Proposing Empirical Research : A Guide To The Fundamentals - 2nd edition

Introduction
Part A: Getting Started

1. What Is Empirical Research?
2. Identifying Broad Problem Areas
3. Evaluating Broad Problem Areas
4. Identifying and Combining Variables
5. Identifying Treatment Variables
6. Considering Demographic Variables
7. Writing Purposes and Hypotheses

Part B: A Closer Look at Problem Selection

8. Finding Ideas in the Literature
9. Considering a Body of Literature
10. Considering Theories
11. Determining Feasibility

Part C: Selecting an Approach

12. Qualitative Research
13. Survey Research
14. Correlational Research
15. Experimental Research
16. Causal-Comparative Research

Part D: Organizing and Evaluating Literature

17. Organizing Literature by Topics
18. Evaluating Research Literature
19. Considering the History of a Topic

Part E: Writing the Introduction and Literature Review

20. A Separate Introduction
21. An Integrated Introduction and Literature Review
22. Writing the First Paragraph(s)
23. Using a Topic Outline
24. Being Selective and Critical

Part F: Proposing a Sample

25. Sampling in Qualitative Research
26. Random Sampling
27. Other Methods of Sampling: I
28. Other Methods of Sampling: II
29. Sample Size

Part G: Proposing Instrumentation

30. Qualitative Instrumentation
31. Proposing Published Instruments
32. Proposing New Instruments
33. Proposing to Measure Demographics
34. Ethical Issues in Measurement

Part H: Proposing Procedures

35. Nonexperimental Procedures
36. Procedures in Experiments
37. Ethical Issues and Procedures

Part I: Proposing Methods of Analysis

38. Qualitative Analysis
39. Analysis of Demographics
40. Relationships: Nominal
41. Relationships: Equal Interval
42. Group Differences

Part J: Concluding Tasks

43. Writing a Discussion Section
44. Giving the Proposal a Title
45. Preparing an Abstract
46. Developing a Timeline

Part K: Sample Research Proposals for Discussion

Sample Proposal 1: A Survey
Sample Proposal 2: An Experiment
Sample Proposal 3: A Qualitative Study

Table 1: Table of Recommended Sample Sizes
Appendix A: Locating Literature Electronically