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Assignment #4: Research Prospectus

Purpose: The purpose of the research prospectus is to identify a research problem or a focus in your study in which you feel needs more research, and design a small-scale pilot study that you will actually complete and a suggestion of a large scale study and briefly describe what that may entail. You can state a larger scale study should be conducted because of: 1) the gaps/flaws/limitations of existing research that underscore the need for further research, 2) the primary research you completed for the small-scale pilot that demonstrates your understanding of research design, and 3) the quality and legitimacy of the study you are proposing. (The large scale study you are proposing can be brief).

Audience: Faculty in your school or college who would be acting as a jury reviewing undergraduate research proposals to select one that would receive funding. Because you are writing for not only faculty then, but also to try to obtain funding to complete your proposed research project, you should be particularly mindful of your audience’s needs and expectations for a research proposal.

Process:

Step 1. You should continue to work with the same general topic that was the focus of your annotated bibliography and literature review, enabling you to draw on resources that you previously found for those assignments. However, you may alter your research question as needed so that it is appropriate for the study you want to design.

Step 2. Referring back to what you identified as gaps/flaws/limitations in the existing research, identify where there is a need for further study, one that you would be interested in investigating further. (If you haven’t found a specific flaw that is okay – you can still suggest a need for more research in a particular area.)

Step 3. Drawing on what you have learned about research design throughout the semester, design a small pilot study: 1) a small-scale pilot study that you will actually complete to collect and analyze your own data, 2) suggest a need for a larger scale study and that that may entail. (See “Design Small Scale Study” document).

Step 4. Draft your essay, using the “Blueprint for Your Research Prospectus” handout as a guide.

Format: The research prospectus should be approximately 6 -10 typed and double-spaced pages (the required title page, if using APA style, and bibliography page(s) do not count toward this requirement), conform to formatting guidelines (12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1” margins, proper heading, etc.), and use APA style or the documentation style of your field. For this assignment you will need to include an abstract page, which will count toward the page limit. The research prospectus should consist of the following sections, all of which should be labeled in the paper except for the Introduction with literature review: 1) Abstract (½ page); 2) Introduction with literature review (2 to 3 pages; cite at least 4 sources in this section); 3) Small-Scale Pilot Study Methods and Findings (approximately 2 pages); 4) Propose a large scale study and briefly describe what that may entail and explain why it is necessary 1 page; and 5) Conclusion (½ page to 1 page). You may also have appendices.

Assessment: 30 - 35% of your final course grade