Abstract:
- Here the author speaks in part to the value of the study and its importance
- It highlights the problem and why readers should care about it.
- It reviews the procedures, major findings, recommendations, and conclusions.
- It may conclude with a few sentences about the value of the study.
- You should think about:
- Why should the reader care?
- Is there a gap in the research?
- How was data analyzed?
- What do you expect to learn?
- What are the larger implications of your potential findings, especially for the research problem/gap?
Introduction
This is a mental road map that must answer these four questions:
- What was I studying?
- Why was this topic important to investigate?
- What did we know about this topic before I did the study?
- How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding?
Literature Review
- A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic.
- It surveys scholarly articles, books, and other sources relevant to a particular area of research.
- The review should enumerate, describe, summarize, objectively evaluate and clarify this previous research, thus providing a framework for establishing the importance of the study.
- The end of the lit review serves as a bridge to the current study.
Methodology
- Describes the actions taken to investigate a research problem and the rationale for the applications of specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information.
- Answers two questions:
- How will data be collected?
- How will it be analyzed?
- Discuss why you chose to use a particular procedure or technique.
- Describe your target population -- age, gender, location, and any other relevant characteristics
Implications
- Argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation
- What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential outcomes?
- What will the results mean to practitioners in the natural settings of their workplace?
- Will the results influence policy decisions?
Conclusions
- How does your study fit within the broader scholarship about the research problem?
