Paper 2 – 300 points – You will select a research problem (it can be, and typically should be, the same topic as Paper 1), prepare and turn in a prospectus indicating the background of the problem, the problem statement, the purpose of the study, the study’s hypothesis(es), the methodology to be employed in the study, and a review of the literature (this can be from Paper 1 as long as you use the same topic) pertaining to the problem. You most likely will develop a questionnaire to be used to solve your problem. In a Prospectus, you will devise a research plan that will explain your ideas in a structured format for your analysis – You will do everything except collect the data.
Research Paper 2
Your paper must be submitted to Turnitin.com before submitting it to the Dropbox for grading.As a timesaver, it is strongly recommended that you build on the topic you chose for Paper 1.
Assignment: Select a topic for your paper and get approval of your topic from your instructorInclude the following parts in your paper: Title page, Table of Contents, Abstract, Introduction, Review of Related Literature (you may use the literature review from Paper 1 if Paper 2 addresses the same topic), Methodology, Findings, Summary, References, and Appendix.
See the APA style help page at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Develop a survey that can be used to solve your paper’s research problem. Write a cover letter to accompany the survey when it is provided to participants in your study. Include the cover letter that you write and the survey that you develop in the appendix of your paper.
Use APA formatting for your paper.
NOTE: In Paper 2, you will design a research plan but you will NOT collect the data. Even though you will NOT be collecting data for Paper 2, you should be aware of the following research procedure strictly followed by the university:
RESEARCH STUDIES / HUMAN SUBJECTS (Procedure A15.02)
Texas A&M University-Commerce recognizes the need for investigation in which human beings may serve as research subjects. The University acknowledges and accepts its responsibilities for ensuring that the privacy, safety, health, and welfare of such subjects are adequately protected. All research, which involves any form of participation of human subjects, qualifies as human subject research. This includes certain survey research, research by students as well as by faculty and staff and both internally and externally funded research.
In order to comply with federal regulations as well as to conform to guidelines of the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), the principal investigator should obtain approval of their research protocol from the IRB prior to any contact with human subjects.
If you are using humans in any of your research, contact your professor before proceeding with the research project. A determination will be made as to the need for IRB review and approval.
Specific Information for Paper 2
Note 1: Even though you will NOT be implementing the research plan you design in Paper 2 prior to writing your paper, your plan must be a realistic plan that you personally have the knowledge and resources to implement upon request.
Note 2: Your Paper 2 research plan must be based on survey research. You will be expected to develop a brief survey instrument and outline a realistic plan for its use that you personally have the knowledge and resources to implement.
Note 3: Your research paper must be your own original work! Be sure to give proper credit when you borrow or use someone else’s words and ideas, including your own previously written works. See the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association pages 15-16 for specific information on Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism. If proper credit is not given in your paper to the work of others, the paper will be assigned a grade of 0.
Note 4: Write your paper in third person. Scholarly works such as Paper 2 generally are written in third person to avoid reader concern about bias in an empirical study.
The grade for the Paper 2 will be based on content, organization, and format. In addition, use formal language (3rd person and present-forward tense).
Content
Paper 2 must include the following parts in the order listed under paper 1, but you are building on your chapters, and pretty much adding Chapter 5 (the mock findings).
See the APA style help page at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Abstract
An abstract is a brief summary of your study (150 – 250 words, one paragraph, no paragraph indent). A good abstract is accurate, non-evaluative, coherent and readable, and concise.
Note: Even if your topic for Paper 2 is the same as your topic for Paper 2, your abstract will not be the same. In Paper 1, your abstract provided a summary of the related literature. In Paper 2, your abstract must provide a summary of your proposed study.
See the APA style help page at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
START EACH CHAPTER OF YOUR PAPER ON A NEW PAGE
Chapter 1 – Introduction
Note: Each chapter should be identified with an APA Level 1 heading. For example, the heading for your first chapter would be at the top of the page on which the chapter begins, and it would be formatted as follows:
Chapter 1
Introduction
An introduction briefly presents background information for a study, the purpose of the study, a problem statement, and the study hypothesis(es) (i.e., questions). As you develop each part of the introduction, consider the following questions related to each part and include information in each part that addresses these questions.
• Background — What led you to address this problem? Why are you interested in this problem?
• Problem statement – What is the problem of your proposed study? Be very specific in stating the problem. When you address a “problem” in research, it does not mean that you are addressing something that is “wrong.” For example, your “problem” might be to determine the attitudes of a selected response group on a specified topic.
The problem statement part of your introduction should be only one sentence in length. The sentence should begin with, “The purpose of the study is to” and you then complete the sentence as it relates to your proposed study.
• Purpose of the Study– Why is your proposed study important? Why does the problem deserve your research? For example, the significance or importance might lie in the need to solve a social problem.
• Hypothesis(es) — What do you predict will be the outcome of your proposed study? The hypothesis is an “educated guess” about the results of your proposed research.
Chapter 2 – Review of Related Literature
If you chose to continue from Paper 1 to Paper 2 with the same topic, the literature review portion of Paper 1 (with corrections and revisions as needed) will become your Chapter 2 for Paper 2. If you chose a different topic for Paper, you must do a literature review that relates to your new topic for Paper 2.
