HESC 475 – The first major step in the process of developing

HESC 475, Spring 2019
Proposal of Research Study
Directions:
The first major step in the process of developing your research project will be to write a brief proposal of the study that you will conduct. It will include your topic of study; background and significance of your topic to rationalize the need for a research study; a purpose statement; constructs, variables, and your plan for operationalization of variables; hypothesis; and the theory underlying your hypothesis. Appropriate APA format and citations are required.
Write a brief proposal of your research study. Overall, your proposal should convince the reader that your proposed study is justified and needed, and that your plan to carry it out is feasible and sound. Propose your study by doing the following:
· Write a clear title for your proposed study at the top of the page.
· Based on your literature review and the decisions you have made about your study topic and hypothesis, write one to two paragraphs on the background and significance of your topic of study to introduce your proposal and define the problem in your population. This should convince the reader that there is a public health need here. This requires citations. This section should also include an introduction/overview regarding the theory on which your hypothesis is based. Define it and explain a little bit about it (this also requires citations), then state specifically how this theory informs (relates to) your hypothesis.
· Write a purpose statement in one clear sentence. This will indicate your specific topic of study, your specific population, and what you plan to achieve in your study. A purpose statement is essentially a declarative form of a research question.
· State your hypothesis in one clear sentence. This predicts how you think your independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV) might be associated. Directional hypotheses are better than non-directional hypotheses.
· Methods: Based on key constructs of your theory or conceptual model, identify your main IV and your DV (one of each only). Define these variables very specifically, and explain your plan for operationalization of these variables (how you will measure them accurately in the survey component of your study).
Remember: You will have one main purpose statement (i.e., only one research question), and you will test one main hypothesis, with one main independent variable and one dependent variable. Keep it feasible.
Citations/References: You need to include a minimum of at least 5 in text citations with references in a reference list, all using APA formatting.
We will have discussed each of the components of the proposal in detail in lectures. I suggest you review the lecture slides and your notes to guide you in this assignment.
A few key pointers and suggestions to note:
· The population will likely be very similar for all groups in this class but not necessarily. Think carefully about the groups of people whom you will try to recruit and describe your population accordingly. If you plan to limit yourself to students at CSUF, it should be“students at a large public university in California.” If you plan to reach out to students at other universities in the area, “students at (insert appropriate adjectives here) universities in California.” If you are including community college students, reflect that in the name of your population. If you plan to reach out to young adults who might or might not be current university students, an example would be, “young adults (aged 18 – 29) in California.” These are just examples. Think this issue through as we discussed in class. Make sure your population makes sense given your research question, and that everyone you will recruit and collect data from will belong to the population you have defined.
· Read abstracts and the Introduction/Background sections of peer-reviewed journal articles for ideas on correct scientific language and style. BUT…
· Be very careful not to plagiarize. Citation, citation, citation. Do not rely to heavily on direct quotations. Make it clear to the reader that you can explain your ideas in your own words.
· Be careful of verb tense. The first few background sentences should be written in the present or past tense, but when you talk about what you propose to do (i.e., your purpose statement, variables, hypothesis, etc.), you should use the present and future tense.
· Make sure your proposal is well organized and succinct. Use headings/subheadings for organization. You need to address all components in these directions, so you need to be thorough; but the goal is also for you to learn how to deliver a significant amount of information in a brief, efficient way.
· Must be typewritten, and in APA format. Don’t simply copy the formatting of articles in your literature review because not all scientific journals follow APA format.
· Remember that writing counts. Clear thinking is the first step. Try explaining your thinking out loud, then capturing the logical flow in writing. You will likely need to go back and forth through these steps multiple times. Then ruthlessly check your grammar, spelling, etc. Edit, edit, edit.
HESC 475, Spring 2019
Research Study Proposal Rubric
Points will be assigned according to the completeness, quality of content, and writing in each subsection below.
I. Clear, descriptive title for your proposed study at the top of the page. (5 points)
II. Background and significance of your topic of study to introduce your proposal and define the problem in your population. This should convince the reader that there is a public health need here. This requires citations. (30 points)
III. Identify the theory that will guide your study. Define it and explain a little bit about it (this requires citations); then state specifically how this theory informs your hypothesis. (35 points)
IV. Write your purpose statement in one clear sentence. This will indicate your specific topic of study, your specific population, and what you plan to achieve in your study. A purpose statement is essentially a declarative form of a research question. Your purpose statement may be directional or non-directional. (25 points)
V. State your hypothesis in one clear sentence. This predicts how you think your IV and DV will be associated. Directional hypotheses are better than non-directional hypotheses. (25 points)
VI. Identify your independent variable and dependent variable (one of each only). Define these variables very specifically, and explain your plan for operationalization of these variables: how you will measure them accurately in the survey component of your study. (35 points)
VII. Citations/References: You need to include an absolute minimum of 5 citations with parallel references in a reference list, all using proper APA formatting. (25 points).
VIII. Your last 20 points will depend upon team peer evaluations.
Length: 2 pages of written body text maximum. Your cover page and your reference list do not count towards your page limit. However, no more than two pages of proposal body text will be read. This is consistent with how professional grant proposals are reviewed.
Additional formatting requirements: 1-inch margins on all sides; single-spaced; Times New Roman font, 11-point. Include all group members’ first and last names (as they appear in TITANium) and your group name. In professional grant-writing, formatting violations will disqualify your proposal: learn correct habits now and don’t let this happen to you!