It entails you thinking about a particular research project and showing how you would go about investigating or doing research on it.

Research Methods - Assignment 1 (Research Proposal) 

Assignment Brief

This assignment is worth 50% of the module grade.

You are required to design a 2,000-3000-word proposal for a research project. 

It entails you thinking about a particular research project and showing how you would go about investigating or doing research on it. It is possible that you might have already started thinking about what you would do for your dissertation. If so, this is an opportunity to start to develop your ideas into a workable plan for your dissertation. More generally, this assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to design a research project and the knowledge you have acquired in relation to research methods, approaches, and theories as well as media and communications generally. The assignment will give you a chance to think about a research topic and will provide you with a feel of the “mechanics” involved in preparing to do a research project. 

Outlined below are the key elements that your proposal should include. Your own experiences and reading from the module and other resources might suggest other ways of organising the proposal. Even so, it is important to see what is outlined below as a minimum set of requirements which any research proposal must address, even if not in the same manner. The following then are the elements/requirements that your proposal should include:

Introduction and identification of the project topic

Briefly contextualise the new research topic and question(s) by discussing why these are or could be a useful or necessary aspect to research: e.g., why the question(s) matter(s) and what they will help to illuminate, as well as why we might care about this, etc.

Literature review and contextualising the topic within existing knowledge

Consider what the literature says about your research topic/objectives and research question(s), but also what it does not say. What are the key findings in existing literature? What limitations do you see in terms of the arguments, research questions, methods, findings, conclusions, etc.? What approaches have been used in the previous studies and what critique(s) can you offer on those? What are the gaps in the literature and how will your research contribute towards filling those gaps? How will your research extend existing knowledge and understandings?

Consideration of the relevant theoretical perspectives on your topic

Consider the relevant theories and theoretical perspectives in relation to your chosen topic. Provide an evaluation of the extent of their relevance for your study and the limitations you see in these theories. Include a discussion of any major debates around the theories. What theoretical frameworks have you identified for your study and why?

Methodological considerations

Describe and explain how you would do your research in terms of:

• the broad approach that you would take in the research and the methods you would use.
• data collection including sampling decisions:
  • the types of sources of data you would plan to include, from where, and how you would access them, including human sources (i.e., people) if appropriate. If people, how you would find them and how you would invite them to participate in your research.
  • after deciding on your type of sources, how you would ‘sample’ or make decisions about exactly what, how much, and/or who to include and exclude (e.g., which media texts you would exactly look at, from what time periods, the precise demographic of people you might interview, the number of people you would aim to include, etc.). 
• data analysis:
  • how you would analyse your data, that is, what you would do with your data to derive meanings and findings from them. If researching people what you would do with the data generated from them and how, etc.). In short, what data analysis method you would use.

Provide a justification/explanation why you would do the research in the above manner, and why you would take the approaches, methods, and steps you have chosen. Demonstrate the suitability of the methodological approach/methods for your research question(s).

You should pay a lot of attention to the research methods and the issues they raise. This means discussing the methods you would use for a particular subject/topic of your choice, the methods that have been used by other researchers in researching that topic in the past, and the strengths and benefits of different methodologies for studying the subject/topic you have identified. 

Ethical considerations

Provide an outline of the ethical and practical considerations you would need to consider, and any challenges you would anticipate in doing the research.   

Resource requirements and timelines

Outline the different resources/materials you will need to conduct the study and the timetable/schedule for the different stages of the research process.

Preliminary sketch of how your final research report, paper, or dissertation will be organised

What chapters/sections will be in the final research report, paper, or dissertation and what will each of them address?

To ensure that you address each of these components correctly, adequately and effectively to the required academic standard, refer to the research proposal guide discussed in Week 4 and to the relevant literature on research methods/approaches.

By submitting you are declaring that your submission is entirely your own work. If you have cited from other sources or in any way included material that was not produced by yourself, those sources must be acknowledged. Failure to acknowledge where work is not your own may result in an allegation of academic misconduct. For more information, see `Assessment Offences and Academic Misconduct`Links to an external site. on Ask Herts, together with the following guidance from Library SkillUP:

`Referencing: Why do it? Introduction`

`Academic Integrity`

`Why bother to acknowledge the work of others?`

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Proof Reading Tools

Generative AI tools: These may only be used in an assessment when you have been given explicit and specific permission in the assignment brief (see below).If you have not been given such permission, you must not use generative AI tools - to do so will constitute academic misconduct.  Even where permission has been given, you must still reference clearly any use of generative AI in the development of your submitted work. If you do not reference any use of generative AI tools, this will also constitute academic misconduct. If in any doubt, you should ask your tutor for advice.

Proofreading tools: Increasingly, proofreading tools are being embedded into standard packages e.g. Word, Grammarly, and becoming more sophisticated. A proof-reader or proof-reading tool must only be used to identify and draw attention to possible changes which you can then choose to accept or reject. Neither a proof-reader nor a proof-reading tool (whether genAI or not) can ever be used to make changes to your work directly; this will ensure that you remain the author of your work. 

Full information on the University’s policy and guidance on use of generative AI and proofreading tools can be found here on Ask HertsLinks to an external site.. 

For this Assignment, the following applies:

In this assessment you are expressly prohibited from (i) using