DNP prospectus corrections

Walden University

Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Doctor of Nursing Practice

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page i

For internal use only.

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DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page ii

Contents Doctoral Project Prospectus ........................................................................................................... 1

Purpose of the Prospectus ........................................................................................................... 1

Completing the Prospectus ......................................................................................................... 2

Submitting the Prospectus........................................................................................................... 2

My Doctoral Research (MyDR) .................................................................................................. 2

An Annotated Outline .................................................................................................................... 3

Ten Tips for Writing a Quality Prospectus ...................................................................................... 6

DNP Project Prospectus Rubric ...................................................................................................... 9

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 1

Doctoral Project Prospectus The Doctoral Project is the final component of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program

and focuses on addressing improvement of health care delivery. Students are given an opportunity

to demonstrate competence by constructing, designing, and completing an evidence-based

scholarly project related to the advancement of nursing practice. As such, this project must reflect

critical-thinking skills; application of principles of inquiry; synthesis of knowledge and skills

learned and developed during the DNP program; recommendations for future initiatives; and

outcomes for benefitting individual patients, groups of patients, communities, or systems.

DNP doctoral projects are scholarly contributions that must address the needs of the practice

setting and the nursing profession. Relying on a model of evidence-based decision-making, the

primary purpose of the doctoral project is to create the overall design and provide the framework

for the use of existing evidence to address local problems in nursing practice. The doctoral project

may be a response to a needs assessment, an organizational goal, a clarification of approaches to

injuries/illness, an identified need in the health care system that has not been previously addressed

locally, or it may be in response to a need identified by a professional health or nursing related

organization. Ethical, legal, political, and economic factors may be integrated as appropriate.

Examples of acceptable types of doctoral projects include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Evaluation of existing quality improvement projects

• Staff education projects

• Clinical practice guidelines development

• Systematic review of the literature

Manuals are available for the four project types listed above. Each manual contains the required

steps for that project type, as well as the forms/procedures that must be used if the student wants

to take advantage of Institutional Review Board (IRB) preapproval. Additional details about

doctoral project requirements are presented in the DNP Project Process Guide and the DNP

project checklist. Please note that if a student wants to use an alternative approach to the DNP

project process or add more data points (such as observations or interviews), the manual’s

data/evidence collection procedures/agreements and the IRB preapproved manuals cannot be

used. The student will need to follow the standard ethics approval request process.

Purpose of the Prospectus

The DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus is used in two ways:

• To identify a preliminary topic for your DNP Doctoral Project. This topic should be the product of initial investigation on your part but will be subject to change and refinement

as you develop your proposal.

• To help identify the faculty members who will guide the development of your DNP Doctoral Project Proposal.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 2

Completing the Prospectus

The Doctoral Project Prospectus consists of 10 parts: title, problem statement, practice-

focused question(s), social change, context for the doctoral project, sources of evidence,

approach or procedural steps, ethical, alignment, and references. The annotated outline

provided on pages 3–5 can be used to create your prospectus document.

Your primary goal for the prospectus is to narrow your topic such that you have provided a

general sense of the direction of your doctoral project. At the prospectus stage, you do not need

to know everything about the doctoral project, especially the details of the approach and

procedural steps you will use. Those decisions are made during proposal development.

This prospectus is intended to be succinct. It is used to determine the feasibility and

appropriateness of the doctoral project prior to development of the full DNP Doctoral Project

Proposal. Your prospectus should be three to five pages in length, follow Publication Manual of

the American Psychological Association (sixth edition) guidelines, and be saved in either .doc,

.docx, or .rtf file formats.

Submitting the Prospectus

The prospectus will be completed in NURS 8700 under the direction of your committee chair.

Once the prospectus is ready for further review, the chair will request that the DNP research

coordinator set up a doctoral committee for you. After your NURS 8700 faculty member and

your newly assigned committee member approve your prospectus, you will upload your

prospectus to the Committee Prospectus Rubric Analysis in Taskstream for formal review by

your chair and committee member using the DNP Prospectus Rubric (located at the end of this

guide).

