Research Proposal

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Title of Paper

In this section, include a problem statement, purpose of study, and the philosophical and

theoretical perspectives you will use. Describe how the philosophical and theoretical

perspectives you chose inform your research. Provide citations where necessary, such as when

describing the theory used. End with clearly stated research questions (and hypotheses where

necessary). Research questions should be related to the purpose of your study. Research

questions are answered with the data you collect and analyze.

Review

In total, provide a few paragraphs describing the relevant literature and background of

your study. This is where you will provide a background and description of your general topic,

the variables you are investigating, and research evidence relating to the purpose of your study.

Use the subheadings to identify each component of your study. One way to approach this is to

have a subheading for each component separately and another subheading about how those

components fit together, as shown below. For instance, you could describe literature about the

general topic in this section before the subheadings (ex. school dropout and the importance of

student engagement). Then in the subheadings, you could discuss literature on the first variable

of your study (ex. mentoring groups), literature on the second variable of your study (ex. student

engagement), and finally literature about how these fit together (ex. using mentoring groups to

improve student engagement).

Insert Topic One

Short summary of literature on this topic.

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Insert Topic Two

Short summary of literature on this topic.

Insert Topic One Studied Together with Topic Two

Short summary of the literature when both topics are studied together. For instance, evidence of

how they are related. Though existing articles may be scarce, you can at least review how the

existing literature might fit together, even if no single study has looked at everything at once. If it

hasn’t, this would be a gap in the literature that you could reinforce.

Method

Summarize the design you are using and why. If a survey design, is it cross-sectional or

longitudinal? If an experimental design, which type?

Location

Provide enough detail about the location that a reader could judge whether the findings

might be applicable to their own location and situation. However, do not identify institutions or

organizations by name. Note why you chose this site/ group of sites.

Participants

Include desired participant demographics, desired number of participants, recruitment

strategies, sampling techniques, and details about the criteria surrounding which participants will

be included in or excluded from the study. Also include your basis for choosing the desired

sample size. For experimental designs, include information about how participants will be

assigned to groups, how many participants will be in treatment and control groups, etc.

Data Collection Procedures and Measures

Describe step-by-step how you will gather your data. For instance, where will collection

take place? How many times? For how long each time? Who will do the collection? Will it be

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physical or digital? For experimental designs, also discuss your experimental procedures and

design.

Though you will list out your variables with measures below, use this paragraph to

summarize all variables and how they relate to your research questions. For experimental

designs, identify which variables are IVs and which are DVs, as well as any other variables you

might measure, like demographics, mediators, moderators, etc. Only mention and measure

variables directly related to your research questions.

Your First Variable

Here you will describe how the variable will be assessed. Name the

measure/questionnaire/protocol used, the authors who developed it, what the instrument

measures, and what rating scale it uses. For instance, if using the achievement goal construct, I

might cite the AGQ-R by Elliot and Murayama (2008), which measures four types of

achievement goals held by students: mastery approach and avoid and performance approach and

avoid. Item responses are on a 5-point scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). I

can then cite a study (including the Elliot and Murayama, 2008 study) supporting the validity and

reliability of the AGQ-R or discuss how I might check for validity or reliability during my study.

I can also provide a couple sample items, so that the reader has an idea what type of questions

are included in the measure.

Your Second Variable

You would repeat this until you have covered all of your variables. Do not stop at two

variables; stop at the number of variables you have in your study.

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Data Analyses

Begin with how the data will be prepared for analysis. Explain what tools will be used to

assist with analyses (such as a stats program) and the steps involved in carrying it out. End with

how you plan on interpreting the results/drawing conclusions from your analyses.

Ethical Considerations

What ethical considerations might you encounter? Use the text as a guide, especially

Table 4.1 (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 88-89). How will you ensure there are no ethical

issues?

Timeline

List each component of the research process, in order, describing how long you anticipate

each step will take. To be safe, factor in more time than you think you need, since difficulties

will inevitably arise.

Budget and Resources

How much, if any, money or other resources will be required to complete this study?

How will you obtain the necessary resources?

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References

Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed

methods approaches (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Appendix

Include any self-developed items or questions. Typically, this is where you will also provide

copies of the items for all measures. However, since you will be declaring

which measure is to be used in the methods, I am not going to require the actual items for those

instruments here.