Title Page
I. Body of the Proposal
Introduction (b only) (all sections)
Review of Literature
Need for the study
Purpose of the study
Research question(s)
Limitations
Definitions of Terms
II Methods and Procedures
Ethics
Cultural Competence
Design Strategy
Instrumentation
Procedures (1 & 2) – (#3 & 4)
III References
Overview
Each step of the proposal should be written in the third person and use APA formatting and referencing (7th edition- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_sample_paper.html ).
Utilize APA formatting for this paper, including headings and subheadings for the assignment sections. Writing should be clear, error-free, and written in a formal professional narrative (i.e., should not contain contractions like don’t and should contain full sentences). The paper should be consistent and aligned throughout. APA citations and references should be adhered to. The blue text after each section includes details and guidance for where to find information requested in the section.
Proposal Sections
Body of the Proposal
Restate the title on the first page of the Proposal (it should be stated for the first time on the Title Page). The title of the research proposal should be centered as the heading for the introduction.
Introduction (1-2 pages)
Within the Introduction, there should be two distinct topics developed:
statement of the problem, which should include general information about the problem and the population affected by the problem. You may want to use data, statistics, and/or descriptive information to help the reader understand the prevalence and implications of the problem. You can use some of the data from the articles that help describe the problem, or you can use other sources (the census, a think tank, etc) that help describe the problem. For instance, if I am studying the experiences of homeless persons with social service providers, I will want to provide evidence of the problem – how many homeless people are there? Who does homelessness affect most? How many are sheltered versus unsheltered, and what kinds of needs do they have that they seek social services for? What can I find out about their use of social services? Data used should be from credible sources.
idea that you will use to impact or is related to the problem. This topic should provide information about how you plan to contribute to the body of knowledge about this problem or population. In other words, how will your study address the problem you identified? How will your research contribute to the body of knowledge about this problem or population and/or how will it improve the problem?
Review of the Literature: (6 sources) (2 paragraphs for each source)
Refer to chapters 3 and 4 of the DeCarlo text. Your paragraphs should include
Need for the study – why is this study necessary? What gaps in the literature exist that make the study important?
Purpose statement – define the purpose of the study. This should be an explanation of what the study is doing about a problem.
Identify the research question(s). They may be stated in the study as research questions, hypotheses, or they may be implied.
Characteristics of the population studied (sample) – how many people are in the sample and what are their characteristics (some studies will include a chart with information about the sample, including age, gender, race, and other demographics).
A discussion of the conclusions/findings – how did the study contribute to knowledge? If there are multiple findings, select those that are most applicable to your area of interest.
At the conclusion of the entire literature review, include a short discussion of the gap you identified as a result of your review
The Need for the Study (2-3 paragraphs):
Identify and discuss the gap in the literature that you identified from the analysis of your six studies. Keep in mind that the need for your study should arise from your review of the literature. The importance of the research topic is stated: “There is a need to study…”
You should be able to demonstrate why your topic needs to be studied and point to the lack of knowledge about this area based on your literature review. You may need to use citations in these 2-3 paragraphs to make your case.
Purpose of the Study: (1 page)
This section should begin with: “The purpose of this study is….” Provide a clear, concise discussion regarding the purpose of your study. You should state the goals of your research, which might include the benefits of your research. Remember to keep your problem statement narrow and focused only on the things you are planning to study.
This section is one page and should include the immediate and future possible purposes of the study (in other words, what benefits will the knowledge bring). You can talk about the benefits to the population you are studying, the alleviation or reduction of a problem and how that improves conditions, and/or the benefits of the knowledge to the social work profession. Keep your discussion limited to only the things that will result from your study (example – if you are studying the impact of poverty on infant mortality, you will not be able to say that one of the purposes is to improve medical care).
Limitations: (2-3 paragraphs)
The limitations you identify will be grounded in the features of your research design. Limitations include factors like geographic limitations, time limit on the study, characteristics of subjects/respondents, e.g., economics, gender, age, and sampling restrictions, and limitations of the research design. For further discussion, see https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/limitations. Think about how the population, the topic, and other factors might limit the credibility or the value of the results. Review your Week 9 discussion in which you discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the sampling method (the weaknesses are one type of limitation) as well as the limitations of the research design you are using.