Once the prospectus has been approved by the committee chair and member, it will be reviewed

by the DNP program director or designee. Upon approval of your prospectus by the DNP

program director or designee, you should continue to work with your DNP committee to develop

the DNP Doctoral Project Proposal.

My Doctoral Research (MyDR)

As you are working on your DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus, you should also begin

familiarizing yourself with the My Doctoral Research (MyDR) system resources and other useful

resources on the Center for Research Quality website. The MyDR system was designed to assist

you and your supervisory committee in navigating your doctoral capstone journey, from the very

beginning through the final approval. The various landing pages in MyDR will track your

progress and will serve as a central location for resources to support that progress. The

Taskstream element of the MyDR system is used to establish a process flow tool in which you

exchange and store DNP committee evaluations of and feedback on your work as you progress

along that journey.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 3

An Annotated Outline The Prospectus document includes a title page (page 1) followed by pages containing the

required elements. Please use the Prospectus template on the DNP page of the Doctoral

Capstone Form and Style website.

Title Page

The recommended title length is 12 words or fewer to include the topic and the critical

keywords from the project. Double-space the title if it is more than one line of type, and center it

under the word “Prospectus.” Capitalize each major word in the title.

Include your name, your program (Doctor of Nursing Practice), and your Student ID number—

double spaced and centered under the title. Use the prospectus template on the DNP Resources

page.

Please note that your doctoral project title will likely change as the project evolves, so allow

yourself the flexibility to adapt your title, as necessary.

Title Start with “Prospectus” and a colon, and then include the title as it appears on the title page.

Double-space if it is more than one line of type, and center it at the top of the page.

Problem Statement

State the practice focused problem that your project will address. Provide a one- to two-

paragraph statement that establishes the relevance of this problem:

1. Summarize preliminary, supporting evidence that provides justification that this problem is meaningful and relevant to the local setting as well as the broader field of nursing

practice, citing key scholarly sources.

2. Explicitly state the gap in nursing practice or problem that will be the focus of this doctoral project.

3. Describe the problem as it relates to the target population for the project.

Note: Students may not work directly with patients in a clinical setting, with patient

interventions, or with students or faculty in academic settings.

Practice-Focused Question(s)

Describe the meaningful gap-in-practice that this doctoral project addresses. State the guiding

practice-focused question(s) for the doctoral project. Briefly explain the practice focused

question as it is relevant to the identified gap in practice.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 4

Social Change

Describe how this project will impact social change for healthcare consumers, organizations, and

the profession. State how this project supports Walden University’s mission to promote positive

social change.

Specify who might benefit from the project and in what ways the information from the project

might result in positive social change.

Context for the Doctoral Project

Briefly describe the intended setting for the doctoral project. Explain how this project can be

accomplished in the identified setting or context.

Note: Students may not work directly with patients in a clinical setting, with patient

interventions, or with students or faculty in academic settings.

Sources of Evidence

Include relevant evidence that supports the need to address the identified problem at the local and

broader context. Examples of evidence include current EBP guidelines, literature preferably from

the past 5 years, and de-identified anecdotal data (refer to the DNP manuals for IRB approved

data sources for specific project types). Describe how the evidence justifies that this problem is

important to the nursing profession.

Approach or Procedural Steps

Identify your possible approach/procedural steps, summarize possible strategies to obtain the

data and resources needed to complete the doctoral project. Examples may include anonymous

participant questionnaires (for more information see DNP IRB approved data types for each of

the four project types in the DNP manuals). Is this project from among the acceptable types

listed on the DNP Resources page?

Note: Evidence or data cannot be collected prior to approval by the full committee and the IRB.

Ethical

Describe how this project will provide protection for human subjects.

Note: Direct patient interventions or projects in an academic setting with students or faculty are

restricted due to DNP program certification requirements.

Describe the region of the data source(s) without stating the specific location. Withhold

descriptors of participants such as titles, demographics, etc. to ensure that participants are not

identifiable. (Check with the IRB if unsure.).

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 5

State any potential ethical issues that may present problems for the completion of this project. If

none, clarify.

Note: See IRB section of the respective DNP manual to determine ethical requirements.

