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Required Sections of the Research Proposal for Senior Seminar
The required sections of the research proposal pertains only to the major sections. There are to be no deviations from what is required! There are four required sections for your proposal:
1) The title page – The title of your research must conform to APA style just as the remainder of the paper must be.
2) The Introduction – Do not provide the heading “Introduction.” The introduction page has the Running Head (the abbreviated title that appears on each page of your document) The full title of your proposal is the heading used before you begin writing your introduction. For your proposal, the introduction must be a page-and-a-half or two pages maximum.
The introduction must communicate the importance of undertaking the proposed investigation. Providing statistics relative to the impact that the phenomena has had (e.g.,., homicide statistics, rates of spousal abuse, suicide rates,…); or evidence that researchers remain confounded about what factors are operative in given situations (e.g., Researchers continue to dispute the factors involved in the decisions police officers make in cases of unarmed police shootings); or there remains debate between which of several theories may account for a given phenomenon (e.g., Racial discord has been theorized to result from polemics about race associated with social learning or as a consequence of competition for limited resources). How you express importance is contingent upon what you plan to focus your research upon. Each of the examples would require citations in text to support the respective assertions.
The introduction must include the theory or model that you intend to use, along with a succinct statement of the research question and main hypothesis. The research question is broader in scope than the hypothesis. The hypothesis is specific to the main variables that are to be studied. One only states the directional or non-directional hypothesis, not the null hypothesis for the main factors of the investigation (e.g., It is hypothesized that attitudes toward social justice are significantly related to intentions to vote and that personality and familial factors will significantly moderate the relationship between attitudes toward social justice and intentions to vote.). In the example, the variables identified had to have been discussed within the introduction. If the introduction had only referred to attitudes toward social justice and intentions to vote, that would be fine but the hypothesis involving personality and familial factors could not be made in the introduction. The main hypothesis may be expounded upon or expanded to include other factors after having written the literature review. So, if the literature review provides justification for the inclusion of personality and familial factors as possible significant moderators, than that hypothesis can be identified later in the proposal.
The introduction must include a statement of the research method that is to be used (e.g., a mixed method approach shall be used to determine the relationship between…).
3) Literature Review is the next major heading that should be centered. The literature review is best written with subheadings that aid in organizing the literature you have read and wish to write about. The manner in which you write the entire proposal and each section is in an inverted triangle manner. You begin broadly and bring your writing into focus upon the actual investigation you are proposing to conduct. Attention to transitioning from paragraph to paragraph and subsection to subsection must be made so that your writing flows smoothly. The literature review serves multiple purposes:
a) It is a justification or rationale for the factors you will use;
b) It is a justification for the method you propose; it is a justification for the operational definitions you propose to employ;
c) It communicates the degree to which you understand the phenomenon you intend to investigate;
d) And, it conveys that you have developed some expertise in the topic of concern.
The search for articles that you deem useful takes time, patience, critical thought and documentation. Not every article you look at that appears to have the same topic will be useful. Some articles may depart significantly from what you intend to investigate. For example, you may be interested in looking at the self-regulation that students exercise in college. Self-regulation has been studies by other researchers relative to academic decision-making and delay of gratification. Yet, your interest may be in relation to the self-regulation of emotional responses and actions. Therefore, the literature that investigates self-regulation academically or in regard to delay of gratification will be of little or no use to you.
The actual writing of the literature review is quite similar to comparing and contrasting the work undertaken by multiple researchers. Some of the selected articles will be expounded upon with respect to the theory/theories that drove their investigation. Some of your citations may necessitate your going in depth with respect to the method section. For example, if you intend to use college age students and have review several studies that differ with respect to the ages of the participants, you would want to include that bit of information. If several studies employed methods or operational definitions of variables such that internal validity of the study may be more or less questionable for one (or some) in comparison to another (or others). You would write a paragraph or so about how their methods and findings either compliment or challenge each other. You must decide upon what and how much to write relative to the articles you have read. The decision of writing must be done with the intent to justify or provide adequate reasoning for what you intend to do. The goal is to communicate clearly what the literature has informed you about the phenomenon. The audience you are communicating that to are seasoned researchers. So you are to communicate what is necessary.
DO NOT PLAGARIZE and DO NOT QUOTE UNNECESARILY State what you have read in your own words. You do not need to rely on the words of the authors of your articles. Quotations are reserved for statements where the importance would be lost if you were to change the wording.
4) Method is the next major heading (not methodology or methods) that is centered and written in future tense. The method section is where you will have clearly identified subsections – Participants, materials and procedures are what is typically added as subheadings that are left justified.
a) Participants is the subheading under which you will indicate the targeted number of participants; the manner in which they will be selected; the targeted characteristics of the participants; the targeted local(s) for selecting your sample; and any screening criteria for not allowing participation
b) Materials is where you identify the specific operational definitions (measures and or experimental apparatus) for you variables. You are to report the reliability and validity of your operational definitions. You will provide detailed descriptions of each one of each separately. Citations of articles where the instruments have been used and reliability and validity can be substantiated must be included in this subsection of the method section.
c) Procedure is the explicit detailing of what will occur during the gathering of data for your study. Specific directions given to participants. Whether they are randomly assigned to groups. How informed consent is obtained, if possible. How you intend to do any validity checks and debrief participants is to be included.
5) Results is the last major section of your proposal. This is where you will indicate the method of analysis you will use and why. Those who undertake a qualitative investigation will identify how they intend to analyze their obtained information qualitatively. Those who have undertaken a quantitative investigation will identify the statistical analysis they will use to analyze the data. Those who undertake a mixed methods investigation will do bot.