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Employee Engagement and Marginalized Populations , Brenna Miaira Kutch

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Impact of a State Evidence-Based Practice Legislative Mandate on County Practice Implementation Patterns and Inpatient Behavioral Health Discharge , Carl William Foreman

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A Case Study of Collaborative Governance: Oregon Health Reform and Coordinated Care Organizations , Oliver John Droppers V

Higher Education Reform in Oregon, 2011-2014: A Policy and Legislative History , Sean Pollack

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The Institutional Context that Supports Team-Based Care for Older Adults , Anna Foucek Tresidder

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Attaining a Sustainable Future for Public Higher Education: The Role of Institutional Effectiveness and Resource Dependence , Mirela Blekic

Governance in the United States Columbia River Basin: An Historical Analysis , Eric Thomas Mogren

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Use of Media Technologies by Native American Teens and Young Adults: Evaluating their Utility for Designing Culturally-Appropriate Sexual Health Interventions Targeting Native Youth in the Pacific Northwest , Stephanie Nicole Craig Rushing

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Oregon Physicians' Perception of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Use of Enforcement Discretion Related to the Use of Opioids in the Treatment of Chronic Pain , Robert Dale Harrison

City Management Theory and Practice: A Foundation for Educating the Next Generation of Local Government Administrators , Scott Douglas Lazenby

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The Institutionalization of Diversity and Gender Equity Norms and Values in Higher Education Settings , Rowanna Lynn Carpenter

Organizational Complexity in American Local Governance: Deploying an Organizational Perspective in Concept and Analytic Framework Development , Charles David Crumpton

Multi-Level Environmental Governance : a Comparative Case Study of Five Large Scale Natural Resource Management Programs , Shpresa Halimi

Police Organizations : an Empricial Examination of American Sheriff's Offices and Municipal Police Agencies , Matthew Adam Jones

Measuring Community-Engaged Departments: A Study to Develop an Effective Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Community Engagement in Academic Departments , Kevin Kecskes

Creating a Theoretical Framework for Understanding Homeland security using Multiple Frame Analysis , Linda Ann Kiltz

Emerging Governance at the Edge of Constrained Federalism : Public Administrators at the Frontier of Democracy , Gary Lloyd Larsen

George Lakoff"s Theory of Worldview : a Case Study of the Oregon Legislature , Catherine Law

Who Benefits? : a Multilevel Analysis of the Impact of Oregon's Volunteer Mentor Program for Postsecondary Access on Scholarship Applicants , Alisha Ann Lund-Chaix

Organizational Change in Corrections Organizations : the Effect of Probation and Parole Officer Culture on Change in Community Corrections , Shea Brackin Marshman

Lost in Translation : Ideas of Population Health Determinants in the American Policy Arena , Maria Gilson Sistrom

Representation without Taxation : China's Rural Development Initiatives For a New Millenium , Minzi Su

How Organizational Arrangements Affect High Reliability in Public Research Universities: Perceptions of environmental Health and Safety Directors , Rita Finn Sumner

The Washington State Patrol, Accountability-Driven Leadership, and the Organizational Factors that Propelled their Success: An Organizational Analysis , Timothy Carl Winchell

Theses/Dissertations from 2007 2007

The Changing Paradigm of Emergency Management : Improving professional development for the Emergency Manager , Robert Edward Grist

Global Civil Society Finding Collective Voice in Diversity , Kristen Marie Magis

Information Technology Training in the Public Sector : Essential Planning Elements , Betty Jean Reynolds

From Prison to the Community : the Role of Citizen Participation in Female Prisoner Reentry , Dana Roderick Torrey

Network Analysis of a Shared Governance System , Debra Reifman Whitall

Theses/Dissertations from 2006 2006

Presidential Values : Implications for Foreign Policy , Jordan Katherine Durbin

The Interactions between Carbon Regulation and Renewable Energy policies in the United Kingdom , Hal Thomas Nelson

Theses/Dissertations from 2005 2005

Reorganizing the Oregon Department of Human Services : an Exploratory Case Study of Organizational Change , Charles Anthony Gallia

Theses/Dissertations from 2003 2003

Portrayals of Disability in the Professional Preparation of Speech-language Pathologists , Jane Eric Sleeper Gravel

Theses/Dissertations from 2002 2002

The Effects of Parent Care and Child Care Role Quality on Work outcomes among dual-earner couples in the sandwiched generation , Angela Rickard

Theses/Dissertations from 2000 2000

The Role and Performance of Governmental and Nongovernmental Organizations in Family Planning implementation : Jordan as a Case Study , Khalaf al Hadded

Theses/Dissertations from 1999 1999

The Value of Independence in Old Age , Paula C. Carder

American Indian Elderly and Long-Term Care : Interorganizational Barriers to the Use of Oregon's Home and Community-Based Medicaid Waiver , Jo Lynn Isgrigg

The Effects of Mentoring on Work-parenting Gains and Strains in a Sample of Employed Predominately Female AFDC Recipients , Charlene Rhyne

Theses/Dissertations from 1998 1998

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Physician Assistants , Roderick Stanton Hooker

Theses/Dissertations from 1997 1997

State Funding for Special Education in Oregon : Calculating Cost Differentials of special education for handicapped students in Oregon school districts , Kyung-Sup Kim

Theses/Dissertations from 1996 1996

Scenery as Policy: Public Involvement in Developing a Management Plan for the Scenic Resources of the Columbia River Gorge , Gordon Mathews Euler

Impact of the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965 on Health Sciences Libraries in the Pacific Northwest: an Interorganizational Approach , Leonoor Swets Ingraham

Administrative Reform in China: Its Impact on Economic Development After Mao , Meiru Liu

Theses/Dissertations from 1994 1994

Oregon Primary Care Physicians' Support for Health Care Reform , Timothy Alan Baker

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• How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

Published on October 12, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 21, 2023.

A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it’s important, and how you will conduct your research.

The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals will contain at least these elements:

Introduction

Literature review.

• Research design

Reference list

While the sections may vary, the overall objective is always the same. A research proposal serves as a blueprint and guide for your research plan, helping you get organized and feel confident in the path forward you choose to take.

Table of contents

Research proposal purpose, research proposal examples, research design and methods, contribution to knowledge, research schedule, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research proposals.

Academics often have to write research proposals to get funding for their projects. As a student, you might have to write a research proposal as part of a grad school application , or prior to starting your thesis or dissertation .

In addition to helping you figure out what your research can look like, a proposal can also serve to demonstrate why your project is worth pursuing to a funder, educational institution, or supervisor.

Research proposal length

The length of a research proposal can vary quite a bit. A bachelor’s or master’s thesis proposal can be just a few pages, while proposals for PhD dissertations or research funding are usually much longer and more detailed. Your supervisor can help you determine the best length for your work.

One trick to get started is to think of your proposal’s structure as a shorter version of your thesis or dissertation , only without the results , conclusion and discussion sections.

Download our research proposal template

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See an example

Writing a research proposal can be quite challenging, but a good starting point could be to look at some examples. We’ve included a few for you below.

• Example research proposal #1: “A Conceptual Framework for Scheduling Constraint Management”
• Example research proposal #2: “Medical Students as Mediators of Change in Tobacco Use”

Like your dissertation or thesis, the proposal will usually have a title page that includes:

• The proposed title of your project
• Your supervisor’s name
• Your institution and department

The first part of your proposal is the initial pitch for your project. Make sure it succinctly explains what you want to do and why.

