Answer the questions below:
Write a proposal (400-500 words or so is probably plenty here, but it might be shorter or longer depending on the data you plan to collect and analyze. The goal for this kind of writing is to be efficient, so use bulleted lists & short paragraphs to explain how you will conduct primary research in order to answer your research questions. Your audience for this proposal is both yourself and Professor Baker, and your objective is to demonstrate you have a realistic and comprehensive plan for gathering and analyzing the primary research you need during the next few weeks.
Your proposal requires the following elements:
Research Question(s): State your overarching research question and all your sub-questions you plan to answer through primary research (it’s okay if these have evolved/changed since MP1). If you’ve developed new research questions since MP1, remember that “how,” “why,” & “to what extent” questions work the best.
Research Methods: Explain how you’ll conduct primary research. I’m expecting you to answer all of the following where applicable:
What will you actually do?
Interviews, focus groups, and case studies: How many people will you talk to/interview? Who will you talk to/interview and why? What will you ask? Interview questions & the informed consent form (filled out for your specific project, though participant signatures are not yet required) are required to be in an appendix. See this student example and others listed below for some ideas about what this should look like.
Text analysis: What exact genre, text, or multimodal examples will you look at if completing a genre, rhetorical, or multimodal analysis? Be specific here, including links where relevant. How many genre, text, or multimodal examples will you look at and why? What questions will you be systematically asking of each text/document/primary data source you look at? See this student example and others listed below for some ideas about what this should look like.
Observations/Ethnography: Who will you observe and why? How will you observe those persons and why? For how long and how often/many times do you plan to observe? How will you take notes (double-entry notesLinks to an external site. work best)? If you need more resources for this, check out thisLinks to an external site.. The informed consent form is required (filled out for your specific project, though participant signatures are not yet required) to be in an appendix.
Autoenthnography: The collection of new data is required. Reflecting on past experiences is NOT research; it’s reflection. What specific pieces of data, exactly, are you planning to collect and analyze? What questions will you be systematically asking of each thing you look at and analyze and why?
How will you analyze, quantify, and/or otherwise make sense of the data you collect? Be specific here. You should also draw on the ideas you developed in reading secondary sources.
