Friday, April 25, 2014

Prospectus: Overview


You have written a first draft of your prospectus- congratulations! However, there are still some things to work on. 

1) Make sure that all parts of your prospectus are consistent- make sure you are using appropriate terminology (e.g., do not use terms like "correlation" when talking about a qualitative study). In quantitative studies, make sure that the research questions align with methods/ variables, and your analyses. 

2) Spell and grammar check! Remember the library has Grammarly – you can check your paper there.  

3) Have a friend/ spouse read the paper and make sure they understand it. If they say they are not sure what something means – don’t disregard them- define the terms.  

4) Your theory is important, make sure you have related your study to the theory, and suggested predictions based on the theory. Keep in mind, in a qualitative study, your method used (e.g., phenomenology) is NOT a theoretical framework. 

5) Your prospectus is a guide/ plan of where you are going in the proposal – it will probably change over time. 

6) Finally, be prepared to rewrite, rewrite, and rewrite! This is part of the process of being an accomplished scientific writer. Accept criticism graciously and do revisions quickly in order to move forward and get done! 

Next time we will go back to the beginning of the process and I will talk about coming up with an idea for a study.  Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

No comments:

Post a Comment