12 pages long (not including title page, reference section, or appendices), double-spaced, and use APA formatting.
Your proposal should include the following headings and subheadings (minimum page counts are provided in parentheses):
I. Proposal Timeline: Create a timeline (with actual dates) for the completion of each step in your proposed study.
II. Introduction (1 page): An introductory paragraph identifying the topic;
a. The key concepts associated with your research (for example, if studying whether transferring youths to adult court is effective, the primary concepts that you would need to define to study the problem would be “youths,” “transfer to adult court,” and what is meant by “effective”);
b. A discussion of the theoretical considerations or assumptions relevant to the issue
c. The research hypothesis or hypotheses that the proposed study will test;
d. The general approach to the research (examples: survey research, field research, secondary data analysis, program evaluation, etc.); and,
e. The overall goal of the research
III. Problem Statement (2 paragraphs): Include the following in your problem statement:
· Describe the situation
· Write a short paragraph (no more than 3–4 sentences) of the specific situation.
· Be clear and concise.
· State the problem
· Clearly describe the problem.
· Describe why it is important to study.
· What actions/behaviors are specifically occurring as a result of the situation?
· Address the 5 Ws of your proposed study (Who, What, When, Where and Why) and be sure that the statement meets each of the SMART criteria.
· Be clear and concise.
IV. Literature Review (4 pages): Include a summary of at least five prior research studies on the issue you are proposing to study. The literature review should:
a. Discuss the specific results or findings from each study reviewed;
b. Address each study individually, as well as in comparison to the other studies reviewed;
c. Point out trends you see in the literature;
d. Synthesize your review into a summary of what is known and what is not known from the research that has been conducted on your topic;
e. Identify any areas of controversy in the literature; and Formulate questions that remain to be studied in future research.
V. Methods (5 pages): Outline how you would propose to conduct your applied research study. Make sure to address the following items:
a. Main concepts to be studied (e.g., substance abuse treatment and recidivism).
b. Conceptual and operational definitions for your primary study variables. For example, you might conceptualize recidivism as re-offending following completion of a substance abuse treatment program; and you might operationalize recidivism as any conviction for a crime occurring within one year of program completion.
c. Research hypothesis/questions that the applied study would address/answer were it to be conducted.
d. Sampling design or strategy for your study. Explain how you would identify members of the population and how you would select the study sample.
e. Research design. Will the data be quantitative, qualitative, or both? Would the study involve: experimental design, quasi-experimental design, process evaluation design, outcome evaluation design, cross-sectional or longitudinal design, etc.? Explain the rationale for your selections.
f. Data collection. How would you collect the data? Would you use quantitative surveys/questionnaires, qualitative interviews, participant observation, focus groups, and/or secondary data, for example? Discuss any data collection tools you would use, including examples of questions you might ask or data fields that you might collect.
g. Ethical considerations. Describe how you would ensure the protection of any human subjects and confidentiality of data for your proposed study.
VI. Conclusion (1 page): Provide a summary of the problem and plan for studying the issue, emphasizing why the research is important and what would be accomplished were the proposed study to be conducted.
Demonstrate college-level communication through the composition of original materials in Standard American English. Use examples to support your discussion. Cite all sources on a separate reference page at the end of your paper and cited within the body of your paper using APA format.