This Review of Related Literature section should contain a synthesis of scholarly and peer-reviewed literature on your topic. It should provide evidence as to what types of studies have been conducted in relation to your research problem and further confirm the need for you to conduct your proposed study – meaning, this not a problem that has already been solved, but one needing more research and/or ideas for research. A review of the literature should incorporate several studies summarized in your own words and with proper APA citation within the text. For example–A study conducted by Woodstock and Brown (2006) determined that dog owners are extremely appreciative of the loyalty displayed by canines. Other studies, (Scooby, 2005; Yogi, 2006) concluded similar findings.
A review of related literature should be extensive enough to effectively incorporate at least four related research studies that you synthesize in writing (A literature review usually includes more than four sources). Every paragraph within your review of literature section should contain at least one citation. Remember that content within this section is not about your personal experiences or opinions, but rather the conclusions from previous researchers. All studies that are cited within the text of your literature review should be on your reference list at the end of the document. A good literature review aligns with a proposed study’s problem statement, its purpose, and its hypothesis(es).
Chapter 3 – Methodology
Note: You will not collect the actual data for this paper.
The Methodology section describes in detail how the study will be conducted. This allows the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed methods. It also allows the reader to replicate the proposed study.
The Methodology section should be divided into sections. with a section that describes the survey that will be developed for use in collecting data, a section that describes proposed participants, and a section that describes the proposed survey administration process. Use an APA Level 2 heading to identify each section.
The data collection instrument section should describe the survey that will be developed to collect data for the proposed study, e.g. How many questions? What types of questions? How will it be administered–pencil and paper? Interview? For the purpose of this paper, the proposed survey and its accompanying cover letter must be included in the appendices.
The participants section should describe individuals that will be included in the study. It should include information such as why they are potential participants, how they will be selected (sampling procedure), how they will be contacted, and any other relevant information. In developing the sampling procedure, be sure to develop a realistic procedure that is within your means to accomplish and within the means of others to replicate given the details you provide.
The data collection process section should provide detailed, step-by-step information about how survey information will be collected, organized, and analyzed.
See APA Section 2.06 for additional information about the methods section.
Chapter 4 – Findings
Since you will not be collecting data for the study, there will be no findings reported. For this section, however, you should make up data and develop two graphics.
Chapter 5 – Summary
For this section, since you will not have data for use in developing conclusions and recommendations, you will only need to write the summary part of this chapter. The summary should reiterate the problem statement — and the methodology proposed for the study.
References
Each source cited in your paper must be listed in the reference section. Each entry in the reference section must be cited in the body of your paper.
Remember to use a minimum of four current references from scholarly or peer-reviewed journals or sources. Do not use any sources for your paper other than those that are scholarly or peer-reviewed works. Use of more than four current references is acceptable since more may be needed to cover the topic. All citations and references, however, must be from scholarly or peer-reviewed sources.
As you select journal articles or other sources for use in your paper, collect information for each source to document that it is a scholarly or peer-reviewed source. Be prepared to provide the documentation that each source is a scholarly or peer-reviewed work upon request as papers are turned in for grading and/or as papers are being graded.
One way to determine if a reference is a scholarly or peer-reviewed work, particularly in the case of journal articles, is to go to the publication’s web site. A scholarly journal will clearly identify itself as such on its Home page and/or on its About page. A good example of this is the Journal of Human Resource which clearly states on its Home page at http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/jhr/ that it publishes academic papers. A screen print with this type of information will suffice as documentation of a scholarly or peer-reviewed source for the purpose of this paper. For additional guidance on how to determine if a source is a scholarly or peer-reviewed source, check with a university librarian.
the title of each appendix.
Format
Remember to format in accordance with the following APA requirements.
• Use Times New Roman 12 point font.
• Use one inch top, bottom, left and
Note: The reference section in Paper 2 is in a different location from the reference section in the sample paper. Be sure to follow the instructions provided here when putting parts of your prospectus in order.
Appendix
For the purpose of this paper, this section should include two items: (1) a cover letter to participants that will accompany your survey and (2) the survey you developed that will be used to collect data for the study. Identify your cover letter as Appendix A. Identify your survey as Appendix B.
• Use flush left text alignment.
• Use double line spacing throughout the document. Hint: Set Word’s line spacing to double with zero spacing before and after paragraphs.
• Use a one-half inch indent for new paragraphs. Hint: Use Word’s first line indent feature.
• Use appropriately formatted headings in each chapter.
• Use APA formatting for text entry of short and long quotations (Hint: The formats are different).
• Use APA formatting for citation of short and long quotations (Hint: The citation format for short and long quotations is the same. A direct quotation citation has author(s) last name, year, and page number(s) or paragraph number(s) for non-paginated material.)
Note: For the purpose of this course, five or more words taken directly from an author / journal and used in your paper must be cited as a direct quotation.
• Use APA formatting for citation of paraphrased text (Hint: A paraphrase citation must have author(s) last name and year). The paraphrase citation may have (but is not required to have) a page or paragraph number if it would help an interested reader locate the relevant passage in a long or complex text.
• Use APA formatting for the graphics in your paper. Graphics may be tables or figures. Note that the formatting of titles and text associated with tables and figures is not the same.
• Use APA formatting for content in the reference section. Content of each entry varies depending on the type of reference.
• Use APA formatting text in the reference section. (Hint: Use Word’s hanging indent feature to indent each line other than the first in reference entries.)
• Use APA formatting for appendix titles.
