Task
Design a small-scale research project for children or young people on a topic of your choice
The topic of my research project is,
“Impact of internet use on children and young people’s mental health”
The research that I will carry out would be particularly of children and young people who would be age group 13-17, which is the adolescent age.
Write a research proposal for your project using the four-part structure shown in Table 1 below.
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Table 1 : EMA four-part structure and weighting |
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EMA part |
% of total mark |
Word limit |
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Part 1: Literature review |
20% |
750 words |
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Part 2: Methodology and methods |
30% |
1250 words |
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Part 3: Ethical considerations |
20% |
750 words |
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Part 4: Positionality statement and learning reflection |
30% |
750 words |
You must adopt this four-part structure in your proposal.
EMA introduction
The examinable component for this module asks you to design a small-scale research project focusing on children or young people, which builds on the work you carried out for your TMAS and learning across all blocks in the module. This final assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate and apply your knowledge and skills to plan a suitable, feasible and ethical research project for a group of children or young people on a topic related to your own research interests.
What is a Small-Scale Research Project
For the EMA, a small-scale research project should be understood as one that could be undertaken in a period of a year or less by a part-time student who is employed full-time and takes occasional time off work to study. In terms of scale and feasibility, it can be compared to the research projects undertaken by some part-time students as part of an Undergraduate or Master’s dissertation project in other institutions. Note that this is a desk-based project. You will not collect any data as part of your project. This EMA is a research proposal only. You will not carry out any empirical data collection, but will demonstrate how research methods could be used to answer your research question. The total project length is 3500 words (see the ‘EMA word count’ section in the ‘Preparing your EMA’ section for details).
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Learning Outcomes
On completion of your EMA, you should be able to:
- formulate a research question to inform the design of a small-scale research project for children or young people
- Identify and relate your chosen research topic to published academic literature and practice
- Identify and select a coherent research methodology and data collection method/s to suit the aim and scope of your proposed research project
- evaluate the ethical issues that might arise if you were to carry out this research and identify the steps you could take to ensure that your proposed research project is ethical
- Critically reflect on your positionality and analyse how this has influenced your decision-making and learning in designing this project.
The Structure of Your Research Proposal
The EMA research proposal has a four-part structure, with an approximate word count for each part (Table 2).
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Table 2 EMA four-part structure and weighting |
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EMA part |
Contribution to the total mark |
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Part 1: Literature Review |
20% |
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Part 2: Methodology and Methods |
30% |
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Part 3: Ethical considerations |
20% |
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Part 4: Positionality statement and learning reflection |
30% |
While this research proposal follows a logical sequence from Part 1 to Part 4, planning and designing research is not always a neat, linear process, so you may find that you need to start and return to some parts as you go along. Please read ALL of the EMA guidance for each part carefully before starting on individual elements. Use the EMA writing template, the EMA submission checklist and the EMA marking grid to review your work before you submit it.
Part 1: Literature review
This part is worth 20 per cent of the total mark for the EMA. Word limit: 750 words Task Create a short traditional literature review for your research proposal based on three to five peer-reviewed journal articles that you have found. Identify and discuss two or three themes within your literature review.
How to approach Part 1
The purpose of Part 1 of the EMA is to introduce and frame your chosen topic by drawing on published peer-reviewed empirical research that you have found doing an independent literature search and review. It should aim to contextualise to your reader why your chosen topic is valuable and worth studying, what is and isn’t known about it, and how your research question (Part 2) connects to the literature about your topic. As you considered in Unit 6 and developed in Unit 22, there are many different purposes for a literature review and different ways of doing and presenting it. To justify and locate your research topic for this EMA research proposal, this task asks you to develop a short, traditional literature review (covered in Unit 22) based on a small selection of empirical peer-reviewed journal articles that you have found. Step 1: Carry out a literature search and choose three to five empirical peer-reviewed journal articles to include in your literature review. To begin this part of the assignment, follow the steps set out in the activities you completed while studying Unit 22. This unit guides you through finding and choosing literature, including deciding what is credible and relevant to include in a research proposal. Step 2: Record your search terms as you go along You must record information about your literature search as part of this process. This should be a simple indication of the database/s, search terms (keywords and phrases) and filters you used, as in the following example.