Your introduction should:

• Introduce your topic
• Give necessary background and context
• Outline your  problem statement  and research questions

To guide your introduction , include information about:

• Who could have an interest in the topic (e.g., scientists, policymakers)
• How much is already known about the topic
• What is missing from this current knowledge
• What new insights your research will contribute
• Why you believe this research is worth doing

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As you get started, it’s important to demonstrate that you’re familiar with the most important research on your topic. A strong literature review  shows your reader that your project has a solid foundation in existing knowledge or theory. It also shows that you’re not simply repeating what other people have already done or said, but rather using existing research as a jumping-off point for your own.

In this section, share exactly how your project will contribute to ongoing conversations in the field by:

• Comparing and contrasting the main theories, methods, and debates
• Examining the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches
• Explaining how will you build on, challenge, or synthesize prior scholarship

Following the literature review, restate your main  objectives . This brings the focus back to your own project. Next, your research design or methodology section will describe your overall approach, and the practical steps you will take to answer your research questions.

To finish your proposal on a strong note, explore the potential implications of your research for your field. Emphasize again what you aim to contribute and why it matters.

For example, your results might have implications for:

• Improving best practices
• Informing policymaking decisions
• Strengthening a theory or model
• Challenging popular or scientific beliefs
• Creating a basis for future research

Last but not least, your research proposal must include correct citations for every source you have used, compiled in a reference list . To create citations quickly and easily, you can use our free APA citation generator .

Some institutions or funders require a detailed timeline of the project, asking you to forecast what you will do at each stage and how long it may take. While not always required, be sure to check the requirements of your project.

Here’s an example schedule to help you get started. You can also download a template at the button below.

Download our research schedule template

If you are applying for research funding, chances are you will have to include a detailed budget. This shows your estimates of how much each part of your project will cost.

Make sure to check what type of costs the funding body will agree to cover. For each item, include:

• Cost : exactly how much money do you need?
• Justification : why is this cost necessary to complete the research?
• Source : how did you calculate the amount?

To determine your budget, think about:

• Travel costs : do you need to go somewhere to collect your data? How will you get there, and how much time will you need? What will you do there (e.g., interviews, archival research)?
• Materials : do you need access to any tools or technologies?
• Help : do you need to hire any research assistants for the project? What will they do, and how much will you pay them?

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

A PhD, which is short for philosophiae doctor (doctor of philosophy in Latin), is the highest university degree that can be obtained. In a PhD, students spend 3–5 years writing a dissertation , which aims to make a significant, original contribution to current knowledge.

A PhD is intended to prepare students for a career as a researcher, whether that be in academia, the public sector, or the private sector.

A master’s is a 1- or 2-year graduate degree that can prepare you for a variety of careers.

All master’s involve graduate-level coursework. Some are research-intensive and intend to prepare students for further study in a PhD; these usually require their students to write a master’s thesis . Others focus on professional training for a specific career.

Critical thinking refers to the ability to evaluate information and to be aware of biases or assumptions, including your own.

Like information literacy , it involves evaluating arguments, identifying and solving problems in an objective and systematic way, and clearly communicating your ideas.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

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McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 21). How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-proposal/

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The goal of a research proposal is twofold: to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting research are governed by standards of the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, therefore, the guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and benefits derived from the study's completion.

Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.

How to Approach Writing a Research Proposal

Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:

• Develop your skills in thinking about and designing a comprehensive research study;
• Learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to determine that the research problem has not been adequately addressed or has been answered ineffectively and, in so doing, become better at locating pertinent scholarship related to your topic;
• Improve your general research and writing skills;
• Practice identifying the logical steps that must be taken to accomplish one's research goals;
• Critically review, examine, and consider the use of different methods for gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,
• Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see yourself as an active participant in the process of conducting scholarly research.

A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those findings. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your proposal is coherent, clear, and compelling.

Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:

• What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear and succinct in defining the research problem and what it is you are proposing to investigate.
• Why do you want to do the research? In addition to detailing your research design, you also must conduct a thorough review of the literature and provide convincing evidence that it is a topic worthy of in-depth study. A successful research proposal must answer the "So What?" question.
• How are you going to conduct the research? Be sure that what you propose is doable. If you're having difficulty formulating a research problem to propose investigating, go here for strategies in developing a problem to study.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Failure to be concise . A research proposal must be focused and not be "all over the map" or diverge into unrelated tangents without a clear sense of purpose.
• Failure to cite landmark works in your literature review . Proposals should be grounded in foundational research that lays a foundation for understanding the development and scope of the the topic and its relevance.
• Failure to delimit the contextual scope of your research [e.g., time, place, people, etc.]. As with any research paper, your proposed study must inform the reader how and in what ways the study will frame the problem.
• Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research . This is critical. In many workplace settings, the research proposal is a formal document intended to argue for why a study should be funded.
• Sloppy or imprecise writing, or poor grammar . Although a research proposal does not represent a completed research study, there is still an expectation that it is well-written and follows the style and rules of good academic writing.
• Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues . Your proposal should focus on only a few key research questions in order to support the argument that the research needs to be conducted. Minor issues, even if valid, can be mentioned but they should not dominate the overall narrative.

Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal.  The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sanford, Keith. Information for Students: Writing a Research Proposal. Baylor University; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Structure and Writing Style

Beginning the Proposal Process

As with writing most college-level academic papers, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. The text of proposals generally vary in length between ten and thirty-five pages, followed by the list of references. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal.

A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:

• What do I want to study?
• Why is the topic important?
• How is it significant within the subject areas covered in my class?
• What problems will it help solve?
• How does it build upon [and hopefully go beyond] research already conducted on the topic?
• What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get it done in the time available?

In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like, "Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"

Most proposals should include the following sections:

I.  Introduction

In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea based on a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the topic and to be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.

Think about your introduction as a narrative written in two to four paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions :

• What is the central research problem?
• What is the topic of study related to that research problem?
• What methods should be used to analyze the research problem?
• Answer the "So What?" question by explaining why this is important research, what is its significance, and why should someone reading the proposal care about the outcomes of the proposed study?

II.  Background and Significance

This is where you explain the scope and context of your proposal and describe in detail why it's important. It can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your proposal. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is most relevant in explaining the aims of your research.

To that end, while there are no prescribed rules for establishing the significance of your proposed study, you should attempt to address some or all of the following:

• State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about the purpose of the study than what you stated in the introduction. This is particularly important if the problem is complex or multifaceted .
• Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing; be sure to answer the "So What? question [i.e., why should anyone care?].
• Describe the major issues or problems examined by your research. This can be in the form of questions to be addressed. Be sure to note how your proposed study builds on previous assumptions about the research problem.
• Explain the methods you plan to use for conducting your research. Clearly identify the key sources you intend to use and explain how they will contribute to your analysis of the topic.
• Describe the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus. Where appropriate, state not only what you plan to study, but what aspects of the research problem will be excluded from the study.
• If necessary, provide definitions of key concepts, theories, or terms.

III.  Literature Review

Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while at the same time, demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what methodological approaches they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, when stated, their recommendations. Also pay attention to any suggestions for further research.

Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your proposed study in relation to the arguments put forth by other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes] rather than systematically or chronologically describing groups of materials one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new categories is an on-going process of discovery as you review more studies. How do you know you've covered the key conceptual categories underlying the research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that all of the significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.

NOTE: Do not shy away from challenging the conclusions made in prior research as a basis for supporting the need for your proposal. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. Highlighting the problematic conclusions strengthens your proposal. For more information on writing literature reviews, GO HERE .

To help frame your proposal's review of prior research, consider the "five C’s" of writing a literature review:

• Cite , so as to keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your research problem.
• Compare the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings expressed in the literature: what do the authors agree on? Who applies similar approaches to analyzing the research problem?
• Contrast the various arguments, themes, methodologies, approaches, and controversies expressed in the literature: describe what are the major areas of disagreement, controversy, or debate among scholars?
• Critique the literature: Which arguments are more persuasive, and why? Which approaches, findings, and methodologies seem most reliable, valid, or appropriate, and why? Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what an author says/does [e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues, etc.].
• Connect the literature to your own area of research and investigation: how does your own work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add a new perspective to what has been said in the literature?

IV.  Research Design and Methods

This section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that you have a plan worth pursuing . The reader will never have a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and proposed methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.

Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used, but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].

When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:

• Specify the research process you will undertake and the way you will interpret the results obtained in relation to the research problem. Don't just describe what you intend to achieve from applying the methods you choose, but state how you will spend your time while applying these methods [e.g., coding text from interviews to find statements about the need to change school curriculum; running a regression to determine if there is a relationship between campaign advertising on social media sites and election outcomes in Europe ].
• Keep in mind that the methodology is not just a list of tasks; it is a deliberate argument as to why techniques for gathering information add up to the best way to investigate the research problem. This is an important point because the mere listing of tasks to be performed does not demonstrate that, collectively, they effectively address the research problem. Be sure you clearly explain this.
• Anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address them. No method applied to research in the social and behavioral sciences is perfect, so you need to describe where you believe challenges may exist in obtaining data or accessing information. It's always better to acknowledge this than to have it brought up by your professor!

V.  Preliminary Suppositions and Implications

Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the results, doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and potential implications . The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policy making. Note that such discussions may have either substantive [a potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new understanding], or methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance.   When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the following questions:

• What might the results mean in regards to challenging the theoretical framework and underlying assumptions that support the study?
• What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential outcomes of the study?
• What will the results mean to practitioners in the natural settings of their workplace, organization, or community?
• Will the results influence programs, methods, and/or forms of intervention?
• How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic, or other types of problems?
• Will the results influence policy decisions?
• In what way do individuals or groups benefit should your study be pursued?
• What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
• How will the results of the study be implemented and what innovations or transformative insights could emerge from the process of implementation?

NOTE:   This section should not delve into idle speculation, opinion, or be formulated on the basis of unclear evidence . The purpose is to reflect upon gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem should the study be implemented as designed.

ANOTHER NOTE : This section is also where you describe any potential limitations to your proposed study. While it is impossible to highlight all potential limitations because the study has yet to be conducted, you still must tell the reader where and in what form impediments may arise and how you plan to address them.

VI.  Conclusion

The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief summary of the entire study . This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing knowledge.

Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:

• Why the study should be done;
• The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempts to answer;
• The decision for why the research design and methods used where chosen over other options;
• The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the research problem; and
• A sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the research problem.

VII.  Citations

As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used . In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with your professor about which one is preferred.

• References -- a list of only the sources you actually used in creating your proposal.
• Bibliography -- a list of everything you used in creating your proposal, along with additional citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the research problem.

In either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to ensure the project will complement and not just duplicate the efforts of other researchers. It demonstrates to the reader that you have a thorough understanding of prior research on the topic.

Most proposal formats have you start a new page and use the heading "References" or "Bibliography" centered at the top of the page. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course [e.g., education=APA; history=Chicago] or that is preferred by your professor. This section normally does not count towards the total page length of your research proposal.

Develop a Research Proposal: Writing the Proposal. Office of Library Information Services. Baltimore County Public Schools; Heath, M. Teresa Pereira and Caroline Tynan. “Crafting a Research Proposal.” The Marketing Review 10 (Summer 2010): 147-168; Jones, Mark. “Writing a Research Proposal.” In MasterClass in Geography Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning . Graham Butt, editor. (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), pp. 113-127; Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah. “Writing a Research Proposal.” International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences 1 (September/October 2014): 229-240; Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005; Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills . Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences , Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Home > Colleges, Schools, and Departments > Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs > Public Administration > Public Administration Dissertations

Public Administration - Dissertations

Three Essays on Representation, Participation, and Conflict in Environmental Justice Councils , Graham Ambrose

Three Essays on Housing Insecurity , Rhea Acuña

Three Essays on Environmental Justice , Qasim Mehdi

Sustainability, Strategy, and Potential: A Framework for Organizations , Brian Ohl

Leveraging System Context to Understand Collaborative Systems in Modern Public Management , Catherine Annis

Public Administrator Aversion to Randomized Controlled Trials , Emily Bryn Cardon

Three Essays on Urban Property Taxes , Yoon-jung Choi

Three Essays at the Intersection of Child Welfare and Public Policy , Mattie Mackenzie-Liu

Three Essays on Pupil Transportation , Christopher Rick

Sports participation and Labor Market Outcomes: A Correspondence Study , Laura Lorena Rodriguez Ortiz

Three Essays on Public Housing and Social Inequality , Jeehee Han

Three Essays on Climate Change Adaptation in Rural African Communities , Hannah Patnaik

Three Essays On Climate Change Adaptation In Rural African Communities , Hannah Patnaik

Board Members That Tie: Three Essays on Antecedents and Consequences of Nonprofit Board Interlock , Nara Yoon

THREE ESSAYS ON THE ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED , Emily Gutierrez

Three Essays on Demand-side Health Policies in India , Raghav Puri

THREE ESSAYS ON PROPERTY TAX ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY , David John Schwegman

Three Essays on the Implementation of Food Assistance Programs , Saied Toossi

Three Essays on Participatory Governance in Public Administration , Suyeon Jo

THREE ESSAYS ON PROPERTY TAX ADMINISTRATION , Yusun Kim

Engagement-Equity Trade-Off: A Mixed-Methods Study of Participatory Budgeting and Property Tax Assessment Appeals in Large US Cities , Iuliia Shybalkina

Three Essays on the Management of Local Government Cash Flows , Michelle Lynn Lofton

Perceptions of Public and Private Partnerships in Costa Rica , Alvaro Andres Salas Castro

Who participates and why? What do they expect and what do they accomplish? An Evaluation of the Superfund Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program , Lance R. Cooper

Three Essays on Public Procurement , Zachary Steven Huitink

Building the Airplane While it Flies: A Case Study Approach of Police Development in Kosovo, Liberia, and Timor-Leste , Kevin Krupski

Three Essays in Urban Policy , Judson E. Murchie

The Impact of Environmental Policies and Innovation on the Investment in and Use of Natural Gas-Fired Combined Cycle Generators in the US Electricity Sector , Kelly Ann Stevens

Achieving Public Long-Term Care Insurance Through Social Security Wealth: Microsimulation for the US Case , Alexandre Genest

The Illusion of Collaboration and Bureaucratic Politics in India , Harish Pranav Jagannath

