ASS113-2: Assignment – Secondary Research Portfolio Template. You have been asked to pull together a short secondary research portfolio demonstrating your understanding of research methods and data analysis. Follow the guidance below to complete the necessary evidence for your portfolio.
Agreed topic areas for this semester 2 – 2023-24:
- Mental health
- Social media
- Sexual Health & Pregnancy
PART ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW:
Identifying a feasible research question suitable for a literature review:
Devise a feasible research question for a literature review based on one of the three topic areas (above). Your chosen project must be related to your degree. It is important to consider how the question will be framed as your question will guide the design of your study.
Rationale:
Give a short overview to explain the rationale behind your question. Make sure you include information to frame the social or political context; define any key terms; state what type of study will be carried out. Make sure you include references in the Harvard style.
Developing a clear search strategy:
Devise an initial search strategy and evidence what you have found. You should include, databases or specific journals searched; inclusion and exclusion criteria; methods of appraisal; and an overview of the literature found/available. Are there any ethical considerations for your study? Ensure you make reference to research method texts covered in the unit.
PART TWO: ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE
Method of data analysis:
Briefly explain what type of analysis you have used (e.g. thematic, discourse or content analysis), what it is and how you have applied it. Give a step-by-step guide how the coding was carried out – including the different stages (initial coding, writing memos, refining codes, and generating themes).Ensure you make reference to research methods textbooks (covered in the unit).
Findings:
Give an example of your analysis. This does not need to be complete – simply a couple of good paragraphs of analysis.
What did your analysis generate? Outline key themes, patterns or trends in the data – (for example, name and define any themes generated).
PART THREE: OTHER FORMS OF SECONDARY DATA – i.e. NOT JOURNALS
Now, consider how you could adapt your study above, to either a content analysis or a discourse analysis. You will need to choose an alternative form of secondary data instead of using journal articles. Consider what alternative viable data could be used?
For example:
- Official documents such as policy documents, reviews, reports
- Print media such as newspapers, magazines, adverts
- Social media posts, tweets, photographs on Instagram, YouTube videos, blogs
- Political speeches, interviews or podcasts
Students can choose from the range of documents suggested but they should choose only one form, in a logical selection, i.e., either newspapers or policy documents or tweets or YouTube videos, etc., not a random combination of those things.
Revise your question:
You will first need to adapt your question, so it acknowledges the change of data source and the new method of analysis. Rewrite your original question, keeping the same key elements (PICOT) but with an emphasis on exploring different data sources.
Study overview:
explain how the new question will be answered; what sources of data will be used; what is your new inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g. newspaper articles between two specific dates); give an overview of the new data found – (number of tweets, articles etc).
Are there any new ethical considerations (this is especially important if students are using social media posts as there are specific site-specific terms or reproducing tweets etc.)?
Ensure you make reference to research method texts covered in the unit.
PART FOUR: REFERENCES
References:
Include all of your references formatted in the Harvard style (check citethemrightonline.com if you are unsure how to reference any sources).
Remember you should have made reference to at least two research methods texts from the reading list in your portfolio.
