This activity for undergraduate students research course aimed to test students' initial understanding of their research plan. It is expected to help them reflect further on their research topic so they may have a good grasp of their research plan.

                After discussing with the students the characteristics of a good research topic in class,  I asked them to come up with a research topic on their own, as an assignment.  The following meeting, my students were ready to submit their chosen research topic. However, when I asked them in class to tell  about their chosen research topic, I noticed how little they know about it.  I was disappointed. So, instead of letting them just submit their research topic,  I asked them to reflect further and answer the following questions which I titled “12 Q’s to Initial Understanding of a Research Plan.”

Setting aside the formality of writing a research proposal or a research report, I told my students to write a draft of their answers to the 12 Q’s. Then, asked them to submit a final copy  of their answers the following meeting. In this manner, the students were given more time to reflect and improve their draft. 

                This strategy worked with my students.  Upon reading their answers, I was convinced that this time, they have a better  initial understanding of their research topic/plan. 

Will this work for you?

                The following are the 12 Q’s to initial understanding of a research topic/plan.

12 Q’s TO T INITIAL UNDERSTANDING OF A RESEARCH TOPIC/PLAN

Answer the following questions:

    1. What is the topic of the research study I have in mind?

    2. What is the purpose of my study?

    3. What specific problems am I going to answer/solve?

    4. Who/what are the subjects of the study

    5. What is the size of the population of my study?

    6. Will I include all members of the population or just a few/sample of it?

    7. What method or technique of collecting data shall I use?    

    8.  What is/are my expected results or answers to the problems?

    9.  What instrument shall I use to gather or to document the data?

    10. When will the study be conducted?

    11. Where will the study be conducted?

    12. How will the data be gathered?

      I plan of trying this activity with my graduate students to set their mood and get started with their research proposal. Let's see what will happen, in my next post..

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