Definition of Terms: (no more than 4 or 5 terms)
List the terms and provide a conceptual definition from the research literature. An operational definition should also be included for those variables you plan to measure. Provide definitions of the important terms so that readers understand how you conceptualize and measure (operationalize) those terms. Be clear about defining the terms the reader will be exposed to so they know exactly what you mean. Refer to Chapter 9 for help. Example: I am studying loneliness in older adults. The conceptual definition of loneliness is taken from a credible source – Prohaska et al. (2019) state that loneliness is “a subjective distressing experience that results from inadequate meaningful connection (p.2) . The operational definition of loneliness refers to how it is measured. I will use the UCLA Loneliness Scale to define loneliness as a score of 6 or more on the 3-item Scale.
Research Question(s): (Bulleted List of Research Questions that will guide your research)
The research question guides your research study. It is not the questions you may ask your study participants when you collect data. The research question is the question that develops out of the gap you identified through your literature review. You may have just one research question or a general research question with several sub-questions. State the research question(s). Chapter 8 of the DeCarlo text addresses research questions. Specifically, Section 8.3 of your text discusses quantitative research questions; section 8.4 discusses qualitative research questions.
Method and Procedures –
Ethics (2-3 Paragraphs)
Discuss your efforts to adhere to the principles of the Belmont Report and social work values in conducting research. Ethics should be discussed specific to the population and topic studied. For assistance, refer to the Week 4 module.
Cultural Competence (2-3 paragraphs) explain the efforts you will take to conduct your research in a culturally competent manner considering the population and topic studied. Cultural competence is reflected in each step of the research process (recruitment, sampling, research design, data collection, analysis, interpretation). The week 4 module includes information about cultural competence.
Design Strategy; (minimum 2-3 Paragraphs)
The research question, the review of literature, and theoretical assumptions help you select a research strategy.
Discuss the approach you will use (qualitative or quantitative) and identify your specific research design (i.e. experimental, quasi-experimental, single subject, grounded theory, case study, etc).
Provide a brief discussion of both the approach (qual or quant) and design (specific research design), addressing the strengths and weaknesses and using citations as appropriate.
Your discussion should also include attention to internal and external validity (quantitative) or trustworthiness and authenticity (qualitative).
Weeks 10-14 covered various research designs, including the strengths and weaknesses of each. The document Study Rigor (Content>The Research Process) and the Trochim (n.d.) materials (https://conjointly.com/kb/external-validity/; https://conjointly.com/kb/internal-validity/) will help guide your discussion of internal and external validity (quantitative) or trustworthiness and authenticity (qualitative).
Instrumentation:
Quantitative:
A published instrument, scale or other measurement should be selected for data collection. Provide a discussion of the issues of reliability and validity of the instrument. The week 6 module includes the assigned materials to reference for measurement reliability and validity.
Your goal here is to find the study about the instrument or scale you selected that discusses the tool’s reliability and validity. Let me know if you need help with this.
Qualitative
Provide 5-7 interview/focus group questions that you will pose to your participants in a survey, focus group or interview. The participants’ answers to your questions should answer your research question(s). These questions should comply with the principles in Section 13.2 of the DeCarlo text or the Interview Strategies (Harvard U) document posted in Content>The Research Process.
Procedures:(minimum 1 page of the procedures and a 1-page Informed Consent Form)
List the steps you would use to collect your data. This requires you to describe a plan for contacting persons to gain access to an agency or other setting and the steps you would use to gather your data. You should know what approach you are using (qualitative or quantitative) and therefore be able to speak to the methods you will use to collect data. To the best of your ability, describe the steps.
Provide a one-page Informed Consent Form to be used in your research. You should ensure that your informed consent adequately protects vulnerable populations and includes all the required elements of an informed consent There is a template in D2L (Content>course overview and orientation>Course resources>research process). Adapt each section of the template to fit your research project. Remove the wording that is not appropriate to your project.
Provide a clear, detailed discussion of your sample population, including both inclusion and exclusion criteria and sampling method For assistance, refer to the Week 8 module assigned readings. You should have a good idea of your sample population – tell me who they are, about how many (quantitative should be larger numbers than qualitative), tell me something about their age, racial makeup, and any other characteristics that you will include or exclude.
Describe how you would analyze the data (Section 12.4 for quantitative data; section 13.5 for qualitative data).
References:
List all the references you use in your proposal. You should add references with each draft. Follow a standard reference using APA (American Psychological Association), 7th edition.