NCU Concept Paper Template 2
NCU Concept Paper Template 2
NCU Concept Paper Template 2
2. Search for scholarly articles that support your topic by showing a gap.
3. Adjust your research questions and purpose based upon the research.
6. Use the template (page 2) to begin drafting your concept paper content (Read the template
7. Copy the content below into the your university template for formatting alignment.
8. Have a professional review your document to make content edits, including revising for
9. Submit your finalized concept paper to your Chair for review and feedback.
Introduction
definition of key terms, and the purpose for your dissertation. Begin with a paragraph that
highlights the context and need for your study. For example, you may provide a statistic or
contextual information about recent important events that led to the need for your study. Be sure
to define any key words the first time you use them, and if you are conducting a quantitative
study, you should mention each of your independent and dependent variables in this section to
show how they fit together to form your study. Then, summarize the work that researchers have
already done in this area. End this section with a discussion of the gap in literature that your
Because the purpose of this section is to introduce your reader to the study, and
essentially lay the groundwork for the need for the study, you should use peer-reviewed sources
published within the last 5 years for your claims in the introduction. The maximum length for
In the problem statement, you clearly articulate the issue that led to the need for the study.
You need to both identify and document the need for the study in your problem statement. Begin
within the last 5 years. What is the problem? What is the extent of the problem? What don’t
researchers know about the topic that they need to know? What is the gap in the literature that
your study addresses? You should answer the last question explicitly, with a sentence such as:
“The gap in the literature addressed by this study is…” or “It is not known….” After you answer
these questions, consider the influence of your study. Who is affected by the problem? How is
the problem relevant to your field of study, both for researchers and for practice? What would
happen if the problem was not addressed? You need to make the case that answering your
You should make a couple of considerations in this section. First, the approximate limit
for this section at 250-300 words, which is approximately 1-2 paragraphs. In addition, be sure
that the problem statement clearly aligns with your purpose and research questions. You can
ensure alignment by using the same terminology when you discuss the gap in the literature in
Begin the purpose statement with a version of the following sentence: “The purpose of
this (quantitative/qualitative/mixed methods) study is to…” Complete the statement with a verb
that is consistent with your methodology (e.g., explore for qualitative methods, examine for
quantitative methods) and a concise statement of your purpose. The phrasing should be
consistent with the above gap in the literature statement and with your research questions. Don’t
worry about repeating yourself—your readers will praise consistency, even if you use the same
exact words. For example, I could say “There is a gap in the literature regarding specific
directions for writing a concept paper at my university.” My purpose statement would then be
“The purpose of this study is to describe specific directions for writing a concept paper at my
university.” This concept is called alignment. Also note that the purpose statement should remain
After the purpose statement, you should present some brief information about the study.
You can answer the following questions: What is your method for collecting the data? What
instruments will you use? What will be your population? Who are they? Where are they located?
Research Questions
Begin with a brief introductory statement. Often, this is as simple as saying “The research
questions for the proposed study are:” Then, list your research questions. Remember, you should
use the same words as in the problem and purpose statement to ensure alignment. Using the
above example, a sample research question could be: “What are specific directions for writing a
The research questions should match your methodology, the gap in the literature, and the
purpose for your study. Qualitative research questions are open-ended, meaning you cannot
answer them with yes or no. Note that the question word you use (e.g. “how”, “why”, and
“what”) will affect the nature of your research question. For example, phenomenological studies
address “what” questions, not “how” or “why.” Quantitative research questions are testable,
specific, and related to your data. If your study is quantitative, you will need to include
hypotheses in the next section. Mixed methods studies must include both qualitative and
quantitative research questions. You should clearly indicate which research questions are
For quantitative studies, include both your null hypotheses and alternative hypotheses
related to each research question. You must also operationalize your variables in this section.
Operationalizing means describing the specific instruments and methods you will use to test
H10. This notation means that the null hypothesis for research question 1 follows. For
H1a. This notation means that the alternative hypothesis for research question 1 follows.
specialized terms for your study. These should include terms with which a reader in your field
may not be familiar with, or terms that you used in a different way than they are typically used.
