Primary Research Essay Flowchart with Notes

Primary Research Essay Flowchart with Notes

Rationale/Problem Statement/Background

This section calls for secondary research (from the library books or BHCC online databaseshttp://www.bhcc.mass.edu/library/databases/bysubject/) Relevant information includes introduction to the current situation regarding a chosen topic portraying the prevalence and/or urgency of an issue, including controversial views from studies that have been done. The goal is to point out the justification for such a study.  For this, you need to have in-text citations, which will be complemented in “Works Cited” at the end.

Hypotheses

List a few specific objectives your study intends to examine. The tone should be tentative, using such words as “This study aims/intends… to verify/examine/investigate whether…

Primary Research Method/Design

When describing the method(s), group the questions and tie them to the hypotheses so that a reader will know the deliberate effort is made in the development of the questions – these are supposed to serve to verify your hypotheses.  Don’t list questions one by one.

Participants and Procedure

For participants of your study, you need to make sure to describe the demographic information of the participants  to show that the sampling is random.

Description of your procedure should highlight how effort is made to ensure random sampling and honest feedback. For this, you would need to explain the time/location of sampling and manners of conducting the surveys or interviews, whether you reassured respondents anonymity. You also need to point out what steps you take to eliminate non-usable data.

Data Results and Analysis

Use the participants responses as supporting evidence to approve or disprove your hypotheses.  Make a topic sentence about each of your hypothesis, and then cite the responses/data in your table or charts  to illustrate the topic sentence.

Limitations

For your research, there are a few innate limitations, and the primary research convention calls for a clear mention: length of study, small number of sampling, convenient sampling locations, the nature of self-report.

Implications/Discussions (sometimes referred to as Conclusion)

The last conventional section of a primary research paper is for a researcher to discuss any implications the study has and make proposals to all the stakeholders in your research.

Works Cited

You need at least three academic sources, in MLA format.

(Optional) Appendix (primary research questionnaire, etc.)