Three Essays on the Origins and Consequences of Public Services Motives , Jason Smith

Explaining Technological Change of Wind Power in China and the United States: Roles of Energy Policies, Technological Learning, and Collaboration , Tian Tang

Role of Information Technology in Policy Implementation of Maternal Health Benefits in India , Nidhi Vij

THREE ESSAYS ON THE LINKS BETWEEN LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND PUBLIC FINANCE , Pengju Zhang

Three Essays on the Supply of Long-Term Care Services to the Elderly in the U.S. , Kanika Arora

Three Essays on U.S. Social Policy’s Impact on the Human Capital Development of Young Adults At-Risk of Poverty , Lincoln H. Groves

BETTER OFF AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF UNIVERSAL LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE SYSTEMS? A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF GERMANY, JAPAN, AND KOREA , HEE SEUNG LEE

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION, NATURAL HAZARD MITIGATION, AND INNOVATIVE RESPONSES , Qing Miao

UNINTENDED EFFECTS OF CHARTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS , Christian Buerger

Expanding the Usage of Renewable Energy Through Innovation and Technology Transfer , Jung Eun Kim

Taking Nonprofits at Their Word: The Role of Conflict over Mission in Organizational Change and Response to Environmental Pressures , David Gregory Berlan

Addressing Trans-boundary Challenges Through Collaboration: How Organizations "Harmonize" Actions and Decisions Across Problem Landscapes , Rachel Fleishman

Assessing the Role and Impact of Public Policy on Child and Family Violence , Kerri M. Raissian

Hands in the Pockets of Mercurial Donors: How Three Theories Explain Ngo Responses to Shifting Funding Priorities , Khaldoun Abouassi

Diversity, Networks and Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Metropolitan Planning Organizations in the United States , Yujin Choi

Education Finance Reform, School Choice, and Residential Sorting , Ilhwan Chung

The Impact of Citizens' Knowledge On Public Administration: Exploring the Links in Three Social Movements , Vadym Pyrozhenko

Two Octopuses Making Love: An Analysis of Institutional Management Behaviors Across Four Brownfield Remediation and Redevelopment Project Networks in Rochester and Buffalo, NY , Rob Alexander

The Effect of Immigrant Composition on Student Achievement: Evidence from New York City , Ryan Yeung

Boon or Boondoggle? Business Incubation as Entrepreneurship Policy , Alejandro S. Amezcua

Alternative Institutional Arrangements and Government Performance: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Autonomy and Accountability in Public Education , Naomi Aoki

Reducing environmental risks by information disclosure , Hyunhoe Bae

Innovation, trade and access: Three essays on medicines in developing countries , Tamara G. S. Hafner

An Exploratory Study of Management Reform Diffusion in the U.S. Federal Government , Frederick Joseph Marc-Aurele Jr.

Three essays on voluntary HIV testing and the HIV epidemic , Coady Wing

Process dynamics of gender policymaking: Acts of violence against women in South Korea , Jeong-Shim Lee

Three essays examining the relationship between public budgeting policies, resource equity and student outcomes , Lawrence Miller

Public policy & maternal mortality in India , Stephanie Lynette Smith

Learning our lesson: A study on the state of public participation in the New York City public schools system , Marco Antonio Castillo

The role of political environment and the adoption of new information technology for citizen participation and communication by United States municipal government , Michael Ji-Sung Ahn

Patent or publish? - University researcher's choice between traditional and commercial research outcomes , Yixin Dai

Specifying and testing a model of collaborative capacity: Identifying complementary competencies, incentive structures, and leadership lessons for the United States Department of Homeland Security , Heather Getha-Taylor

Exploring knowledge networks for e-government services: A comparative case study of two local governments in Korea , Jooho Lee

Managing information systems in state and local governments: Essays on e-government service adoption and outsourcing , Anna Ya Ni

Are eating and exercise behaviors at school contributing to adolescent obesity in the United States? , Cynthia S. Searcy

Getting what you ask for: Explaining contracted providers' proper use of service monitoring tools , Kristina T. Lambright

Poverty, institutions and child health in post-communist rural Romania: A view from below , Adriana Iuliana Sandu

Two essays: School district responses to state building aid and determinants of pay-as-you-go financing of state capital projects , Wen Wang

The smart-seller challenge: The determinants and the outcomes of privatizing public nursing homes , Anna A. Amirkhanyan

Rationalizing public participation goals: How contextual and organizational factors shape public managers' decision-making process , Maja Husar Holmes

IT outsourcing in public organizations: How does the quality of outsourcing relationship affect the IT outsourcing effectiveness? , Hyun Joon Kim

Why older Americans stop driving: Effects of state licensing policies on reduction and cessation of driving , Elena Koulikov

Comparative public management reform: Cases of policy transfer in Thailand and Malaysia , Ora-orn Poocharoen

Evaluation of New York State property tax policy: Administration and behavioral impacts of School Property Tax Relief (STAR) program , Tae Ho Eom

Three essays on R&D investment and economic development , Yonghong Wu

Can public authorities "just get things done"? An analysis of politically buffered institutions in a contentious policy arena , Carolyn Jordan Bourdeaux

Receptivity to change in the public sector: Two federal case studies , Willow Serene Jacobson

Changing a policy field? Policy design and collaboration in early care and education , Jessica Elizabeth Sowa

Legislation, administrative change and service provision in South African municipalities, 1995--2000: A study of institutional reform , Matthew Ronald Andrews

Welfare king or drug lord: Are these the viable choices for unemployed young men? , Theresa Cecilia Heintze

The economics, law and politics of subnational counter-cyclical fiscal policies: Testing the effects of budget stabilization funds and general fund surpluses on state expenditures in downturn years. Evidence from American states, 1979--1999 , Yilin Hou

Local government debt policies: Do they make a difference? , William Patrick Kittredge

Health outcome disparities associated with access to primary care for vulnerable groups: Hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive conditions , James N. Laditka

Pursuing rationality in public management: Managing for results in United States state governments , Donald Patrick Moynihan

Do whole-school reform models boost student performance: Evidence from New York City , Robert Bifulco

The effects of schooling on literacy skills: A cross-national study from the International Adult Literacy Survey , Kwangho Jung

Putting out fires in local government: Modeling and measuring the influence of managers on public production with an application to fire protection , Amy E. Kneedler Donahue

Essays on long-term care of the elderly in the United States , Hakan Aykan

School segregation, social capital, and educational costs , Lloyd Blanchard

Information technology adoption in United States county governments: The interaction of environmental changes and managerial strategies on technology adoption , Daniel Thomas Bugler

Value asymmetry and small groups: An investigation of administrative decision-making , Charles Christopher Hinnant

Education finance equity: Judicial treatment of key issues and impact of that treatment on reform , Anna Lukemeyer

Explaining federal government performance information utilization , Strom Zhiqiang Kong

The pursuit of managerial entrepreneurship in the public, private, and nonprofit sector: Does organization matter? , Myung Jae Moon

The influence of state and local governments on elderly migration , Mark David Robbins

Taxes and state and local economics development: The homestead tax option in New York , Wai-Ho Wilson Wong

Breaking through the glass ceiling: Career advancement of African-Americans in the federal government , Margo La Verne Bailey

Care arrangements for frail older persons , Carol Lynne, Jenkins

State policy impacts on firm-level simultaneous environmental-economic efficiency , Eric Wayne Welch

The effect of mandatory, secondary-municipal-bond-market disclosure requirements on the United States municipal bond market: The amended Securities Exchange Act, Rule 15C2-12 of 1994 , Taihwan Yin

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11.2 Steps in Developing a Research Proposal

Learning objectives.

