Assignments should be typed using 11-point font (Arial or Calibri), with 1 line spacing and a 4 cm margin on the right-hand side of the page.

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Assignments should be typed using 11-point font (Arial or Calibri), with 1 line spacing and a 4 cm margin on the right-hand side of the page. The page size is to be set to UK A4. All pages must be numbered. Your proposal should be structured and include the following sections: 1. Title The title should be concise, written in plain English and convey clearly the topic of your intended study. 2. Introduction This section should provide an introduction to the broad area of the research and start to indicate the significance of the research in a general way and well as identify what the researcher is hoping to hope to accomplish as well as the desired outcomes. 3. Literature review This section should summarise key issues covered in the articles provided for your assigned topic area at the beginning of the course. It should provide information on key findings, theoretical approaches and identified gaps in knowledge. It should also provide the rationale for the overall aim of your study, which will be outlined in the following section. Please note that this section should be referenced thoroughly. 4. Research aims and questions This section should present a clear outline of the main aim of your research and the research questions you intend to address in your study. Please note that your overall aim and research questions need to be grounded in overview of the topic area provided in the literature review section. 5. Research design, sampling and access This section should present a clear statement of your intended research design, identifying your research approach (i.e. inductive, deductive, or both); your methods choice (i.e. mono method, multi methods or mixed methods study); your intended timeframe (i.e. cross sectional or longitudinal). Please note that the exercises you had worked on have already prescribed some aspects of your research design! This section should also present a clear account of the sampling strategy you intend to use in your study and the procedures for securing access to your participants. Specifically, you should provide information on the number of participants, their characteristics, and the selection procedures. 6. Data collection methods This section should present a clear account of your intended data collections methods. Please note that the exercises you had worked on have already prescribed some aspects of your data collection methods, i.e. you have to use both questionnaire and semi-structured interviews). However, you are allowed to use other methods in addition to those mentioned above. In this section you also need to describe the research instruments that you developed in the course of the tutorial programme. 7. Data analysis methods This section should provide a clear account of your intended data analysis methods. You need to describe separately any methods used to analyse your quantitative and qualitative data. 8. Research ethics This section should present a clear and critical discussion of the potential ethical issues related to the topic of your project and its design. You need to consider different ethical problems that might emerge at different stages of your research and suggest how you might deal with them. 9. Limitations of your research This section should present a critical account of possible limitations of your project, including its design, methods and procedures. In particular, you need to discuss the issues of research quality (i.e. validity, reliability, generalisability) and how it might be compromised in your project. 10. Appendix This section should include the following additional material: the screenshots of your online questionnaire, a copy of your interview schedule, a copy of your completed CASS Research Ethics Form. 11. Time line This section should present a timeline of your research study. You may wish to describe this and add a Gantt chart. Alternatively, the Gantt chart could be added as an appendix. 12. References This section should contain all of your references in alphabetical order and in Harvard style. the research proposal should follow the prescribed layout as indicated above. Moreover, each paragraph should contain one point which is reasoned thoroughly and explained well. Paragraphs should be linked appropriately to form a consistent narrative throughout. Content: students must demonstrate: [i] knowledge of the subject area in question; [ii] the ability to search out additional (relevant) material to that given in the lectures; [iii] the ability to collate material into logical and coherent lines of reasoning in a critical and analytical fashion; and [iv] the ability to inform the reader whilst answering the question. Presentation: All essays must be typed. All Figures, Charts and Diagrams must be labelled and referred to in the text.
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