Caribbean Studies IA (2015) - FORMAT

Acknowledgement

Chapter 1

Background
Rationale
Purpose of the Study
Statement of the Problem
Research Questions
Hypothesis
Delimitation
Definition of Key terms
Educational Value

Chapter 2

Literature review

Chapter 3

Critique of Sources
Methodology

Chapter 4

Presentation of findings

Chapter 5

Interpretation of Data

Chapter 6

Discussion of findings
 Conclusion

Limitations

Recommendations

*Bibliography
*Appendix

Element Explanation
Background The purpose of the background is to inform the reader of the current
status of the issue at hand. There should be a comprehensive
discussion (about one page). - Focus on these aspects: What is the
current situation in the industry at hand? What makes the research
necessary? What situation created an interest into the research? (Here
you need to begin strong arguments that relate to the formulated
problem statement). Ensure that this section provides a broad focus on
the current scenario and provide a broad focus overview of the study.
Rationale Somewhere in the introduction you need to inform the reader of the
rationale of your research. This is a brief explanation of why your
research topic is worthy of study and may make a significant
contribution to the body of already existing research.
Purpose of the The statement of purpose is not simply a statement of why the
study research is being done. (That is what the rationale section is for.)
Rather, "purpose" refers to the goal or objective of your research.
"What do I expect to discover or learn from this research?"
Statement of the For the problem statement, you should be thinking about:
Problem/Problem
Who the problem affects?
Statement
What the outcome would be if the problem were not solved
Where the problem is taking place
When the problem needs to be fixed
Why is it important for the problem to be fixed?
Is the problem short-term or will it continue into the future? How
many people are affected by this problem? Would this research revise
existing knowledge or practices? If so, how?
Research questions The research questions identify the problem and the relationships that
the researcher would like to know more about. They are sub-questions
that the research is attempting to answer based on the central research
topic.
Hypothesis An expectation or prediction about the relationship between two
variables in a research study. Usually hypotheses are used in scientific
research where experimental research is important. Examples include:
Temperatures will decrease with increasing altitude or Bacteria X
causes the disease Y. In social sciences hypotheses look more like:
Students career aspirations bear little relation to the developmental
needs of the country or The school curriculum does not effectively
promote knowledge about the world of work. Hypotheses can either
be upheld or rejected by the outcomes of the research.
Delimitation Delimitations are the definitions you set as the boundaries of your
own thesis or dissertation, so delimitations are in your control.
Delimitations are set so that your goals do not become impossibly
large to complete. Examples of delimitations include objectives,
 research questions, variables, theoretical objectives that you have
adopted, and populations chosen as targets to study. You might have
avoided these options for reasons of practicality, interest, or relativity
to the study at hand. Remember that delimitations are not good or bad.
They are simply a detailed description of the scope of interest for your
study as it relates to the research design.
Definition of key Be sure that your research is understandable to a general reader who
terms does not know much about your field of investigation. This section
gives the definition of important terms and concepts that are usually
stated in the objectives, hypothesis, and research questions. Define
subject-specific and technical terms. If you are using words that are
different in meaning in the context of your experiment from
traditionally accepted meanings, define the terms. The clearest way to
arrange your definitions page is to arrange terms in alphabetical order,
with definitions stated in complete sentences.
Educational Value Write about one paragraph. Here you are talking about who will
benefit from your project, how will they benefit, what can the
information be used for. Say how much educational value it has.
Literature Review A literature review is a critical and in depth evaluation of previous
research. It is a summary and synopsis of a particular area of research,
allowing anybody reading the paper to establish why you are pursuing
this particular research.

A literature review must do these things:

1. be organized around and related directly to the thesis or

research question you are developing
2. synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not
known
3. identify areas of controversy in the literature
4. formulate questions that need further research
Critique of sources This section required students to provide a critique of the sources
from which they gathered information for the research. Here the
researcher was expected to highlight the primary and secondary
sources, and justify how these sources contributed to the topic studied.
Students MUST to describe the primary and secondary sources and
explain their relevance to the topics being studied.
Methodology When you describe your methods it is necessary to state how you
have addressed the research questions and/or hypotheses. The
methods should be described in enough detail for the study to be
replicated, or at least repeated in a similar way in another situation.
Every stage should be explained and justified with clear reasons for
the choice of your particular methods and materials.
Presentation of In this section, students were expected to present their findings in the
findings form of text, graphs, charts, tables, pictures, pictograms, samples and
other appropriate forms of graphic organization. Students will gain
optimal points for using at least four types of the varieties relevant to
the topic. Only findings that are relevant to the topic should be
presented.
Interpretation of This section required more than a statement of what the data
Findings presented. Students were required to give plausible reasons for the
findings that had been derived and presented, indicate what the
findings implied and highlight how the data connected to the topic
under consideration. Trends and patterns that were implicit in the
presentation should have been presented and interpreted as well.
Discussion of This section required a comparative analysis of the findings against
Findings the information that was presented in the Literature Review. When
comparing the findings with those positions put forward in the
 previous literature, students should not be introducing new literature.
Conclusions/ In the CONCLUSION you do a number of important things:
Limitations
Recommendations Summarize the main points you made in your introduction and
review of the literature
Review (very briefly) the research methods and/or design you
employed.
Repeat (in abbreviated form) your findings.
Discuss the broader implications of those findings.
Offer suggestions for future research related to yours.
Recommendations: In this section, you finally have the opportunity
to present and discuss the actions that future researchers should take
as a result of your project. A well thought out set of recommendations
gains maximum marks. Ideally you should be able to make a formal
recommendation regarding the alternative that is best supported by the
study. Present and discuss the kinds of additional research suggested
by your research.

Limitations: The limitations of the study are those characteristics of

design or methodology that impacted or influenced the application or
interpretation of the results of your study. They are the constraints on
generalizability and utility of findings that are the result of the ways in
which you chose to design the study and/or the method used to
establish internal and external validity.
Bibliography Sources used, (books, newspaper articles, journals, websites etc.) no
more than ten (10) years old, written in alphabetical order.
Appendix Any questionnaires that were used.