What is a Research Proposal?
\nA very common assignment college Psychology professors give to students is to
\nwrite a research proposal.
\nThe research proposal is just that, a proposal to do a research project. By
\nproposal we mean that the document is a description of a research project that
\nwill be — or could be — completed in the future. The research proposal is very
\nsimilar to a manuscript experimental report except for the following exceptions:
\n1. The method section is written in the future tense.
\n2. The results section describes the statistical methods intended to be used.
\n3. We will not do a discussion section.
\nFor example, in college I wrote two research proposals. One was for my
\nSensation & Perception class (Caffeine Intake and Caffeine Habituation on the
\nPerception of Time) and the second was for my senior seminar (Effects of
\nArticulatory Suppression on the Picture Superiority Effect). For both classes I had
\nto conduct a study also. I had to turn in the research proposal and have it
\napproved before I could collect data.
\nYou will need to write research proposals in many situations:
\n\u2022 Psychology majors across the country write them for classes as a final
\nresearch paper (without actually conducting the experiments) or
\n\u2022 a senior thesis (usually with collecting the data),
\n\u2022 the ethics review board application to run an experiment is a research
\nproposal,
\n\u2022 to receive a grant for research you will need to write a research proposal
\nand
\n\u2022 to conduct a master\u2019s thesis or doctorial dissertation you will need to write
\na research proposal!
\nTwo important things about your research proposal!
\n1. The research you propose will need to be original. You can\u2019t redo
\nresearch already done.
\n2. There must be a scientific rationale for your hypothesis and method.
\nAll that this means is that you can cite a scientific reason (usually in
\nanother study) as to why you proposed the hypothesis and why you
\nchose the methodology you chose.
\nFall, 2018
\nThe key to meeting both of these goals is look for research threads and
\nprogrammic research and think in terms of designing an extension of a previous
\nstudy.
\nDraft Research Proposal
\nThe draft of the research proposal should be a completed document with all
\nsections (except a results section) which has been proofread and edited before
\nbeing submitted. You do not need an abstract or discussion section for either
\nthe first or final draft.
\nDon\u2019t get a bad grade \u2013 do this instead:
\n1. Use the grading rubric for the first draft as a checklist (of
\ncourse use the \u2018excellent\u2019 category for a checklist)
\n2. Don\u2019t forget the present study section \u2013 see the\u2019 2 trivial and
\nimportant things\u2019 video on youtube
\n3. You better be able to say which (from the Saylor text) design
\nyou are using to describe the design you are using.
\n4. Your extension should be supported by research articles.
\nFinal Research Proposal
\nIn grading this draft, I will take into account how well you responded to my
\nfeedback and your peers\u2019 feedback to your draft.
\nThe final draft should be at least 10 pages of text (a normal range is 10-20) and
\ncontain at least 10 references (a normal range is 10 – 20).
\nThe final draft will need to include a results section with the following material:
\n\u2022 identify which statistical tests you plan to use,
\n\u2022 for each, identify which one of your study\u2019s variables will serve as the
\nIV\/predictor variables (this should be done clearly enough so that there is
\nno question as to specifics, such as what are the levels in an ANOVA)
\n\u2022 for each, identify which one of your study\u2019s variables will serve as the
\nDV\/criterion variables.
\n\u2022 For each, identify if you wish the test to be significant or not,
\n\u2022 For each, identify the degrees of freedom (based on our sample size)
\nand present the critical value for the test. Research Proposal
\nA research proposal is just that, a proposal to do a research project. By proposal we mean
\nthat the document is a description of a research project that will be — or could be — completed in
\nthe future.
\nThe research proposal is very similar to a manuscript experimental report except for the
\nfollowing exceptions:
\n1. The method section is written in the future tense.
\n2. The results section describes the statistical methods intended to be used.
\n3. There will not be a discussion section.
\nBoth the draft and the final versions will have the sections described above. The draft will allow
\nstudents to receive feedback from myself and other students to improve the final draft.
\nIf students would like to work in groups (of 2-4 students) on a similar topic, they can. However,
\nthe students in these groups will submit individual papers and these papers must propose different
\nhypotheses. Also, students in a group cannot copy text from one person\u2019s paper to another. The
\nbenefits of these groups are that students can share the work during the preparatory phases of the
\nresearch proposal project (e.g. finding research articles) and also help each other understand the
\nmaterial.
\nFinally, two content requirements:
\no Students are required to do research proposals on the Fundamental Attribution Error<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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