Outline - Methods Outline

This section of your proposal is where you will detail how the work will be accomplished from a practical standpoint. This section will describe the study design, data collection, and data analyses. Authors may also want to include such things as a description of the facilities or study area and specialized equipment. This should be more than a simple description of your methods. You will need to explain/ justify each component of your study. Do not recreate the wheel. You will want to develop methods based on accepted procedures and equipment. Make sure that you cite where appropriate.  The broad categories for your outline come from theProposal Guidelines.

I. Research Question (at top of outline)

II. Methods
(Each section will likely be more than a single paragraph. Consider using sub-sections where appropriate.)

A. Study Design
How will the study be organized to effectively answer the posed question? What type of study will you conduct (observational, experimental, or theoretical)? Explain and justify. What are your treatment groups, how will they be organized?  What are the controls used for comparison?  A field-based project might benefit from a map of the research area.  A laboratory project might benefit from a diagram showing the structure of the study/ experiment.

B. Data Collection
Exactly what data will be collected to make your comparison? What collection techniques (field, laboratory, survey, or clinical) will you use (reference the literature where appropriate)? If you develop new methods, explain why they are needed. Explain and justify your decisions about what to collect and how you are collecting it.

C. Data Analysis –
How will the collected data be analyzed to answer your research question?  Where appropriate, which statistical tests will be used to evaluate your hypotheses?  Justify your choices by comparing to previously published research.

Make sure to cite where appropriate either with specific citation or indication that citation needed.

The Assignment
Bring in two hardcopies of your method outline to class. One copy will be used in the class peer review. The second copy may be given to your instructor. You will have the opportunity to revise the outline after class. Revised outline will then be uploaded onto Angel.

Comments
More effort in your outline will make writing the methods much easier. Try to develop as clear and complete outline as possible.

From this point, you begin filling in the details of each section using topical subheadings and complete sentences where needed. You should endeavor to make your subheadings as detailed as possible, without making them paragraphs.

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Last updated February 16, 2011