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APP758 Advanced concepts in research: methodology and methods

Assignment: Research protocol/Project proposal

Guidelines

Word limit:                        3,000 words. See Word Count section below for the detail.

Resubmission date:        These dates are set by the Assessment Panel.

Your research/project proposal will set out a plan for the project you intend to carry out in the final module of your programme. The proposal consists of two parts:

1. A literature review which will detail a repeatable search and synthesis of published literature. It is intended to help you develop skills in reviewing and evaluating the state of research evidence. The literature review provides background for your proposal and demonstrates the need for research/systematic review/project in this area.
2. A research protocol/project proposal which uses the resulting synthesis of research from your literature research to define research questions/project aims and objectives, and provides a project plan for the execution of your proposed work. The purpose of the protocol/proposal is to define a repeatable and structured investigation which you will undertake as your project in your final module on the programme (APP753 or SPP702).

Process

You should work on this assignment in two parts, completing the literature review first and subsequently building a protocol/proposal that has used the current state of evidence as its foundation. The final written assignment will be presented as one document to integrate the literature review and the project proposal.

Part 1: Literature Review* – approximately 1500 words

• Identify a topic for your review and write the research question that your review will answer.
• Develop a search strategy for your review: inclusion and exclusion criteria, search terms, databases to search. You may find it helpful to use PICO(S) or similar tool.
• Complete your search, keeping records of the number of results and use these to populate a PRISMA flow chart.
• Decide how you are going to critically appraise the papers which meet your inclusion criteria.
• Read and critically appraise each included paper, keeping notes of key critical points and the findings from each paper. Your critique should enable you to draw conclusions about the strength of the findings. Compare findings/results across studies and write a synthesis of these in each relevant area. This synthesis should provide a concise summary of the state and strength of the evidence in the area.

Part 2: Research Protocol/Project proposal* approximately 1500 words

Please follow either 2a for a research/systematic review protocol or 2b for a project proposal. If you are not following any specific programme you can choose either option.

Part 2a Research/Systematic review Protocol (for those intending to take APP753 Disseration module)

• Define research questions stemming from your literature review.
• Consider what the philosophical foundations are for the questions/aims you have defined – is your project going to be predominantly interpretivist or positivist in approach or something else?
• Choose your methodology to fit with your identified philosophical approach, then select data collection methods that are appropriate for that approach and your chosen questions.
• Use published research texts/journal articles to help you when making these choices. These texts will also help you to write each of the sections outlined below which follow on from the identification of your chosen methodology and methods.

Part 2b Project proposal (for those intending to take SPP702 Substantive Professional Project)

• Define your aims and objectives based on the findings from your literature review. Please note that a practice development proposal should focus on applying knowledge not generating new knowledge.
• Consider the philosophical foundations for your aims and objectives – is your project going to be underpinned by an emancipatory or a technical approach to practice development or something else?
• Choose your methodology to fit with your identified approach (e.g. Action Research, PARiHS Framework, PDSA etc), then select the methods appropriate for that approach and your aims and objectives.
• Use published research texts/journal articles to help you when making these choices. These texts will also help you to write each of the sections outlined below which follow on from the identification of your chosen methodology and methods.

Format and Structure/Marking criteria

• Please write in a sans serif font such as Arial, Calibri or Verdana with no smaller font size than 12 point with 1.5 line spacing. This will make it easier for markers to read your work.
• Please use headings to structure your work.
• Use the tools provided within Microsoft Word to help you to define the level of each heading and to create a contents list at the beginning of your work.

• Please use Cite Them Right https://plymouth.libguides.com/referencing Harvard style referencing and bibliographic software such as EndNote to Cite While You Write and create your reference list.
• Appendices should appear after the reference list. Appendices should be used for information provided to supplement your proposal/protocol. Where the reader needs to read it all to understand your proposal/protocol it should be included in the text not as an Appendix. Examples of things to include as an Appendix are: Gantt chart, detailed literature search strategy, Critiquing tools, Tables of included papers (this may include author, date, aim/research question, country of origin, methodology/methods, sample characteristics & size, main findings and key points of critique), participant information sheet, consent forms, study posters etc as relevant to your proposal/protocol. Please note that all Appendices must be referred to in the text, numbered in the order you refer to them in the text.

Word count 3,000 words

Writing to a pre-set word limit, along with other module criteria, is an intellectual skill that is designed to encourage you to present your assessment concisely and coherently. It is one of a number of important assessment criteria against which your work will marked.

The word limit is exclusive of :

(i) Headings, titles and statements on the cover and contents page;

(ii) Index lists and diagram labels;

(iii) Short text boxes in the body of an assignment;

(iv) References and/or bibliography lists; and

(v) Permitted appended material.

Where word count exceeds the word limit, work will be read up to the limit, which will include completion of that sentence. The remainder will not be marked which may adversely affect your grade.

An accurate word count must be given on the title page of the assessment. You will be penalised by a 5% reduction in marks if this is not included.

Sources of help and support

• Feedback and feedforward group tutorials within the module timetable
• The Writing Café
• Faculty of Health Librarians or your NHS Trust Librarians
• Fellow tutorial group members
• For any other issues which cannot be addressed through the above routes contact the module leader or in their absence another member of the module team.

Expected minimum content for your assignment

See below for the minimum expected content for your final research protocol/project proposal and the marks available for each section.

*As part of lecture materials and/or during group tutorials, you will be given an outline and structure for completion of each part and the way they should be presented in your final assignment.