TO: Professor Stone

FROM: Manuel Melendez

DATE: 09/20/2014
SUBJECT: Research Proposal for Inquiry into the Discipline of Psychology

In what follows, I introduce my research project, provide background information on the project
and a review of literature, and discuss my research procedure and methodology. I submit this
research proposal for your review and approval.

Introduction

This project is basically about researching, obtaining information, analyzing, and with it, creating
new knowledge about the Discipline of Psychology.

I believe this project is really interesting and worthwhile because it will help me know much
more about the discipline I have chosen, which is Psychology, and with that knowledge I will be
able to become an insider of this discourse community and thus, become a better student. As well
as this information may be useful to the next generations who are also interested in this
discipline.

This project fulfills the objectives of the assignment as it will help me understand how the
discipline of Psychology is its own culture. This will make me understand exactly what is the
discipline and the disciplinarity, which are the what-ness and how-ness, of the culture I am
going to investigate. This investigation will either make me more confident about the decision I
made on choosing Psychology as my major, or it may lead me the opposite, changing my major.
Yet, another benefit I will obtain from this project is that I will develop my skills for conducting
a meaningful inquiry. The knowledge I obtain from this project will not only benefit me, it may
be useful to other people, such as researchers or other students.

I intend to accomplish deliverables such as my research paper portfolio, which will include all of
my work regarding this investigation. I also intend to create new knowledge for myself and
potential audiences, like other students interested in the discipline of Psychology.

Literature Review/Background

This project is associated with ideas such as inquiry, discourse communities, rhetoric, exigence,
dissonance, discipline, and disciplinarity. This project fits with all of these ideas because this is
an inquiry for which I will create knowledge about the discipline of Psychology, which includes
its discourse community, Ethos, disciplinarity, etc.

In this project, I will explore certain aspects of the discipline of Psychology by answering my
research questions, which are:

Primary Research Question
How can I become involved in the discourse community of Psychology and with it become a
better student of that discipline?
Secondary Research Question
What are the Customs/Habits of the discipline of Psychology, and how can I become more
familiar with these to become a more successful student in the discipline?

What kind of knowledge is necessary to obtain a certain status in the discourse community of
Psychology and how is it obtained?

How do professors and student relate in the discipline of Psychology and how does that help a
student to become more familiar with the values and traditions of this discourse community?

These questions are effective for my investigation because they ask about several categories from
the discipline of Psychology.

To my knowledge, I know there are other students who are involved in this project, but I do not
know about someone who also wants to obtain knowledge of the discipline of Psychology, and if
there is someone, I really doubt he/she will be exploring it exactly the way I am doing it.

Procedure/Methodology

In this investigation, I will need to collect data from different categories of the discipline of
Psychology, such as customs, habits, relationships between professors and students, knowledge,
status, values, and traditions. All of these categories of the discipline will be obtained through
four research methods, which are:

Interviews
I will ask a faculty member several questions about the discipline of Psychology regarding my
research questions. This information will be very important and useful because it comes directly
from someone who is already an insider in the discourse community I want to belong.

Surveys
To obtain information from students of this discipline, I will make a survey and ask students
about the discipline. This will help me with information on several of the categories from the
discipline because this information will come from more experienced students who are already a
part of that discipline.

Document Analyses
To analyze papers such as course syllabi or course descriptions from Psychology classes will be
very useful to acquire knowledge from the classes in general. I will ask for these documents to
study and obtain the data I need from them to answer my research questions.

Site Observations
I will be a spectator in a class which belongs to the discipline of Psychology. Of course I will
need permission to do this, but this will really help with my research to really know how the
discourse community of Psychology is by actually being there.

What I will need to complete this project is to ask for help and cooperation from a faculty
member, most probably a professor, to obtain access to his/her class and with it collect the data I
need with my research methods. Another thing I need to do in order to complete this assignment,
is to record the data I obtain, for that I will need to type it in a writing software such as Microsoft
Word.

The time-frame for completion of this assignment will be the whole semester, but each task will
have its own deadline.

Conclusion

This is a really interesting project, it will lead to a big reward, new knowledge on the discipline
of Psychology, but a huge reward cannot be obtained that easy; I am aware it will need time, hard
work, and dedication. I know I can complete this project as it is of my own interest to know more
about the discipline I have chosen. I am eager to create new knowledge from the discipline of
Psychology to eventually become an insider of its discourse community and become a better
student.