• Identify the steps in developing a research proposal.
• Choose a topic and formulate a research question and working thesis.
• Develop a research proposal.

Writing a good research paper takes time, thought, and effort. Although this assignment is challenging, it is manageable. Focusing on one step at a time will help you develop a thoughtful, informative, well-supported research paper.

Your first step is to choose a topic and then to develop research questions, a working thesis, and a written research proposal. Set aside adequate time for this part of the process. Fully exploring ideas will help you build a solid foundation for your paper.

Choosing a Topic

When you choose a topic for a research paper, you are making a major commitment. Your choice will help determine whether you enjoy the lengthy process of research and writing—and whether your final paper fulfills the assignment requirements. If you choose your topic hastily, you may later find it difficult to work with your topic. By taking your time and choosing carefully, you can ensure that this assignment is not only challenging but also rewarding.

Writers understand the importance of choosing a topic that fulfills the assignment requirements and fits the assignment’s purpose and audience. (For more information about purpose and audience, see Chapter 6 “Writing Paragraphs: Separating Ideas and Shaping Content” .) Choosing a topic that interests you is also crucial. You instructor may provide a list of suggested topics or ask that you develop a topic on your own. In either case, try to identify topics that genuinely interest you.

After identifying potential topic ideas, you will need to evaluate your ideas and choose one topic to pursue. Will you be able to find enough information about the topic? Can you develop a paper about this topic that presents and supports your original ideas? Is the topic too broad or too narrow for the scope of the assignment? If so, can you modify it so it is more manageable? You will ask these questions during this preliminary phase of the research process.

Identifying Potential Topics

Sometimes, your instructor may provide a list of suggested topics. If so, you may benefit from identifying several possibilities before committing to one idea. It is important to know how to narrow down your ideas into a concise, manageable thesis. You may also use the list as a starting point to help you identify additional, related topics. Discussing your ideas with your instructor will help ensure that you choose a manageable topic that fits the requirements of the assignment.

In this chapter, you will follow a writer named Jorge, who is studying health care administration, as he prepares a research paper. You will also plan, research, and draft your own research paper.

Jorge was assigned to write a research paper on health and the media for an introductory course in health care. Although a general topic was selected for the students, Jorge had to decide which specific issues interested him. He brainstormed a list of possibilities.

If you are writing a research paper for a specialized course, look back through your notes and course activities. Identify reading assignments and class discussions that especially engaged you. Doing so can help you identify topics to pursue.

• Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) in the news
• Sexual education programs
• Hollywood and eating disorders
• Americans’ access to public health information
• Media portrayal of health care reform bill
• Depictions of drugs on television
• The effect of the Internet on mental health
• Popularized diets (such as low-carbohydrate diets)
• Fear of pandemics (bird flu, HINI, SARS)
• Electronic entertainment and obesity
• Advertisements for prescription drugs
• Public education and disease prevention

Set a timer for five minutes. Use brainstorming or idea mapping to create a list of topics you would be interested in researching for a paper about the influence of the Internet on social networking. Do you closely follow the media coverage of a particular website, such as Twitter? Would you like to learn more about a certain industry, such as online dating? Which social networking sites do you and your friends use? List as many ideas related to this topic as you can.

Narrowing Your Topic

Once you have a list of potential topics, you will need to choose one as the focus of your essay. You will also need to narrow your topic. Most writers find that the topics they listed during brainstorming or idea mapping are broad—too broad for the scope of the assignment. Working with an overly broad topic, such as sexual education programs or popularized diets, can be frustrating and overwhelming. Each topic has so many facets that it would be impossible to cover them all in a college research paper. However, more specific choices, such as the pros and cons of sexual education in kids’ television programs or the physical effects of the South Beach diet, are specific enough to write about without being too narrow to sustain an entire research paper.

A good research paper provides focused, in-depth information and analysis. If your topic is too broad, you will find it difficult to do more than skim the surface when you research it and write about it. Narrowing your focus is essential to making your topic manageable. To narrow your focus, explore your topic in writing, conduct preliminary research, and discuss both the topic and the research with others.

Exploring Your Topic in Writing

“How am I supposed to narrow my topic when I haven’t even begun researching yet?” In fact, you may already know more than you realize. Review your list and identify your top two or three topics. Set aside some time to explore each one through freewriting. (For more information about freewriting, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .) Simply taking the time to focus on your topic may yield fresh angles.

Jorge knew that he was especially interested in the topic of diet fads, but he also knew that it was much too broad for his assignment. He used freewriting to explore his thoughts so he could narrow his topic. Read Jorge’s ideas.

Conducting Preliminary Research

Another way writers may focus a topic is to conduct preliminary research . Like freewriting, exploratory reading can help you identify interesting angles. Surfing the web and browsing through newspaper and magazine articles are good ways to start. Find out what people are saying about your topic on blogs and online discussion groups. Discussing your topic with others can also inspire you. Talk about your ideas with your classmates, your friends, or your instructor.

Jorge’s freewriting exercise helped him realize that the assigned topic of health and the media intersected with a few of his interests—diet, nutrition, and obesity. Preliminary online research and discussions with his classmates strengthened his impression that many people are confused or misled by media coverage of these subjects.

Jorge decided to focus his paper on a topic that had garnered a great deal of media attention—low-carbohydrate diets. He wanted to find out whether low-carbohydrate diets were as effective as their proponents claimed.

Writing at Work

At work, you may need to research a topic quickly to find general information. This information can be useful in understanding trends in a given industry or generating competition. For example, a company may research a competitor’s prices and use the information when pricing their own product. You may find it useful to skim a variety of reliable sources and take notes on your findings.

The reliability of online sources varies greatly. In this exploratory phase of your research, you do not need to evaluate sources as closely as you will later. However, use common sense as you refine your paper topic. If you read a fascinating blog comment that gives you a new idea for your paper, be sure to check out other, more reliable sources as well to make sure the idea is worth pursuing.

Review the list of topics you created in Note 11.18 “Exercise 1” and identify two or three topics you would like to explore further. For each of these topics, spend five to ten minutes writing about the topic without stopping. Then review your writing to identify possible areas of focus.

Set aside time to conduct preliminary research about your potential topics. Then choose a topic to pursue for your research paper.

Collaboration

Please share your topic list with a classmate. Select one or two topics on his or her list that you would like to learn more about and return it to him or her. Discuss why you found the topics interesting, and learn which of your topics your classmate selected and why.

A Plan for Research

Your freewriting and preliminary research have helped you choose a focused, manageable topic for your research paper. To work with your topic successfully, you will need to determine what exactly you want to learn about it—and later, what you want to say about it. Before you begin conducting in-depth research, you will further define your focus by developing a research question , a working thesis, and a research proposal.

Formulating a Research Question

In forming a research question, you are setting a goal for your research. Your main research question should be substantial enough to form the guiding principle of your paper—but focused enough to guide your research. A strong research question requires you not only to find information but also to put together different pieces of information, interpret and analyze them, and figure out what you think. As you consider potential research questions, ask yourself whether they would be too hard or too easy to answer.