Alignment

Do the various aspects of the prospectus align overall? State what credible sources support the

practice problem. Describe how the practice-focused question(s) and the approach or procedural

steps will address the practice problem you describe in the problem statement.

References

Use American Psychological Association (APA) format for this prospectus. Include a minimum

of five APA-formatted peer-reviewed references to support in-text citations in the Doctoral

Project Prospectus.

Note: References should be within the last 5 years.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 6

Ten Tips for Writing a Quality Prospectus Prospectuses tend to be as unique as the students writing them, so specific strategies are hard to

offer. Based on a recent institutional analysis of prospectuses, the following general tips are

provided to support successful approval. Students should ask themselves the following questions:

1. Is it complete? One of the most common reasons that a prospectus is sent back is one of the simplest to

fix: Some pieces are missing. You should ask yourself, “Did I effectively respond to every

item on the annotated outline?”

2. Is it well written? Your prospectus is the first time that your scholarly writing style is on full display for

your committee. The prospectus needs to be a preview of what they can expect when they

agree to work with you. Certainly, if your writing is unclear, your supervisory committee

will have a difficult time ascertaining whether you have met the quality indicators. If you

need added support with your writing, now is the time to find it. The Walden Writing

Center offers webinars and multimedia resources to help students improve their academic

writing, and the Academic Skills Center offers courses to help students improve their

writing skills. If you need refreshers and support with key research concepts, the Center

for Research Quality site has additional resources.

3. Are the parts and sections aligned? Of all the quality indicators, alignment tends to be one of the more challenging because it

transcends the content in the prospectus. Some examples of misalignment include

reviewing the evidence on children when the project is concerned with adults, identifying

a target group or organization that does not seem appropriate to provide information to

address the identified problem or gap in nursing practice, and identifying an approach

or procedural steps that will not address the project question. Importantly, all the parts—

not just some—need to align.

4. Is the topic relevant to my discipline and program of study? Doctoral students are encouraged to explore scholarship from a variety of disciplines as

they formulate their questions. When choosing their actual project topic, however, they

need to be especially careful to not go beyond their own disciplinary program of study

area.

5. Did I answer the “So what?” question? Too often what is obvious to the student is not always captured in what is written in the

prospectus. Ironically, one area that seems to get neglected is the social change statement,

because the writer assumes that the reader understands the full impact of the situation and

how this project will have potential for a positive impact. Make sure you are clear on why

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 7

so many people, including your committee and your participants, need to invest their time

in this project.

6. Is the prospectus presented in an objective manner? Students are encouraged to develop a deep understanding of the problem and the people

affected by it. When coupled with experiences gained through one’s work as a

practitioner, however, it is tempting to lose sight of your own objectivity. You should not

offer solutions before the project has been completed (“I know what needs to happen

here”) or suggest an answer before you have started the project (“I know this guideline

will improve practice”). Scholarship has a way of humbling us and showing us the error

in jumping to conclusions.

7. Did I do my “homework”? Although the prospectus sets the stage for a more in-depth examination of your project

topic, students are still expected to conduct a preliminary literature review. Be careful to

not equate “Here’s a gap in the evidence” with “I haven’t looked at the evidence.”

Students are sometimes shocked at how much scholarship has already been done on a

topic after they start digging into it, even if more scholarship is needed.

8. Have I identified a project question? A common mistake that new scholar-practitioners make is to confuse the broader social

problem with the project question that will be the focus of the DNP project, because the

two are related. Although much is often known about the scope and nature of the

problem, less information is available on how to address the problem; otherwise, it would

not be a problem or gap in practice. What is often lacking in the situation is some piece of

information or understanding that can be used to address the problem. That question or

gap is what your project will address.

9. Is my topic too broad? Most doctoral students have overly ambitious project goals at the beginning, and we

rarely have to ask someone to “do more.” Usually, the struggle is to identify a focused,

doable question that fits within the expectations of a doctoral project. Exploring the

evidence-based literature is one way to see how other scholar-practitioners have shaped

their questions. Keep in mind that a focused, tightly conceived, well-executed project on

one project question is better than a project that tries to answer a bunch of tangentially

related questions with a variety of approaches.

