Research Proposal

A research proposal consists of three sections:

1. Discussion of the research question
2. Literature review
3. Proposal of a research methodology

You have already completed the literature review, so in this assessment your task is to complete steps 1 & 3.

The literature review does not need to be submitted again.

You may already have a well developed research question from the literature review assessment, but you may need to refine your topic into something that is manageable as a research project.

IMPORTANT:

You are not being asked to conduct the research, only to propose and design it.

Research Proposal Template

• Title of the project: (one sentence)
• Research question or hypothesis: (one sentence)
• Dependent/independent variables (if relevant) (one sentence)

Research question: (750 words) – Suggested discussion points

• What are you trying to find out?
• Is this a how, who, what, where question?
• Why is this research important? Why should someone give you funding to do this?
• You can draw from your literature review here, but you cannot repeat content from the last assessment.

Discussion of a research method (750 words) – Suggested discussion points

• Describe your methodology
  • Qual, quant or mixed methods?
  • Sample size?
  • Method for recruiting of participants?
  • the study intended to be representative?
  • What is the timeframe?
• Why, in the context of the question you are trying to answer, is this the best method?
• Use references to books and articles to justify your methods

Reference list (on a new page)