some generic feedback

this has all evolved from the campus sessions and looking at some of your work.  These are some good principles for research, that you might wish to apply to your proposal.   The better your proposal, the better chance you have of implementing a successful inquiry.

1. Focus – this is a small, easily implementable reserach project, so don’t try and save the world.  Find a simple aspect to your topic, collect some data and make some conclusions.  If your topic is reducing dance injuries, then what aspect pushes your buttons, is it dance injuries for young dancers, in formal classes or ankle injuries.  Make it about something you want to know about and realistically expect to find answers to.  Keep focusing until you find the aspects that are measurable, identifiable and make sense when you read them.  Just keep focusing and focusing unto you find the aspect.

2. Outcome – I want find out about dance injuries in young jazz ballet dancers just sounds kind of cruel, until I add an outcome, I want find out about dance injuries in young jazz ballet dancers in order to prolong their careers.  The outcome gives the research some sense.  This doesn’t have to be in the topic, but should be in your proposal, it is the glue that holds your research process together, as it is the PURPOSE of what you are doing

3. Topic sentence – make it as clear as possible.  Not too brief and not jam packed with question, it should clearly state what you are doing for the person who reads

The impact of warms ups on the risks of injury within jazz ballet classes

clearly sets your frame, your area of research and allows you to make a conclusion or a finding…

4. Paula mentioned yesterday the use of headings (see page 12 in the handbook).  I think that is an excellent idea as it ensures you have clearly covered all of the aspects of the research brief.  Aside from all the rationales and reflection, your proposal should answer 4 simple questions

what am I researching

How am I am researching it?

Why am I researching it that way?

What am I hoping to find out?

Hopefully this has given you some food for thought.  Keep it simple gang, keep it achieveable and you never know what you find out might have a significant impact on your professional world or that of others, but if you get trapped in a mountain of data, not enough people responding or half finished data collection tools that lead you nowhere, then you have missed that chance to make a ligh bulb moment happen

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