Assignment:
Topic: leadership effectiveness in public organizations. A possible research question is how different leadership styles influence employee motivation and job satisfaction in government agencies. Need Assignment Help?
Final Research Proposal draft
The research proposal represents a synthesis of the work performed in the individual research proposal exercises. Taking into account the instructor's previous comments/guidance, students will be required to incorporate the course's previous research proposal exercises into a formal research proposal. The proposal shall be in APA style between 15-20 double-spaced pages in length not including the title page, abstract, and references. It should be written in a narrative format where each section logically and naturally transitions/builds from the preceding section. Students should structure the proposal like a traditional academic research article. The stylistic considerations for the final proposal, in addition to grammar and spelling, are denoted in the following template (Note: For the data collection section, I am not requiring that you actually collect the data at this time. You can if you desire, but I would be satisfied if you just described your plan for collecting the data.):
1. Introduction - Developing a research question/statement that explains why a particular problem merits attention.
2. Literature Review - Examining the relevant scholarly literature that's related to your topic. How does your proposed question relate to existing theories? Provide some evidence that supports pursuing your particular research question. This means looking at scholarly journal articles in which other authors have examined the same or similar data that you will analyze.
3. Hypotheses, Relationships, & Operationalization - Modeling the research question. Here, you will need to identify the relationship(s) that are to be tested.
This includes developing hypotheses along with the conceptualization and operationalization (i.e., measurement) of dependent, independent, and any potential intervening or spurious variables. If the study is quantitative, you should provide a causal diagram of the hypothesized relationship(s) and indicate the directionality of the relationship(s).
4. Experiment, Survey Research, Qualitative Study, Or Unobtrusive Research - Proposing a specific design for conducting the research. For example, you will want to describe, in detail, whether your design is experimental, quasi-experimental, or non-experimental in addition to its strengths/weaknesses. In doing so, you must address the threats to internal and external validity and how you will attempt to minimize them. You should also identify the unit(s) of analysis (e.g., subjects of study) and explain how you will control for spurious/intervening variables. Finally, discuss reliability and how you plan to measure/improve it.
5. Data & Its Collection - Identifying and describing the data collection strategy.
You will need to lay out and defend your sampling methodology and describe your data source(s). Where are the data from? Will you employ random sampling techniques? Why is the chosen data source(s) appropriate given your operational definitions for each variable?
6. Ethical Issues - Delineating how you will protect the study's participants. Here, you will want to discuss issues like voluntary participation, deception, anonymity, and confidentiality.
7. Analysis - Specifying an appropriate technique for analyzing the results. Given the research problem, stipulated hypotheses, and variable construction, what form of data analysis will you employ (e.g., t-tests, multiple regressions, time-series analysis, hierarchical linear model, structural equation model, etc.)? Are some techniques more appropriate than others? Why did you settle on this particular technique?
Conclusion - Tie everything together in a paragraph or two. Reiterate for the reader what you hope to find from your study.