TheMethods Bench
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Plan my study

Planning a study means making a small number of decisions in the right order. Each decision constrains the next: the question shapes the objectives, the objectives shape the design, and the design decides how many participants you need and what you can claim.

Start with this

Pressure-test your research idea

Paste your title, question or objectives into Roast My Research and see what a reviewer would flag before you build anything on top of it.

Open it

Then work through these, in order

  1. Write research objectives you can analyseTurn a broad idea into objectives that point at data and analysis.
  2. Write the problem statementState the problem, the gap and why this study answers it.
  3. Check question and methods alignmentConfirm the question, design, measurement and analysis describe one study.
  4. Choose a study designMatch your aim, data and context to a defensible design.
  5. Build the conceptual frameworkMap the concepts and the relationships you propose between them.
  6. Calculate your sample sizeWork through prevalence, precision, power and non-response transparently.
  7. Audit the proposal before your supervisor doesTwelve questions that catch the problems reviewers usually find first.
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