research proposal

Help me study for my Social Science class. I’m stuck and don’t understand.

Please note-the three brief assignments already completed will guide you through steps 1-6 below.

Design a research strategy for testing your hypotheses/answering your research questions.

Include:

1. Introduction: specify the research topic & give rationale for choosing the topic. State how your study will benefit your agency, social work profession, clients, and you as a budding scholar.
2. Research Questions & Hypotheses:
3. Literature review: write a literature review with a minimum of 7 professional sources relevant to the research topic. (Examine existing knowledge about what you intend to study and how that knowledge can be used to develop your research questions).
4. Research Design: evaluate the design in terms of the (five) research dimensions covered in the course. For each dimension, give your selection and a one or two sentence rationale, based on your research design.
5. Sampling method: define population and procedures for selecting the sample & give reasons for choice of a particular sampling design. Specify data collection procedure & time line
6. Measurements: identify variables (independent variables and dependent variables) & provide their operational definitions. State level of measurement for each variable. If you would use any existing scales of measurement, which ones and reasons for their use. Provide information on their validity & reliability.
7. Limitation: discuss the internal validity of your design. Which threats to internal validity are controlled or not controlled (maturation, history, statistical regression, instability, instrumentation, testing, nonspecific effects, reactive effects, selection, and mortality). What about the design controls them or does not? If a threat is not controlled, what if anything can you do to minimize its effect on the results?
8. How well does your design establishes causality, i.e., how well it addresses each of the four steps in establishing causality (association, time priority, and ruling out alternative explanations)