Cover Page
Project Title, Team Member Names and Student ID No., Identification of Team Leader,
Identification of Course Code/Name and Relevant Semester, Instructor Name
Table of Contents Page
Abstract Page (CLO2 and CLO3) – (Recommended word length: 150 words)
It is strongly recommended that this be written when the report is finished. It should
briefly outline what you did, why you did it, key outcomes and a statement of one (1) key
recommendation
1. Introduction Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word length: 500 words)
Introduction Section sets the stage for the research project and should provide the
background and rationale for the proposed project and should clearly contextualize the
problem in one to three short paragraphs, and include a brief statement of the problem.
The Introduction Section should answer the following questions:
What is the problem that is central to this project? Are key terms/concepts defined
well and accompanied by citation.
What is generally known about this topic area through previous research and
accompanying citations? (Key terms/concepts/statistics should be explained or
defined with accompanying citations.
Why is this an important topic to research? -or- What is significant about this
research?
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Why should readers care about the outcomes of the proposed study?
What implications (impact) will the findings of this study have for DEFENCE –
or- What will readers learn from this study? –or- What insight or new knowledge
will this research project contribute? -or- How will the findings from this project
be used?
2. Problem Statement Section (Including Research Questions, Aims and Objectives)
(CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word length: 300 words)
The second section should describe the specific problem or task your project will
address. Clearly state your objectives for the project (what you will attempt to
examine), describe the product or services you will provide (e.g., the creation of a
plan or improvement of a training module), and discuss how the project is likely to
benefit you’re the subject area, profession, institution, or organization.
What is the problem identified by the group in relation to the topic?
What is the gap identified in the literature? -or- What does the group’s literature
review not tell us about the topic?
What is the primary research question of this topic? If applicable, what are the
sub-questions of this topic?
What are the objectives of the research project? List 2 to 3 key objectives that the
research project will examine or attempt to understand.
Later on, your Discussion Section should refer back to the aims and objectives to identify
if the aims have been met and if the objectives were effective in enabling you to meet
these.
3. Literature Review & References Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word
length: 1250 words)
The third section is a review of the relevant literature pertaining to the project. Carefully
select the articles you review to inform and/or support the need for your project, for
example:
Does the literature provide supporting documentation of the existence of the
problem you have identified? Your project should not be based solely on your
own subjective perceptions, intuition, or opinion.
Does the literature support the methodology or “solution” you have selected to
address the problem? It can be helpful to have a template/model to follow.
Does the literature point to major gaps that your project can fill? Maybe no one
else has done what you propose to do. That’s great! Your study will definitely
“add to our (collective) fund of knowledge.”
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What critique do you provide of the literature and the gaps that exists which
provides an opportunity for your research to be performed? Does the literature
only provide a certain perspective of the related topic while overlooking an area
that your research project aims to meet?
Are there published works by others who have already done what you propose to
do? If so, critique this literature, and discuss how your project can improve /
expand / build on the existing body of knowledge.
You should review a minimum of 12 scholarly sources (book chapters, journal
articles etc., government policy documents) for the Interim Status Report/Final
Report. The articles should be fairly current (the majority of literature should have
been published within the last 10 years; seminal/influential works in the topic area
may be older), and should come from peer-reviewed journals. Edited texts or
textbooks may also be appropriate sources of material. Web sites should be used with
extreme caution. If you use ChatGPT, please make sure to provide the appropriate
reference. DO NOT pass off ChatGPT output as your own work.
All references should be provided in full. See APA Citation Format document in Moodle
page for information pertaining to in-text and reference page citations.
NOTE: Refer to APA guidelines for how to incorporate in-text citations of the
articles you review. (SEE COURSE MOODLE PAGE)
PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES!!!
4. Methods Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word length: 500 words)
This section should include the ‘what?’, ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ of your project to enable
others to learn from your experience and build on your work. So for example, if your
project involved patient interviews (the what?), include a brief explanation about why
you decided to use this approach; then provide clear details about how the
interviews/surveys were undertaken. The points that appear below are indicative of
what this section should include BUT keep in mind that some of these points may
not apply in the specific case of your research project:
Survey/Interview
What is the research methodology used in this project and why was it most
suitable for this research project? A 2 to 3 paragraph overview should be provided
that informs the reader about the research methodology.
The interview/survey schedule should be detailed. How were the interview/survey
questions developed? What was used to help frame the interview/survey
questions?
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What are you attempting to learn with the survey questions that are being
presented?
How many questions did the survey/interview contain with a percentage
breakdown of close-ended and open-ended questions;
How was the survey instrument distributed to respondents?
How were survey/interview participants sampled for the project?
How long (i.e. timeline) did it take to conduct interviews/administer the survey;
A detail of ethical issues and considerations e.g. informed consent, data collection
and storage, respondent confidentiality, future use of data;
How many interviews were conducted? -or- How many participants responded to
the survey (i.e. response rate)?
Was the interview recorded and how long did it take to transcribe the interview;
Content Analysis
What is the research methodology used in this project and why was it most
suitable for this research project? A 2 to 3 paragraph overview should be provided
that informs the reader about the research methodology. *cite information
sources
How were these documents identified?
What were the documents or information sources used to collect data for analysis?
What is the type of information included in these documents?
When did data collection start (provide specific date) and end (provide specific
date)?
How many documents or information sources did the researcher identify for data
collection?
How were documents identified or located? What were the “key words” used to
locate these documents through online search engines?
What are you attempting to learn with the analysis of these documents?
How was the data coded, categorized or compared for analysis?
What was the methodology used to analyze the qualitative data and inform the
project?
5. Findings Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word length: 300 words)
This section should report on the outcomes or findings from the data analysis. Ideally,
this information should enable the reader to determine if the aims of the project have
been achieved.
The outcomes of your project should be identified and then illustrated, if applicable, with
supportive evidence including tables, graphs and charts. This evidence should be tangible
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rather than based on opinion based example: ‘care has improved’, ‘patients are more
satisfied’.
For example, a questionnaire was used to evaluate the impact of a staff workshop on
dignity in care in a number of ways:
Quantitative evidence – 92% of respondents reported that the care they gave had
changed…
Qualitative evidence – ‘When a patient is upset, angry and aggressive, I now try
and see it from their point of view…’
The length of this section will depend on the extent of findings.
6. Discussion Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended word length: 500 words)
Some discussion, critique, reflection on your project should be included in your report. A
separate section should be created for this.
Readers will be interested to learn from the experiences of the project teams and therefore
the following questions may be useful to consider:
Was the project successful in meeting its aims?
What went well – and why?
What didn’t go well – and why?
What would you do differently – and why?
How do your findings compare and contrast to what is already known about the
topic from existing literature? An attempt should be made to connect/tie the
findings from the data analysis to existing literature and indicate where your
findings support or diverge from extant works.
7. Conclusion and Recommendation Section (CLO2 and CLO3) (Recommended
word length: 350 words)
A summary of the previous sections (with no new material added) and
conclusions drawn or recommendations for the future.
Group projects must provide 2 to 3 recommendations for how the findings of this
project can be used to improve DEFENCE-related scholarship or practice.
A listing of 2-3 study limitations should be highlighted that detail the
shortcomings of this study