Identify a topic of interest in the sport industry and develop a specific research question that you would be interested in exploring further.
Conduct secondary research to assess what has already been written on your research question or in response to similar research questions. Review at least 20 relevant scholarly sources to ascertain what has already been argued and published related to your question.
Analyze these sources to identify how the arguments are different or similar to your question, how the arguments may be useful to continuing research, what the researchers did well, and what the researchers could have done differently.
Revise your question based on the secondary research you conducted. Scholarly research is to be original. In your secondary evaluation, if you find that researchers have already conducted research on your question, you will need to revise your question so that your work is not redundant. (The vast majority of research questions change throughout the secondary research process. Do not expect to end with the question you started with.)
Compose a literature review. Please note the difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography. Annotated bibliographies are excellent tools for organizing sources as you review them. They should remain behind the scenes. Use at least 15 scholarly sources in your literature review.
Plan how you would conduct original research to answer your research question. Be specific in what methods you would utilize as well as how you define the scope of your project. For instance, if you analyze media images, what magazines or websites would you use? Over what time period? If you engage in participant observation, what is your field? How long will you occupy it? Consider the unique requirements of each method you plan to utilize. In addition, explain how your work will be qualitative and/or quantitative in its composition. Use course readings to aid your description of how the method will be useful in your research project. (These readings are not included in the required 15 scholarly sources.)
Indicate your ethical decisions, if you intend on using human subjects. What efforts will you undertake throughout the research process to ensure their physical and material safety and/or to ensure that potential risks of participation are minimized?
Make an argument that explains why and how your research will be relevant. Note: you are not identifying a thesis. Without having yet completed the research, you are unable to have an argument derived from your data. But you can explain what you hope your research will add to the field, (i.e., sport industry, sport sociology, sport history, sport management, etc.). Why does your work matter? (The so what question.)
