A Sample Structure for an Inquiry / Research Proposal

I thought this might be of interest to my students currently planning a piece of research or inquiry in terms of a possible structure:

Title of Inquiry

·      This is the working title of your inquiry. It may change over time, but defining the title will help you decide your focus and methods, and suggest possible literature.

Topic Outline

·      Aim of the inquiry (overall, if your inquiry was successful, what do you think it might achieve for you? This is aspirational, it is what you are trying to achieve);

·      Identify the Context of the Inquiry (what it will apply to, its currency in relation to contemporary practices or theories);

·      Rationale (why it is important? will anyone will benefit from what you find out? How is it relevant to your interests or career?);

·      Inquiry Question(s) (these are the specific and answerable questions that the inquiry is designed to address. Answering these questions successfully should enable you to succeed in your aim)

·      Theoretical Framework (What existing theories do you think apply to your inquiry, and how might these help you to gain an insight into your topic area?);

·      Methodological Framework (what methods of gathering and analysing data do you think you will use and for what reasons?);

·      Resources (briefly assess what resources you need in terms of time, access to individual’s who you might interview etc.);

·      Objectives (explain what you are actually going to do in the inquiry, e.g. what you will read, who you might speak to, and the timeline you think will keep you on track);

·      Ethical Implications (are there any likely ethical issues or problems that might arise in your inquiry process, especially relevant if you are gathering data from people, e.g. through interviews?);

 

Literature

·      What are the main current ideas in circulation that are current to your topic?

·       Where are these located (academic texts; journalistic work; within a practice setting)?

·      Who else has tackled your topic area, how did they do it, and what did they find out?

Constructing an Argument

I thought it might be helpful to set out some thoughts on how you set out your arguments. I think one good way is to write 1 paragraph per argument, cycling through the process above. I am very happy to receive comments and have posted this to Google Docs for your convenience:

Link to:  'Argument Diagram'.

Mapping Professional Domains

Following on from the campus session, I have put up on 'My Learning' a template of the 'Mapping Professional Domains' diagram. You can use this to explore your ideas on any of the modules of the programme. I have included below a simple example of questions that emerge as we think about developing a plan for the inquiry using the template.

I hope this is of interest.

You can click on the image below to enlarge.

Thoughts on the ‘Reflection’ Blogs … generic feedback on Part 2

I thought it would be helpful to discuss some observations and thoughts about some of the posts on ‘Reflection’. Some of the best posts seem to focus in on one or more of three aspects. Here are some examples of how different people have tackled these three different aspects I have observed from Blog posts on Reflection. There are plenty of other good examples so please do not see these as necessarily the only good examples:

Firstly, In this example we can se how Beth conceptualises reflection as an internalised process of learning. We can see reflection as a process of revisiting the memories we make of our experiences, trawling them to extract out new or more worthwhile conclusions.

 

Ruth discusses reflection as relational to the external world of practice. We can see reflection as locating our responses in the wider world of practice. The ‘experiences’ matter because they are located in the external world, and are mostly focused on making sense of that external world.

 

Amy discusses reflection in terms of the methods of engagement, i.e. using different technologies and tools to engage the process of reflection. If we create internal memories based on reflection upon experiences (or memories of experiences) then the different methods we use ‘to’ reflect may assist in the formation of particular types of usable, worthwhile memories.

So Reflection can be seen as a ‘method’ of learning or adaption to ‘the external world’ of practice and life that has ‘internal, personal resonance’. To make Reflection effective, this way of thinking about it (internal; external; methodological) seems to have value and utility. My overall thought on current posts is that the most useful conceptualisation uses these, or similar models and I hope this is helpful generic feedback.