HSTM 4445 Research Project
Purpose:
The purpose of
this assignment is to have you put together a research proposal for Sport and
Fitness Management-related topic, bringing in much of what you have learned
through the class in regards to research design and implementation.
Instructions:
You are to follow
the outline below for putting together a research proposal. This must be typed
into a Word document with 12-point, Times New Roman font and double-spaced
throughout. You must follow correct APA 6th edition formatting and
citation; a failure to do so will severely impact your grade.
Outline/Steps:
1.
Preliminary
Literature Review.
a.
You
need to determine if the topic you have in mind is researchable. Doing a
preliminary literature search will save you time in the long run. Based on your
research interest, type up the following:
i.
Use
the Troy Libraries databases to search for article content for your research
topic of interest; you will need to have at least 8 peer-reviewed sources
(i.e., journal articles) for your project, so make sure there is enough
published research to complete your project.
ii.
State
your study objective. Why is your study necessary and important?
iii.
State
your potential research hypotheses.
iv.
Identify
the variables (in particular, independent and dependent variables) that you
will measure to complete the study.
v.
List
a potential group (sample or population) of participants for the study.
vi.
List
at least 3 keywords or short phrases that could be used in searching for
literature that relates to your topic.
2.
Identify
the Problem or Question.
a. Assuming that you
have done a preliminary search, have sufficient literature, and have identified
the research gap, identify the problem or question your research proposal aims
to answer/investigate.
3.
Define
the Problem or Question.
a. Describe the
problem with specificity. Why is this important? What value to either
academicians or practitioners will this study have?
4.
Explore
for Answers.
a.
Ensure
that your proposed research problem/question has not been addressed by other
scholars already. If it has been investigated, discuss why more research is
needed.
5.
Literature
review
a. Using the keywords
identified in Step 1 as well as your preliminary literature results, use the
Troy Libraries databases to conduct an extensive literature review on your
topic of interest. This will take a lot of time. Once you have found articles
on point, look to the articles cited in them; this will lead you to more
articles. You must identify at least 8
peer-reviewed articles on your topic of interest. Newspaper and
magazine articles do not count to this total.
i.
YOU CANNOT USE
GOOGLE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH, SO DO NOT BOTHER! YOU MUST USE THE TROY LIBRARIES!
ii.
Aside
from your peer-reviewed sources, you can (and should) use additional sources,
such as newspaper articles and magazine articles.
iii.
Steer
clear from websites as sources (i.e. Bleacher Report); they hold little to no
academic value.
iv.
You
do not necessarily need to stick to the journals listed in the article
assignments, but they would be a good start.
v.
It
is in your best interest to line up your Article Reviews with this research
project, since you need to read through these articles anyways for your
project.
6.
Define
Objectives.
a.
State
your research study hypothesis or hypotheses.
i.
These
should tie directly back to your Research Question/Problem.
b.
Clearly
identify the variables of your study:
i.
Independent
variable(s)
ii.
Dependent
variable(s)
iii.
Extraneous
variable(s)
7.
Determine
Research Design.
a.
You
will need to think carefully about this. Review the numerous research
methods/designs we have examined this term in this course. Your Research
Question/Problem should dictate the method(s) you choose. Make sure to
identify, in detail, the design you plan on using (e.g., focus group,
structured interviews, mail survey, observation, etc.). You should consider
using a number of these in conjunction for your study. This needs to be
detailed.
b.
If
you plan on using a survey instrument, you need to identify how the survey will
be developed. If using an already developed survey, make sure to identify it.
c.
You
need to address the issues of internal and external validity outlined in
Chapter 10. Which of these would apply to your study? How do you plan on
addressing them?
8.
Determine
Data Collection Procedures.
a.
Discuss
in detail your plans for collecting data for your research project. Make sure
to address the following:
i.
Identify
the population of interest.
ii.
Identify
your sampling techniques.
iii.
Identify
the protocol for collecting data (e.g., mail survey, observation, interviews,
etc.).
9.
Determine
Data Analysis Procedures.
a.
Identify
the data analysis procedures(i.e., statistical analysis) you plan on using in
your research project (e.g., t-test, ANOVA, etc.).
10.
Timeline
a.
Include
a brief timeline for the research project.
11.
References
a. You must include a
reference list for sources used in this project. It must conform to APA 6th
edition formatting. If you are not familiar with this formatting, you need to
either purchase an APA manual (Amazon is a good, cheap place), check out a
manual from a library, or use a variety of online resources dedicated to APA
formatting:
i.
http://www.apastyle.org/ (look at the
Tutorials here)
ii.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
iii.
http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.aspx?doc_id=796
iv.
http://www.liu.edu/CWIS/CWP/library/workshop/citapa.htm
b. The formatting
must be throughout the paper, including References. You will lose points for failing to use proper APA formatting.
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