Sample Apa Style: An Example Outline Of A Full Research Paper Template (Page 5 of 8) in pdf

APA Style 5

Method ( 3-5 Pages)

(This is your section header centered on the page)

Purpose

(This is your sub-section header, italicized, left justified)

Do not introduce the topic again. Introduce the general methodology most authors have

taken on this topic and the one you will be using and why (tie to the literature review). The

purpose is a statement of what you intend to study not what you intend to find.

Paradigm

Here, you will discuss your philosophical paradigm for the acquisition of knowledge (see

Paradigm handout). Again your reader is entitled to understand how you view reality. This will

greatly influence how you frame the problem, the solutions, and how you will know you have

learned something from your results. Not everyone shares the same paradigm so it is only

ethical that you describe yours with your reader. Although you will rarely find this information

in published works, you will use this exercise to understand your own philosophy on knowledge

acquisition and be able to articulate it.

Study Design

This should flow from your paradigm. Are you doing qualitative or quantitative; is it

exploratory, descriptive or explanatory? Explain why you are using this type of study and what

you plan to explore, describe, or explain (again tie it to the literature review).

Within either design: quantitative or qualitative, tell the reader what type of study is

being used: is it ethnographic, content analysis of written material, interview, or a program

evaluation, etc.? Why is this design best for your study? (continue tying it to the literature

review).

Population and Sample

What is the population you plan to study (e.g., all the social worker students in Idaho),

what is your sampling plan (e.g., convenience, stratified, random), and why? (that’s right - tie it

to the literature review). Give as much information about the population that has been gathered

from your review of the literature: age range, gender mix, education, etc. This will be used to

compare to your sample’s demographics in the Results section.

Investigative Techniques

Do you plan to use interviews, behavior observation, questionnaires, etc.? What subtype

of each do you plan to employ (e.g., structured vs. unstructured interviews or closed vs. open-

ended questions)? State your rationale for your approach (lit. review). List all of your variables,

which ones are independent or dependent? What level of measurement do you plan to use for

each variable?

Instrumentation

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