Proposing Empirical Research
(Second Edition)

Table of Contents

Introduction

v

Part A: Getting Started

1

  1. What Is Empirical Research?

3

  2. Identifying Broad Problem Areas

5

  3. Evaluating Broad Problem Areas

7

  4. Identifying and Combining Variables

9

  5. Identifying Treatment Variables

11

  6. Considering Demographic Variables

13

  7. Writing Purposes and Hypotheses

15
  
Part B: A Closer Look at Problem Selection

17

  8. Finding Ideas in the Literature

19

  9. Considering a Body of Literature

21

10. Considering Theories

23

11. Determining Feasibility

25
  
Part C: Selecting an Approach

27

12. Qualitative Research

29

13. Survey Research

31

14. Correlational Research

33

15. Experimental Research

35

16. Causal-Comparative Research

37
  
Part D: Organizing and Evaluating Literature

39

17. Organizing Literature by Topics

41

18. Evaluating Research Literature

43

19. Considering the History of a Topic

45
  
Part E: Writing the Introduction and Literature Review

47

20. A Separate Introduction

49

21. An Integrated Introduction and Literature Review

51

22. Writing the First Paragraph(s)

53

23. Using a Topic Outline

55

24. Being Selective and Critical

57
  

Part F: Proposing a Sample

59

25. Sampling in Qualitative Research 

61

26. Random Sampling

63

27. Other Methods of Sampling: I

65

28. Other Methods of Sampling: II

67

29. Sample Size

69
  

Part G: Proposing Instrumentation

71

30. Qualitative Instrumentation

73

31. Proposing Published Instruments

75

32. Proposing New Instruments

77

33. Proposing to Measure Demographics

79

34. Ethical Issues in Measurement

81
  
Part H: Proposing Procedures

83

35. Nonexperimental Procedures

85

36. Procedures in Experiments

87

37. Ethical Issues and Procedures

89
  

Part I: Proposing Methods of Analysis

91

38. Qualitative Analysis

93

39. Analysis of Demographics

95

40. Relationships: Nominal

97

41. Relationships: Equal Interval

99

42. Group Differences

101
  

Part J: Concluding Tasks

103

43. Writing a Discussion Section

105

44. Giving the Proposal a Title

107

45. Preparing an Abstract

109

46. Developing a Timeline

111
  
Part K: Sample Research Proposals for Discussion

113

Sample Proposal 1: A Survey

115

Sample Proposal 2: An Experiment

123

Sample Proposal 3: A Qualitative Study

131

 

Table 1:Table of contents Recommended Sample Sizes

141

Appendix A: Locating Literature Electronically

143

Overview