CMP-9701L Pre-Candidacy Prospectus
CMP-9701L – Pre-Candidacy Prospectus
Semester Credits: 3 Weeks: 8
The Pre-Candidacy Prospectus is intended to ensure you have mastered knowledge of your discipline prior to candidacy status and demonstrated the ability to design empirical research as an investigator before moving on to the dissertation research coursework. You will demonstrate the ability to synthesize empirical, peer-reviewed research to support all assignments in this course. The Pre-Candidacy Prospectus is completed only after all foundation, specialization, and research courses have been completed.Week 8: The Completed Prospectus as the Foundation of the Dissertation
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The prospectus, or culminating project, for this course, must demonstrate your comprehension, application, analysis, and integration of coursework and current research in relation to your research interests. In this section, you will integrate all of the work you have completed and the feedback you have received from your professor to present a prospectus capable of being expanded into a dissertation. Throughout this course, you have developed the foundational elements needed for a successful dissertation. This final assignment should draw on each course learning outcome and concept as you synthesize these elements and corrections based on feedback received into a comprehensive prospectus. CLO: 1, 2, 3, 4 Instructions In the prospectus template provided for this course, draft an Introduction and Background to help introduce your reader to your research idea. The introduction should be 1-2 pages. You may find it helpful to refine and revise the work submitted for the Week 1 Writing Activity. The introduction and background should include the following:
Continue by adding in other content to the Prospectus Template, per the Criterion table below. Quality check:
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Due on May 5, 2024 11:59 PM |
Week 7 Writing Activity: Literature Review
Instructions
This week, you will write (or revise, if you’ve previously written) a literature review. The literature review should:
- Include definitions of concepts relating to the topic of the research.
- Add an expanded discussion of the framework identified in Week 4 and discuss the origin of the theory or model used as your framework. How was the framework used originally? How is the framework applied in current studies. Add 3-4 pages.
- Include historically relevant information.
- Contain critical analysis (strong and weak arguments).
- Integrate sources to produce sound arguments and discuss issues related to the topic.
- Include comparing and contrasting arguments and discussions.
- Include a summary of the key discussions in the literature. Add a 1-page summary.
Reminders:
- Apply APA format, writing conventions, and scholarly voice/tone.
- Do not express your own opinion, agenda, or bias.
- Include scholarly, peer-reviewed, or primary documentation.
- 85% of the sources should be 3 years old or newer.
- 15% of the sources can be a combination of seminal sources older than 3 years, books, cited legal language, and government sources.
Length: 10 pages
Grading
This assignment is worth 20 points and is due by Sunday.
Week 6 Writing Activity: Construct Research Questions and Hypotheses
Instructions
Continue your work on the template provided in Week 2 of the course. Your assignment is to draft two or more research questions. These questions must align with the qualitative or quantitative approach selected earlier in this course.
- Qualitative: Research questions must be aligned with the purpose statement. Qualitative research questions should be open-ended and reflect the nature of the qualitative design (avoid yes/no and closed-ended questions). Caution: Qualitative research questions should not be confused with qualitative interview questions.
- Quantitative: Research questions must align with the purpose statement and include the proposed hypothesis(es). Ensure the research questions and hypotheses are aligned with the purpose statement. The research questions and hypotheses must be directly answerable, specific, and testable based on the data collected. Review the instrument you plan to collect data from or review the secondary data you identified for your study; these items can give you important cues for developing your research questions.
- Hypotheses (Quantitative Only)
Review the article Developing the Research Hypothesis (Toledo & Toledo-Pereyra, 2011). Both null hypotheses and alternative hypotheses should be stated. Each must directly correspond with a research question. Hypotheses must be stated in testable, potentially negatable form with each variable operationalized. Note: Each hypothesis represents one distinct testable prediction. Upon testing, each hypothesis must be entirely supported or entirely negated.
Length: .5 – 2 pages, depending on the number and type of research questions and whether hypotheses are required.
Grading
This activity is worth 10 points and is due by Sunday.
