Social Service Organization

Research Problems

[WLOs: 2, 3] [CLO: 3]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read the following chapters from your textbook, and refer to the Research Proposal Project final project assignment as a reference in Week 6 for what you will be compiling for this project to gain an understanding of what research problem might be most appropriate.

• Chapter 1: The Nature and Tools of Research
  • Pages 1-9, 19-27
• Chapter 2: The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process
• Chapter 3: Review of the Related Literature
• Chapter 4: Planning Your Research Project

In addition, watch Creating a Research Question (Links to an external site.) and What Is research? (Links to an external site.)

Select a human/social service organization, which can be where you are currently employed, or where you would have an interest in gaining future employment. You will use this organization and research problem as the basis of your final Research Proposal Project.

Chapters 1 to 4 of the Leedy and Ormrod text will help guide you as decide what the problem is that you would like to propose to evaluate, what literature is going to be most appropriate for this proposal, and how to plan with the proposal. The chapters will guide you on how to construct and write the research proposal. It is important to select your research problem carefully. The following considerations should be addressed in the assignment:

• How do you know when you have a legitimate research problem?
• How would you delineate the subparts of the social problem for your research project?
• How did you make your determinations and what were the details of the determination process?
• How would you plan for such a research process?
• How do your tentative research question(s) apply to your final project?

Your instructor will provide feedback on the research problem and the proposed research question which will serve as “approval” to proceed with the project as a comment along with your grade in the gradebook. You may find Narrowing a Topic and Developing a Research Question (Links to an external site.) from the Writing Center to be useful in this assignment.

The Research Problems learning activity will be submitted to a Canvas dropbox. The paper must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) . The paper must utilize Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) and two scholarly sources (see Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) for assistance). The scholarly sources need to be formatted in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide, and the separate references page should be formatted according to the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource.

 

 

Research Proposal Project

[WLOs: 2, 3] [CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapter 13, and it is suggested you review all formerly assigned chapters from Practical Research: Planning and Design and the Comparative Approaches to Program Planning text, any text or scholarly materials from any prior courses, along with any selected peer-reviewed, scholarly, and credible sources that you have located through the past several weeks to help support your Research Proposal Project.

Building off the research problem identified in Week 1, you will design a hypothetical research proposal. The research proposal will be based on the problem identified at a human/social service organization. The organization selected can be one in which you are currently employed, an agency that you have an interest in, or where you intend to someday seek employment. The Research Proposal Project reflects the measures required in submitting proposals “in house” within an organization where the evaluation of programs, modification of programs, and/or development of programs is part of your job description or to a grant-awarding agency. Examples of grant-awarding agencies include: Corporation for National and Community Service, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, Housing and Community Facilities Programs, Homeland Security, Special Delinquency Prevention Program, and Centers for Disease Control Prevention.

Your Research Proposal Project will be broken down into the following sections and sub-sections:

• Introduction and Background
  • Statement of the problem
  • Significance of the problem
  • Populations served
  • Proposed solution
  • Research questions
• Methodology
  • Conceptual framework
  • Method
  • Design
  • Rationale
  • Planning strategy
  • Ethical Considerations and Concerns
• Management Plan
  • Proposed timeline
  • Feasibility
  • Anticipated challenges
• References

In your paper,

• Select an existing or hypothetical Human Services organization/agency program.
• Compile a proposal that develops, evaluates or modifies the hypothetical implementation of this change in a real-world setting.
• Describe in detail the process for determining the need for the new program, the evaluation, or the modification of this program.
• Explain the proposed solution to the problem, gap, or need for this hypothetical proposal.
• Select a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods design for the proposal.
• Explain in detail as to why this methodology and design is most appropriate for the proposed change (i.e., develop, evaluate, or modify a program).
• Create a hypothetical research proposal to a grant funding organization or an organization where the evaluation of programs is part of your job description.
• Address the problem that was identified including the evidence that supports this problem.