To determine your research question, review the freewriting you completed earlier. Skim through books, articles, and websites and list the questions you have. (You may wish to use the 5WH strategy to help you formulate questions. See Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” for more information about 5WH questions.) Include simple, factual questions and more complex questions that would require analysis and interpretation. Determine your main question—the primary focus of your paper—and several subquestions that you will need to research to answer your main question.

Here are the research questions Jorge will use to focus his research. Notice that his main research question has no obvious, straightforward answer. Jorge will need to research his subquestions, which address narrower topics, to answer his main question.

Using the topic you selected in Note 11.24 “Exercise 2” , write your main research question and at least four to five subquestions. Check that your main research question is appropriately complex for your assignment.

Constructing a Working ThesIs

A working thesis concisely states a writer’s initial answer to the main research question. It does not merely state a fact or present a subjective opinion. Instead, it expresses a debatable idea or claim that you hope to prove through additional research. Your working thesis is called a working thesis for a reason—it is subject to change. As you learn more about your topic, you may change your thinking in light of your research findings. Let your working thesis serve as a guide to your research, but do not be afraid to modify it based on what you learn.

Jorge began his research with a strong point of view based on his preliminary writing and research. Read his working thesis statement, which presents the point he will argue. Notice how it states Jorge’s tentative answer to his research question.

One way to determine your working thesis is to consider how you would complete sentences such as I believe or My opinion is . However, keep in mind that academic writing generally does not use first-person pronouns. These statements are useful starting points, but formal research papers use an objective voice.

Write a working thesis statement that presents your preliminary answer to the research question you wrote in Note 11.27 “Exercise 3” . Check that your working thesis statement presents an idea or claim that could be supported or refuted by evidence from research.

Creating a Research Proposal

A research proposal is a brief document—no more than one typed page—that summarizes the preliminary work you have completed. Your purpose in writing it is to formalize your plan for research and present it to your instructor for feedback. In your research proposal, you will present your main research question, related subquestions, and working thesis. You will also briefly discuss the value of researching this topic and indicate how you plan to gather information.

When Jorge began drafting his research proposal, he realized that he had already created most of the pieces he needed. However, he knew he also had to explain how his research would be relevant to other future health care professionals. In addition, he wanted to form a general plan for doing the research and identifying potentially useful sources. Read Jorge’s research proposal.

Before you begin a new project at work, you may have to develop a project summary document that states the purpose of the project, explains why it would be a wise use of company resources, and briefly outlines the steps involved in completing the project. This type of document is similar to a research proposal. Both documents define and limit a project, explain its value, discuss how to proceed, and identify what resources you will use.

Writing Your Own Research Proposal

Now you may write your own research proposal, if you have not done so already. Follow the guidelines provided in this lesson.

Key Takeaways

• Developing a research proposal involves the following preliminary steps: identifying potential ideas, choosing ideas to explore further, choosing and narrowing a topic, formulating a research question, and developing a working thesis.
• A good topic for a research paper interests the writer and fulfills the requirements of the assignment.
• Defining and narrowing a topic helps writers conduct focused, in-depth research.
• Writers conduct preliminary research to identify possible topics and research questions and to develop a working thesis.
• A good research question interests readers, is neither too broad nor too narrow, and has no obvious answer.
• A good working thesis expresses a debatable idea or claim that can be supported with evidence from research.
• Writers create a research proposal to present their topic, main research question, subquestions, and working thesis to an instructor for approval or feedback.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Speaker 1: The first thing you need to know about writing a successful research project is that you need to get someone excited. The first thing, and the first thing you address in any research project is the what. You need to define what you're doing, but it's not just as easy as saying, this is what I'm going to do. You have to look at who's actually reviewing the research project, and then you need to get them excited. For example, if it's a grant funding body, you need to have a look at what they've had a look at in the past and funded, because if it's not part of that excitement sphere, they're probably not going to be very interested. If you are writing a research proposal for undergraduate, this is what you can do. The first thing I would do is head over to something like ChatGPT and put in the PDF documents of their recent papers. So this could be an academic supervisor that you're trying to impress or submit a research proposal to, and I would go in and get their most recent publications, and I'd say, create some research project ideas that this academic would love. And then it gave me these ones, development of an ultra-flexible transparent electrode. And by the way, these are my papers, so I do actually quite like these ideas, which is a good start. So here we've got next generation solar cells, quite broad, not really useful. Smart windows and optoelectronic devices, that's quite interesting to me. So now I'm starting to think, okay, what would be a first step towards a smart window that I could do in a certain time period? So this is actually a really nice way of getting those first touch points to see what would interest a particular scientist, because ultimately they're going to be the people that are going to read it and go, oh yeah, this is great. Here's the biggest tip, tip of the century. People make decisions based on emotion and then justify it with facts. So you need to get them excited so they go, oh yeah, this is really great. And also they've got all of the stuff in there that I need, so let's fund it or let's do this project. So for example, if I wanted to impress Dr. Christopher Gibson at Flinders University, I'd have a look at his profile. Say I want to get into his lab, I'd be here and I'd say, okay, he's interested in atomic force microscopy, AFM cantilever calibration, scanning electron microscopy. So let's have a look to see what ChatGPT does when it mashes all those ideas together. So I said here, I want a researcher with these interests to give me a position in their lab and I've got all of these here. What are some fun project ideas that they would love? And then based on that, it's given me all of these. And look, let me tell you this, Christopher Gibson, Dr. Gibson would absolutely love all of these. I know it because some of them are sort of things that he's doing already. So it is about the what you are doing. That's the first thing. It's about putting in the most sort of emotional hook you can for a particular funding body, a particular person, a particular department. That's what it's all about. So based on the literature of what you find and finding out the person or people or sort of like organization that are looking at your research proposal, you need to then start to define the what. And that is the research topic and the aims. And if you can align them to what they love, even better. That's the first step because we want to get them all emotional for the second step, which is just as important. The second thing you need in a research proposal is the why. You need to justify what you are doing. You do this by looking at the literature and finding the research gap. It's got even easier. I recently found out about this new tool called Research Kick here. I haven't tried it yet, but here all you need to do is put in some information and it will kick out compelling research questions and find research gaps in minutes. That's pretty interesting. Stay tuned and subscribe to the channel if you want to see me test this later on. But it's all about defining the why of your research. Why are you doing it? What's its unique aspect? And what part of the literature gap is it filling? Go check out my other video where I talk about research gaps using AI because it's just so easy to find them these days and it may be interesting for you right now. So importance, finding that research gap uniqueness, that's what needs to come across in the second part. That's what the second thing you need to address. So we've done the what, we now got the why we're doing it and now it's about how. And the nuts and bolts of the research is probably the most boring aspect of this but it needs to be done in a particular way. Here's the tricks. In the how aspect of your research proposal, you need to go through things like the methodology. Is it qualitative experiments? Is it quantitative? What kind of methods are you going to use? Are there other methods that aren't as good that you can sort of like talk about? These are all of the important nuts and bolts things about your research you need to address. If it is not in there, you will not be taken seriously. But remember, we have to take people on this journey of a successful research proposal where we have the emotional hook, the stuff they love, then you justify it, you deepen that connection by saying there is a gap in this literature and then we say how we're going to do it, the nuts and bolts of stuff. And that just means that, yeah, they're going to go, okay, I'm emotional, I love this, I love it, they've justified it, now they're giving me the facts and the figures, I like that. So next you need to talk about how. What methods are you going to use? Are you going to use certain analysis or data sets? And also, what high-level overview can you give of the methods? That's going to be very important because they need to see how you are going to start this research proposal. Is it going to be in a lab? Is it going to go out to a data set? Are you going to go do questionnaires? What is the starting point? They need to see you in their mind's eye actually starting this research because otherwise it's a little bit confusing to them and they will not allow you to continue with this project if they themselves cannot see the first thing to do. The last thing you should include in your research proposal towards the end is all of the boring admin stuff. We've got stuff like the budgeting, we've got stuff like the reporting. What sort of milestones will there be for your research proposal? All of these are so very important because it just means that once the academic has looked at all of the stuff and got excited about the research potential, then they're going to kick it to somewhere like the finance department or the administration department for the sort of like checks and balances of all the stuff that they don't want to do. So it's going to be stuff like whether or not you can sort of stick to a budget. Have you thought about how much things cost? Access to certain instruments, access to particular expertise, travel costs, are you going to conferences? That sort of stuff is going to be very, very important if you're doing a project research proposal. Also reporting, what sort of reporting is going to happen? Are there going to be checks throughout which makes sure that you're going to be on track to finish? And also how are you going to report those milestones? Are you going to have a meeting with people? Are you going to produce a document? Are you just going to sort of like have a checklist in an Excel document that you submit to someone every so often? It's those sort of like accountability things that really should be in the administrative section of a research proposal. And that can be later on towards the end of the research proposal because to be honest with you, it's not very exciting. No one's going to be super interested in it but it is very, very important for just those final checks before everyone says, yes, this is a great project. And the last thing for a research proposal is to make sure that you have everything checked and every box that is meant to be ticked is ticked or not ticked or you've filled out the right spots and you've included the right paperwork because I have seen so many research proposals get rejected because of the silly stuff. It is always the silly stuff that catches people out. So have someone look over, have you filled out the right forms? Have you provided the right information? Is the right box ticked? I have seen proposals that have been prepared for weeks and months not get through because of something silly. One thing I like to do with a research proposal is start from the end and read every sentence or every paragraph backwards because you start to sort of like get over familiar with the sentences that you've written but if you reverse the sentence, read the last sentence, the second last sentence, go that way, you start to see all of these tiny little errors that you haven't seen before. So there's one thing I used to do and also just make sure it goes through as many eyes as possible because otherwise you'll be in a world of pain when it's rejected for a stupid, silly reason. So use ChatGPT or another editing program like PaperPal or Rightful just to check your proposal and just make sure that you go through manually as often as humanly possible. I think the next video you should watch is this one where I talk about the five essential elements for any research proposal. It's a good watch, go now.

