Response Paper Assignment

Objective

The purpose of this project is to get you started on your research proposal by first guiding you through the process of developing a sound research question. You are working towards figuring out 2 things that sound simple but may be surprisingly difficult (this is why we start working on this early!). 1) what is your research question and 2) what do we already know about it?

Assignment

1. Topic Selection

a. Select an issue related to child/adolescent development that you would like to study. Be sure to choose a topic that really interests you. The possibilities are seemingly endless. For example, Self-Esteem, ADHD, Bullying, Depression, Achievement, Puberty, Sexuality, Single Parent Families…State this issue clearly.

b. Identify your motives for studying it.

2. Question Generation

a. Write at least eight (8) research questions related to the topic you’ve selected, with at least 2 questions of each type discussed in class: simple descriptive, comparative descriptive, correlational, and experimental.

b. Identify each type of question. Be creative here, and don’t hesitate to list many possible questions.

3. Question Selection

a. Now, choose a single research question you would like to pursue. Consider your personal interests, available resources (assume you were going to carry out a term project over one semester), and the theoretical and ethical implications of the question; (For example, you may not want to study child eyewitnesses if it involves them reliving tragic events.) Write the question in one sentence.

b. Give at least three reasons why it is a good research question.

4. Literature Search

a. List at least 10 references that seem relevant to your question; include the author, year, title, source, and page numbers in APA format.

·  "How will the writing assignment help you to learn the course material?"

·  This assignment highlights study variables and research designs. It may also stimulate some of your own research ideas and approaches. This assignment forms the basis for your research proposal that will ultimately provide you with an opportunity to exercise several methodological concepts covered in class.

·  "If I had to do this assignment myself, how would I do it?"

·  In selecting a topic I would browse through my introduction to child and adolescent development and Creasey texts, and review past research papers that I had written to get an interesting idea to focus on. If I wanted this topic to represent a workable research project so I wouldn’t pick something that involved a population that I have no access to. For example, although I may be interested in studying family and peer relationships among children with multiple sclerosis, I don’t know where I could find a sample of children with MS to participate in a study so I wouldn’t choose this topic. In question generation I would allow myself to be creative and not get stuck on ensuring that each individual question was “good”. Looking ahead at question selection, I see that I will only be focusing on one therefore I would concentrate on correctly generating and identifying the different types of questions and make certain that I could follow through with at least one. In doing the literature search I would identify synonyms or keywords for my topic for example, if I was interested in “single mothers” I might also examine “single parents” or “single parent families”. I might also seek the expertise of a research librarian.

·  "How does this writing assignment or topic relate to the work that specialists do in this field?"

·  Research is the source of knowledge in our field and although the content may changes, the methods have largely remained the same. Conducting research studies allows you to become directly involved in contributing to the knowledge as you learn more about your particular area of interest within the broad field of child and adolescent development.