The Research Proposal Project

• Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages and formatted according to APA Style(Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper in bold font
    • Space should be between title and the rest of the information on the title page.
  • Student’s name
  • Name of institution
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Due date
• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice(Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions(Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least eight scholarly, peer-reviewed, and credible sources in addition to the course text.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources(Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  • To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view this UAGC Llibrary Quick ‘n’ Dirty(Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the university library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper(Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List(Links to an external site.) resource in the Writing Center for specifications.

Required Resources

Texts

Leedy, P. D. & Ormrod, J. E. (2019). Practical research: Planning and design (12th ed.). Pearson.

• Chapter 1: The Nature and Tools of Research
  • Pages 1-9, 19-27
• Chapter 2: The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process
• Chapter 3: Review of the Related Literature
• Chapter 4: Planning Your Research Project
• The full-text version of this ebook is available in your online classroom through the RedShelf platform. This book is a comprehensive text on practical research planning and design. Chapter 1: The Nature and Tools of Research reviews what is meant by research, including the cyclical nature of academic research, the steps of a research project, it’s philosophical underpinnings and some research tools. Chapter 2: The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process provides strategies for identifying research problems, subproblems and a proposed research study. Chapter 3: Review of the Related Literature provides information about the purposes of a literature review, how to research literature and strategies to evaluate literature. Chapter 4: Planning Your Research Project compares primary data and secondary data, quantitative and qualitative research, substantial and intangible phenomena, and discusses strategies to enhance credibility and ethical issues. Chapter 1: Differences between Lines and Circles (Planning Theory) and Chapter 2: Programs: Containers for Idea Implementation will assist you in your Planning Theory discussion forum this week. Chapter 1: The Nature and Tools of Research, Chapter 2: The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process, Chapter 3: Review of the Related Literature, and Chapter 4: Planning Your Research Project will assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week.

Netting, F. E., O’Conner, M. K., & Fauri, D. P. (2008). Comparative approaches to program planning. Wiley.

• Chapter 1: Differences Between Lines and Circles
• Chapter 2: Programs: Containers for Idea Implementation
• The full-text version of this ebook is available in your online classroom through the RedShelf platform. This book is a comprehensive text on comparing approaches to program planning. Chapter 1 discusses how there is not one approach to planning that will fit every situation. Additionally, the historical context behind the science and reason of ‘lines and circles’ will be explored. Concepts behind rational and nonrational thinking as they relate to program planning will also be explained. Chapter 2 discusses the differences between programs, projects, services, and interventions. This chapter also explains the rational for program planning as an initiative to meet an identified need. These chapters will assist you in your Planning Theory discussion forum this week.

Multimedia

Earnshaw, J. [John Earnshaw]. (2011, October 31). What is research? (Links to an external site.) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/BJhpQs82uR8

• This video describes the concept of research for graduate students. An emphasis is place on distinguishing between research retrieval versus researchers pursuing new knowledge and expanding knowledge. This video helps clarify expectations for the final research project and will assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
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Ostrowj1. (2009, October 1). Creating a research question (Links to an external site.) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/AIJDfS33IWw

• This video describes several pitfalls related to forming a research question. Recommendations are provided to assist you with forming appropriate research questions. It will assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
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Recommended Resources

Multimedia

The Audiopedia. (2017, April 2). What is program evaluation? What does program evaluation mean? Program evaluation meaning (Links to an external site.) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/uH6GmXZzu3g

• This video provides information about the overview of program evaluation and may assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week.
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Methodology Related Presentations – TCSPP. (2017, December 8). Program evaluation: Simplifying the program evaluation process by Philip Adu, Ph.D (Links to an external site.) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/sOWNy8WDMlQ

• This video provides information about the overview of program evaluation and may assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week.
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Stanford LEAP. (2017, March 13). Program evaluation overview (Links to an external site.) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/bt_hFtsv7Yc

• This video provides information about the overview of program evaluation and may assist you in your Research Problems learning activity this week.
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Webpage

What is program evaluation? A beginner’s guide (Links to an external site.). (2015, February 1). Beginner Guides – Pamphlets. Retrieved February 12, 2021, from http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/BasicguidesHandouts.html

• This webpage provides basic guide handouts designed as introduction to evaluation for those without technical backgrounds and may assist you in your Planning Theory discussion forum this week.
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