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New Research Sheds Light on Treatment and Harm Reduction Gaps Among Drug Users

Amidst rising stimulant drug use and an increasingly contaminated drug supply, there is a need for broader communication and fewer barriers to access of harm-reduction strategies

Lindsey Culli

The overdose crisis in the U.S. continues to escalate, with over 100,000 deaths in 2023 and more than one million since 1999. As the drug supply has changed, the crisis has evolved, and opioid overdose deaths now overwhelmingly involve illicitly manufactured synthetic opioids like fentanyl. There has also been a sharp rise in overdose deaths involving stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine, and other toxic adulterants like xylazine . Drug overdose mortality has risen most rapidly in marginalized communities.   

A new study led by Sachini Bandara, PhD , assistant professor in Mental Health , and Brendan Saloner, PhD , professor in Health Policy and Management , published in August in JAMA Network Open, revealed significant gaps in access to treatment and harm reduction services, as well as disparities in use of services, and suggests that targeted interventions are urgently needed to address the overdose crisis effectively. Conducted across Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Jersey, this study adds to what is known about overdose risk with the current drug supply because of the recency of data collection and targeted sampling of key populations with increasingly higher risk for overdose, including Black and Hispanic populations, older adults, and people who use stimulants. Similar surveys of people who use drugs (PWUD) have historically been small in scale, limited to clients of a small number of service providers, limited to certain types of drug use (e.g., opioids), and have been predominately comprised of younger, white non-Hispanic respondents.  

The study, known as VOICES, was supported by the Bloomberg Overdose Prevention Initiative funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and conducted in partnership with Vital Strategies. It aimed to understand how access to treatment and harm reduction services varies by overdose history and drug type among a racially and ethnically diverse population of drug users. It involved a cross-sectional telephone survey conducted between January and July 2023, with 1,240 participants recruited from 39 different treatment, harm reduction, and social service provider organizations.   

Researchers found that 37% of respondents who had experienced an overdose in the past year reported using fentanyl test strips, compared to only 23.4% of those who had not experienced an overdose. Despite heightened awareness of test strips among overdose survivors, use was low among both groups. As Bandara noted, “Our findings highlight the need for reducing barriers to accessing critical overdose prevention tools.”  

Approximately 48% of all participants had received treatment in the past 30 days, indicating that while nearly half were accessing treatment, a substantial portion remained untreated. People who had overdosed were more likely to possess naloxone and use harm reduction services compared to those who had not overdosed. However, there was no significant difference in treatment use between these groups.  

Notably, stimulant-only users were less likely to possess naloxone compared to opioid-only users and polysubstance users. Among stimulant-only users, 51.4% possessed naloxone compared to 77.3% of opioid-only users and 77.6% of polysubstance users. There were similar disparities between those different types of drug users in their use of fentanyl test strips with only 16% of stimulant-only users currently using fentanyl test strips.  

The study’s results highlight critical gaps in the use of evidence-based treatment and harm reduction services that could significantly reduce overdose risks. Despite the availability of these services, many individuals, especially stimulant users, are not accessing them, suggesting a need for enhanced communication and outreach to promote these lifesaving services.  

The study also identified several barriers to accessing treatment and harm reduction services, which include not being ready for treatment, a lack of perceived need for harm reduction services, and a lack of awareness or availability, as many participants said they were unaware of fentanyl test strips or how to obtain them.  

“There are substantial gaps in the use of treatment and harm reduction services that could reduce overdose risk,” Bandara said. “In particular, we found low use of harm reduction and treatment services among people who use stimulants, and additional communication around their importance and efforts to remove barriers to access may help increase the use of these services amidst an increasingly contaminated stimulant drug supply.”  

The findings suggest that targeted public health campaigns and outreach programs are essential to increase awareness and utilization of treatment and harm reduction services. The research underscores the urgent need for improved access to and utilization of harm reduction and treatment services to save lives. Addressing gaps in harm reduction practices through targeted interventions and increased awareness could significantly mitigate the overdose crisis, particularly in marginalized communities.    

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September 3, 2024

NIH Proposals: Use ASSIST until further notice

OSP advises preparing all NIH proposals in ASSIST until the disruption in error checking from NIH systems to SAGE Grant Runner is fixed and functionality restored.

If you have a Grant Runner application in progress, please delete or withdraw it, start a new eGC1 and use ASSIST. ASSIST includes automatic system validations that substantially reduce errors at the proposal stage.

ORIS anticipates restoration of error checking between Grant Runner and NIH systems toward the end of October.

