Research Question, Purpose Statement, and Design Statement – Week 1

In this assignment you will present your research question along with a purpose statement. You will also present your preliminary thoughts on a research design. In other words, how do you intend to answer your research question. The specific research question should be of depth and breadth required for a major project. There is a template attached with the proper headings and settings. You are required to use this template to submit your assignment. This temple is attached as “Assignment1Template.” 

Required Elements of the Assignment

Title Page

Introduction – Provide pertinent information related to your topic focusing on why your topic is important. The introduction contains three secondary headings which are Purpose Statement, Research Question, and Design Statement.

Purpose Statement – Present your purpose statement in this section.

Research Question – Present your research question in this section.

Design Statement – Explain how you intend to answer your research question. This section represents your preliminary thoughts on a methodology. For example, you may intend to conduct a case study in order to answer your research question. It is expected that your research design will evolve as a result of conducting the literature review.

Technical Requirements

Your paper must be at a minimum of 3 pages (the Title and Reference pages do not count towards the minimum limit).

Scholarly and credible references should be used. A good rule of thumb is at least 2 scholarly sources per page of content.

Type in Times New Roman, 12 point and double space.

Students will follow the current APA Style as the sole citation and reference style used in written work submitted as part of coursework. 

Points will be deducted for the use of Wikipedia or encyclopedic type sources. It is highly advised to utilize books, peer-reviewed journals, articles, archived documents, etc.

• All submissions will be graded using the assignment rubric. 

You could pick a topic about something you already know something about and build on that knowledge over the course of this class, preparing you to write a research paper in another class.

• You could pick a topic about something that you would like to know more about. It could be a country, event, person, or group, for example.

You could pick an issue that is debatable within the homeland security field on which you cannot speak about with sufficient knowledge. 

• You could pick a topic area on which you intend to focus, so your research will deepen your understanding and prepare you for other coursework. For example, if you are interested in domestic terrorism, you might consider framing a question about the role of education, culture and demographics on an individual’s motives. 

Or, you could pick a topic that is related to your present job or work that you would like to do. Knowledge for its own sake is all good, but getting your dream job because you have done your research is doubly rewarding!! (Turabian, 2007, p. 14)

• Once you have found a topic, how do you formulate a research question? A good research question must be clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable. These elements are essential because the question provides the “path” for searching for information that will lead to an eventual conclusion.Follow these steps to develop a research question:

Choose an interesting topic or one that serves you, as discussed above, and draft some preliminary questions.

• Next, do some preliminary reading to see if the question has already answered, if there is sufficient information on the topic, or if another more pertinent question is raised from what you read in academic journals and books about your topic question.

Refine your question and submit it to the “so what” test. Will the answer to it make a contribution to knowledge in that issue area? Will the answer advance your own depth of knowledge?