Here is the clear roadmap for your course Educational Research Methodology and exactly where your big paper (the final Research Protocol) begins, and how all previous assignments connect to it.

✅ Where does your paper start?

Your final paper starts in Unit 3 — Activity 3.1: Problem Definition. This is the foundation of the entire Research Protocol.

Everything before Unit 3 is preparation. Everything after Unit 3 builds on your Problem Definition.

🧱 Structure: How your Research Protocol is built

Think of the entire course like building a house:

UNIT 1 → Foundations: Understanding research

1.1 Research Approaches → helps you choose if your study is qualitative / quantitative / mixed methods

1.2 Types and Scope of Research → quiz confirms your basic theory

1.3 Importance of Educational Research → prepares your justification

These do not yet start your paper — they are conceptual.

UNIT 2 → Materials: Finding academic sources

This unit prepares the LITERATURE for your Research Protocol:

2.1 Databases Forum → where to search (ERIC, Scopus, WoS, etc.)

2.2 Peer-Reviewed Journals → guarantees your sources are high quality

2.3 Information Selection → selecting relevant studies

2.4 Academic Plagiarism, Citations, References → APA 7 formatting skills

These activities give you the articles and APA references for your final paper. But your paper still hasn’t started.

🚀 UNIT 3 → NOW your paper begins

This is where you start writing the actual Research Protocol, step by step.

Your paper starts here:

✔ 3.1 Activity: Problem Definition — This is the FIRST PAGE of your paper

This is your real starting point.

Here you write:

The topic (e.g., gamification, English reading comprehension, student anxiety, etc.)

The problem observed

The context (school, learners, level)

Why this problem matters (justification)

What research gap exists

This becomes Section 1 of your final Research Protocol.

✔ 3.2 Research Questions, Objectives, and Hypothesis

This becomes Section 2 of your paper.

You build directly from the problem:

3–4 research questions

General + specific objectives

Hypothesis (if quantitative)

✔ 3.3 Methodological Design

This becomes Section 3 of your paper.

You choose:

Research approach

Research type

Population and sample

Instruments

Procedure

Analysis plan

✔ 3.4 Expected Results

This becomes Section 4.

You explain:

What results you expect

Why those results matter

How this impacts education

✔ 3.5 Conceptual Framework References

This becomes Section 5.

Here you insert:

Concepts

Definitions

Theoretical models

APA references from Unit 2

🎓 FINAL: Integrative Activity – Research Protocol (15%)

This is your full paper.

👉 You simply combine Sections 1–5 from Activities 3.1 to 3.5 into one complete, clean, polished research protocol.

Nothing new — you are just integrating.

📌 SUMMARY — EXACT STARTING POINT

Your research paper officially starts at:

🟩 3.1 Activity: Problem Definition

Everything before that is theory. Everything after that is writing.

⭐ If you want, I can help you RIGHT NOW with:

✅ Writing your Problem Definition ✅ Choosing a topic ✅ Creating your Research Questions ✅ Drafting your entire Research Protocol — exactly how your university expects it

Just tell me:

“My topic is ______. Let’s start with 3.1.”

I’ll build the whole paper with you step-by-step.