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Research Proposal Format

A Cover Page

Include the title of the research project, your name(s) & group (if applicable), institution & course information, professor’s name & title, and due date

As a reminder, you should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) format.

You should closely proofread and check your composition for errors (sentence construction, syntax, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, etc.) to avoid penalty.

Abstract: (200–300 words)

You should give an accurate summary of the entirety of the research proposal touching on its various components. Typically, the abstract is the last component to be written, after the research proposal write-up is complete.

Introduction: (one paragraph) In this paragraph in particular, your goal is to grab the reviewer’s attention. You should introduce the purpose, problem, and significance of the proposed research study, as well as the research question(s) or hypothesis. A brief explanation of the theory guiding the study, an overview of the relevant literature review pertaining to the research problem, and a short description of the research design should be included. After reading the Introduction, the reviewer should not only understand the reason(s) why this research is conducted, but also how the research findings will contribute to one’s academic field, as well as benefit the academic community and society at large.

Statement of the Problem

The problem statement should be concise, should include the specific or descriptor variables [independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV)], and should inform the reviewer of the exact purpose of the study.

Purpose of the Study

You should not only state the purpose of the study very clearly, but also demonstrate the study’s potential value(s).

Research Question or Hypothesis

The research question or hypothesis should be well-stated and based on the purpose of the study. Remember that hypotheses are intelligent, educated guesses made by the researcher about how the research problem will be resolved. In other words, hypotheses are tentative propositions set forth by the researcher to help in guiding the investigation of a research problem.

Definition of Terms— In experimental research, it is essential that you define the central ideas or concepts of the research study. Therefore, carefully define each concept/variable that will be used in the study, citing other research studies as much as needed.

Theoretical Framework— Many researchers tie their research studies to a preexisting set of concepts and principles, which might elucidate cause-and-effect and other types of relationships within the phenomenon under investigation. A theoretical framework not only implicitly includes possible explanations of these relationships, but also provides the basis for making educated guesses about what the data might reveal; and to some extent, it guides the research design and data analyses.

Literature Review

You not only should describe what is already known about the phenomenon, but also include a succinct discussion of why the reviewed background studies are not sufficient.

• Summarize what is already known about the phenomenon. Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic, which you’ve gathered from your literature review.
• Discuss several critical studies that have already been done in this area (cite according to APA style).
• Point out why these background studies are insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they leave unresolved, necessitating further investigation?
• Choose at least one of these questions that you want to pursue yourself. (Make sure you do not choose too many questions.)

Methodology and Research Design

Describe how you would go about collecting data and test the questions that you are examining. You are not required to come up with a new or original method, although you can. In the literature review, you may get an idea about methodologies that have been used by other researchers. You could certainly adapt one or more of these methods for your needs.

Methods: How will you collect the data and why?

• Describe the general methodology you chose for your research study to test your hypothesis(es).
• Explain why this method is the best for your purposes.

Design:

• Describe what kinds of manipulations/interventions (if any) you will administer to test your hypothesis(es).
• Explain what significant differences you would need to find in order to confirm (retain) or disconfirm (reject) your hypothesis(es). In particular, how could your hypothesis(es) be rejected by your data?
• Controls: What kinds of factors will you need to control for in your study?
• Describe the types of effects that need to occur in order for your results to appear to confirm (retain) or disconfirm (reject) your hypothesis(es).
• Describe how by your research design you could rule out or control for apparent effects.

Participants: Whom will you test and why?

• Describe the sample that you plan on testing and explain why you have chosen this sample. Include age, gender, and other characteristics relevant to the design.
• Are there any participants you will exclude? Why or why not?

Procedures/Instrumentation

• Describe your experimental procedures.
• How will study participants be involved in these procedures?
• Include all instruments used to collect data, such as surveys, questionnaires, etc.

Analysis

• What type(s) of data do you anticipate to collect?
• How will you analyze the data? What statistical tests, tools, and/or measures you will employ?
• What kind of results would confirm (retain) your hypothesis?
• What kind of results would disconfirm (reject) your hypothesis?

Protection of Human Rights

In the research proposal, you should specify clearly who the participants will be, how they will be chosen, how many will participate, and whether there will be any special characteristics to look for. A description of how the participant’s human rights will be protected should be included. You should emphasize the Institutional Review Board (IRB) criteria and procedures that have to be met in order to be granted approval prior to study execution. In addition, written informed consent should be discussed.

Significance and Conclusion

You should discuss, in general, how your proposed research study has the potential to lead to a significant improvement over the reviewed related studies, and how it would benefit the field. (In other words, why should someone care? If you were applying for money to do this, why would someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why would they be interesting?)

References:

Citations and references should be exclusively in APA style. Clean up your list to avoid penalty. Only those sources that have been cited in the text (linked) should be listed.