(i) How do I prepare my research Proposal based on this area of interest. What should I capture in the Introduction - Background Information.
(ii) Results and Discusion
(iii) Analysis of Results
(Reporting)
I will be grateful for your Prompt response.
Thank you in advance.
Eshirera Johnstone
Hello Eshirera,
My first thought when I read your question was that your academic advisor should be able to provide you with this guidance. You may want to start there. That said, I can offer the following guidance to you.
Introduction and Background - In this section you are going to read literature relevant to the issue your research will address. Be sure to include only peer-reviewed research and statistics from credible sources (the CDC for example). You should then integrate what you read to tell the 'story' and convince the reader that what you plan to do is necessary and important. Again, your argument has to be based entirely on the research and be sure not to insert anything that seems like opinion into your argument. Do not simply describe study after study and be sure to integrate what you read. The reader should fully understand the rationale for your work.
Method - You must then describe in great detail the method you plan to employ for your project. For a meta analysis, you will need to include how you will find the studies, and what the criteria will be for inclusion. You will also need to describe in detail how you plan to analyze the data and summarize your results.
The results and discussion will not be in the proposal of course. They will come after your proposal is approved and you have conducted your analyses. Results should include only the results of your analyses, and not any conclusions about them.
Discussion includes your analysis of the results. The analysis should tie the reader back to your introduction and demonstrate how you answered the question or issue at hand.
This should get you started, but your next step should be to talk to your advisor and let him or her guide you in this endeavor.
Sincerely,
The Community Tool Box Advisor