Prospectus: Faculty review

You have finished a draft of your prospectus and sent it to me as your committee member- what am I looking for? I typically read through the paper twice. The first time I am looking at APA formatting, spelling and grammar issues. Be sure you double check your citations and references with the APA manual– I will look at those closely. If you use any acronyms or abbreviations, make sure you spell them out the first you use them. If you use jargon (e.g., self-efficacy, locus of control, resiliency), make sure you define it (even if you think I know what you mean). A good rule of thumb is would someone not familiar with psychology know the term? If not – define it. 

I then read through it again concentrating on content. I want to make sure that you are consistent with how you are describing your study throughout the paper. For example, if you are doing a qualitative study, you should not be using terms like "correlation." I will make sure that your research questions are consistent with the literature you reviewed and that your theory makes sense for your study. I will look for some predictions with your theory, as to how you expect the study to come out. I will look for evidence that you understand your analyses and that they make sense given your research questions. By the time I finish your paper, I should feel confident that you understand the topic area and that you are capable of doing the study. Finally, I will print out your references and go through the paper crossing off references as they are cited. They should come out even- no extra references or citations. 

Personally, I use track changes and make a lot of comments. I try to be clear in my concerns, but would always want you to ask for clarifications if you were not sure what I meant. It is better not to guess if you are doing things right- save yourself some time and ask about issues. 

Next time I will talk about accepting feedback gracefully.  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

Prospectus: How do I start?

How do you start writing the prospectus? I suggest starting with entering all of the required pieces (like an outline). Here is a cheat sheet for you J 

Title Page 

Problem Statement 

Significance 

Background 

Framework 

Research Question(s) 

Nature of the Study 

Possible Types and Sources of Information or Data 

References 

The next step would be to write out your research questions- these are your guides for the rest of the paper. Then write out your problem statement. It often helps to get started with "the problem is…." Make it clear to your reader why your study is needed. 

I suggest then skipping to the Background section. This is your literature review which will help you understand and explain what has previously been done in this area and why your study is the logical next step. Then begin filling in the other areas. Be sure you use the Prospectus Guidebook, as well as, my recent blog entries for help. 

Next time I finish up with the prospectus by talking about what I look for as a faculty member when reviewing a prospectus.  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 

 

Blog Index- April

 2014, Current to 4/30

Topic	Dates of Posts
Dissertation, general
Selecting a Topic	4/28
Organization
Committee Members
URR
Center for Research Quality
Overview of Process
Premise
Prospectus	4/4, 4/7, 4/9, 4/11, 4/14, 4/18, 4/21, 4/23, 4/25, 4/28
Proposal
Research questions	4/18
C. 1
C. 2 (literature related)
C. 3	1/3, 1/6, 1/13
Defense
IRB	1/10, 1/15, 1/17, 1/20, 1/22, 1/24, 1/27, 1/29, 2/3, 2/5, 2/7, 2/10, 2/12, 2/17, 2/19, 2/21, 2/24
Data Collection
Quantitative	1/3, 2/26, 3/12
Qualitative	1/6, 3/14
Mixed Methods	1/3, 1/6
C. 4	3/5, 3/10, 3/12, 3/14, 3/17, 3/19, 3/21
C. 5	3/21, 3/24, 3/26, 3/28
Final Defense
Career
Goal Form
Motivation	1/1
Secondary Data	2/24
Support, Getting
Writing
Other	2/14, 3/3, 3/7, 4/16

 2013

Topic	Dates of Posts
Dissertation, general	7/5, 8/16, 8/19, 9/27, 10/2
Selecting a Topic	4/23, 7/8, 7/10
Organization	4/22, 10/2
Committee Members	4/17, 5/3, 6/10, 7/19, 8/21
URR	5/8, 5/27
Center for Research Quality	12/9
Overview of Process	4/19, 9/18, 12/13
Premise	4/17, 9/6
Proposal	4/22, 9/9
Research questions	10/9
C. 1	5/6, 10/21, 10/23, 10/25, 10/28, 11/1
C. 2 (literature related)	4/26, 5/29, 6/3, 6/12, 6/17, 6/28, 9/16, 10/11, 11/4, 11/6, 11/9, 11/15
C. 3	5/1, 10/16, 10/28, 11/18, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/2, 12/4, 12/6, 12/11, 12/16, 12/18, 12/20, 12/23, 12/27
Defense	4/23, 5/8
IRB	5/10, 10/14
Data Collection	5/13, 5/15, 10/16
Quantitative	5/17, 7/24, 7/26, 7/29, 7/31, 8/2, 8/5, 10/4, 10/7, 11/20, 12/2, 12/4, 12/6, 12/18, 12/23, 12/27
Qualitative	5/20, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/11, 12/16
Mixed Methods	5/22, 11/18, 11/20, 11/22, 11/25, 12/11, 12/20, 12/23, 12/27
C. 4	5/17, 5/20, 5/22, 7/17
C. 5	5/24, 9/20, 10/11
Final Defense	4/23, 5/27/ 9/11
Career	7/12
Goal Form	8/12
Motivation	6/5, 6/26, 7/1, 8/16, 8/23, 9/2, 9/18, 10/18, 11/8, 11/27
Secondary Data	5/31
Support, Getting	4/26, 6/5, 6/24, 8/16
Writing	4/26, 4/29, 6/12, 6/21, 7/3, 8/9, 8/14, 9/4, 9/23,9/25
Other	4/18, 6/7, 6/14, 6/19, 6/24, 6/26, 7/1, 7/8, 7/15, 7/19, 7/22, 8/7, 8/16, 8/19, 8/26, 8/28, 8/30, 9/2, 9/13, 9/18, 10/18, 11/27, 12/13, 12/25

