Dissertation research
He found that one gap in the literature centered on ways in which it may be possible to sustain citizen participation to influence public policy. This gap informed the problem statement, which, in this example, was that the general public typically does not participate in the process while legislation is being formulated. His grounded theory research, then, focused on citizen involvement in decisions with Congressional committees, the current and most appropriate roles, and steps to enhance participation (Engaging Citizens in Democratic Governance and the Decision-making Process with Congressional Committees, Walden University, 2014).
Your problem statement should be stated clearly, refer to a relationship between two or more variables, and be researchable, that is, you should be able to collect data about the problem.
The majority of resources in your Dissertation should be from peer-reviewed (or refereed) journals. Peer-reviewed journals include articles that have been evaluated and approved by professionals in the field. With that said, no one journal article is perfect. Some articles may lack strong theoretical foundations while others may contain flawed research designs. In your literature review, it is important to point out both the strengths and limitations of articles related to your topic and state how your research seeks to address them.
To prepare for this Discussion, review the Learning Resources for this week.
Post by Day 3:
- A brief summary of both your Dissertation topic and problem statement that you posted in Week 2. As explained earlier, you may have revised them, based on your literature search.
- An explanation of how you used and what you found in the research literature to: (a) narrow what may have been a broad subject in earlier weeks, down to potential, focused Dissertation topics; (b) focus and develop your research problem.
- A description of your proposed Dissertation research in the context of public policy and administration.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.
