Research Proposal Form

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Student Name*

Mentor Name*

Department of Mentor*

Office Location and Box No.*

Mentor Email*

Mentor Phone No.*

What is the Research Process?
Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) described the following stages of conducting a research study:

Identify a significant research problem: in this stage, find out the research questions that are significant and feasible to study.
Prepare a research proposal, which will consist of the following sections: topic/issue, research question, hypothesis methods, significance or rationale, and a proposed itemized budget.
Conduct a pilot study: the purpose is to develop and try out data-collection methods and other procedures.
Conduct a main study.
Prepare a report.

These five stages may overlap or occur in a different order depending on the nature of the study. Qualitative studies which involve emergent research design may gather and analyze some data before developing the proposal, or a pilot study can be done before writing a research proposal or not at all.

Anglin, Ross, and Morrison (1995) took a closer look at the stages of identifying a research problem and preparing the research proposal. They advised a sequence of planning steps:

Research Topic/Issue: What the research paper is about, providing a focus for the writing. The important thing to remember is to stick with just one major topic in order to have a coherent piece of writing.*Research requires your commitment; make sure you are doing something in which you have great interest. It will help you stay the course.

Research Question: Defines what you want to learn or understand. It helps to focus the study, offers some guidance on how to conduct the study, and finally it communicates to others the goal of your research.*Based on your own understanding and interest of the topic, think about what issues can be explored. Sometimes a research problem cannot be immediately identified. But, through reviewing the existing literature and having continuous discourse with peers and scholars, the research problem will start to take shape. Identifying questions your research study wants to answer will help provide the basis of planning other parts of your study, e.g. the research design, the methods for data collection and analysis.

Research Hypothesis: A specific statement of prediction, a logical supposition, a reasonable guess, an educated conjecture. It describes in concrete (rather than theoretical) terms what you expect will happen in your study. It provides a tentative explanation for a phenomenon under investigation.*

Research Methodology: There are two categories of methodology: qualitative, which deals with feelings and other non-quantifiable elements, whereas, quantitative, usually involves numbers, graphs, and charts.*In defining the research design, there are three crucial elements: participants, materials, and instruments. In this process, if you verify a causal relationship between certain variables, use an experimental design; if you discover how variables relate to one another, use a correlational design; if you are able to describe and understand a particular social condition/pattern and meaning of a social experience, conduct a qualitative study.

Research Significance/Rationale: This is crucial. Include the meaning of the research to you personally and how it benefits or impacts others. Try to convince an audience that this research is worth conducting and persuade someone to support or fund the project.*

Research Budget
The research budget is limited to $200. Any expenses to exceed this amount will be absorbed by the student. Student must obtain approval from Program Director before money is spent if student expects to be reimbursed. If what you need can be provided on campus, the Program will take care of it with adequate notice and if it is included in your budget. List proposed budget of expected research expenditures, including the cost for poster presentation ($90). All expected expenses must be itemized. Please submit itemized budget through email to Lawanda.Fields@wichita.edu. Example below.

Poster $90.00
Software $25
Books (Include titles and cost) $45
Lab equipment $40
Total $200