Please I need a Research/ Thesis Topic + Proposal in the field of Psychology ( Special Educational Needs Precisely) Please find attached documents relating to the choice of options and break down of

Methodology and Ethical Considerations

(Discourse Analysis)

4,000 words

Your steps:

• stating the research questions

• identifying the relevant documents (sampling)

• applying the sampling method,

• designing a protocol for data collection,

• analysing the documents (discourse analysis)

• interpreting the findings.

Within the broad methodology of discourse analysis there are many different traditions and approaches. We propose that within Special Educational Needs (drawing upon education, early childhood, critical disability studies etc) you apply an interpretive approach to the analysis of documents as you may be interested in the meanings about key concepts (e.g. childhood, disability, pedagogy, SEN, SEMH) that are conveyed within your selected documents. You may be interested in how the issue or problem that is being addressed is defined or constructed by your chosen documents, and the hidden assumptions that may underpin these documents.

This means you are choosing to apply discourse analysis.

Based on Brown et al. (2019)

Findings and discussion

(Discourse Analysis)

4,000 words

Presentation and discussion of findings arising from the discourse analysis – this needs to address/answer your research questions. How do your findings support/contradict/build on and/or raise further questions about the topic you are investigating? Holliday (2002, p.104) favours a thematic approach: ‘the development of themes and organisation of data are interconnected with the development of an argument’.

Select a small sample of relevant documents (please see relevant section on what constitutes valid documents)

Although discourse analysis can be either qualitative or quantitative, for the purpose of this project, you will have to engage with QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS of the sources.

In qualitative analysis are taken into consideration: the author (who is writing for a specific audience, with a known/hidden intention); the social context in which the document is produced and by which is influenced, the audience (possible impact and outcomes deriving from the document), and lastly the ‘symbols’ employed to communicate a message or develop new meaning/understanding.

Introductory paragraph

(100-200 words)

Describe the structure of your chapter. This must be brief and providing an explanation to the structure of the chapter, rather than a list of what is discussed.

Citations to references are needed in this section.

Framing your research

(400-500 words)

Paradigm – this refers to the theoretical paradigm framing your research. You are likely to be an interpretivist and you could combine this with another theoretical or paradigmatic perspective (feminism, post-structuralism, emancipatory, etc).

Citations to references are needed in this section.

Positionality

(400-500 words)

Explore your positionality in relation to the research methodology. How will this methodology support you in revealing and challenging your own assumptions? Is it aligned with your own beliefs and preferred models of research? How does the project reflect your own values and how will you employ reflexivity to ensure you are addressing any bias you may bring to the research? You are looking to link your paradigm, theoretical framework and values to the research project here.

Citations to references will be needed here- these will likely be research methodology texts.

Research Design and data collection

(1500-1800 words)

Introduce, discuss and defend (which means support with relevant literature and demonstrating awareness of possible limitations and shortcomings) the design decisions you have made in your research. This should include- your sampling strategy approach, your protocol for data collection and a discussion about your use of discourse analysis.

The sampling strategy approach, this section should include:

*search engine /database use to identify documents.

*methods for search of sources

*selection criteria for sources (inclusion/exclusion criteria, such as date of publication, context, validity of source, type of document, etc…). This is your sampling strategy.

Introduce, discuss and defend (which means support with relevant literature and demonstrating awareness of possible limitations and shortcomings) the protocol for data collection from the documents

You should have a clearly developed protocol for data collection from the documents. This is discourse analysis.

The protocol for data collection can focus on one or more of the following elements – the following are relevant to discourse analysis

*arguments presented in the document.

*specific language (particularly symbolic language, such as metaphors or terms that imply correlation with other realities)

*patterns (of recurring themes or terms)

*structures of discussion

*unspoken elements / assumptions presented in the document

*any difference between explicit (what is written) intended (the purpose for having written it) and received meaning (the possible impact / outcomes from engaging with the writing)

Citations to references are needed in this section.

Critical exploration

1,000-1,100 words

Explore a number of core relevant ethical principles and how you have applied them in your research. These will be centred around doing ethical documentary research, and ensuring you have been able to act ethically as a researcher engaging in desktop research.

Citations to references will be needed here- from research methodology texts and ethical guidance instruments.

Introductory paragraph

(100-300 words)

Remind your reader the process and rationale* that has led to the selection of the relevant documents analysed.

Reflect on your own positionality in relation to the topic and how this affected your engagement with the documents.

Describe the structure of your chapter. This must be brief and providing an explanation to the structure of the chapter, rather than a list of what is discussed.

Citations to references are needed in this section.

*these points would have been explored in depth in the methodology

Analysis of chosen documents (3-6 recommended, depending on length/type of source – please discuss with your supervisor)

The documents (600-800 words)

Present briefly the documents you are analysing. You should provide the full reference (Harvard style) followed by a) a brief summary of the content of each document (100 words max per piece) and b) a brief overview of the context in which they have been produced (another 100 words max per piece)

The protocol for data collection (100-300 words)

Remind your reader the protocol you have followed to collect ‘data’ from the documents (the protocol should be discussed in your methodology section). The outcome of your data collection will then be analysed (see below).

Introducing the analysis (300-400 words)

Remind your reader the type of analysis you have selected for engaging with your documents (eg: coding, thematic, etc) – ensure to support your choice with relevant methodological literature (see the recommended reading document)

In this section you can discuss any challenges, barriers, points of relevance

Introducing the findings from the analysis (1,000 - 1,200)

[NOTE: In most qualitative discourse analysis, a thematic analysis is adopted to present the findings]

In this section you should outline the key findings (possibly themes if you adopt a thematic analysis approach).

Ensure there is clear reference to the sources used (you might quote a passage / explore the analysis of a specific section/word/etc)

When discussing the key findings, ensure to relate the findings back to your research questions (explain how they are relevant /address the research question in discussion).

Citations to references are needed in this section but use with care.

Interpretation

800 to 1,000 words approximately

The focus of this last section is to provide your own interpretation (supported through relevant theories and literature)

In this section you are bringing together the key findings of your analysis to reflect on their meaning / impact / relevance in relation to your research questions (and with support of relevant theories/literature).

Here you can reflect on whether the analysis has revealed an underlying motive / a message / a desired outcome in the documents

You could reflect on whether the analysis of the documents reflects / evidence an underlying social process/ reality/ issue

Citations to references are needed in this section. Here your focus is presenting your argument emerging from the analysis of the documents in response to your research questions.