Topic: Concept Paper Development Worksheet.

Concept Paper Development Worksheet Name: ______________________________________________________ Doctoral Program Field of Study: ____________________________________________ Dissertation Topic and Problem To Be Studied: 1). What is the general topic/context of your doctoral dissertation study? 2). What is the general problem or issue leading to the need for the study? 3). What is the specific problem you will study? 4). What evidence exists that the problem actually exists (recent supporting scholarly citations)? 5). What is the gap in the literature the study will address? Dissertation Purpose and Alignment with Problems: 6). What is the purpose of the study? 7). What variables or central phenomena will you study? 8). How will achieving the purpose help solve the problem or inform leaders in your field about the problem?

Importance of Study: 9). How will the study contribute to challenges; and/or extend theory, practice, methodology, research results, knowledge, and/or understanding within specific arena of inquiry? 10). Why would leaders in your field of study care about solving the problem?

Methodology: 11). What method/design will you use to achieve the study purpose and address the studied problem? 12). What scholarly sources will you use to demonstrate your expertise of the study method and design? (Include the APA style sources you will cite). 13). Why is the method appropriate given the problem you are studying and the purpose of your study? 14). Why is the design appropriate given the problem you are studying and the purpose of your study? 15). How will you search the literature to gather germinal and recent sources on the problem and variables/central phenomenon? 16). What are the most germinal and recent research findings on the problem? (Include the APA style sources you will cite). 17). What are the most germinal and recent research findings on the variables/dependent variable/independent variable or central phenomenon? (Include the APA style sources you will cite).

Guiding Research Questions and alignment with Study Purpose: 18). What research questions will guide your study? 19). How will answering the research questions help you achieve the study purpose?

Population and Sample: 20). What population will you study? 21). What sampling technique will you use and why? (Include APA style source to support rationale) 22). How many participants will you include in your sample and why? (Include APA style source to support rationale).