Final Research Proposal Paper
YourFirstName YourLastName
Brescia University
Abstract
Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. It should include a brief synopsis of your paper including your primary research questions/hypotheses, methods, results, and discussion.
Keywords: Include 3-5 key words that identify your article
Title of Paper
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to …
Problem Statement
The who, what, when, where, how, and why. What is the problem? Who does it affect? In what ways does it affect them? What is the cause of the problem? What are the consequences if the problem goes unresolved? Why should the reader care?
Prevalence
How many people does this problem affect? How big of an issue is it?
Literature Review
This section of the paper discusses what the existing literature shows about the problem. Discuss each of your articles and how they contribute to the literature and relate to the problem you’re interested in and the proposal you’re about to make. You can copy and paste the literature review you’ve already done (the section where you wrote about the literature related to your area of interest) or you can summarize this section and talk about the literature collectively- what does it tell us about the problem area.
Research Proposal
Based on the gaps you found in the literature and your area of interest, tell the reader what type of research you would do to address this unmet area in the literature and why. Would you conduct a survey to gather more information based on what is missing in the literature? In other words, what is your research design? For example, if you are interested in the topic of homelessness and the possible connection with social support but found little or no research that has been done in that area, you might want to survey individuals who are homeless and ask them questions about social support. There may even be an instrument about social support that already exists but hasn’t been used with this population. You’ll need to convince your readers that this may be an important construct that can contribute to what we already know about homelessness. For example, you might say “Knowing what factor or combinations of factors contribute to homelessness has the potential to inform practice by helping to design prevention and intervention programs. Lack of social support may be an important contributor to homelessness…” Be thorough and tell the reader everything. Who, what, how, where would you do the research? Based on target population and the type of data you’re going to collect and how you’re going to collect it, tell the reader what type of study you’re proposing. Is it qualitative or quantitative? What kind of sample will you be using? What kind of recruiting method will you use? How will you protect the information you gather from participants? What are the Independent and Dependent variables? How are you defining (conceptualizing) your variables? What are your hypothesis or research questions? What type of instrument will you be using (include it in the appendix)? Tell us something about the reliability of the instrument. What type of analysis will you be using?
Results
This section should give the reader information about why you chose the design and proposed analysis for each of your hypothesis (or research questions). Remember the hypothesis or research questions aren’t the survey questions but rather the thing or things you want to find out. Is it appropriate for the variables you’re using?
Discussion
This section should include a restatement of each of the hypothesis or research questions you plan to use.
Implications
What are the potential implications of these results for social work practice?
Recommendations
What recommendations do you have for future research? What might we still want to know beyond this study?
Limitations
What were the limitations of your study? What do you think you can and can’t say based on the research design and population you’ve chosen?
Conclusion
The conclusion is a clear and concise synopsis of the introduction, literature review, methodology, results and discussion. The main point of the study is emphasized in a final concluding statement.
References
Make sure your paper, including in-text citations and references, adhere to the APA 6th edition guidelines.
Appendix
Include any instruments you plan to use here. If they are instruments that already exist- in the
methodology section tell us if you need permission to use them and ho