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C J Auriacombe Journal of Public Administration Vol 40 No 3.2 Writing research proposals.pdf

2005, Journal of Public Administration

Related Papers

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

George Damaskinidis

A research proposal is a plan that a candidate submits to gain approval for post-graduate research. Although it is a typical requirement for any research in higher education, it has failed to receive the attention it is due from the academic community as a procedure of systematic teaching and learning. This book provides a support framework with step-by-step guidance about what constitutes a good research proposal and what can be done to maximize our chances of writing a successful application. It also presents advice and practical activities to enhance skill development. The book doesn’t offer any short and safe route to getting the task done. Instead, it proposes a rather balanced perspective, where by success is within reach if we are willing to face our flaws and grasp how to use the available information productively and persuasively. This endeavour is supported with a good number of authentic, annotated proposals at various stages of their development.

Anas Iftikhar

Admission into a higher degree research program or confirmation of candidature into such a program of most universities often requires the applicant to submit a research proposal. This is a very important document which not only articulates the research topic and research question, but also explains the research design which outlines how the proposed research will be carried out. The significance of the research proposal is highlighted by the fact that failure to write a good research proposal may mean failure to be admitted into a higher degree research program, or failure to be confirmed as a continuing doctoral candidate. In spite of such significance, however, my experience when supervising many higher degree research students is that many of them struggle to write a good research proposal. One of the contributing factors to this is the apparent void that exists in research methods textbooks on exactly what a research proposal is and how it should be written. This paper aims to help fill that void by articulating a detailed structure of a research proposal that could be used as part of the application to gain admission into a higher degree research program of any good university or for confirmation of candidature in such a research study program. The paper draws on the expertise accumulated on this topic as a result of many decades of writing research proposals for higher degree research projects, conducting many higher degree research studies successfully in several universities in Australia and other countries, teaching research methods to higher degree research students and supervising many successful masters and doctoral theses. The paper concludes, that while there is no 'one-size-fits-all' research proposal, a careful design of a higher degree research proposal along the structure discussed in this paper should improve one's chances of success greatly.

Javed Iqbal

abasynuniv.edu.pk

Flora Maleki

FOREX Publication

FOREX Publication , Mohd Akhter Ali , M Kamraju

Writing an effective research proposal is crucial for individuals pursuing higher degree research in higher education. This paper presents best practices for crafting such proposals, providing guidance to aspiring researchers. The paper begins with an overview of the higher degree research landscape and highlights the significance of research proposals within this context. It then delves into the key elements of an effective research proposal, emphasizing the importance of a clear research question, comprehensive literature review, appropriate research methodology, and expected outcomes. The paper also offers practical advice on writing techniques, organization, and communication to enhance the proposal's effectiveness. Furthermore, it addresses common challenges and pitfalls encountered during the proposal writing process, providing strategies to overcome them. Institutional guidelines and requirements are discussed, along with ethical considerations and research governance obligations. Case studies and examples are included to illustrate successful research proposals, analyzing their strengths and characteristics. In conclusion, this paper underscores the importance of an effective research proposal for higher degree research and provides valuable insights and recommendations for future researchers.

Sri Lanka Journal of Management Studies

N.J. Dewasiri

This eminent professor of Political Science has addressed a significant issue encountered by many postgraduate students and researchers in undertaking serious research in the disciplines of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Management in Sri Lanka. It is available in both English and Sinhala languages. He has addressed a wide spectrum of concerns related to writing a research proposal that covers research philosophies, methodology as well as methods in academic research. Guided by the scientific method, it presents ten comprehensive chapters that define the key elements of a marketable research proposal as well as sheds light on the key skills in writing such as winning proposals. It also covers the bibliography and glossary of key terms at the end. As the book is handy, it can be used as a practical handbook at all levels of academic research.

Journal Academica, Volume 1, July 2010, p. 1-5. [ISSN 2026 559X]

What is the purpose of a Research proposal, its components and how should it be presented? In the following we briefly consider all these issues which have been a challenge to students who are to submit no research proposal before embarking on a Research Project for a partial fulfillment of conditions for the award of a degree by their respective institutions.

Dr. Awais H. Gillani

Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research

morrin phiri

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Texas A&M Announces Second Cohort Of Research Leadership Fellows

Texas A&M University announced today its second cohort of Research Leadership Fellows, underscoring its ongoing dedication to cultivating the next generation of research leaders. This year’s cohort features 13 outstanding faculty members whose projects span critical areas such as artificial intelligence, health care, environmental sustainability and advanced manufacturing.

The Research Leadership Fellowships program (RLF) offers selected fellows funding, leadership training and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration to advance their groundbreaking work.

“Texas A&M is dedicated to identifying and mentoring the future leaders who will advance research that tackles today’s critical challenges,” said Dr. Jack G. Baldauf, vice president for research. “The Research Leadership Fellows program embodies our commitment to fostering research leadership and interdisciplinary collaboration. This year’s fellows represent the best of our institution’s spirit of discovery. Their work will enhance our understanding and improve communities locally and globally. We are proud to support their efforts.”

RLF also emphasizes the importance of developing leadership skills and strategic thinking in research, ensuring that fellows are well-equipped to lead large-scale, high-impact projects. Each fellow will receive $75,000 to support their research, with the total funding amounting to $975,000.

Here are the members of the second cohort of Research Leadership Fellows and their respective projects:

Each fellow will receive $75,000 to support their research, with the total funding amounting to $975,000. Here are the members of the second cohort of Research Leadership Fellows and their respective projects:

• Katherine Davis , associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the College of Engineering, aims to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure, like power and energy systems, against cyber threats.
• Dzmitry Kurouski , associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the College of Science, will develop a non-invasive method using light to detect diseases in plants and animals without chemicals.
• Andrew Kwok , assistant professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at the College of Education and Human Development, will study ways to better recruit and retain teachers, especially in underserved areas.
• Sungmin Lee , assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at the College of Architecture, will use artificial intelligence and community input to improve criminal justice and public safety.
• Vani Mathur , associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the College of Liberal Arts, will work on reducing health disparities and chronic pain by collaborating with communities and sharing research findings.
• Bobak Mortazavi , associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the College of Engineering, will use machine learning and remote sensing data to improve cardiovascular health outcomes.
• Maria Olenick , associate professor in the College of Nursing, will study how activities with horses can help improve the mental health of female veterans suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Cason Schmit , assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the School of Public Health, will create a framework to ensure the ethical use of artificial intelligence in biomedical research.
• Amalesh Sharma , associate professor in the Department of Marketing at Mays Business School, will explore how access to health care affects different groups, focusing on improving food choices and health care access in underserved communities.
• A. Peyton Smith , associate professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will investigate how interactions between plants, soil and microbes can capture carbon and help fight climate change.
• Sargurunathan Subashchandrabose , associate professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will study how a toxin produced by certain E. coli bacteria can cause colorectal cancer, and how diet and other bacteria can counteract its effects.
• Jian Tao , assistant professor in the Department of Visualization at the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, will develop advanced digital models to make manufacturing processes more efficient in industries like aerospace and automotive.
• Yangyang Xu , associate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences, will use machine learning to provide detailed climate-risk assessments, focusing on issues like air quality and extreme heat, especially for disadvantaged communities.

Media contact: Dr. Gerianne Alexander, [email protected]

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