- Database: Library Search
- Keywords and phrases were input using Boolean operators as follows into Library search: (children) AND (outdoor activities) AND (health OR wellbeing) -in the title
- Filters: Full text online, peer-reviewed journal articles, Date: from 2021–2023, English language.
You will need to include this information in Part 1 of the EMA by filling in the ‘literature search information box’ in the EMA writing template. The search information is not included in the word count. Step 3: Identify two or three themes to write about in your literature review. The exact number of themes you identify as part of your literature review will depend on your topic, the selection of three to five journal articles chosen, and the notes you make as part of your review. As Part 1 of the EMA should be approximately 750 words, we recommend picking two or three of the most relevant and important themes for your research topic and question (see Part 2). Identifying themes and presenting literature For each article, you should briefly summarise what the author or authors found. Then, look across your chosen articles together as a ‘whole’ and ask yourself the following questions.
Structuring Part 1
Part 1 of the EMA must include:
- A Part 1 title, e.g. ‘Part 1: Literature review’
- Short introduction to briefly introduce your research topic to the reader (50–150 words)
- Main body structured into paragraphs which reference your three to five chosen articles and descriptions of the two or three main themes (600–700 words).
- Literature search details: information on the databases, keywords, and filters that you used for your literature search (this is not included in the word count).
Do not provide a conclusion for Part 1.
Note that subheadings are not required for Part 1. Academic voice As Part 1 is reporting on previous research, it must be written in the third person (don’t use: ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘we’) using the past tense. You must use the same formal academic style and tone of voice that you would use for an academic essay. Referencing In Part 1, you must reference (Harvard CTR) three to five peer-reviewed journal articles you have found through your literature search and any other sources you have used.
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Part 2: Methodology and methods
This part is worth 30 per cent of the total mark for the EMA. Word limit: 1250 words TaskDesign a methodology and methods section for your research proposal, which includes:
- a research aim and one research question
- a methodology
- details of the participants
- details of the planned methods for data collection
- a time frame for carrying out the research.
How to approach Part 2
Throughout the module, you have considered a wide range of differentresearch methodologies and methods to carry out research with, by and for children and young people. Having reviewed the literature on your chosen topic, Part 2 of the EMA asks you to identify and design a suitable (for a small-scale research project), feasible and coherent research aim, a research question, methodology and method/s of data collection for your proposed research topic. The purpose of this is to demonstrate to your reader how you would carry out your research project. To do this, you must: Step 1: Create a research aim and formulate one research question for your project (covered in Unit 21) Think about what you want this research to achieve. Do you want to predict, understand, or change something? (Unit 21). Work through the activities in Unit 21 to develop your research question. You do not have to complete all Part 2 elements simultaneously. The process of designing research is iterative and not always linear. For example, you may initially form a research aim and a research question, carry out a literature review and then revise or modify your research question based on what you have read. Step 2: Choose and outline a methodology for your project You need to decide which research methodology is best suited to answer your research question. Work through Unit 23, to support this element. Step 3: Indicate and discuss your participant group. Work through the activities in Unit 23 and Unit 24. Then answer:
- Who are your participants? Describe who will be included in your research and explain why.
- State how many participants will be involved, their ages and/or any aspect of their backgrounds, identities (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, etc) and/or individual needs that you think are relevant to the topic
- How and from where (locations and/or settings, e.g. a nursery, a school, a community centre, online) will you recruit these participants?
Step 4: Choose, describe and justify a method/s for data collection. Work through the activities in Unit 23 to support this element of Part 2. Then answer:
- What data collection tools (methods) will this research project use?
- How has your choice of method/ methods been informed by your literature review? In what ways did the review of literature (Part 1) inform the choice of the data collection tools
- How will the chosen methods help to answer the research question?
- Why are these methods suitable and appropriate for the chosen participants?
- Where is the research setting (e.g. a school, a community centre, a nursery, online)?
- How will you collect data, and how long will it take?
- What resources, would you need to use the method/methods chosen? (e.g. time, money, location)?
