Methods Section

Assignment Overview

Each section draft is intended to get you started on your prospectus. Basically, these act as mini-versions of specific sections of the prospectus itself - in this case, the Research Design. This is often an extensive section of the prospectus, but for this draft, focus on your methods and data and aim for a 3-4 page overview.

Purpose

This section should demonstrate that (1) if everything goes according to plan, you will be able to complete a satisfactory dissertation, and (2) there is a reasonable chance that everything will in fact go well. While you won’t have final answers on every aspect, you should provide your best, educated guess based on solid research design principles.

Key Components

Your research design section should address the following three essential elements:

Data/Materials/Evidence (5 points)

Data here means the raw material for your analysis, whether quantitative, qualitative, visual, spatial, textual, or something else. Address these key questions:

• What is your data? If your investigation is empirical, what sort of evidence will you consider? If theoretical, what material will you cover and what will you do with it? If project-based, what do you intend to create and why?
• Selection criteria: How will you decide what to examine? What are your parameters and boundaries?
• Human subjects: Are you using human subjects? If so, have you addressed Institutional Review Board approval and included it in your timeline?
• Appropriateness: How do you know that what you propose to examine is appropriate to answer your question?
• Scope and feasibility: Is the scope manageable within your time and resource constraints?

Data/Materials/Evidence Collection (5 points)

Explain your collection process and demonstrate its viability:

• Collection methods: How will you collect what you want to look at? Are you planning to do library work, field work, interviews, surveys, etc.?
• Availability and access: Is there adequate data or other materials available? Can you obtain it?
• Practical considerations: What permissions, access, or special arrangements will you need?
• Timeline: In what order do you intend to proceed with collection?
• Contingency planning: What will you do if your primary collection method encounters obstacles?

Analysis (5 points)

Detail how you will examine your materials to answer your research questions:

• Analytical approach: How will you examine your data/evidence/materials to figure out what is going on?
• Methods and tools: Are you planning to do quantitative analysis or statistical modeling? Will you use specific software, coding schemes, or analytical frameworks?
• Skills and preparation: Do you possess the necessary linguistic and/or quantitative skills, if relevant? If not, how will you acquire them?
• Process and steps: What is your step-by-step analytical process?
• Alternative approaches: If there are other ways to research your topic, why is yours preferable?

Submission Instructions

Submit your research design section through Webcourses as a Word document or PDF. Use clear subheadings to organize your response to each of the three key components.