Assignment Task
The aim of this assignment is to illustrate a rough outline of the broad research area you wish to investigate. It is also used to highlight the potential research questions you may settle on.
- Identify a broad subject area in which to place or position your work.
- Identify three recent (see below note), peer review journal articles on said area.
- Based on this reading, attempt to distil from these articles a first attempt at a research question and sub-questions.
Supporting Framework for Continuous Assessment
As discussed in the introduction to the Research Methods module there are several lines of enquiry research can take within any of the disciplines that you study under. The aim here is to outline the area of interest that your research will fall into. While this is intended to illustrate a broad topic of study it is important to tie the area of interest to both the supporting literature and the proposed question(s).
Supporting literature is key in identifying a foundation for you to move forward and refine your question, building towards a research proposal. The purpose of using recent literature is to show the current state of the field. It also helps you, the researcher, to identify what current trends exist within the broader discipline and go some way to identify where your potential ideas might fit within current research.
A good research question – and its subsequent arguments/hypotheses – are the driving mechanisms to help organise your research and keep the work on track. While you are not required to settle on a definite question, it is suggested that you think about what questions you could ask and how they relate to the literature you have read and the broader field into which your work will be situated. It is advisable to list two or three questions that may tackle the subject you have chosen.
This piece of work is to be no more than words in length (one page). The supporting source material is expected to be referenced with a minimum of three references listed in a bibliography.