Writing a purpose statement

Research Methods: purpose statements

In this resource you will read about:   how to focus your project topic using a purpose statement language and some basic concepts to describe research methods   O. Campbell-Thomson & R. Elmslie 2016

Think about what you do when you read an article. As soon as you start to read, you probably try to identify the article topic. The readers of your project report and the listeners to your project presentation will also want to know your project topic and how you researched it. This information is given in your purpose statement.  The purpose statement is the most important statement in a research study. It helps the reader understand the main idea of the study and all other aspects of the research follow it (Creswell, 2003: 87).

What is a purpose statement?

Why do I need a purpose statement?

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Your project report and presentation introductions will have a purpose statement to show your project aims and focus. How will writing a purpose statement help you? It will help you to decide what you're doing. This will make it easier to plan and research your project. How will a purpose statement help your readers / listeners? It will quickly show your audience (the people who read your report / listen to your presentation) what you did for your project, and how you did it.

Look at this purpose statement: This article describes a survey of the career development of 18 women in the United States. Our aim was to explore influences on their career development. (Adapted from Creswell, 2003: 91) What are the researchers studying? Why? How? Who? Where?  

Example

Let's analyse the example purpose statement: This article describes a survey of the career development of 18 women in the United States. Our aim was to explore influences on their career development. (Adapted from Creswell, 2003: 91) This article (how the researchers are presenting their findings: in a written article in a journal) describes a survey (how they did it = the method) of the career development (what they studied: main idea) of 18 women (who) in the United States (where / context). Our aim (main goal of the study) was to explore (action verb about the way they studied) influences on their career development (specific focus). (Adapted from Creswell, 2003: 91)  

Purpose statement structure + language

Isn't that a thesis statement?

A thesis statement isn't the same as a purpose statement, although they are similar. A thesis statement provides an argument or a claim.  Example: This paper argues that the social benefits of higher education outweigh its costs to the state. A purpose statement shows the topic and aim of the paper, but not an argument. Example: This paper provides a summary and analysis of the economics of the two-year, for-profit higher education sector.  Cellini, S.R., 2012. For-profit higher education: An assessment of costs and benefits. National Tax Journal, 65(1), pp.153-179.  

Developing your purpose statement

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1. Think about your reasons for researching an aspect of the campus development. . What do you want to know? For example: I wonder / I want to know...what do students think about art on campus? What will other people be interested in? For example, the University might want to know whether it should spend money on art on campus. What possible problems are there, either now or in the future, that you could study? For example: the University might invest in buildings or services which don't meet student needs. What ideas do you have? Make a note.

Developing your purpose statement 1

Developing your purpose statement 2

2. What do we not know about the topic? This is the gap in the knowledge. For example, you could: explain an aspect of the topic: eg pre-sessional students' views about study spaces understand how or why something happens: eg why buildings need to be future-proofed identify categories eg types of study space students like or dislike evaluate something eg how effective a building is for study solve a problem eg how can the new buildings meet science students' needs? (adapted from Walliman, 2011)

Write a purpose statement

Try writing a purpose statement for the project described below (this wasn't an April Entry project). Identify the main idea and the focus, the participants (who), where it takes place, and the method used (how). Then try to make it more formal. Use some of the vocabulary from the examples to help. International students have to learn a lot of Academic English vocabulary. You want to know how good students do this. You've decided to do a case study of a student from Thailand who's studying on YRPS at the University of Glasgow. You got him to keep a diary of how he studied vocabulary for 4 weeks, then you analysed it. Write your purpose statement. After you have finished, you could compare it to the example on slide 9 of this resource. Did you record the same main ideas?

Example purpose statement:

  "We wanted to find out how international students study vocabulary. We did a case study of a student from Thailand. He was studying on YRPS at the University of Glasgow. We looked at how he studied academic vocabulary in his spare time, not in class." One possible purpose statement: This case study explores how a Thai student in English for Academic Study at the University of Glasgow studies vocabulary independently. We wanted to understand how students can learn large amounts of academic vocabulary effectively.      

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What to do next:

Review your notes for this resource and draft:   your topic - the main idea of what you what to investigate for the project your reasons for studying that topic what you want to find out your purpose statement for your project.   

References

Creswell, J. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. London: Sage. Walliman, N. (2011). Your Research Project: Designing And Planning Your Work (Sage Study Skills Series). London: Sage.                    

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Test yourself!

Rubrica: : http://www.pdpics.com/photo/5448-a-in-dictionary/ Licensed under CC0

• Parts of a purpose statement

So...

What are your reasons for researching your aspect of the campus development? What do we need to know about this topic?