irrelevant or trivial references.

Depending too much in secondary sources.

Summary:

Summarize the chapter in a paragraph or two.

Section Three: Method (Chapter 3)

Overview

Start with a brief overview of the chapter.

In the method section, you will explain in detail how the study will be conducted. This explanation should contain enough information to enable other researchers to replicate (i.e. duplicate) the study. To do this you should cover the following points: (a) the participants, (b) the instrumentation, (c), the research design, (d) procedures, (e) materials, (f) and data analysis.

The participants:

A full description of the participants is needed because the results of the study are often varied according to the nature of the participants who are used. It is important to identify your target your population (the group you want to generalize your findings) and describe their characteristics (i.e. gender, socioeconomic status, experience, etc.). Also, you should describe your sample, how it will be selected, and the rational for its selection.

Instrumentation:

Outline the instruments you propose to use (surveys, scales, interview protocols, observation grids). If instruments have previously been used, identify previous studies and findings related to reliability and validity. If instruments have not previously been used, outline procedures you will follow to develop and test their reliability and validity. In the latter case, a pilot study is nearly essential.

Because selection of instruments in most cases provides the operational definition of constructs, this is a crucial step in the proposal. Strictly speaking, results of your study will be directly relevant only to the instrumental or operational statements (Pajares, 2007). The following information should be included:

General description of the instruments.

Variables measured by instruments.

Reliability and validity of instruments.

Why the instruments are used.

Reference indicating where the instruments can be obtained.

Design:

In this subsection, you present your plan or strategy to be used to investigate your research questions. You must include a separate design section if your design is complicated; otherwise you can put in your procedure section.

The following is included in the design section:

Type of design and design layout of your study (e.g., you might use a pretest-posttest control-group design).

Description of all the variables being examined in your study.

Description of how your variables are to be combined.

Description of the points of measurement and manipulation in the design.

Procedures:

In this subsection of your proposal, you carefully describe how your study will be executed. The following information should be included in the procedure section:

A description of the design if it was not previously described.

A detailed step-by-step description of how the study will be executed.

The reader should know exactly what you intend to do after reading this description. It should include enough information to tell the reader how to do the study if he or she wanted to replicate it.

Data Analysis:

The data analysis section of your proposal describes exactly how you propose to analyze the data you plan on collecting. Specify exactly the procedures you will use (e.g., t- Test, ANOVA. MANOVA, ethnography, case study, narrative study), and provide a rational for the use of each procedure. If coding are to be used, describe them in reasonable detail.

Indicate briefly any analytical tools you will have available and expect to use (e.g., IBM- SPSS, SAS, NVIVO).

Summary:

Summarize what was done in this chapter in a paragraph.

References:

Follow APA (2010) guidelines regarding the use of references in text and in the reference list. Keep in mind that only references in the text are included in the reference list.

Other Sections of a Research Proposal

The Title Page:

The title page contains introductory information for the proposal: the title of the proposal, the author*****s names, the degree requirement being fulfilled, the name and location of the faculty or university awarding the degree, and the date of submission of the proposal.

The Title:

A title is a concise statement of the main topic of your proposal and should identify the variables or theoretical issues under investigation and the relationship between them. The following basic rules should be observed when writing your title (APA, 2010, p.23):

Use specific familiar words.

Make title as understandable and retrievable as possible.

Do not use any unnecessary words that do not add anything to the title

Avoid the inclusion of abbreviations.

Make the title concise and descriptive.

The Abstract:

An abstract is a brief summary of approximately 120 words of the content of the proposal. It should include the research problem, the rationale for the study, the hypothesis (if any), the method and the main findings. Descriptions of the method may include the design, procedures, the sample and any instruments that will be used. For more details see the APA publication manual pp. 25-27.

The Appendices:

Appendices contains information that would distract from the continuity of the proposal if it were contained in the main body. An appendix might contain the following materials:

*****Original instruments, such as scales or questionnaires. If an instrument is copyrighted, permission in writing to use the instrument should be secured.

Interview protocols.

Sample of informed consent form.

Cover letters sent appropriate stakeholders.

Official letters of permission to conduct research***** (Pagares, 2007).

References

American Psychological Association (APA). (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: CA: *****.

Creswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J. & Leech, N. L. (2006). Linking research questions to mixed methods data analysis procedures. The Qualitative Research Report, 11(3), 474- 498). Retrieved from http://.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR11-3/onwyegbuzie.pdf

Pagares, F. (2007). Elements of a proposal. Available from the author.

Wiersma, W. & Jurs, S. G. (2009). Research methods in education: An introduction (9th ed.). Boston: Pearson.