PERFORMANCE TASK FOR THE FINAL TERM OF MA 201
For January 29 and February 5 (Tuesday schedule) and for February 2 and 9 (Saturday schedule) you are to work on the Concept
Paper for Your Thesis with the following elements:
Element
Title page
Statement of the
Problem
Preliminary
Literature Review
Goal Statement
Research
Questions,
Variables and
Hypothesis
An Abridged
Methodology
Timeline
References
PowerPoint
Presentation
Description
Title page — provides a tentative title for the thesis. The title of the Concept Paper should be a standalone statement that can fully describe the project by summarizing the main idea of the manuscript. The
title should concisely identify the variables being investigated and the relationship among those variables
(American Psychological Association [APA], 2010). Words should serve a useful purpose; avoid words that
do not add substance or words that are misleading. The title of the Concept Paper may become the title of
the thesis.
Provides the purpose for the research. This section of the Concept Paper introduces the problem under
investigation, addresses why the researcher wants to investigate this problem, and how the research
findings may help. Supporting documentation, including statistical data if available, should be used to
emphasize the need for this research. This section is one of the most important sections of the Concept
Paper; its serves to gain the reader’s attention and support. You care about the research, but the reader
may need some convincing. The first few sentences of the Concept Paper should intrigue the reader to
spike his or her interest and encourage further reading. As you begin to write the problem statement of
your Concept Paper, consider your research. First consider why you feel the problem is
important. Consider how your study relates to previous work in the field, how you will link your
hypotheses and objectives to theory, and how the hypotheses relate to the research design. Finally,
consider the theoretical and practical implications involved in your research project (APA, 2010). A welldeveloped, concise, and clear problem statement will lay the foundation for a strong Concept Paper and
the dissertation that follows.
Provides identification of major literature that supports and validates the topic; focuses on areas that offer
support for new research, and offers the student an opportunity to analyze and synthesize past research in
the context of their present problem. For the Concept Paper, the student should connect their research
project to a theoretical model reported in the literature. The most successful research projects have been
based on the research of predecessors, and this section of the Concept Paper provides enough of a
description of previous research to plant seeds in the mind of the reader suggesting more information is
needed. A strong Concept Paper is based on a wide-range literature review that is condensed into a
summary of key points.
Provides a broad or abstract intention, including the research goals and objectives. This part of the
Concept Paper tells the reader “who, what and when” regarding the research goal.
Provides a preliminary view of the questions the student will investigate. Questions are based on theory,
past research, experience, and need. These questions will direct the research methodology; their inclusion
in the Concept Paper links the research problem with the methodology. For some, composing the research
questions may be the most difficult part of the research project, or possibly the most difficult aspect of
writing the Concept Paper. The questions will direct everything that will be done; therefore, it is important
that they are accurate and focused to the main research problem. These research questions will
specifically direct the research and the type of analyses conducted, as such their compatibility is essential.
Included here is the identification of the variables and the presentation of the hypotheses.
Provides the student’s best idea on how to conduct the research and analyze the data. The goals and
objects identified in previous sections of the Concept Paper should relate to the research methods
described in this section. For the Concept Paper, the methodology is simplified or summarized, serving as a
general outline of the methods that will be employed. Included too is a general discussion on the test for
significance that you will be using, alpha and CI.
Provides a range of time for completion of the project, highlighting key elements for each stage of the
project. This element is unique to the Concept Paper and provides the student structure for managing
sections of the project within a realistic time frame.
Provides references to the material cited in the literature review and elsewhere in the Concept Paper.
Each shall prepare a 10-slide PowerPoint Presentation of your Concept paper for the purpose your
presentation to the class.
The Concept Paper shall be no more than 4 long bond paper, encoded using Times new roman, font 12 with normal margin
and single spacing all throughout the document. The Title shall be on the first page followed right away by your byline (Complete
name, email address and cp number). Indicate the word count of your Concept Paper (excluding the Title and the Reference part) by
writing after the last entry in the Reference the following: Total Word count: 1200 (as an example).
You are to submit soft copy only. Hence let us agree that the file name of your concept paper should follow this format:
[Schedule]_[Family name]. As an example: Saturday_Buemia
Your soft copy should be emailed to mabuhayraf@yahoo.com on or before February 6, 2019 (Tuesday group) and on or
before February 10, 2019 (Saturday group).