Project Step 2: Research statement

Preparation

• Reflect again and refine your interest statement.
• Review the concepts and strategies for identifying a research area, problem, aim, and statement (chapter, slides).
• Continue to comb the literature to gain a better understanding of the research area with the aim to identify a research problem and develop a research statement.

Objectives

• Build on (and revise) your interest statement refining the scope and gathering and evaluating the literature.
• Identify perceived gaps and potential areas of contribution from your literature research.
• Define a research question or hypothesis.
• Outline the objectives of your research and the expected impact on the field or area.

Instructions

Getting started

Make sure that you have forked and cloned the project_web repository from GitHub and that your Git and GitHub configuration is set up on your computer. See recipe and slides Scaffolding research and Project orientation for guidance.

1. Open your research project repository in RStudio.
2. Open and modify the reports/prospectus.qmd as necessary to complete the steps below.

Remember to use the edit, add, commit, push workflow to update your GitHub page.

Brainstorming

1. Continue to refine your interest statement and gather and assess the literature with the goal to identify a research problem.
2. First, search and scan the literature focusing on the aims and findings of the studies (this will be found in the abstract sections).
3. Identify at least 4-5 articles that are particularly interesting to you and that are related to your interests.
4. Now look closer at these articles and focus on the following:
   • Skim the article(s) for:
     • the aim(s) of the study(ies) and
     • the main finding(s) of the study(ies)
   • Identify the data and dataset(s) used and how they relate to the research aim(s)
   • Identify the analysis approach and statistical methods used in the research
5. Consider debates, uncertainties, limitations, or contradictions that appear in the literature as you identify a research problem (gap).

Draft a research statement

1. Develop a research statement that aims to address the research problem (gap) you have identified in your brainstorming. Your statement should be a paragraph or two in length and should address the following questions:
   • What is the research problem (gap) you have identified?
   • What is your research question or hypothesis?
   • What are the objectives of your research?
   • What is the expected impact of your research on the field or area?

Assessing your progress

1. Reflect on the process of identifying a research problem and developing a research statement.

Some questions to consider:

• What did you learn?
• What did you find most/ least challenging?
• What resources did you consult?
• What questions or concerns do you have at this point?
• What do you need to address in order to move forward?

Submission

1. Use the necessary Quarto features to format your document (e.g., headings, lists, links, citations, etc.).
2. Render your project (to HTML).
3. Commit and push your changes to GitHub.
4. Create an Issue or Discussion post in your repository to share your progress and ask questions. Tag the instructor @francojc in your post.