Week 5 Writing Activity: Introduction to the Research Method and Design
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Begin this activity by reflecting on your revised problem and purpose statements. Review Figure 1 in Week 3 from Farrelly (2012). Select a method and design appropriate for a doctoral dissertation study. Quantitative studies must demonstrate both internal and external validity (e.g., large, random samples, statistical power, and representativeness). Qualitative studies must demonstrate validity within the context of the specific qualitative design (e.g., credibility, dependability, transferability, trustworthiness). Replication studies are not permitted. Your summary must address all of the following items.
Access SAGE Research Methods in the university library for a refresher on research terminology. Continue your work on the template provided in Week 2 of the course and construct a 1-2 page rationale for your research method and design selection. Be sure to include the following discussions:
Grading This assignment is worth 15 points and is due on Sunday. |
Week 4 Writing Activity: Introduction to the Framework
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Continue writing in the template provided in Week 2. One way to identify a useful framework for your research is to revisit the articles used for the problem statement. What did those researchers use as a framework for their studies? Would the same framework work (align with) your inquiry? Another option is to recall the theories and models studied in your courses. The framework is about goodness of fit and creating a lens for analyzing data.
For this week’s writing activity in the template provided, create a 2-page, well-synthesized introduction to the framework you will use to shape your study. You will have to use a combination of current scholarly articles (< 3 years old) and seminal sources (the originators of the theory or model).
Length: This assignment must be 2 pages. References: Include 5-8 scholarly resources. Grading This assignment is worth 10 points and is due on Sunday. |
Week 3 Writing Activity: Create the Purpose Statement
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Important Task: Before proceeding with this week’s assignment, review the problem statement that you submitted last week and the feedback received from your instructor. Revise the problem statement based on your instructor’s feedback. Remember, a dissertation is an iterative process; adjustments, revisions, and edits are part of the process.
Using the template provided in Week 2 of this course, your writing activity is to create a purpose for the study by indicating the intent, goal, and rationale for researching the problem addressed in last week’s assignment. The purpose statement should begin with “The purpose of this (quantitative or qualitative) (design) study is to…” Use the following list to complete the purpose statement:
Before submitting this to your instructor for feedback, review your work and make sure you have addressed each prompt. Length: Approximately 1 page Grading This activity is worth 10 points and is due by Sunday. |
Week 2 Writing Activity: Create a Problem Statement
Instructions | |
Strong evidence (articles published in the past 3 years) will be used to demonstrate the problem you plan to investigate. Articulate a concise problem statement. Include appropriate published or relevant scholarly and peer-reviewed sources to document the existence of a problem worthy of doctoral-level research. Explain the need for and importance of the study. Present the general issue grounded in the research literature that leads to the need for the study. Identify the specific problem you wish to address. The documented problem may be a practical problem or issue in the profession or study context without an acceptable solution. In defining the problem, a clear discrepancy must be drawn between what exists currently and what is desired. Although an applied study design does not necessarily require generalizability beyond the study site, worthy problems must be relevant and documented beyond any particular study site. Considering the potential negative consequences to the industry, sector, profession, or stakeholders is necessary if the proposed research is never conducted.
Note:
Before you submit your work, check your problem statement for each of the following:
Tips for Success
Grading This activity is worth 10 points and is due by Sunday. |
Welcome to the Doctoral Pre-Candidacy Prospectus!
In this course you will both demonstrate your ability to complete a dissertation and prepare for the dissertation process. You will create a prospectus with examples of your work to demonstrate knowledge of your subject matter and competency in the skills required to attain a doctorate. The prospectus will also include a Dissertation Prospectus in which you will choose a dissertation topic with guidance from your instructor. This will ensure that you are ready to begin writing your dissertation as soon as you enter the dissertation sequence.
To better prepare you for your dissertation work, your instructor for this prospectus course will also serve as your dissertation committee Chair. In that way your Chair will have already gotten to know you when you begin your dissertation and can ensure that your topic and methods are viable.
You have also been assigned your two other committee members, the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and the Academic Reader (AR). However, you will not be working with these two other committee members until after you have completed this prospectus course.
Please keep this message so that you have the contact information for all of your committee members when you begin your dissertation. Available faculty Profiles are hyperlinked to faculty names and may be viewed in The Commons.