10. Have you considered the feasibility of the project? The prospectus is a plan to develop the proposal, and the proposal is where many key

project decisions are finalized. Still, it is never too early to start thinking about feasibility,

which is why it is one of the quality indicators for your prospectus. Like all the

indicators, feasibility is a quality that you will revisit as the project evolves. At the

prospectus stage, you need to show your supervisory committee that you are considering

your choices in light of previous scholarship and what you have learned about the

scholarly process in your courses.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 8

Self-Check Item on Partner Site Masking

Walden capstones typically mask the identity of the partner organization. The methodological

and ethical reasons for this practice, as well as criteria for exceptions, are outlined in Guidance

on Masking Partner Organizations in Walden Capstones.

If you perceive that your partner organization’s identity would be impossible to mask or if there

is a strong rationale for naming the organization in your capstone, the program director must

review your request for an exception. If granted, that exception will need to be confirmed by the

IRB during the ethics review process. The IRB will also ensure that your consent form(s) and/or

site agreement(s) permit naming the organization.

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 9

DNP Project Prospectus Rubric The key indicators in the DNP Project Prospectus are used to assure the overall quality of the

DNP project at this point in the development process. Students should use this rubric to guide

development of their DNP Project Prospectus. Committee members should use the rubric to

give ongoing feedback and to document their final acceptance of the prospectus.

Faculty Instructions

For each item, choose “met” or “not met” if the DNP Project Prospectus meets that quality

indicator. For items marked “not met,” please indicate ways in which the prospectus can be

improved to meet the standard and forward the rubric to the student.

1 Met

Not

Met Complete?

Does the prospectus contain all the required elements? Refer to the

Annotated Outline in the DNP Project Prospectus Guide to review the

required parts of the DNP Project Prospectus document.

Comments: If not met, which items are missing?

2 Met

Not

Met

Meaningful?

Has a meaningful problem or gap in nursing practice been identified

and explicitly stated? In other words, is addressing this problem the

logical next step, given the previous evidence on this issue.

Comments: If not met, what is the reasoning for this assessment?

3 Met

Not

Met

Social Change Impact?

Does this proposed project have potential to affect positive social

change? The anticipated findings should have the potential to support

Walden University’s mission to promote positive social change.

Comments: If not met, how could the project address social change more directly?

4 Met

Not

Met

Alignment?

Do the various aspects of the prospectus align overall? The problem

should be supported by sources of evidence and should align with the

practice-focused question and the approach or procedural steps.

Comments: If not met, in what areas is additional evidence needed?

DNP Doctoral Project Prospectus Guide Page 10

5

Met

Not

Met

Feasible in This Context?

Is it feasible to accomplish this project in the identified setting or

context? The student has considered access to resources, data, and

participants needed for the project.

Comments: If not met, in what ways could the context of the project be better described?

6 Met

Not Met

Supported With Evidence?

Do the sources of evidence support the need to address the identified

problem? There is relevant evidence to support the identified problem,

and the evidence justifies that this problem is important to the profession.

Comments: If not met, what issues are identified with the sources of evidence?

7 Met

Not

Met

Ethical?

Will this project provide protection for human subjects? Any potential

ethical issues that may present problems for the completion of this project

have been identified. (i.e., ability to meet Walden IRB requirements,

approval from your organizations’ IRBs, access to the organizations’

deidentified data)

Comments: If not met, how could this project be changed to provide for protection of human subjects?

8 Met

Not

Met

Appropriate Approach or Procedural Steps?

Are the identified approach and/or procedural steps appropriate to

the problem? The proposed strategies demonstrate that the student has

selected the best approach that has potential to address the problem. Is this

project from among the acceptable types listed on page 1 of the DNP

Prospectus Guide?

Comments: If not met, how could the project be changed to demonstrate an appropriate approach or procedural steps?

9 Met

Not Met

Writing?

Does this prospectus meet the minimum standards for professional

writing? Are appropriate references included? Has APA been correctly

utilized?

Comments: If not met, please refer student to the Walden Writing Center resources.