 Next time we will consider how to start writing the prospectus.  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 

Getting started

Dissertation is looming before you – how do you come up with an idea? Hopefully, you have a general idea of what topic you are interested in. I suggest beginning by reading some recent review articles on the topic. How do you find these? Go to the Walden library and go to Psychology/ PsycInfo. Do a search on your topic idea and include the search term "review." This will bring up articles that have extensive literature reviews. Pick a couple of recent ones to read. 

After you have read your articles, you should have a decent idea of the state of the topic area. Now get out your research notebook (don’t know what that is? See my 4/22/13 post), and write down questions you have about the topic area. Let's pick a problem area as an example and think about it- let's say Celiac disease is a topic you are interested in. This is a disease in which people cannot handle eating gluten (e.g., wheat, barley, rye); it requires a very restrictive and closely monitored diet. Some questions that you might have after reading the literature might be: who are the people with this problem? How do they feel about having this disease? How do they cope with the day to day issues of it? How does the family deal with it? 

In this example, all of my questions suggest the need for a qualitative study, in which patients or family members are interviewed about the disease. The next step is to go back to the library and see if any qualitative studies have been done, looking at these issues. Let's say, for the sake of argument that there has been a couple of qualitative studies with adults with the disease. Read the articles and look at their suggestions for future research. You might decide that in interesting area would be to look at adolescents coping with the disease (imagine going out with your friends and having to quiz the food preparation).  

To summarize my approach – I picked a general area of interest and read some review articles in the area. Then I listed some possible research questions and saw that it was leading me in a particular research method direction (qualitative study). I then did more library research in the topic using that research method. I would naturally continue to read in the topic area and widen the databases used. 

Next time I will post an updated blog index.  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

 

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 

Prospectus: Possible Types and Sources of Information or Data

This section of the prospectus, Possible types and Sources of Data, is asking specifically in your study what data will you be using? Some possibilities are: test scores from college students, employee surveys, observations of children, interviews with practitioners, historical documents from state records, deidentified medical records, or information from a federal database. 

Inappropriate sources to include in this section are literature that you are reading, your committee, any other data that you have not previously addressed in the prospectus. This section should merely be a summary of what you have previously discussed in the prospectus in terms of data. 

Next time we will finish up the Prospectus by taking an overview of what you double check. 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

Prospectus: Nature of the Study

The prospectus section - Nature of the Study, is where you should describe your study methodology.  The Prospectus Guidebooks states:

Using one of the following terms as a subheading, provide a concise paragraph that discusses the approach that will be used to address the research question(s) and how this approach aligns with the problem statement. The subheadings and examples of study design are:

• Quantitative—for experimental, quasiexperimental, or nonexperimental designs; treatment-control; repeated measures; causal-comparative; single-subject; or predictive studies.

• Qualitative—for ethnography, case study, grounded theory, narrative inquiry, phenomenological research, or policy analysis.

• Mixed Methods, primarily quantitative—for sequential, concurrent, or transformative studies, with the main focus on quantitative methods

• Mixed Methods, primarily qualitative—for sequential, concurrent, or transformative studies, with the main focus on qualitative methods.

• Other—for other designs, to be specified with a justification provided for its use. 

The reader of this section is expecting to see specifics of how you will conduct your study. If you are using surveys, which one(s) will you use? How many participants are you planning to have? How did you arrive at this number? How will you recruit your participants? The more information that you can provide, the better the reader can see you understand the research methods you are proposing to use. 

Next time we take a look at the Prospectus: Possible Types and Sources of Information or Data. 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