What is alignment?

Alignment is one of those tricky issues that you know when you see it. J It is getting at the idea that your research questions, hypotheses, methods, analysis, as well as the literature all align or are consistent with each other. It seems obvious when I say it, but the problem is that students are writing the paper over time, and sometimes things drift away from the original plan as you discover new literature and have new ideas.

Here is where the outlines come in handy- laying out your plan in an explicit way helps to keep everything aligned. Going back and frequently reviewing your research questions and hypotheses help. Keeping a research journal makes a big difference! Have near the front of the journal or add a sticky note as a marker to the page with your research questions and hypotheses, so it is easy to reread them.

There is no easy way to make sure everything is aligned, you will have to check and recheck as you write. Have a sticky note on your monitor: "Is everything still aligned and consistent?" Make sure that when you are writing about your research method, the language is correct for that method. We often see qualitative studies talking about correlations – there are no correlations in qualitative research! This is not aligned.

Right before you start working on descriptions of your research method, pull out a book on that method, and refresh yourself on how things are worded and phrased.

Next time, we will take a look at research questions. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu