Discussing Anticipated Study Outcomes and the Relevance of Each You don’t have t

Discussing Anticipated Study Outcomes and the Relevance of Each
You don’t have to conduct research and analyze data before you can think about the
outcomes (both positive and negative) and relevance of the work. In this section of the concept
paper, students will reflect on how and in what ways the study could add to what we already
know about the topic, redefine how we think about the topic, and/or how it might impact future
work (e.g., scholarly research, theory, practice, interventions and/or policy). Before writing this
section of the concept paper, students might find it useful to reflect on the answers to the
following questions:
 Who (i.e., individuals, groups, institutions) might benefit from the results of
this study?
 How might the findings of this study add to what we already know about the
topic?
 Is it possible that the findings of this study could impact the way
professionals practice in their work places? If yes, how? If no, why not?
 What problems, issues or concerns (e.g., social, political, economic, and
environmental, etc.) could be improved or changed by the proposed
research?
 Will the results influence policy in any way?
 If the study results were implemented, what innovations might emerge?
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Putting together the final version of the concept paper is often confusing to students.
Why do students find it confusing? The answer lies in the difference between the process of
completing the literature review and research study versus the product that results as a written
paper. When a research study is published in a journal, the order in which the article is presented
in print is not the way the authors went about conducting the research itself. The same is true for
the development of the concept paper. On pages 1-8 of this assignment guide, students are given
a step-by-step approach to thinking about a topic and working through the process until they
have the necessary pieces (question, statement of the problem, etc.). The final step is to order
those pieces just as you would in a finished research article. So to this end, students should
gather all the pieces described earlier and organize the concept paper as follows:
Title Page (Remember that the title of the assignment should reflect the scope of the
topic, and not simply “Concept Paper.”)
Text (starting p. 2)
Headings:
Title (should reflect scope of the topic and match the title page)
Statement of the Problem (include your purpose statement here)
Research Question
Hypothesis
Study Design/Data Collection Methods
Anticipated Outcomes/Relevance