Depending on your chosen research topic and context, it might be appropriate to use more than one qualitative method (multiple methods), or to combine quantitative and qualitative methods (mixed-methods). Review Unit 23, and think carefully about the suitability and feasibility of your plans and consider the strengths and weaknesses of different researchmethods. As you considered in Unit 23, more methods don’t necessarily mean a ‘better’ project. Reflect on the E320 ‘Research tree’ and the coherence between your research question, your chosen methodology and/or method as you plan and write this element of Part 2. Concerning E320 module materials and the literature you reviewed for Part 1, ensure that you justify and explain why the method/s you have chosen are suitable for your project and how you would use them with the participants. Step 5: State a time frame for the project Think about what is feasible to achieve using the EMA guidance of ‘small-scale’– i.e. one that could be undertaken in a period of a year or less by a part-time student who is employed full-time and takes occasional time off work for study. In terms of scale and feasibility, it can be compared to the research projects undertaken by some part-time students as part of an undergraduate or master’s dissertation project in other institutions.
Structuring Part 2
When planning and writing Part 2, you must include a response to the following questions. You will probably need to write more in some sections than others. The word count provided is approximate, and you can borrow some words from each element to avoid repetition. Use the subheadings provided in the EMA writing template to organise each element of your answer. They are listed here too, as follows:
- Research aim: What is your research aiming to do? (to predict, understand, or change)
- Research question: What is your research question?
2.1 Methodology (50–100 words)
- What is your proposed research methodology?
- Why is your chosen methodology suited to your research aims and question/s?
2.2 Participant group (150–250 words)
- Who are your participants? Describe who will be included in your research and explain why. State how many participants will be involved, their ages and/or any aspect of their backgrounds, identities (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, etc) and/or individual needs that you think are relevant to the topic
- How and from where (locations and/or settings, e.g. a nursery, a school, a community centre, online) will you recruit these participants?
2.3 Methods of data collection (700–800 words)
- What data collection tools (methods) will this research project use?
- How has your choice of method/or methods been informed by
- Your literature review? In what ways did the review of literature (Part 1) inform the choice of the data collection tools
- How will the chosen methods help to answer the research question?
- Why are these methods suitable and appropriate for the chosen participants?
- Where is the research setting (e.g. a school, a community centre, a nursery, online)?
- How will you collect data, and how long will it take?
- What resources would you need to use the method/s chosen? (e.g. time, money, location)?
Time frame: Briefly indicate a time frame for recruiting participants and collecting the data. The EMA writing template includes a table that you can fill in, containing a column for activities and an approximate duration, to be presented in months, e.g. 1–2 (50 words). Do not provide an introduction or conclusion for Part 2 Note that in Part 2, you are not required to indicate how you could analyse the data collected (methods of data analysis), nor are you required to indicate how you would disseminate the research findings (dissemination plans). Academic voice
- Part 2 must be written in the third person (avoiding the use of ‘I’, ‘me’ or ‘we’), using the past tense.
Referencing You must reference (Harvard CTR) E320 module materials and other relevant materials, including the literature you presented in Part 1, to justify and explain why your chosen methodology and method/s is suitable for your participants and the project topic and how you would use them if you were to carry out the research.
Part 3: Ethical considerations
This part is worth 20 per cent of the total mark for the EMA. Word limit: 750 words Task Evaluate the ethical issues that might arise if you were to carry out this research, and identify the steps you could take to ensure that your proposed research project is ethical.
How to Approach Part 3
Ensuring that research is ethical is integral to any research design, but the ethical considerations that emerge when planning research focusing on children or young people are distinctive from those in research with adults. Across Block 3, you considered that being an ethical and inclusive researcher means more than just following a procedure. It requires considering the rights, values, representation and voice of the children or young people who are involved. As part of TMA03, you also identified and discussed one ethical issue linked to your chosen research topic. Using this feedback and the knowledge and understanding that you have developed across the module, Part 3 of the EMA asks you to demonstrate how you have applied ethical principles to self-assess the ethics of your proposed research project. To help you select suitable, appropriate, and feasible data collection methods, we recommend completing Part 1 and Part 2 before attempting to write Part 3. It will be very difficult to do Part 3 effectively without first locating your research topic within the literature and having a clear sense of your research question.