Note that you should not define generic methodology terms, such as qualitative, quantitative,
correlation, etc. For quantitative studies, you should include definitions for each of your
Keep in mind a few guidelines when drafting this section. Each of your definitions must
and usually should not come from textbooks, either. Also, remember that this section is optional;
if you don’t think you need to include it, then don’t! When presenting the definitions, do so in
alphabetical order, and remember to keep formatting of definition and entry consistent. Below is
Theoretical Framework
Begin this section by identifying the theory, its founder, and the citation for the original
text. You can use the following sentence: “The theoretical framework for this study is X,
developed by Y (date of original work).” The theory, in most cases, should be pulled from
research within your field. For example, a psychological theory should be used for a
studies, you may select a theory outside of your field, but you will need to justify its use. Also, it
is important to consider that your chair or committee may have specific opinions about the
theoretical framework that you choose—it is good practice, if you’re stuck, to ask for their
Next, discuss major tenets of the theory, especially those that are related to your study.
You should also discuss any major developments in the theory, and controversies related to your
topic, as appropriate. Support your discussion with scholarly, peer-reviewed sources, both
historical and current. Note that the reviewers will be looking for evidence that you understand
both the history of the theory as well as how it is applied presently. Continue this section with a
discussion of similar studies to your own that have applied the theory.
In the next paragraph, you want to provide information about how the theory applies to
your study and how your study extends or contributes to the theory. First, clearly outline how
this theory will provide explanatory value for your own purpose. What major concepts from the
theory will help interpret your results? Finally, end the section by discussing how your study will
contribute to the theory. Will it answer a controversy? Apply the theory to a new context?
Some studies may require the use of more than one theory. In this case, you should go
through the steps above for each theory that you include. Then, at the end of the theoretical
framework, you should provide a paragraph that ties the theories together and makes note of why
The literature review is and will be a key component of your scholarly research. For the
concept paper, your goal is to demonstrate that you have conducted a sufficient search of the
historic and current academic literature to show that your study fulfills a gap in the literature.
You must include at least 7 sources, but including 10—15 is usually necessary to fulfill this
purpose. The sources must be scholarly and peer reviewed, and the majority should be published
Start your review of the literature with a synthesizing statement about the state of
research on your topic. You can consider this a preliminary summary of your literature review.
What do researchers know about your topic? When did they start studying it? What have they
studied? What types of methodologies have they used? What is missing, and how does your
proposed study address those gaps? Many chairs will require that you provide information on
your literature search, so you may want to include information about what databases you
searched, what keywords you used, and what important researchers and journals came up when
you were searching. Then, provide an overview of the organization of the literature review,
Subheadings
Your brief review of the literature should include several subheadings to organize
material. Use the APA formatting of Level 2, as above, to indicate a new subheading. The title of
the subheading should reflect the content of that section; if you begin discussing a new topic,
There are a few tips that will help you to create a useful literature review. Successful
literature reviews typically begin broadly and narrow to the topic by the end. For example, if you
are conducting a quantitative study with two independent variables, X and Y, and one dependent
variable, Z, you first need to discuss literature related to X, Y, and Z, alone, then discuss the
You should include an appropriate range of findings to avoid bias in your research. You
may be trying to prove a relationship exists between Z and X and Y, but some researchers may
have found that this relationship didn’t exist. That doesn’t mean your study is invalid! You just
need to provide evidence of why you think your outcome might be different. Similarly, if
literature overwhelmingly shows that X, Y, and Z have a relationship, you need to show why you
think that conducting your study will add to the body of literature. At this point, some
researchers find it necessary to tweak their research questions and purpose slightly to address a
gap in the literature. This is great practice; changing tact now to address a real gap in the
literature will save you time later if your reviewers question whether your study was necessary.
The ultimate goal of the literature review is to make an argument for studying your topic.
For the entries, you should be synthesizing and analyzing the literature with this goal in mind,
rather than just summarizing. Note that the literature review is not the same as an annotated
bibliography; in fact, it may be best for you to try to make sure that you cite at least 2 sources per
comparing and contrasting studies. What have different researchers found? Do they agree on
certain topics? Do they disagree? Have they used qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods
approaches? What populations have different researchers studied? Are they the same, or different
from your own? Analyzing means you discuss limitations of these approaches and gaps in the
findings. Together, the synthesis and analysis should clearly lead up to the need for your study.
Summary
The literature review ends with a summary of your findings. Again, this section should
make an argument for your proposed study, but in brief. You might organize it by answering the
following questions in order: What is known about this topic? What is missing in knowledge?
What methodologies have been used? What methodologies are needed? What is the gap in
literature (remember, this should align with your problem statement, purpose statement, and
research questions)? How will your study address this gap in the literature?
Research Method
The research method should align with the purpose of the study and the gaps in the
literature. First, discuss the method and design and how they achieve the purpose and research
questions. You should discuss the methods and designs that you did not choose, and why they
were not appropriate, as well as the one that you did choose, and why it is appropriate. You
should cite the foundational researchers for the methods and designs, and not textbook citations,
such as Creswell. Some qualitative foundational researchers you might consider could include
Yin’s Case Study Research (2014) for a case study, Moustakas’s Phenomenological Research
Methods (1994) for a phenomenology, or Clandinin and Connely’s Stories of Experience and
Narrative Inquiry (2000) for a narrative inquiry study. For a quantitative study, you might
consider publications like Leedy and Ormrod’s Practical Research: Planning and Design, 11th
Edition (2016) or Patton’s Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (2014) which cover most
research designs.
Operational Definition of Variables
For quantitative studies, here include the variables and how they will be measured within
the study. This includes a discussion of the instruments and data analyses used to measure the
constructs. Use the same formatting as you did in the definition of terms.
Construct/Variable 1. First, describe the variable. Then, discuss how you will measure
the variable, such as nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio. Discuss potential variations in the score
that a person could expect to see (e.g., on a 1—5 scale, 0—100 scale, etc.) or different levels or
categories (such as male or female). Finally, include a discussion of the instrument and how you
will collect data from the data collected from the instrument. The discussion of the instrument
should include a discussion of the use of the proposed instrument and its validity in previous
studies. Note that you must use an established instrument from a scholarly source; dissertations
Measurement
In this section, you should first discuss how the proposed methodology will achieve your
research purposes, stated in your purpose statement, research questions, and hypotheses. Then,
write out a specific plan for data collection, followed by a plan for data analysis. This section
should be as explicit and specific as possible; you might think that you are oversharing or
including unnecessary steps, but including as much information as possible in this initial plan
will streamline your process at this stage as well as when you enter the proposal stage. Also, be
sure that the data collection and analysis procedures align with the purpose of the research.
The data collection and analysis procedures will differ depending on whether you are
conducting a quantitative or qualitative study. For quantitative studies, you’ll need to describe
your survey instrument. You should avoid self-developed instruments when at all possible. If
you do develop your instrument, you will be required to conduct validation processes that may
end up taking you more time than doing extensive research to see what is available for you
already. Qualitative studies are typically guided by interview protocol, developed by the
researcher. The data analysis for qualitative studies involves choosing a method of interpretation.
Data analysis methods can range from broad (meaning that they can be used for multiple
designs) such as Braun and Clarke’s Thematic Analysis (2006), to very specific, such as Smith,
Flowers, and Larkin’s Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (2009), which would be used in a
phenomenological study. Another great resource is Saldaña’s Coding Manual for Qualitative
Researchers (2013), which covers a number of analyses that can be used with many different
qualitative designs. Do some research to see which of these options work best for your specific
study, and be ready to justify your choice for your chair and committee.
Summary
In this section, pull all parts of the concept paper together. This should serve as a
crystallized form of your concept paper. You can organize the section in this order: the need for
your study, your problem, your purpose, and your method. Think of it as a final argument for